Saturday, June 29, 2013

Peranakan Cuisine @ Swez Brasserie, Eastin Hotel Penang.

The creative culinary team from Eastin Hotel Penang continues to offer diners with greater buffet themes and meticulously designed dishes. In conjunction with their upcoming buffet theme in the month of July (2013), Eastin Hotel Penang is glad to offer diners with some of their delicate Peranakan dishes.The buffet themed Peranakan Cuisine will be made available from 1st of July 2013 until 31st of July 2013.

Prices for the buffets are as follow:

Lunch: Monday - Friday
12:00pm - 2:30pm
Rm 48++ (adult) Rm 24++ (child)

Hi-Tea: Saturday and Sunday
12:00pm - 3:00pm
Rm 55++ (adult) Rm 28++ (child)

Hi-Tea: Festive Occasions
12:00pm - 3:00pm
Rm 68++ (adult) Rm 34++ (child)

Semi Buffet Dinner: Sunday - Thursday
6:30pm - 10:00pm
From Rm48++ per person

Ramadhan Buffet Dinner: Daily (10th of July - 7th of August 2013)
7:00pm - 10:00pm
Rm 85++ (adult) Rm 43++ (child)

July Credit Card Promotions:

MAYBANKAD, Standard Chartered Bank, OCBC Bank, CIMB Bank, Citibank and VISA card members, guests can enjoy 15% discount for Peranakan Cuisine Semi Buffet Dinner (Monday to Thursday) and Weekend Buffet Dinner (Friday and Saturday) from 6:30pm to 10:00pm.

For inquiries or reservations, kindly contact Eastin Hotel Penang, Swez Brasserie at +04- 612 1128.


Pie Tee Cup with Jiu Hu Char (娘惹炒鱿鱼丝配金杯薄饼) was one of the starters served to us. To savor the juicy Pie Tee, one may opt to have Sambal Belacan added to further enhance the flavor and to give the Pie Tee some extra kick. However, the Sambal Belacan was just average-okay, I was expecting it to be slightly spicier. Furthermore, they have stuff in the filling (Jiu Hu Char which consists of Dried Shitake Mushrooms, Dried Cuttlefish, julienned Jicama and Carrots) way too early before serving to us, as a result, the Pie Tee became soggy and not too crispy the moment we get to sample it. Flavorful-wise, was decent. 


Up next was the dish- Deep Fried Chicken Lobak (炸鸡肉卷) which comes with some Deep Fried Bean-curd, together with their special home-made sauces. Despite the fact that I have no complaints on the sauces and Bean-curd but I do feel that the Chicken Lobak lacked of some texture. I like my Lobak to be meatier and not as mushy as theirs; probably due to the way of cutting the meat and wrapping them. Some bloggers thought the Lobak was not crispy enough to their liking. 


Their Kiam Chye Ark/ Asian Pickled Mustard Green and Duck soup (咸菜鸭汤) hit the top notch among the bloggers that day. The soup has the right balance between sourness and spiciness; we actually thought the soup was awesome! It was not too oily nor bland either. Just a perfect appetizing soup to tickle your taste buds to kick start your meal!


Nasi Ulam (野菜饭), steamed rice with various Herbs and Spices, was a perfect dish to go with the curries, I love the ingredients added into the Nasi Ulam, not too over-powering nor under-seasoned. The rice has the perfect texture either. A must-try dish for this buffet theme.


As for main course, we had this well-executed Curry Kapitan Chicken with Potatoes (娘惹甲必丹咖哩鸡) which came in flavorful and robust with the aroma of curry. The curry was more to the sweeter side instead of the usual one with a hint of sourness. To my surprise, the Potatoes were slightly a bit saltier and the chicken was not as tender as I was expecting, the dish was extremely flavorful and it makes a very good combination with the Nasi Ulam.


Their Sambal Pucuk Ubi/ Tapioca Shoots (参巴炒番薯叶) was a crowd please. It is very common to find this dish out there but it's not easy to find a well-cooked one as most of them will be over-cooked and the texture is just horrible. Unlike the dish we had here which turned out to be impressively good, the Sambal has complemented the Tapioca Shoots well either. 


Intrigued by the presentation of this dish- Assam Prawns (亚参虾), I could not wait to sample the Prawns out and it turned out to be decent; definitely not the best in town but decent. The Prawns were more to the sweeter side with a very mild sourish Assam flavor. I guess the Chef needs more time in perfecting the recipe, finding a better way to juggle between the sweet-sour combination. Nevertheless, the prawns were quite fresh we certainly enjoyed the dish.


Their Ikan Gulai Tumis/ Nyonya Hot and Sour Fish (酸辣咖哩鱼) was a dismal in my opinion. It could be just me but I did not like the soft and mushy texture of the Fish. Moreover, the dish was rather sweet when it was supposed to slightly sourish and salty. No, thank you. I shall stick to my Nasi Ulam and Sambal Pucuk Ubi. 


Most of us could not even finish this dessert- Bee Koh Moy/ Black Glutinous Rice Porridge (黑糯米粥) as it was way too sweet for us although we could not deny the fact that the flavor was there but it was seriously way too sweet. Moreover, many of us have found out that the Black Glutinous Rice contains a lot of outer shells inside our dessert which the Chef should literally look into. The dessert comes with a scoop of Steamed Glutinous Rice.


A Peranakan cuisine is never said to be completed without Nyonya Kuih (娘惹糕点). I was rather skeptical to try the Kuih as the previous dessert was shockingly sweet but to my surprise, the Nyona Kuih turned out be okay  (not too sweet) and in fact, pretty savory. One of the more unique ones was their Deep Fried Ang Ku Kuih topped with Gula Melaka which tasted like Doughnut. Slightly oilier but decent... I would still prefer my traditional Steamed Ang Ku Kuih instead.


Many Thanks to Chef Ong (Junior Sous Chef of Eastin Hotel Penang) and Chef Oon (Chef De Partie of Eastin Hotel Penang) for the wonderful dishes.


Additional Information:
Address: Swez Brasserie Eastin Hotel Penang. 1, Solok Bayan Indah, Queensbay, 11900 Bayan Lepas, Penang.
Contact Number: 604- 612 1128
Website: http://www.eastinhotel-penang.com/ppc/index.html

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