Of Hotel Food and Little Cottage Cafe, Penang

You know it's probably another one of those annoyances related to humans' instincts. When your food is FREE, they do not seem to taste so good, or sound attractive. If you're paying an arm and an leg for a meal, no matter how un-sumptuous the meal is, you'll still seek solace in the ambience, the service, yada yada ....

Little Cottage Cafe @ Jalan Burma, Penang

We were fed 6 meals a day (!!!), courtesy of Dorsett Penang Hotel. Wow? But seriously, where's the FUN in digesting hotel's food, when GOOD restaurants, and even GREATER hawker fares are all around you?

And so we ventured to Little Cottage Cafe, a cozy, small and quite a buzzing cafe on an equally high traffic Jalan Burma. We've been here during our uni days, and re-visiting this place somehow brought back memories of days yonder, and an overwhelming sense of rendezvous swept into us.

Complete with a fireplace, and furnished with predominantly wooden elements, the place does exude a certain cottage-like ambience; charming yet cozy


Our mains, clockwise from top left : Mexico Chicken (RM15.90), Golden Fish & Chips (RM9.90), Little Cottage Special Chicken Chop (or somethin') (RM15.90) and Monte Cristo Chicken (RM19.90)

A favourite haunt with the lunch crowd, judging from the packed to the brim seating area, the place still serves affordable set lunches, from RM9.90 to RM19.90. The set comes with the usual suspects, soup, desserts and coffee/tea. We don't see many outlets nowadays that let the patron chooses his/her appetizers, or desserts, do we? Pity.

The soup was a sad story. Chicken soup, I recall, but the stock uncannily resembled instant soup from the can. And had it not for the little bits of chicken thrown in, we were still questioning the nature of that bowl of creamy nothings.

The Little Cottage Chicken Chop fared the best among all, but the difference merely lied in the gravy, nothing else. Monte Cristo Chicken was just another slab of meat, with 2 halves of sausages as garnishing.

Almond Fish (RM15.90)

My Almond Fish was fortunately deserving enough of the price paid. The crispy almond flakes on top of the batter-fried dory made the cut. Pardon the grainy photo, the interior of the cafe was dark, and we were seated at the darkest corner possible.

Total damage : RM78.50 for 5. No service charge or government tax. But note that the plate of peanuts they place on the table before your orders is worth RM1.00. Of course, you can be a prick and send that back. =P We did not though.

Location : LITTLE COTTAGE CAFE @ 96-A, Jalan Burmah, 10050 Georgetown, Penang.

Tel No : 604-228 6218. They've another branch at Gottlieb Road, in Hotel Waterfall, it seems.

Dorsett's spread of local and internation delights

A lesson well-learnt. Save some $ and eat in a 4-star hotel (though doubtful) may be a wise choice sometimes.

For the first 2 days, the food at the buffet spread were nothing to shout about, the usual curries, meats, and rice. Leaned more to local fare than international dishes. Ahem. Had I wanted curry chicken or squids, would I've chose hotel food over Penang's nasi kandar?

The food on the day we were leaving was the best among all days. Probably that was a Saturday, as the chef went wild and cooked up a storm, literally. From pasta to spicy fried rice, and black pepper beef to deep-fried calamari and rojak, we put off/deferred our initial plan of going hawker, and stuffed ourselves before checking out.

Delectable cheese cake, banana pie, and banana cake

The mains may be disappointing, but the desserts were a different story altogether. They've a glass counter displaying the sweet treats, from tapas-like serving of tarts and pies, to whole cakes and puddings. I skipped most of the meagre main dishes and took a larger portion of desserts every meal. =P

Fancy some chocolate mousse?

Chocolate rum tart

Too many to snap, I merely took photos of a few. There's even Panna Cotta, which was not bad, and blueberry crumbles, as well as bread and butter pudding. Swweeeetttt !!!

Happy Weekend Everyone !!!