VIA PRE @ WELD QUAY, PENANG

Via Pre needs no introduction. Located along Weld Quay, this restaurant is a popular choice for people who love authentic Italian food; local or tourists alike. We made our reservation weeks ago, and had our dinner at Via Pre last night.

We were there at 7.30 and there were already a number of patrons having their dinner. There restaurant gave out a warm ambience although not as romantic as QE II. The waiters were polite and courteous, and we were immediately seated. Prior the visit, hubby and I have browsed their online menu and have decided on what we wanted.

We were served a basket of bread with olive oil-balsamic dip. 

Our drinks; strawberry soda (RM 8) and Corona beer (RM 18)

For antipasti (Italian starters), we ordered ‘Tre’ which came with 4 succulent prawns wrapped with bacon laid on top of grilled eggplants, tomatoes and salad drizzled with a kind of spicy sauce. The prawns and bacon combination, together with the spicy sauce was excellent. I love this to bits. I definitely would recommend this.

Antipasti 'Tre' (RM 26)

The Del Porto salad was served shortly after the antipasti. This salad contains both lettuce and rocket leaves with prawn (1 pc), smoked salmon, capers, artichokes, mushrooms and olives with lemon & chives dressing. The salad is a refreshing twist to the usual salad. It was light, yet bursting with flavor.

Del Porto (RM 28)

We ordered pasta for main course. I had the Spaghetti Al Ragout Di Chinghiale E Funghi (Wild Boar Ragout & Mushroom Pasta) while hubby had their Spaghetti Alla Carbonara.

My pasta came with generous chunks of well-marinated wild boar meat, mushrooms and cauliflower florets. The portion was just nice. In my opinion, the pasta sauce itself was rather bland. I am not sure if the sauce was meant to be slightly bland so that we can savor the marinated wild boar. I would prefer a stronger tomato flavour and more herbs in my pasta.

 Spaghetti Al Ragout Di Chinghiale E Funghi (RM 28)

Hubby made the right decision to order the Carbonara pasta. Although traditionally Italian Carbonara is not creamy, this one was slightly creamier with egg sauce, pecorino cheese and crispy bacon. The combination was Ooh La La..delicious! 

Spaghetti Alla Carbonara (RM 23)

For dessert, we ordered Via Pre’s Grand Marnier semifreddo and their famed tiramisu. I do not know how Grand Marnier tasted like but the semifreddo definitely did not have any hint of alcohol, which I was hoping for. It was sweet alright, which was a bonus which complimented the tiramisu. It was like after a bite of tiramisu, we took a spoonful of semifreddo to get the bitter-sweet ending.

Grand Marnier Semifreddo (RM 9/scoop)

Now, the tiramisu was a letdown (in my opinion) because it did not contain any liquor. The first tiramisu we had at Pisa, Italy contained alcohol at the base (mixed with the mascarpone cheese). The tiramisu we had at QE II was superb because it has alcohol in it too. I did a quick read-up, that actually classic original Italian tiramisu does not contain liquor. Oh dear…this means that because I'm used to having liquor in my tiramisu, liquor-less tiramisu is just not as nice. Oh well, that’s just my opinion. Let me know what you think if you've tried their tiramisu.

Tiramisu (RM 16)

The total bill came up to RM 160.10 (10% service charge + 6% govt tax). I used the groupon voucher purchased last month. The corona beer was not covered under the voucher, and it cost RM 20.90 extra.

As usual, selfies after a lovely meal

Squidto @ Gurney Plaza

This post should be done 2 weeks ago, but I got lazy.
After church service, we went to Squidto for dinner. Weeks earlier, I had purchased a groupon voucher for a Stuffed Squid Set.

The RM 22 set comprises of a Squidto, which is a large imported Argentine squid stuffed with seafood risotto, fried giant squid, sotong stick and 2 iced tea (we had passion fruit green tea and honey green tea).

Our squidto came with french honey mustard sauce on top. It looked smaller than expected but it was surprisingly filling for both of us. The seafood risotto stuffed inside the squid was quite good.

Squidto (RM 8.90)

For the fried giant squid, we opted for the Thai hot and sour sauce. The squid was crispy at the outside and springy in the inside. A pretty good snack!

Fried giant squid (RM 7.90)

Unfortunately, we didn't realize that the waiter forgot to send us our sotong stick until I arrived home. I messaged them on facebook and the manager (I think) was really responsible to ask us for our voucher number. We can claim our sotong sticks when we go over the next time.

Hai Tao Ki @ Alor Setar

We had dinner last weekend at Hai Tao Ki while we were back in Alor Setar. 

Hai Tao Ki is an eatery which has lots of stalls under one roof. It is located beside the old 'Looking Good' supermarket which has now been converted to a furniture shop.

 I ordered Thai fried rice, while hubby had minced pork noodles. On top of that, we had the famous lobak.

Thai fried rice (RM 4.00)

Minced pork noodles (RM 3.50)

Lobak (RM 10)

 Glad that the food here is still cheap:)

Khun De Thai Restaurant @ Sunway Tunas

One of my favourite Thai dishes is none other than tom yam (also spelled tom yum). I used to have tom yam on average 3 times a week when I was younger, but has now cut down to once a week since people are telling me spicy food isn't good for our tummy.

Bayan Lepas where I am currently residing does not fall short of Thai restaurants. There’s Wang Thai, Maa Roy Thai, Lemongrass and also Bangkok Station. Recently, I've discovered one restaurant called Khun De (not to be confused with Khun Thai) which has just opened not too long ago at Sunway Tunas. They have other branches too at Farlim, Batu Lanchang and at even in Lumut, Perak.

I've been to the one at Sunway Tunas twice, but didn't manage to take any pictures of the food. Today, SL and I had lunch there and I managed to take some pictures of the food we had. I'll keep updating more pictures when I visit this place again (which is going to be often).

Showing you the interior of the restaurant:

SL ordered the Tom yam Seafood Noodle while I had their Basil Pork Rice set which came with a bowl of soup.  The seafood tomyam was as good as the chicken tom yam which I had last weekend. The level of spiciness was right for me, was sour and ‘kao’ enough. I love it!

The Basil Pork rice was delicious too, although I think it would be better if they add more basil leaves. This rice went well with sambal belacan (you must request from the waitress).

If you are coming here to try out the food here, I would like to recommend a few dishes which I’ve tried so far such as their tom yam chicken, morning glory with bean sauce and sotong (squid) in clear lemon sauce. The sotong in clear lemon sauce is superbly awesome. Thinking of it now makes my mouth water.

Here's their name card in case you're planning to visit any of their branches.

Latest update 10th April 2014

Hubs and I just had dinner at Khun De Thai. For a change, we ordered the clear tom yam with chicken, morning glory (kangkung) with spicy bean sauce and prawn nugget.

Drool over these yummies...

It was my first time trying their clear/white tom yam and I must say it did not fail to impress. It was not really spicy (again don't compare to my level) and the level of sourness was just right. You should give it a go. I rate this 8/10.

Clear Tom Yam with Chicken (RM 14)

 The kangkung was also good.

Kangkung in Spicy Bean Sauce (RM 8)

 We tried the prawn nugget and I like it! Initially I thought that the 2 pieces of prawn nuggets would be the size of those ayamas nuggets but I was delighted with the size and portion that came. Just nice for both us, don't you think?

Prawn Nugget (2 for RM 6)

The total bill including 2 bowls of rice, 1 glass of warm water and cold chrysanthemum came to RM 33.

Update 11th May 2014

Ate with my girlfriends and ordered their squid in lemon sauce. This dish is my all time favourite.

Squid in clear lemon sauce (RM 18)

Chicken-Mushroom Risotto with Green Peas

I came to love risotto after having my first taste of it in a restaurant in Florence. It is only today that I finally decided to cook it. I couldn't find arborio rice in Cold Storage nor Sam's Groceria here in Penang.
So I asked Evelyn to get the rice for me from Ben's Groceria.

This recipe is straightforward and very simple to follow. Here's the recipe for 2:-

Ingredients
6 pcs chicken fillet (cut into strips)
3 pcs button mushroom (slice)
2 tbsp green peas (from can)
450 ml chicken stock
3 cloves garlic (minced)
1/2 onion (chopped)
2 cups arborio rice
Salt and black pepper to taste
5 tbsp olive oil (or butter if you prefer)
1 tbsp parmesan cheese

Instructions
1. In a pot, heat 3 tbsp olive oil and add in chicken, some salt and black pepper. Fry until chicken is cooked.
2. Set chicken aside.
3. Heat the remaining olive oil in the pot.
4. Put in the onions and garlic and fry until fragrant.
5. Add chicken, mushrooms, green peas and the arborio rice and give the mixture a quick stir.
6. Pour in 1/2 of the chicken stock and cook until the rice absorbs the stock.
7. Add the remaining chicken stock slowly and repeat this until the rice is cooked.
8. Before serving, add the parmesan cheese and stir to mixture until the cheese melts.

Notes:  1. You have to keep watch and stir the mixture often.
            2. You can add some white wine if you like.
            3. Add a dash of smoked paprika for the oomph!
            4. Add more black pepper if you love 'em.

Fish recipes..

I don't eat fish often. What often means is probably once a week, or none at all. Recently, hubby decided that we should try cooking fish once a week.

This is what we've tried so far for the last 2 weeks:

Siakap 3 Rasa

The recipe is taken from here.
The sauce has a sweet, salty and slightly sourish taste. Very appetizing!

Pan-Fried Salmon with Teriyaki Sauce served with French beans & hash browns

I loved the way how the salmon turned out. The homemade teriyaki sauce made by hubby was really good.

Food hunt...

Lor Duck Rice @ Balik Pulau

We were up at Balik Pulau the other day and had the opportunity to try the lor duck rice, recommended by my colleague. The shop is located at an old shop lot further down the road after Sacred Heart School.
We ordered lor duck rice for 2 persons and the cost was RM 15.00.

Banana Leaf Rice @ The One

It was Friday and we were lazy to cook, so we went over to The One for banana leaf rice. This was our second time there. We ordered their set meal for 2 which consists of tandoori chicken, chicken masala, aloo gobi (cauliflower and potatoes), navaratna kurma, briyani rice and lime juice. All for the price of RM 25.90. While the tandoori chicken was too spicy, the other dishes were pretty good.