Dim Sum Heaven & Taiwanese Fare @ Penang

The next morning, before attending to my job's need which took me to Penang, we had our breakfast at a dim sum joint on Anson Road. One of my favourite place for dim sum on the island. Been here a few times when I was a student back then.

They serve roasted ducks/meats & fried noodles aside from dim sum

A view of the morning crowd on a weekDAY from my table

The place was usually crowded on weekends, though ample seating area was provided. However we suspected the crowd on that morning was due to the school holidays. Everybody loves dim sum right? :)

Mum being a light eater, stopped me from going overboard with the orders. Ended up with 5 plates to share among both of us, though my itchy hands were so tempted to rob the ladies with trolleys. But her decision was a wise one, as the portion served here are categorized as 'to-be-shared' and the morsels did not look dainty at all.

Slightly disappointing Siew Mai

Kuchai (Chives) Dumplings

Fried Prawn Rolls with a huge dollop of mayonaisse

Only the pork dumplings (Siew Mai) let us down, probably cz they were cold. The fried stuff were all goodness in their own rights, the yam puff (Wu Kok) in particular, got Mum's seal of approval, completely trumping Foh San's version.

Perennial fav of mine, Egg Tart

Still craving for more, I chose an egg tart. Not as yummy as Choy Kee's, but still not bad in my books. But nowadays the egg custard in most shops has an extraordinarily deep yellow hue, wonder if they use the Omega eggs variety, or colourings. Hmmm ....

We packed 4 buns home, with fillings of peanut and char siew. Total for two including chinese tea was only RM17.80. Yup, cheaper than most of Ipoh's dim sum restaurants. Service is fast, no matter how big the crowd gets, as they disperse trolleys and trays reloaded with various dim sum, mixing the steamed ones and the fried ones, unlike the usual shop where they separate the trolleys for both items, and the number of waiters are commendable.

Location : Restoran Zim Sum @ 33, Jalan Anson, 10400 Penang. A short walk from Bangunan Persekutuan Pulau Pinang (a grand brown-orange colored building). Coming from Komtar area, follow Jalan Burma until you reach a traffic lights with Giant Hypermarket on your right. Turn left into Jalan Anson and you'll notice this food court-like settlement on your left.

My session ended only at around lunch hour, forcing poor Mum to scan through the whole of Giant, having coffee near New World Park, shopping for healthy breads from Continental Bakery at Jalan Nagor (good choices for multigrain breads, and a variety of healthy carbo), and eventually taking a taxi to Prangin Mall.

By the time I reached Prangin Mall it was already lunch time, but the mall offers pathetic choices for dining, therefore we decided to drop by Queensbay Mall while on the way home.

Taiwan Bull is newly opened, for a good few months I presumed. Read about this place from another blog (sorry, forgot which one) and decided to give this interesting eatery a try.

They're running a promotion, for an additional RM1, you can get a full set of meal with drinks and dessert of the day. Sound fine, at a time like this, where it's wise to be frugal.

Dry Beef Noodles with Beef Ball Soup (RM12.50)

My choice of dry beef noodles did not disappoint, nor impress for that matter. The servings of beef chunks was generous, and braised with white radish till very soft, but not chewy. However the noodles did not fare that well, wishing they were more springy (QQ). The pickles did not deliver either, as was the chilli oil sauce (no pics,sorry).

Guess how many beef balls were served? (hint @ background)

For an additional RM2, you can upgrade to the noodles with beef ball soup. However, 2 pitiful mash masquerading as beef balls were all that was served. At least the soup was flavourful, and complemented the noodles well.

Minced Chicken Rice (RM9.50)

Mum's Minced Chicken Rice was a tragedy. Tasteless, and the gravy too thick, it was slightly spicy but that was all to it. Horrid. Avoid at all cost.

The accompanying drink and dessert

For drinks, you can opt for the green tea, soya milk, or honey lemon. The honey lemon was tasteless though, probably too diluted. The dessert I suspect was the 'ai yu bing' jelly, but too watery to offer any bite.

Total : RM24.00. Cheap, fast-food like setting. Service was rapid, as the place was quite empty on that day. It was a weekday after all.

Location : Taiwan Bull Restaurant @ LG45-46, Queensbay Mall, Persiaran Bayan Indah, Bayan Lepas.