What’s for Lunch? – One Precinct Edition

One Precinct was one of the newer buildings that were constructed opposite Sunshine Market at Bayan Lepas. Since the completion, the building was still almost empty other than a few restaurants opening in the building ground floor. Some had even closed their door since then (Big Orange) but there are some still kicking such as:

- Gold Choice Lifestyle Café

- I Mum Mum Pan Mee Restaurant (CLOSED!)

- Wang Thai Restaurant (CLOSED!)

- Amex Fresh Mexican Restaurant (CLOSED! - Relocated to Elite Avenue - CLICK HERE)

- Lunarich

- Spice of Penang (CLOSED!)

- Fresh Bite Asian Fusion Restaurant (CLOSED!)

Parking in One Precinct is easy as they provide an underground parking garage which seems to be always almost empty during lunchtime. We had since tried some of the restaurants there and here are our takes on the food.

Amex Fresh Mexican Restaurant(CLOSED! - Relocated to Elite Avenue - CLICK HERE)

Mexican cuisine was very new in Penang and based on my limited knowledge, this was the 2^nd Mexican cuisine in Penang after the opening of Habanero in Queensbay mall. The restaurant was quite busy during lunchtime especially on Friday and they did have set lunch available. The menu ranged from fried Mexican rice, burrito & taco and if you order the set lunch – there would be drinks & nacho served.

Menu!

More Menu!!!

Even more Menu!

Looks big!

Side Dish

There were bottles of hot sauces on the table for guest to add on additional flavor on their food. We ordered some fried rice and some chipotle grilled chicken taco. My colleague mentioned the fried rice with chicken was not bad.

Hot Sauces

Drinks & Nachos

Mexican Fried Rice

However, the chipotle grilled chicken taco was not up to our expectation as the ingredients inside the taco were not as compact thus it was not as satisfying as the taco in Habanero when you bite it. The price was definitely cheaper than Habanero so I guess they have to cut down the ingredients.

Chipotle Chicken Taco

All in all, a nice place to try out but unfortunately after our 1^st visit, it never occurred our mind to revisit it again. Oops.. 

Lunarich

Lunarich is this trendy Korean opened Italian restaurant that everyone is raving about. We had been dying to try it out and we finally did. They offered set lunch ranged from RM18.90+ to RM24.90+. They also offered Friday lunch buffet which cost RM21.90+ per pax. My other friends came to this restaurant before and mentioned they were very satisfied with the meal thus our expectation was high.

Friday Buffet Lunch

The Buffet Menu

We ordered the set lunch which included drink (soda, tea or coffee) and self-service soup of the day and salad. I once read that the best way to see whether an Italian restaurant standard was to test their Aglio Olio – a simple yet classic Italian pasta that would test the chef’s skill.

Mistletoe Soup

Drink & Salad

I was delighted when the pasta was served as it looked so beautifully presented. However, my excitement was dampened when I started eating. The spaghetti was al dente all right but the combination of the pasta with olive oil, olive and garlic was totally TASTELESS. I noticed their cooking method was different than others as they sated big slice of raw garlic rather than frying small pieces of garlic for a stronger garlic flavor. Also, there was barely any chili flakes in the combination and we had to request for chili flakes to add flavor into the bland pasta but this could not savor the taste as well. There was also no Parmesan Cheese sprinkle on top. I’m not sure whether their Aglio olio cooking method is authentic but I’d prefer one with stronger garlic & chili taste with a sprinkle of Parmesan Cheese – much like the one I had in Spasso Milano (link), Bella Italia  (link) or the one on Costa Atlantica Cruise Ship (link).

Aglio Olio - Look nice but disappointing

Perhaps I was ordering the wrong dish as I heard their Carbonara and Pizza were not bad. Anyhow this definitely lower my expectation for Lunarich as their Aglio Olio was simply not up to par. However, with their price tag, I’d rather go for Bella Italia or Spasso Milano instead.

Spices of Penang (this restaurant has been closed)

Spices of Penang is a restaurant selling tons of fusion foods in their extensive menu such as Chinese/Malay fried rice, nyonya rice set, tomyam set and Indian rice set. One thing to note was their portion was quite big so weight conscious office lady might find the portion overwhelming. During our few visits, we’d tried the spicy grilled chicken set, ‘kampung’ style fried rice, black pepper grilled fish set as well as tomyam set.

The verdict? Well, it would depend on the chef of the day and the dish itself.

The spicy grilled chicken set was excellent and huge with tons of chili paste provided. My colleague loved this!

Grilled Chicken Set

The “kampung” style fried rice was good on the 1^st time we ordered but not good upon our next visit. My colleague who was looking in the kitchen (they had kind of a half-opened kitchen concept) mentioned that they seem to change the chef from a local to foreign worker. Let’s hope the new chef could improve his skill better on our next visit.

"Kampung" Style Fried Rice

The black pepper grilled fish set was below par – 1^st of all the fish was deep fried rather than grilled! They also over-fried the fish until it was simply too hard and too dry so you might choke to death if you are not careful. Not recommended.

Black Pepper "Grilled" Fish Set

Last but not least – the tomyam! Well, I would say you should avoid this at all cost. I ordered this and I regret it the minute I sip the tomyam. The taste was strange – in fact I swore the taste was a bit stale. I was struggling to eat this even though I’m a big lover of tomyam! So if you have a tomyam craving – head over to Sunshine Market or Sunshine Foodcourt in Sunshine Square (link)!

Tomyam - Avoid this!

Fresh Bite Asian Fusion Restaurant (this restaurant has been closed)

Fresh Bite Asian Fusion Restaurant offered extensive menu of fusion, Korean, western and local food – their menu kind of reminded us of Kim Gary which basically meant there were tens of pages of menu but we had no idea what to order. Haha…

Here we are...

We ended up ordering the Korean style hotplate chicken rice set and some western set such as mushroom chicken chop and salmon spaghetti. The Korean hotpot was actually delicious with a generous portion of chicken and spicy sauce in a hot sizzling plate. Definitely exceed expectation!

Korean Style Hotplate Chicken Rice Set

Their western chicken chop set received okay comments from my colleague as well as their chicken was tender and flavorful. Not spectacularly good but acceptable. I didn’t manage to take a picture of the salmon spaghetti set though but the salmon served was quite big and totally worth the money.

Mushroom Chicken Chop

Black Pepper Chicken Chop

So there we go – our experiences in these 4 restaurants in One Precinct. We did not manage to try the I Mum Mum here as it was always full of people during lunchtime. I did manage to try it in their branch at All Season though (link). As for Gold Choice Lifestyle Café, I’d never tried it personally as I was told by my colleagues saying it was bad – their word? Go for Oldtown instead! Hhaa… it also never crossed our mind to visit Wang Thai Restaurant yet so perhaps next time!

One Precinct is located opposite Sunshine Market at Bayan Lepas, Penang.