Spasso Milano

Spasso Milano
Location: Straits Quay, Tanjung Tokong, Penang
Date of Visit: 7th June 2012

>> Thinking of having Italian for dinner? This might be a good place to try. Despite there's so many Italian places available in Penang, this little Italian place might be the right place to start.

Opened in November 2011, this restaurant is known by many in Kuala Lumpur but not in Penang. With it's first franchise store finally reaches the Penang shores, it is located in an area where many great deals of restaurants are opened. It is always expected from these restaurants that great service and its quality of food a must meet expectation when patrons walks in. Spasso Milano didn't lack in any of those.

When I've decided to choose this place, it is for a very special ocassion; it must be for someone very special and the timing was just perfect, a birthday celebration. We arrived in the evening, the weather has been perfect for the past few days and the crowd is pretty thin. By the time we're done, it's almost packed.Its menu is rather surprising as its quite Italian.What am I saying? It's an Italian Restaurant! Of course it's Italian!!

What we really get most of the time is a mixture of Italian and some other cuisines. It is not a problem for me as the orders were pretty straight forward and simple. Many would say that ordering Italian is pretty hard because the ingredients that's being used to make Italian dishes are not what people would get to taste in their everyday meal. We started our meal with the plain old Bruschetta al Pomodoro that's being topped with a generous amount of tomatoes!

For sharing; a Prosciutto and Carciofini Pizza - Tomato, Honey Baked Ham, Artichoke and Mozarella. We also ordered a Linguini Napolitana with minced Italian Sausage. A sweet end of Lemon Cream Tart - topped with pine nuts, served with vanilla ice cream. The price is pretty reasonable and the food is good. I wouldn't say great because there's room for improvement for its pasta. Overall, it's a pretty great place to be if you are looking to spend some quiet and quality time with someone special.

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Macalister Mansion

Macalister Mansion
Location: Macalister Road, Georgetown, Penang
Date of Visit: 28th September 2012

>> It's a brand new place that springs a surprise to anyone who has dared to step into this place. Opened in mid 2012, Macalister Mansion holds a restaurant, a bar, a whiskey counter and a coffee bar.

The family have decided to hold dad's birthday celebration here at the Macalister Mansion's very own French-themed restaurant after visiting the coffee bar earlier of the month. Something fresh and new, this place yet to be made known to locals as this place is quite secluded and isolated by the high rised gates and would only be visible at night when the lights went on. During the day, one would think that it's some Datuk's home when driven pass.

When you are in a city where locals are pampered with so much delicious cuisines, French-theme restaurants like this one are extremely rare and for obvious reasons that the expectations from it would be very high. Now, what no one actually knows is that those chefs behind the kitchen are mostly local and these chefs are damn good at what they are doing too! Too much compliments for the chefs? Maybe? I like what I saw on my plate.

The menu aren't as complex as many other established restaurants would. Only a handful for you to select from the starters, soups, salads, main courses, desserts and of course drinks. However, if you don't like to think what you want to combine, you can always opt for the set. Two sets available; the Petit M which carries a very light combination of 7 course meal and of course there's the Tasting Menu which carries a whooping 10 course meal.

On Petit M, it all starts with Olive Palmers then indulge in Black Truffle Gel, Poached Quail Egg, Mesclun, Grilled Pepper and Willow Mushroom salad. There's a Veloute of Slipper Lobster with Brioche soup. Palette cleansed by a sherbet after that, the main course will be Pan Fried Miso Cod, Olive Soil,Shimeji and Truffle Oil with Watercress Coulis. A sweet ending of Meringue, Black Sesame, Panna Cotta, Crumble and Sesame Ice Cream.

On the Tasting Menu, you get what is stated above on the Petit M but adding Squid Ink Linguine, Salmon Mousse, Roe and Micro salad in the beginning; Duo of Dorfer Lamb, Dehydrated Mint Yogurt, Paloise Sauce and Zuchinni as your secondary main course (Yes! You have 2 main course to savour) and Brie with Spiced Marmalade and Sable as your secondary dessert. Shall I say anymore of the menu? I guess not.

Even the childrens menu looked absolutely delicious and the servings for them are generous too. The only problem with this place would be it's all classy and this comes with a great price. Unless you have a wallet full of cash to spend, you might be turned off by the fact that its rather expensive and you might not look forward for a second return anytime soon. Overall, the price you pay may be worth it as an experience but for long run, great food for a high price? I'll be doubtful if this place will remain open for long.

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Ocean Empire

海皇粥店(Ocean Empire)
Location: Johnston Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Date of Visit: 22nd January 2012

>> In my previous blog, I've mentioned of this restaurant before but I can't help it. This place made an impact in my list of must have whenever I get to Hong Kong.

Ever since the Causeway Bay branch that my family and I used to go has already been closed, they have altogether stopped looking for a congee place for breakfast. Old habits die hard for me. I wanted congee and fried fritters for breakfast! So I had to go and look for the next available branch on the island. There are other branches around in Kowloon area and the nearest to home would be Yau Ma Tei area.

It's because dad works in Wan Chai area on the island side, so it will be best to look  around there instead. Looking for this place is not tough as long as you know where you are going. From Wan Chai MTR station, take the A3 Johnston Road exit. Once you reach to the top, take the first left turn and walk for a minute or so and you will never miss this place! It's situated next to Citibank as illustrated on the first picture itself.

As you are seated, you will need to start ordering as the staff will come to you pretty quickly I might say. Unless you know how to read Chinese, ordering will not be a problem. For banana's like myself, Cantonese language will be the only way to communicate with the staff. I will stick to the main stream orders of fried fritters, iced milk tea, pork congee and of course a bowl of friend noodles.

Despite all these years of having almost the same orders everytime I step foot into this place, I find it hard to comment if there's anything wrong with this place at all. Cleaniness; It's quite clean to my standard. Food; It hits the spot every single time! Price; With my order, I'm surprised I'm able to use the Octopus card to pay it off! Imagine how reasonably priced this place is. Like I said, what is there not to like about this place?

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