Xian Ding Wei Taiwanese Tea Room at Queensbay Mall

Penang food lovers have a reason to celebrate as the Xian Ding Wei Taiwanese Tea Room has recently opened its doors at the Queensbay Mall. We have seen the outlets in KL but have never tried it. Being early adopters, we jumped at the opportunity of trying the food there. :)

The restaurant is enjoying brisk business due to the festive season and the fact that it's just newly opened.

Cozy ambience with comfortable chairs

Xian Ding Wei menu

Sweet Osmanthus with Honey (RM4.90)

Honeydew Bubble Milk Tea (RM4.90)

Seafood Congee with Century Egg set (RM16.90)

We ordered the set menu which comes with a choice of main, plain rice or minced pork rice, three side dishes of the day and soup of the day.

Though the congee was not as smooth as the Canton-i version, there such was a lot of seafood ingredients e.g. fish slice, prawns, cuttlefish etc.

Taiwan Style "Buddha Jump Over the Wall" (ala-carte RM14.90)

I have never tried "Buddha Jump Over the Wall" but this one was quite good and definitely value-for-money. There was chicken and pork meat, baby abalone (or some shellfish), red dates, chinese wolfberry etc. in the soup.

Stewed Pork and Fish with Cabbage set (RM18.90)

The stewed pork and fish with cabbage set was rather dissapointing. We couldn't find much meat and fish in the stew.

Soup of the Day - Radish Soup

Side dishes of the day - Pickle, Deep Fried Fritters, Shellfish Salad

Minced Pork Rice

We liked the minced pork rice.

Overall Xian Ding Wei is definitely worth a try for its variety, value-for-money and definitely since Taiwanese food doesn't come by so easily Penang. :)

P/S: Writing this post sure makes me miss my Taiwan food adventure. Check my posts here, here and here.

Xian Ding Wei Taiwanese Tea Room

2F 50-51 Queensbay Mall

100, Persiaran Bayan Indah

11900 Bayan Lepas Penang.

Tel: 04-6461332

Sea Palace Restaurant Set Menu

My colleagues were so thoughtful to bring me out for lunch at the Sea Palace Restaurant to celebrate my birthday. They ordered the RM318nett set for 10 to 14 pax.

House Special Tofu

Stir Fried Long Beans with Deep Fried Straw Mushroom

Wok Fried Sea Prawn with Nestum

Claypot Braised Fish Head

Stir Fried Scallop with Asparagus

Pork Ribs

Chilled Honeydew Sago with Ice Cream

The set also includes Claypot "San Bei" Chicken and rice which are not featured here. Overall all the dishes were good and service was promt eventhough the restaurant was quite full as it was approaching Chinese New Year.

After lunch, they also a Tiramisu Cheese Cake from http://www.teeramisu.com.my/. Teeramisu is a recently opened cake house at the D'Piazza Mall. I find the cake fresh and not overly sweet. Definitely worth a try.

Sea Palace Restaurant

2-1-9 First Floor, Bangunan Lip Sin, Lebuh Pekaka Satu

Sungai Dua, 11700 Gelugor, Penang, Malaysia.

Tel: 04-6593826, 04-6593827

Chin's Stylish Chinese Cuisine

Grand entrance

We found Chin’s Stylish Chinese Cuisine from My Food My Love’s post. I immediately called to make a booking for the two of us to celebrate the birthday of yours truly. :)

Before we went, we had one reservation about the place and that is the parking issue. Our fear was confirmed when we were asked by a “jaga kereta” or parking attendant to pay RM5 for parking at an MPPP lot by the road side opposite QE2 (at close to 9pm). We had to fork out the sum requested for fear that he will induce harm on our car, or worse still, on us. :(

They have a few set menus to choose from ranging from RM88++ per pax to RM218++ per pax. Sam Chin (the restaurant owner Dave Chin's son) was patient with us and actually recommended the set for us (RM88++ per pax) and explained each and every dish on the set menu.

Chic and stylish decor

The décor is chic and stylish just as the restaurant name suggests. I absolutely loved the large framed paintings hung on the ceiling and ambient lighting from the grand chandeliers. The view from the restaurant is great and we actually caught a glimpse of the Superstar Pisces (which recently made Penang its home port) as it was leaving the pier for the open sea for its 2D / 1N cruise.

Excellent view from our table

Dave and Sam Chin with famous TVB actor Ron Ng

Waiting area after the grand entrance

Cabinet displaying beautiful hand painted plates

Chin's menu

Love at First Sight tea

Bar

Beautiful chandelier and great ambiance

Hot Appetizers

Heavenly Blessed Joysticks

Sesame Prawns on Toast

Smoked Chicken

Cold Appetizers

Garlic Cucumber

Crystal Bean Noodles (Approximately 1cm wide transparent noodles made of mung beans. The texture was springy and chewy and excellent when served cold)

Delicate Tree Fungus

Century Eggs in Grilled Red Pepper

Cold Appetizers

Specialty – Chin’s Aromatic Crispy Duck.

The aromatic duck (not to be mistaken with Peking Duck) is deep fried and shredded into small strips at the diners’ table. It is served with pancake, cucumber, spring onions and sweet sauce. According to Wikipedia, the crispy aromatic duck was created by the Chinese community in the UK in the latter half of the 20th century and is served by most Chinese restaurants as a signature dish on the menu, thus explains why it is Chin’s specialty.

Beautiful hand painted plate

Main Course

Steamed Frog Leg in Bamboo Tube Pepper

Sauteed Hot & Sour Chinese Cabbage

5-Colour Unpolished Organic Fried Rice

Cumin Mutton Skewers

Spicy Hot Poached Fish (Shui Zhu Yu)

Beef Tenderloin in Hot Stone Oil

Beef tenderloin cooked in hot oil at the table

Dessert

Jasmine Jelly / Sea Coconut / White Fungus

Even though the restaurant was running on full capacity that night, the service was most of the time prompt with just some slight hiccups which was quite excusable. Sam Chin was all apologetic about it so kudos to him for making his customers feel special. :)

Above and over all else, I will definitely recommend this place for a one-of-a-kind Chinese / Cantonese / Szechuan / Fusion dining experience in Penang. I had the opportunity to talk to the man behind this unique establishment, Mr Dave Chin himself and was told that he has tried searching for a restaurant with this concept in some countries in Asia e.g. Singapore but has yet to find one.

The only thing to be prepared for is, just like most Szechuan / Hunan cooking, some of the dishes could be a tad oily for some to palate.

Chin’s is actually not officially open yet and I think is currently only available via advance booking only so please call to book to avoid disappointment.

Check out Helen Ong's post on Chin's here.

Chin’s Stylish Chinese Cuisine
Tanjong City Marina

Church St Pier (Next to QE II)8A Pengkalan Weld

Georgetown, Penang
Tel: 04-2612611 / 012-4716128