Voucher Food Hunt: Sushi Tei

On a boring working day, a sharp scream suddenly shattered the eerie silence in our office as though there was murder!

The Victim: A colleague who has a bit too much work to do on the midst of getting crazy
C.O.D: the RM10 voucher on Sushi Tei Facebook
Resurrection: go ‘LIKE’ Sushi Tei Facebook to print out the RM10 voucher!

The voucher was printed and rested in my bag for so long until the last 2 days of its expiry date before we’d decided to give it a try. Since we were starving when we arrived in the restaurant, we quickly took some plates from the conveyor belt which carried quite a variety of different sushi.

The first off the belt was the deep fried fish skin (RM6.80).. I know! I know! It’s FAT and full of CALORIES but it was basically calling my name there… the fish skin was still crispy but unfortunately quite cold as it might be looking for an ‘owner’ on the belt for quite some time, the portion was huge as well.

Deep Fried Fish Skin

Second off the belt was the soft shell crab maki (RM8.80) – I LOVE soft shell crabs so this definitely my kind of thing! Yummy!!!

Soft Shell Crab Maki

We ordered some ala carte items from the menu as well and they were slowly served one by one. Cawanmushi topped with Ikura (salmon roe) was up and we were quite shocked by the quantity of the Ikura. It tasted well with the steamed egg so no complaint here… this cost RM12.80.

Ikura Cawanmushi

Our Yakitori Don (grilled chicken with rice – RM12.80) arrived and it was HUGE as well! We were still wondering how to finish this when our Kakiage Soba (Equally HUGE!!! – RM16.80) was served. *facepalm* Gosh!!! I guess we overestimated our hunger level!!!

The chicken in the rice set was A LOT and tasted fine but it did make you feel nauseated since it was simply too much! I think this can be easily shared by 2 people!!!!

Yakitori Don

We felt light-headed just to look at the sheer size of soba – however, the lightly flavored and unassuming broth tasted so well with the soba until we just couldn’t stop slurping it. Definitely a very good dish to eat in cold weather! Unfortunately we didn’t really like the Kakiage though – it tasted kind of weird. Perhaps next time we should just order the plain soba with broth! =p

Don't be deceived by its look - this was GREAT!!!

Kakiage - Tasted Strange...

The lesson of the day? Their portion was HUGE!!! Don’t order too much else you would end up like us… ‘stuffed’ beyond recognition! =)

Sushi Tei is located in Gurney Plaza, Penang.

It’s Christmas: A Day to Splurge on Food?

After our Christmas Eve Dinner (link) last night, we were kind of broke thus we’d decided to dine in a restaurant which still served normal menu. Remember! Christmas Menu = $$$$$$$$ and apparently our money photocopying machine had broke down. =(

We stepped into a nostalgic little restaurant at Chulia Street called Ecco Café. It’s hidden among the old shop lots in the area and you need a keen eye to spot it. It didn’t even have a big signboard or anything.

The Interior

Facing the Main Street

Drawing on the Wall.... Hmm... is that a NO CAMERA sign?  Oops!!!

We ordered the Banana Lassi and Mango Lassi (RM7.90 each) along with Louisiana Pizza and Calzone. My brain is a bit hazy about the price of the Pizza and Calzone but I think they cost RM19 and RM21 respectively.

Banana Lassi and Mango Lassi were up and they were both very thick and refreshing with sourly taste. Worth a try!

Banana & Mango Lassi

Louisiana Pizza was up next – it was basically thin crust pizza with salami, olives, onion and tomato. I love the thin crust and the ingredients were fresh. I still preferred the pizzas at Chez Weng (Dinner: link & Set Lunch: link) though but unfortunately it was closed down. However, Ecco Café’s Pizza definitely made a worthy substitute in term of crust but might need more works on their toppings. The toppings were quite limited and ordinary at the moment.

Louisiana Pizza

Then we were served with Calzone – basically it was a ‘fold over pizza’ with turkey ham, tomato, capsicum, onion, tomato and cheese inside. We definitely LOVED this!!! The pizza crust was thin and crispy with the piping hot and zesty ingredients wrapped inside. Eating it was like unwrapping a present getting a surprise until you eat the wrapping paper together with it. Gosh, what am I rambling about? Conclusion is: IT WAS THAT GOOD! A must try!!!

Calzone

Look what is inside!!!

Yummy!

The other patrons were ordering chicken pot pie and it looked really nice visually! Hmm… perhaps that warrants a 2^nd visit! This dinner was definitely more fulfilling and satisfying with our Christmas Eve dinner last night – and so much cheaper! In case you are those people who don’t like to carry cash – do carry some as the restaurant only accepts cash term payment. Thank Goodness we had enough cash on us!

Ecco Café is definitely a gem amongst the old shop lot at Chulia Street, Penang. 

It’s that Time of the Year: Christmas Eve Rip-off?

Let’s take a moment to imagine you are a restaurant owner, what is the best time to gain maximum profit?

Valentine’s Day? Nay – it’s just for couple
Christmas Eve? Possible… Couple, Family & Friends! More market there!
Then how would you differentiate yourself from other thousands of restaurants? Well, maybe come up with a ‘Special Christmas Eve Set’ since people are more willing to pay overpriced meals during holidays?
What is the target market there? High-end? Medium range? Low-end?
But how do you ensure the patrons would only order this special set? Christmas Eve Set only on that day?

In the Eve of Christmas, we walked in to AHMO – a fusion restaurant serving ‘Special Christmas Eve Set’ from RM68nett to RM88nett depending on your main course. The place was buzzing with patrons – couple, family and friends. I guess this business plan works! Funny thing was our original plan was to visit El Casa – the Mediterranean Restaurant which used to be in the same location but were closed down and converted to AHMO.

AHMO Special Christmas Eve Set

Christmas Tree!

The Interior

Story of AHMO!

So what is the differentiation of AHMO set? Well, they are fusion! The opening salad was not drizzled with thousand islands or some balsamic vinegar – the dressing actually had some oriental tangy taste in it and I think I could taste lemongrass? Not bad there…

Salad!

Our “Essence of Chicken” soup arrived and it tasted like normal chicken soup – don’t know why but I felt it lack substance. The spring onion kind of made it out of place – I guess this is the danger of fusion of crossing too much into certain line.

Chicken Soup

We ordered the “Roasted Christmas Turkey” (It’s Christmas!!!) and “Pan-seared Emerald Fish Fillet Veronique” for our main courses. The Turkey meat was dry and I didn’t like the texture – the gravy didn’t help either as it was kind of bland and tasteless. I almost grab the tomato sauce just to add flavor to it. There was also some meat loaf or jelly-like stuff with Chinese sausage inside – this was definitely strange to say the least.

Roasted Christmas Turkey!

The Fish Fillet fared better with sweet grape sauce – the sauce surprisingly complimented the fish really well. This main course was definitely better than Turkey.

Fish Fillet!

We had the Christmas pudding with vanilla ice cream for dessert. The Christmas pudding was warm whilst the ice cream cold – a good combination to mix them together. I think they should just skip that Nata de Coco though as the texture didn’t blend well with the combination. Our last course of the day was Lipton’s tea – I guess you could guess the taste by the name itself. =p We did ordered banana milkshake but it was never served – perhaps our order was lost somewhere as everyone seemed too busy.

Christmas Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream

Lipton Tea

So did the ‘Christmas Eve Set’ worked for AHMO? Well, looking at the crowd that night I would say it worked just fine. The fact that at RM68nett – it was actually one of the restaurants offered at the lowest price. As for food quality – guess they still have room for improvement. So was it a Rip-off? Hmm... I would say the set was not worth RM68 but it happened everywhere during Christmas Eve anyway. =p

AHMO is located at Irrawaddy Road, Penang.

Anyhoo, since it's Christmas, let's see how Sammy celebrate it!!!

HELP!!!!

NNNOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!