Posts Tagged ‘tong yang

15
Aug
11

HOT POT. CHINESE FONDUE. SHABU-SHABU. STEAMBOAT!

If gastronomic indulgence is a sin, then my family and I are always guilty as charged, hahaha! :)

pass the vinegar, please! yum!

Apparently, gluttony is one of the deadliest sins, but gastronomic indulgence isn’t. I believe when you only try to please your palates with a digestive feast without eating excessively, you are just being a foodie.

Enough with the defenses. Great foods are really meant to be enjoyed and the moment becomes instantly priceless when you share delightful dishes with your love ones.

If not for one of my few valued senior colleagues who generously shared his affordable eating discovery with his family here in Penang, we wouldn’t sample it too.

Along one of the busiest thoroughfares in George Town, Penang is Jalan Macalister (or Macalister Road); it is one of the places in this part of Malaysia where hawker food stalls and restaurants can be found almost side by side. With tough but “healthy” and delicious competition, one of the establishments that was referred to us by my senior fellow is Town Steamboat Restaurant. He only had good words about this eat-all-want-food place; his family’s satisfaction was enough for us to give it a try.

Popular among Asian countries, Steamboat also known with so many names like Shabu-shabu because of some Japanese influence, Chinese Fondue, or Hotpot if claypot was used, requires no skill in cooking but creativity in combining various slices of raw meat -pork, beef, fish, seafoods, veggies, noodles and other interesting ingredients simmered in a pot of boiling stock, cooked directly on the dining table and readily served hot!

tender beef strips cooked slowly on butter and sinigang na hipon or prawn on sour broth simmered to almost perfection!

 I think the affordability of the buffet in Town Steamboat Restaurant is difficult to top with its wide and varied delicious spread. The flavors are almost infinite!

Other than bottomless ice cream, ais kacang (say, ays ka-chang!), the Malaysian version of Filipino Halo-halo or vise-versa served with red bean, nuts and shaved ice…pastries and other sweets, Town Steamboat Restaurant has a  dimsum corner where you can take a volume of steamed goodies!

They got me on this one; I am sucker for dimsum and dumplings!  ….And you?

Drinks from orange, grape and lychee juices, Chinese tea and my favorite, iced cold soya are all available as bottomless and via self-service; it’s all inclusive!

after a hearty meal, must drink tea.

 You’ll never go wrong with a casual atmosphere… 
 
 
…unless you make a big deal out of an overly exposed cooking gas beside your dining table, hahaha!  
 
I think the exposed cooking gas tanks are nothing to these hungry pack…
 
 
Admittedly, I didn’t like the red and spicy broth that they also serve; we prefer the plain soup as base for our steamboat; it’s most appropriate in cooking sour broth or our very own Sinigang!
 
 
This is more we like it….
 

except those with hypersensitivity to it, who doesn't like sinigang na hipon? imagine a Filipino dish personally cooked in a Chinese-Malaysian restaurant! Sarap! Ang saya!

 
Heeding my colleague’s advice, we brought our very own, Knorr Sinigang na may Gabi Recipe Mix which made our Steamboat more appetizingly good! Now, if only Knorr could sponsor and send us here lots of their goodies, we’ll be more than grateful! Because Philippine products are rare here in Penang, can someone refer this blog post to makers of Knorr mixes? Paging Knorr Sinigang Mix, hehe!
 

We brought the mix, baby!

 
We’re definitely spending another gastronomic feast here when we find a chance…
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The first time we dined at Town Steamboat Restaurant, I only paid RM 49 (PhP 686) for the three of us –Tina, Gabby and me. Then several weeks ago, when my parents came over, we paid around RM 80 (PhP 1120) as lower rates are charged to senior citizens (age 55 and up) and only RM 4.90 (PhP 69) for kids of Gabby’s age and height. It was really a great deal! Now, if only YAKIMIX (which post continuously gives me highest blog hits per day!) or Tong Yang in Manila can top this restaurant with its price, more Filipinos back home can enjoy good food with their families and friends. But I know, YAKIMIX‘s edge are its smokeless grill, airconditioned and more comfortable ambience. 
 
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Town Steamboat Restaurant. 
63 Macalister Road (slightly opposite UMNO building)
10400 George Town, Penang, Malaysia.
 
26
Mar
11

FOOD PORN : PENANG

It’s an understatement to state that Penang offers a variety of food choices because food options in this part of Malaysia is limitless! It’s as diverse as its people (Malay, Indian and Chinese). However, since taste is subjective, one may be easily satisfied with affordable and delicious dim sum from food stalls in the streets, popularly known as hawkers, while others would not be pleased to eat some dishes if tolerance to spice can’t be stretched. Nonetheless, there’s a plate in Penang for every palate.

When Rob, one of our good friends of almost 2 decades decided to go to 3 key cities of Malaysia (Kota Kinabalu, Penang and Kuala Lumpur) for his 1-whole-week of lone backpacking trip, I thought of playing the best tour guide to him but I guess my 7-month-stay here in Penang isn’t enough to meet the part (The story deserves another post). :(   Part of the plan (if there was any, haha!) was to showcase to him the flavors of this island (read : food trip!) I reminded him just before he went here that it’s a must for first-time-tourist to taste the place’s staple food; and one of Penang’s favorites is Nasi Lemak

That was my plate. I didn’t know that Rob developed allergy toward chicken. Chicken is a part of that dish served with roasted peanuts, cucumber slices, cup of rice traditionally cooked in coconut cream, hard boiled egg, dried anchovies, and sambal, yes its hot and spicy sauce. Nasi Lemak simply means fatty rice; it needs no further explation with its ingredients. A colleague once said that this Malaysian dish can last you throughout the day.

All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast.  ~John Gunther

Some people categorize food into meal times. We don’t. My family and closest friends can eat almost anything regardless if it’s breakfast, lunch or dinner. I call it pure talent. haha! :D We are one with those people who like breakfast-all-day menus. Here are some breakfast foods for some which we had for our early light dinner…

Who doesn’t like buttered toasts?

We brought our best friend to one of my favorite simple food places along Jalan Burma (Burma Road) in Georgetown. It’s called Santorini…

Santorini’s Chinese-owned restaurant without intimidating ambiance. I cannot recall a visit without me ordering this dish previously known as Seafood Rice Combo but now labeled on their menu as Butterine Prawns and Mantis Rice…It’s sufficient to ease out all worries and fatigue from a day’s work. In other words, it’s one of my comfort foods. Sarap!

My wife, Tina opted to have Sambal Rice… tolerable spiciness served with prawns and herbs.

Our 6-year-old kiddie, Gabby went British in ordering Fish and Chips…

While Rob’s first meal in Penang wasn’t a local dish but nonetheless looks so pescetarian to me (he is, actually). He finished this veggie-pasta plate; it’s either it was that good or his trip from Kota Kinabalu to Penang was tiring for him.

We washed everything down with refreshingly good iced teas of berries and lemon flavors.

Then the next morning, we left the hotel in the island at 6AM and took our breakfast at a roofed-hawker-place somewhere 30-min from Georgetown.

Warm broth from this prawn noodle dish in hot claypot can be soothing for an empty tummy.

Rob and Gabby had bowls of Fish Congee and a bun of kaya…

I wanted to eat Char Koay Teow that morning but the vendor said that ingredients were still yet to be sourced from a nearby public market, so I ended up having another noodle dish with taste similar to CKT…

If food choices are as wide as the Penang blue sky, so do drinks…Tina and I shared in Iced Coffee, Gabby had Iced Milo and Rob tried Wheat grass which tasted like sago’t gulaman to me; sarap pamatid-uhaw!

Lunch last Thursday was superb; in fact I lost superlatives to describe its goodness. Rob treated us to this buffet place in Plaza Gurney called Seoul Garden. It’s like Tong Yang and Yakimix in Manila or close to the authentic yakiniku in Don K! in Tokyo

You get to grill your prawns, beef, fish and chicken strips while boiling your preferred soup; we chose Abalone broth as our soup base.

The spread in Seoul Garden is more than what your appetite can handle…

We also feasted at salads, dim sums, fried chicken, potatoes, fried spring rolls and more…

And the world is always a happier place to live in because of ice cream, is it not?

It’s one of the best vanilla ice cream I’ve tasted; it’s creamy vanilla enriched with chocolate sprinkles; sinfully delicious! They’ve other flavors like raspberry, mango, corn even durian! 

Great tasting food + company of loved ones = what more can you ask for?

It was a day and half of food tripping with my family and our best friend who paid us a visit here in Penang. We might not have brought him to the most authentic food places like hawkers at Gurney Drive and food stalls in Lebuh Chulia and other parts of Georgetown but I am betting my last ringgit that he definitely enjoyed his hours with us. :)

Until my family’s next gastronomic adventure! :)

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