It was a GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY ...

... to meet not just a few of the other hard-working Penang Food Bloggers, but also some journalists. We were all there to be introduced to The Golden Sands Resort's new Executive Sous Chef John Brock, who is a friendly Kiwi from North Island. He will be assuming responsibility for the resort's western offerings.

We had all been invited to preview a couple of the new dishes that he will be introducing to what will take over from Sigi's By The Sea, currently scheduled to open in mid-Jan '10. The usual suspects were there: Penangtuapui, C K Lam, and a few others I hadn't met before.

According to his particulars, John's culinary experience includes stints in the UK and France. That's him explaining to us what we were going to try btw: a small, select menu: Red Lion (hmmm ... never had that animal before ... it was actually fish of course (ang sai) served on a bed of crushed (not mashed - note the difference!) topped with sliced fennel, and Beef Tenderloin. Actually both were quite delicious, although I did feel, and I think the others agreed, that the presentation could have been a bit more elaborate. However, as everyone also agrees, I am rather a fussy person!

The dessert was rather yummy: Mango and White Chocolate Bombe - the latter was quite out of this world. It figured, as John told us desserts are his particular passion. If that is a taste of things to come, I can't wait for the new restaurant to open .. mmmmmmmmm ....

Golden Sands will be taking down the hoarding outside this weekend as they present the newly redeveloped place which cost some RM38 million to achieve (I think although I might have the figures wrong). The Shang group is quite particular about the properties which come under their name - this is an example of how they constantly stay ahead of the game. That can only be good news for Penang.