I'm of course referring to one of Penang's stalwarts, Traders Hotel's Brasserie Restaurant in Magazine Road. It was an icon in its time, and one of the few places which served good food in elegant yet not too posh surroundings, its dark wood panelling automatically inspiring a hushed, almost reverent conduct. Service was always excellent, and it was certainly somewhere I used to take good friends if I wanted to celebrate their birthdays in style. (Added advantage is one can always go shopping in KOMTAR or Prangin Mall prior to, and of course one should always have a relaxed stroll after to aid digestion.)
Unfortunately it closed down a few years ago, but reopened again a while back but for weekday lunches only. Now, under forward-thinking GM Karl Karlsson, it has gone one further: he has introduced a one-night a week BYO Wine Dinner every Friday evening, courtesy of his new Executive Chef Chew who joined from Grand Hyatt Shanghai. That chain of hotels has always had a reputation for good food, so I was looking forward to trying it when we were there last week.
It is a semi-buffet concept: a good selection of starters (great sashimi and salads, and I've had some excellent soups there), and a whole host of desserts, including their yummy fried round doughnuts on a stick which go BEAUTIFULLY with the melted chocolate (mmm, I could gorge that by the TABLESPOONFUL), and a choice of appetising mains. The price of the meal depends on what you choose. I went for the beef, and although it was a tad too underdone for me (Chinese lah) it was very tasty. To be honest can't remember what the other choices were BUT as we are going back there again very soon, will be able to find out more.
It appeared all the other diners had a good time too, if the merriment coming from the table next to us was anything to go by. Or could it be the no-corkage wine?!! The good news is that we now have yet another place to choose from when we want to go out for a civilised evening meal in Penang.
No comments:
Post a Comment