Taste of Penang

I remember when Taste of Penang first opened and I wanted to go to there. We never did of course, it was one of those places that always seemed to get shoved to the back of the list. We, VGirl, Yannikins, Mandy, JGirl, Shishi and myself never made it one time because I got badly lost in Sunnybank by myself and they had to rescue me. To top things off, the restaurant was actually closed so that time we went to Little Singapore which was disastrous.

Then the second time I attempted to go there with Yass, I sent them a FB message asking whether or not they were halal and they never answered us. That time I think we ended up going to Arabellas in Upper Mount Gravatt.

Then the third time it was my birthday in 2013, and we went to Tobaki instead as it was fuller. Also not one of my best ideas.

This time it was just VGirl and myself on a cool autumn night, doing what we do and heading out to dinner in Sunnybank!

Its bright green in the centre of the complex, easy to find!

I didn't get a photograph of the menu, it's completely uploaded to Urbanspoon!  The menu has quite a few options on it and I quite like the self service aspect of the restaurant. You get a little notepad, tick and flick whatever you want and hand it back to them! No mistakes with the order here! 

We got redirected by the waitress and we pondered what we wanted outside. The owner/chef came out to see us and had a long chat with us. He asked us if we had been there before or had Malaysian food before, he recommended a few standout dishes on the menu such as the char kway teow, the chicken satay, the nasi lemak and some other bits and bobs. When I asked him what he recommended for vegetarians, he isolated about five or six dishes, the veggie spring rolls, the laska, char kway teow, deep fried tofu, fried rice, roti with dhal and added that most dishes could be made vegetarian if we wanted. When VGirl hesitated, he started adding more and more dishes haha. She was very pleased by this as she finds that a lot of places if they aren't prepared for vegetarians either make it an afterthought or do anything to make you a vegetarian dish.

As well as what is on the menu, the owner added that if you like their Facebook page, you can keep track of the weekly specials! Usually a few days where they serve a special not usually on their menu, from previous posts they have served asam laksa, lor mee, char kuey kark and nasi kandar. 

So many signs!

They also sell a variety of homemade and ever changing kuih assortment, steamed desserts with a sorta sticky/chewy texture. It's a very interesting texture, we have lots of similar desserts in Vietnamese cuisine so they all look vaguely familiar to my eye. They seem to constantly upload the day's assortment on Facebook, so like them to keep yourself posted!

I ordered a teh tarik for my drink, the cold version! It's famed as being the national drink of Malaysia, a strong black tea with sweetened condensed milk added and poured repeatedly between two cups for a frothy top. I was a little surprised when it came out in a bubble tea container, but that was the flavour I was expecting when I tried it! A very strong and slightly ginger flavoured black tea with the sweetness of condensed milk. I ended up shaking the container to get the bubble effect I wanted.

I'll take it~!

VGirl wasn't in the mood for anything in particular but she wanted a hot soy milk drink to warm up hands. When she recieved it, she said it was mildly sweet, not as much as commercial soy milks that you can find. She said it reminded her of when Mama Pham makes fresh soy milk and she can drink it straight after it's been cooked. She looked very happy as she sat there warming her hands.

In a double insulated cup!

I got the nasi lemak with beef rendang, I always love this dish. I like my food in neat sections and picking at different bits to eat! I got the beef rendang on medium heat, as I was convinced by the owner down from hot heat. He was right, the chillis were spicy but not unbearable. It's not as salty as the one I make but still very tasty, with super tender beef and an excellent gravy to splash on my rice.

Solid

VGirl got the vegetarian char kway teo, from memory it had bean sprouts, button mushrooms, baby corn, carrot, green onion, tofu and another green vegetable. She said it was delicious and polished it off super fast.

This is a really popular plate design

I got the spicy fried chicken as my starter but it arrived after everything else. I'm not sure what the spice mixture they used to marinate it was, but it smelt really familiar like five spice powder or something. I got three drums and flats in total.

Taste of Penang
Atmosphere: 5, pretty standard local takeaway to be honest, all the seating is outside!
Service: 10, really wonderful and super friendly service from the owner. He stopped to have a chat to every patron there before and after their meal.
Food: 6, definitely cheap and interesting food. I would go here again for their specials for sure.