Gourmet Garden

Song River is located right smack on Gurney Drive, just a few doors up from Evergreen Hotel. We usually don’t patronise the place but because of its grilled fish, we have put in some time to try the other hawker stalls and their offerings available for the dinner and late night crowd.

Charcoal grilled chicken parts are one of the attraction in Song River, especially for the beer drinkers and those looking something snack on while they chit chat. So far our favourites are the chicken wings and bishops’ nose, the whole thigh is not our cup of tea. The chicken wings when prepared properly (depending on luck) offers a taste of smokiness, caramelization, savouriness and sweetness (sometimes slightly too sweet for us). When it has the balance of the flavours, no further chilli sauce is needed (but that depends on individuals) as it would overwhelmed the natural sweetness of the chicken and the taste of the marinates.

Tip:

• Order one piece to try, if it is up to standard on your particular visit, only then ask for more.
• One serving 10pcs of bishops’ nose is more than enough for 2 persons.

Another stall that one may like to try is the “Fried Oyster” which is manned by an old uncle. The servings that we had were rich in egg flavour and the oysters were nicely cooked (tender and neither under nor over cooked). The spices added some aromatic fragrance to the omelette without overpowering the eggy fragrance and the sweetness of the oysters. The sprinkle of spring onions gave it a touch of freshness and sweetness. The usual fried oyster omelette would constitute the usage of some form of starch to give it “extra body” and act as a binding agent, this stall uses it sparingly, and thus one would not feel overwhelmed after a serving or two.

Tip:

• Order the smallest serving and request for crispier omelette.
• Spring onion and coriander gives some freshness to the omellete.

Our favourite stall here would be the Grilled Fish which opens for business at around 10:30pm on week days and 8:00 plus on Sundays. This stall has the usual stingray and other local fishes ready for the pan, but the prize selection is the meat from the belly part of a fish(鱼腩). We frequent this grill fish stall because of the marinate that is uses for its grilling. The marinate consist of lots of raw garlic and birds eye chilli, fermented bean paste, sugar and “asam”. It is different from the usual grill fish stalls in other hawker centre and food courts. The after product would taste rich, sweet, spicy and nutty with slight acidity, but yet would not overwhelm the flavours of the fish.

Tip:

• Be there early for the fish belly(鱼腩).
• Ask for less bird’s eye chili padi if you could not take spicy
• Ignore the chattering of the stall owner.
• The asam deep also goes well with the BBQ chicken wings and bishops’ nose.

The bah kut teh stall is one that we won’t be going back for seconds after our first try. We have tasted better ones. The soup base was blend and the portion for was little compared to price we paid for.

Overall rating for Song River and its hawker stalls:

Taste & Texture: 3.0/5 (lacks consistency, except the grill fish stall that has a higher ratio of hitting the right balance)
Money Value : 2.5/5 (above average pricing due to its location)
Service: 2.5/5 (average unless you know them for some time)
Cleanliness: 1.5/5 (open air places near the sea normally gets visits from more than two legged friends)
Atmosphere: 2.0/5 (open air kopitiam, can’t ask for much)

Popularity: 8% [?]

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Last Thursday we were given the opportunity to scoop for a better understanding of Hard Rock Cafe, its origins and “culture”, which I would leave for my next post that would be quite tedious to compose in view of the long recording and research that needs to be carried out. Before we go bonkers with all that, let us introduce the ‘Set Lunch menus that will be launched this coming Monday. The sampling of some of the main courses available in the set lunch menus was part of our first experience at Hard Rock Cafe. The set lunch menus are priced at RM28.00++ for a three (3) course lunch, which to be frank is quite reasonable if one would look at the location, service and portion.

There are four (4) different sets of menus that will be rotated on a weekly basis. Each menu would have the chosen recipe of the week for the three (3) main meat groups which are seafood, chicken and beef. Therefore, every set of the lunch menu would provide a sample of what could be experienced in their usual ala-carte menu at an affordable price to all.

The set lunch menu for the coming weeks in sequence is as follows starting from Monday (12th July 2010):

For the exclusive sampling, we had the opportunity to taste their Hawaiian Hamburger, Grilled Fish Fillet and Chicken Chop. One would notice that we only had the main courses and not the full set as we had other items in the list of sampling apart from these set lunch items.

The Hawaiian Hamburger patty was made with Angus beef at a ratio of 80% lean meat and 20% fats, lightly seasoned to keep the natural flavours of Angus, and grilled to medium-well to prevent any possibility of contamination. The well caramelized patty sandwiched between fluffy potato buns with whole leaf lettuce and a slice of grilled pineapple had a sense of tropical taste with the strong beefy flavour of quality meat, it is a burger made for the local taste buds. The pineapple gave the burger extra sweetness and twang that would appeal to the many Malaysians who like strong tasting foods.

Another set lunch main course that we had was their ‘Grille Fish (salmon) Fillet’ served with garlic mash and fresh greens. It may look simple and available through out any decent western restaurant in Penang, but don’t be deceived by the simple outlook. The simpler it is, the harder it is to deliver! First take a look at the fillet, the lightly seasoned and grilled until crusty fillet was still tender and moist with all its original flavours intact. The topping of the compound garlic butter sauce was fragrant and full of body, due to the careful ratio control of red and white wines.  It paired surprising well with the subtle sweetness of the fish and savoury taste of the seasonings without overwhelming either.

The side of garlic mash was something that I would not miss. The potato mash flavoured with the paste of baked garlic and topped with some green herbs. The potato used is from the Idaho or Russet Burbank variety that has an elongated shape with rough, netted skin and few eyes. The texture is characterized as fluffy and soft with optimal level of moisture, and was not over dairy. It is one of the good mashes that I have had in recent times.

The last main course from the set lunch menus that we sample was the ‘Chicken Chop’. It is a choice selection for those who are wants something that is recognizable and comfortable with. It was a no fuss simple all time favourite poultry dish for the many Penangites. It had crisp golden brown batter crust encasing a sweet and tender leg of chicken and topped with brown sauce. The key to this chicken chop is the sauce; the brown sauce had a balance of flavours and the optimal or standard consistency, neither too runny nor too starchy. Just nice! The accompanying coleslaw had a distinctive sweet taste and tang to it from the addition of cranberries.  This main course is for those who prefer strong tasting food.

To sum up our review of the Hard Rock Cafe Set Lunch main course:

Taste & Texture: 4.0/5 (sauces, meats and side dishes were up and over expectation, but there is still room for improvements)
Money Value : 4.0/5 (quite a big portion and very filling, service was good and friendly, location is in the beach belt of Penang)
Service: 4.5/5 (warm, fast and prompt service from the waiting crew)
Cleanliness: 4.5/5
Atmosphere: 4.5/5 (was all’s well except when certain variant of tourists that are in season)

Popularity: 12% [?]

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