Invited Review : Tainan Restaurant at Midlands (One Stop)

 

I must say this would be one of the very few reasons which made us started a food blog in the first place. I was invited for a food review and that got me but best of all, my dear friend off his feet. Yes, because its his humble first time attending to a review like this, and I think by him, you know who I'm talking about - Dennis.

I was invited by Chin Wai the owner of this Tainan Restaurant in Midlands Park Centre or popularly known as One Stop along with Dennis and Nick Chan. It was quite a surprise because ever since the developments of so many shopping malls in Penang like Gurney Plaza and Queensbay Mall, this place somehow gave way and has been less populated in contrast with its glory 10 years back.

The owner was very friendly and gave us a brief introduction about this place. According to the restaurateur, this place has a history of over 10 years and further renovations and relocation would be done soon.

We got to learn more about Taiwanese Food through the menu and to your disbelief we didn't place any order except for the drinks. Why? Because Chin Wai had his own recommendations of this place's signature dishes reserved for us. Well done.

 First off was our Bubble Milk Tea. This was a very good refreshment to start our lunch in the afternoon.

 

The one above is the Golden Drumstick Rice which was served with minced pork as a topping and some vegetables. To be honest, probably due to the fact that our daily food consumption which has been incorporated all too well with dishes like this, I don't find this dish amusing.

The one above is the Golden Chicken Wings Rice which tasted better than our first dish. It is fried with a golden-brown texture and was really appetizing. Basically most of the dishes offered here are served with rice and vegetables. But we decided it would be hard for us to finish the rice, so we asked for the dishes to be served individually.




Next up was the Pork Chop Rice. It is actually deep fried pork meat and sure enough it is filled with crispiness and a little tenderness at the same time. My opinion was that this was better than the first two dishes.

When we got our first bite of this Eel Roll Rice, I thought it tasted a little bit like sushi, except for it had a exterior of fried layer. Crispy at the outside and soft in the inside.

The Taiwan Dumpling was a little bit upsetting. Instead of steamed dumplings, these were fried ones and it didn't taste as what we expected.

Prawn Roll, the Chinese just love to fry don't they. Almost similar to lobak (pork roll), this fried shrimp roll was alright but a little too oily to begin with.

Beef Noodles is a very common delicacy in Taiwan. Because I don't really eat beef, according to Nick, the soup was creamier than usual and the taste of the beef was also strong, but overall it wasn't spicy enough.

 Now, who doesn't know lap cheong is actually a taiwanese dish? This Taiwanese Sausage had a distinctive tender-sweet taste to all our liking.

We had our stomachs satisfied with a wonderful meal. And to end things off with a sweet note, we were served with Foo Chok (Gingko Barley Dessert).

Overall, this place features a chinese classical and homey interior which was really comfortable. The only complaint would be the premise being a little too small and easily crowded, but still it was a good experience of taiwanese cuisine.

Prices .

Golden Drumstick Rice - RM 7.50

Golden Chicken Wings Rice - RM 7.00

Pork Chop Rice - RM 7.00

Eel Roll Rice - RM 7.50

Taiwan Dumpling - RM 6.50

Prawn Roll - RM 7.50

Taiwanese Sausage - RM 8.50

Bonus . 

Tainan Restaurant (1st floor)

Midlands Park Centre ( One Stop )

488-1-07 Burma Road
10350 Penang.

Tel: 016-4909795

View Divina Midland Park Centre in a larger map

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Student Caned 10 Times over " Fried Rice with Pork"

  
Nov, 2010.

In this case, has Iskandar bin Fadeli violated any of the law of Malaysia by canning the student wrongly? If yes, I propose that Angela Jabing make a police report and sue her in the court rather then expecting the education department to take action agains her, for which will end up like the other 2 racist headmaster in the West. Enough is enough! I will certainly do that if this happen to my children.

Sarawak Assistant Minister of Education, Fatimah Abdullah, called for calm from all quarters
KUCHING - St Thomas Primary School informed Angela Jabing, mother of Basil anak Beginda who was punished for bringing non-halal food to school, to settle the issue internally as requested by the Education Ministry. 
Senior assistant, Iskandar bin Fadeli, who was responsible for the punishment, has also indicated his intention to apologize to the student.
The 11-year-old Basil was alleged to be caned 10 times last month on his palm by Iskandar after he brought 'fried rice cooked with pork' to school.
 

When contacted by MM, Angela Jabing said she was not happy with the settlement as she wanted Iskandar to be transferred and the Education Ministry to issue a circular telling parents in Sarawak if bringing pork to school is allowed or not.
Jabing said she was called in to the school early Thursday morning after the issue was made known through news reports. 
She met with the headmistress, Alice Chung, Iskandar, two teachers, a member of the School Board, a member of the Teacher Parents Association to hear her side of the story.
She said some officers from the Education Ministry arrived at the school and sat in to listen to what she said.
Her 10-year-old son, Basil was also there to give his side of the story.
“This afternoon, they called me and wanted to settle it internally. And Iskandar would apologize to my son in front of the people I met this morning."
"I am not happy about as I do not want other children to go through what my son had went through.
"The Ministry should come out with a clear cut circular and not confuse students or parents with verbal instructions from senior assistant,” she said. 
The state's Assistant Minister of Education, Fatimah Abdullah, called for calm from all quarters.
She said everyone needs to look at the issue rationally as some young children may not know what is halal and could share the food unless being told so,” she said.
She also asked the punishment meted out with wisdom appropriate to the misdeed and to the age of the context. School canteens, she said are not allowed to sell non halal, alcoholic or junk food. And for schools, it varies whether there is a regulation to allow or disallow the students from bringing non halal food.
 PKR state deputy chairman Wan Zainal Abidin Wan Senusi said the matter should be handled in a diplomatic way.
“There is no point to punish the boy. He is not a Muslim and he is allowed to eat what he wants. I am sorry that this has happened right in Sarawak. We, all races with different religions have live together with respect for each other. We are always proud of being able to do so,” he said.
 Zanial said the boy should not be caned in the first place and the mother should not have went through such "torment."
 “As a responsible Muslim, it is our duty to tell our children to share food bought from the canteen (every school's canteen sells halal food as stated in a directive sent to them). I want the children to eat together with other races and be respectful to each other. This is the beauty of Sarawak,” he pointed out.
Zanial said the boy’s caning was unjustified and it was sad that the issue had occurred.
MP for Padungan, Dominque Ng was surprised that it happened in a mission school.
“It is ridiculous. The food that any school kids wants to bring in their lunch box is their business and personal affair. No one has the right to tell or to cane him for that,” he said.
Ng said what happened has sent a wrong message to the children of the school: “This goes against the constitution of Malaysia where there is freedom of worship. Muslim parents can tell their children what their religion disallows but to go against another child who is a non-Muslim is taking things to the extreme,” he added.
Sarawak DAP Secretary Chong Chieng Jen, who is also the MP for Kuching, expressed disappointment over the Sarawakian teacher's action: “My goodness, what a disgrace,” he said. 
Chong blamed the National Civics Bureau (BTN) saying that the government servants had went for courses which he claimed were taught by racist leaders.
“By not taking action against the two headmasters in West Malaysia for uttering racist words, it shows that the government is condoning such attitude from the educationists.
The Biro Tata Negara smack of racist ideology,that is why we have such government servants. This Iskandar needs to be punished,” he said.
MP for Pending, Violet Yong urged the school to address the matter immediately: “Stop all these extremist once and for all. Don’t let Sarawak be tainted with such people,”
She called for Iskandar to be suspended immediately and said the Education Department should conduct an investigation that is transparent to stop "this sort of nonsense."
Ng has also asked for actions from the Education Ministry to prevent future occurrence of such incidences.
“We deserve better. What is happening to PM's 1Malaysia? Is Iskandar, a civil servant bringing harmony though his action?
"Sarawakians have always taken pride with the 1Malaysia concept long before PM introduced it, don’t spoil it,” she said.
SUPP publicity chief Alfred Yap disagreed with Iskandar's action saying St Thomas Primary School is a mission school and each pupils has their right to eat what the want.
“Our society like Sarawak does not need such an extreme attitude. It is not healthy to have such educationist in our midst,” he said.
He called to all to remain calm and sort out the matter in a correct way.

More of the news here. 

I have no copyright as this is a shared article.

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12 Facts about Tea

The following is a review by Master Leung Ka-Dong who has worked in Ying Kee Tea House in Hong Kong since the early 1970s.


Here are 12 things about tea that no restaurateur (referring to dim sum restaurant owners) would have told you :




1. Never drink tea on an empty stomach
Always drink tea during or after a meal.  Our stomachs are acidic and tea is alkalizing. Acid and alkaline combined have a bloating effect.




2. Drink white tea if you are a smoker
White tea is really good for the lungs and throat, so it is especially beneficial for smokers.
A cup of white peony tea helps clear all the phlegm in our throats and cures coughs.




3. You won’t be able to tell the quality of white tea by its colour
Most restaurants mix white peony tea with black tea to add colour and flavour because customers generally prefer tea that tastes richer and looks darker in colour.

Pure white tea itself has hardly any flavour or colour compared to other teas.




4. Only fine dining Chinese restaurants serve screw shaped green tea
Genuine screw shaped green tea is the highest grade of green tea and the most expensive.

At Ying Kee Tea House, it sells at HK$5,067 per kilogram (HK$380 per 75 gram bag). Produced only in Jiangsu Province Dong Ting Mountain , it’s also the rarest green tea in China , producing only about 1,000 kilograms a year.

It must be consumed fresh, within a year after picking the tea leaves. Screw shaped green tea of higher quality is best consumed within six months even. If it is tasteless, solvent or extremely bitter, that means it has already gone bad.

But while it is certainly expensive, screw shaped green tea has a very particular taste that not everyone may like. Even when it is fresh, it tastes more bitter than other teas.

For all those reasons, screw shaped green tea is only served at fine dining Chinese restaurants, usually at hotels.





5. Treat pu-erh tea like a digestible detergent to flush all the grease away
Always pair oily food with pu-erh tea.  Dim sum, no matter steamed or fried, contains lard. When you eat shrimp dumplings, there is always a piece of fatty pork in there to add flavour and fragrance.

Pu-erh tea helps you rinse all the grease from the food out of your system. It aids digestion, blood circulation and lowers cholesterol levels.

If you don’t have detergent at home, boil some pu-erh tea and use it to wash your dishes.  It’s like a digestible detergent.




6. Sweets go best with green tea
Sweet food is best paired with tea that is more bitter. Loong cheng green tea helps moderate the sweetness of desserts.

Like pu-erh tea, drinking green tea helps lower cholesterol levels and break down fat.

But while most teas are best brewed in boiling hot water, green teas like screw shaped green tea and loong cheng only need to be brewed in water that is about 75 to 85 degrees. If the water is too hot, it will be difficult to maintain the same fragrance in the second brew.




7. Teh kuan yin goes best with spicy food
Spicy foods are best paired with teh kuan yin because it has a bitter sweet effect. If you ever visit a Chiu Chow restaurant, they always serve teh kuan yin tea with their spicy dishes.
Plus, Chiu Chow city borders Shantou city and Fujian province, which is known for harvesting teh kuan yin leaves.




8. Fried food goes best with white tea
Basically, any type of fried or deep fried food goes well with white tea. In Chinese medicinal terms, fried food is considered dry hot.White teas like white hair peony help release body heat.




9. Smell quality
Aside from pu-erh tea which is almost odourless, quality tea should always give off a fragrant smell.
If you can’t smell the tea or see that it is very solvent, then it has probably expired.




10. You wont be able to find good pu-erh tea at dim sum restaurants
It is simply not cost-efficient. Pu-erh tea is like wine.The longer you store it, the richer it becomes. Storage for at least three to six years is optimal.

Regular pu-erh teas served at restaurants have generally been modified during the fermentation process to reduce storage time. By doing this, they lose whatever fragrance and flavour they originally had.

Good pu-erh tea should look very smooth and deep red in colour, not black like regular pu-erh tea.

You can also test the quality of your pu-erh tea by the stain it leaves on your cup after drinking it. If you see a stain surrounding the rim of your cup, that means you are drinking regular or low quality pu-erh tea. If your cup is left with no stain after consumption, you are drinking pu-erh tea of high quality.



11. Teh kuan yin, daffodil and oolong are all the same at dim sum restaurants
No matter which of the three you order, dim sum restaurants will serve you low grade daffodil tea. All three teas come under the same oolong tea category, yet they are very different in flavour.

Teh kuan yin tastes more clear and fragrant. Oolong is stronger and more solvent. And daffodil is the purest of them all.




12. The best moments of tea enjoyment are when you have time

Drinking tea is a matter of mood. And when I talk about mood, it mainly has to do with the condition of time.

You’ve probably heard many rules about tea, from water temperature to colour. But at the end of the day, drinking tea is a very personal experience.

Some people like their tea boiling hot while others like theirs lukewarm. Some may like theirs stronger than others. So it’s all about time. We need time to brew that perfect cup of tea.

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Nando's at Gurney Plaza

The first Nando's Restaurant was founded in 1987 in Johannesburg, South Africa. And today, Nando's has already been a worldwide franchise restaurant reaching out to places we have never even heard of - Austalia, Mauritius, Zimbabwe and etc. Reputedly famous for its spices and chicken or more specifically peri-peri chicken, and specializes in flame-grilled peri-peri chicken, the technique and recipe is nevertheless the same in thirty countries over five continents. Do you know that peri-peri is in fact a chili indigenous to Africa ?

Specializes in flame-grilled peri-peri chicken, the technique is nevertheless the same in thirty countries over five continents. Opening its latest branch in Queensbay Mall, Penang, and over 33 outlets nationwide, this restaurant has always been one of my all time favourites. 

 
 
 
 

 These bottles are not just for display but for sale as well. Add these peri-peri sauces to your cooking or your meals, and you'll be the perfect chef (according to the staffs).

 

There were a wide variety of choices to choose from, but we still ended up ordering the classic - Quarter Chicken with 2 Sidelines.

 

This is what I call the classic. Quarter flame-grilled peri-peri chicken served with Mediterranean rice and peri-peri chips. The chicken itself is heavenly, granted with a portion of rice which is indispensable to the Asians and chips which are topped with peri-peri powder.

 

Our preference were not much different, comprising quarter chicken with chips and peri-peri bean salad for this one.

 

 
Most of us have surely tried Nando's before, but probably not all of us have tried the Hot Peri-peri or Very Hot Peri-peri. The chicken is grilled with precision, topped with the peri-peri sauce of your choice. The golden-brown colour of the meat is enough to make us drool. That's what I love about this place, not to mention how the meat is so tender and perfect. The one above is a half chicken served with peri-peri chips and peri-peri corn.

 

 

This two peri-peri sauces are just inevitable. Remove the cap and pour as much as you like and mix the both of them. Now you're ready to spice things up with your very own creation of flame-grilled-garlic-extra-hot-peri-peri-chicken. Now how does that sound ?

Prices .

Quarter Chicken with two Sidelines - RM 15.90

Iced Lemon Tea (refillable) - RM 5.90

Bottle of Peri-peri Sauce - RM 10.90

Bonus .

This shop is open daily from 10.30am to 10.30pm.

Lot No. 170-G-72 & 170-01-68 (ground floor of Gurney's new wing)

More details about Nando's here.

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Jawa Mee at Seasons (Vegetarian)

The 1st and 15th day during each month of the Lunar calendar is celebrated by the Chinese simply by visiting temples, praying or practicing vegetarianism. The enigma in many people is that vegetarian food does not taste good or at least not as good as non-vegetarian food, and therefore people only eat vegetarian food when they need, especially during auspicious occasions. But one thing I noticed is the mindset of the people has changed ever since the vegetarian food industry bloomed in Penang years ago.

Believe it or not, I used to patronize this particular vegetarian restaurant, be it an auspicious day or not. It's simply because the food here, so basically nowadays people prefer to eat vegetarian food not because they need to, but because they like to.

 

 

This stall sells a great variety of local delicacies, comprising food like Wan Tan Mee, Jawa Mee, Curry Mee and also Chee Cheong Fan. I have always wondered how a small kiosk like this alone can sell such variety of food, but somehow they (the husband and wife) still managed to do just that.

 

   soup for both curry mee and jawa mee

The alleged rumour was that the prices of vegetarian food are always expensive and sometimes throat-cutting. But in this place, this is never the case as the food here is priced reasonably (as below).

 



While waiting for my food, I ordered a bowl of Almond with White Fungus Soup. This nourishing dessert is a very good way to start the day with the nutrients prescribed by the Chinese which also contains red dates and longans.It tasted average probably since it was meant to be herbal, but nevertheless I enjoyed it.

wan tan mee

The Wan Tan Mee was served in a short 10 minutes. Apart from comparing it to it's non-vegetarian cousin which contains real pork meat, I think the taste was good and everything was just in place. There were pinches of small pork meat cubes (literally) which added more munch to the noodles. The fried wan tan (friend dumpling) was indeed crunchy and if you would to be eating this blindfold, you would never guess they were actually made from vegetables or vegan recipes. Now that's another reason why vegetarian food is getting more popular.

jawa mee

The best of all is none other than the Jawa Mee. First impression, it does already look like the real thing. First bite, it still tastes like the real thing. Amazingly, this jawa mee is capable of making you reconsider whether is it really a vegetarian dish. I think the taste is really good and might even surpass some of the famous jawa mee(s) out there. The fact that this jawa mee has no prawns or egg may sound disappointing, but the use of crispy vegetarian fritters (prawn crackers) and fresh orange potatoes had actually compensated the use of poultry. The gravy itself is fantastic with a little bit of spiciness, blending together with the noodles, making each bite so rewarding.

The one thing I don't fancy about this place is the unfriendliness of the hawkers (both husband and wife). But if you're in for the food, there is much to fancy.

Prices .

Almond with White Fungus Soup - RM 2.00

Wan Tan Mee - RM 2.70

Jawa Mee - RM 2.70

Bonus .

16-G, Medan Angsana 4, Bandar Baru Farlim, Ayer Itam, Penang.

It is located in Farlim Business Centre on the row opposite to Shell's Laksa or directly behind Farlim's KFC.

Business hours are from morning 7.30am to 11am .


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Seafood Popiah at Padang Brown

The wonder in Penang is the people here are very innovative, food wise that is. It's not about giving funny names like Khor Tsu Koon to the the durians, but innovating a local delicacy into it's own signature. And today, we're food hunting for popiah (fresh spring rolls), or more specifically Seafood Popiah. Of course you may argue that seafood popiah is not something new and has existed in Penang long ago, therefore it's not to be considered as an innovation. But, despite that being said, I think innovation means changing and renovating something to become better, and in this case from the aspect of tastiness, this very stall did just that.

also known as the padang (field)

 it's all smiles on the tauke

 the magic kitchen

It didn't take me long after the first visit  for me to return to this stall, and it's like the saying goes, "never try never know, once try and always go". If you're wondering what I'm talking about, please follow me through.

The magician then started off his performance by scooping his formulated white dough into the hot wok, baking it with timed precision until the colour turns just right. Removing the crepe (baked dough) from the wok and onto the the board, it's time for the magic ingredients. Firstly a piece of lettuce leave is place on top of the popiah wrapper with the aid of seasonings such as sweet sauce followed by slices of french beans, diced bean curds, fried shallot crisps and fresh crab meat (ingredients named are only based on observation and personal understanding, some other secret ingredients which are included are not named). The popiah was completed with a final touch of filling juice (special gravy) which made the whole thing looked so tempting and irresistible.

 seafood popiah

I was already drooling just by staring at it. It was way better than my expectation of what a good tasting popiah might taste like. From the very first bite to the very last, it was a thrilling adventure, especially when each piece of the popiah explodes its juice in your mouth following by a hint of sweetness. And when you started munching it, things got better with the crispiness of the fillings and the freshness of the crab meat. And if you noticed, in just a short few minutes, the popiah actually soaked up all the gravy , making the popiah warm, aromatic and incredibly succulent.  - 9.5

To be honest with you, I'm not a very big fan of popiah probably because I've not eaten a good tasting popiah in a long time, but things had changed since my very first visit here and needless to say I'm a big fan already. I would happily quote this popiah, as tasty as "each bite leads you to the next bite". Hope you guys try it out too !

Prices .

Seafood Popiah - RM1.50 per piece

Bonus .

This stall is located at the Stall 17, Padang Brown Food Court, off Dato Keramat road.

It is open from 1pm - 5pm daily and only closes on Thursday.

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