Singing Italy @ Bella Italia

This Italian outlet has brought fame to Pulau Tikus on its location in Belisa Row.
The restaurant is more often than not, seen fully infested with diners during the dinner hours and take note, even foreigners/Caucasians are spotted enjoying a bite or two in this classic little Italian restaurant.

I have personally heard good reviews and recommendations from friends who have been there, and it was high time I paid the glamorous little Italy a visit.

It was indeed a charming little place; with nicely laid tables with those typical checkered tablecloths and it just seems like you are in Europe; doing a little al-fresco dining yourself when you choose to sit along the corridor.


Once you step inside, the dim environment inside in contrast to the natural light outside just makes you feel warm and romantic with the accompanying Italian tunes.



I even reminisced of Venice with those soprano-like tunes; you know along the canal and in those gondolas, ahhh...lovely!

The walls were lined with all the wines and the unique design of the restaurant really resembled those in Italy; and you are definitely reminded of it by the colors on the stained glass on the wall!

I observed how attentive and observant their servers are over here; and they have excellent manners with the customers.
The manager/supervisor of the restaurant himself was walking around and he walked to the tables outside; patting the tablecloths and positioned the cutleries in ther right place.
Wow, that's what I call professionalism in the dining industry!
In other words, I am also impressed by their perfectionist attitude:)

No wonder everything is so spick and span here! Thumbs up!

Of course, when you are in a place like this; with a good reputation and also such high quality of service, the price to pay will not be low either.

Compared to other Italian restaurants, I rank Bella Italia as one of the higher-priced ones and it could be due to the location and also their status as an Italian fine-dining restaurant.

Nevertheless, it was also time to taste and speak for myself the food after all those ravings I've heard.
Furthermore, it's been a year since my trip to Italy and with that Italian taste, I could do a comparison on how they rate compared to the authentic cuisine.

Seafood salad (I think it was about RM25-29 for this)

Served with fresh lettuces and olive oil; not forgetting a generous amount of fresh squids, prawns, mussels, fish chunks and fat juicy scallops, this was definitely an appetizing dish!

To give you a better view of this highly-priced salad; I must say it was not just any ordinary seafood salad you can find in other restaurants.
I am not olive-oil tolerant, but I am singing my praise for this salad due to the fresh and juicy seafood which was included here.


When I say generous, I really mean generous; there were easily 4-5 big fat scallops, 2-3 prawns, 2 mussels, and lots of squids (which were also large-sized) and tiny fish chunks.
Thumbs up:)

For the main, we ordered the Pan fried seabass served with dill sauce (this was about RM36 or 38 I think)


It was a side of a seabass fillet they used in this dish

The fish fillet was lightly fried to maintain the freshness of the fish and also the succulent taste of the flesh.
It was truly enticing as you were filled with the fresh fried aroma in your nostrils while you bite softly into the smooth and tender flesh; breaking the light crispy layer and tasting the juicy flesh!
I enjoyed every bite of this dish!

Too bad there's no room for dessert after that, I am not really a generous foodie, ain't I? I should have more room for food...but there will always be a next round.
I heard the tiramisu here is really good, any other recommendation?

It was a pleasant dining experience here, and I am pleased with the courteous and friendly staffs; full of 'please', 'thank-yous' and smiles =)

I am definitely glad I made this trip and I have also made it to the statistics of giving the thumb for this Italian restaurant; for its authentic taste of Italian cuisine and also, the freshness in their ingredients as we know how Italians pride in their finest and freshest seafood, vegetables, etc.

I am indeed singing my soprano praises for the nice little walk down Italian coast...LA LA LA~

Bangkok Lane's Mee Goreng

When you bring up the topic of Mee Goreng, it is a common term to link to our local mamak stalls in Kuala Lumpur.
However, if you are in the Pearl of the Orient, most Penangites will immediately tell you about the Mee Goreng in Pulau Tikus; or more precisely, along Bangkok Lane.

The stall resides in this coffee shop located strategically along the main road (the same road to the police station and facing the market)


The coffee shop was pretty crowded during the afternoon; with local tourists and locals themselves who flock to the shop to get a taste of the famous mee goreng.


What amazed me was the fluent way these Indians speak in Hokkien when communicating with us on the drinks order!


A glimpse of the chef



We had to wait for a while for our noodles to be served; so we quenched our thirst with the herbal tea, lime juice and coffee that we ordered




The Mee Goreng finally arrived!

It looked too red to me! Like it was filled with some major coloring agent:p

Squeeze the lime juice into the noodles to eat it the Malaysian way!


We took a bite each

Ermmmm, honestly?
I don't get what's the rave all about as it is just plain average.
I think some Mee goreng tasted better.

I am not sure, but I think it was just like some plain noodles tossed into the wok to fry and fry, and it still lacked that ooomph (or you guys call it the 'Wok hei'?)
Mum says it's probably due to the large amount of noodles that he's cooking in the wok; just like people cooking at a huge function using those BIG woks.
The tastes will not be evenly distributed; or something along that concept.

No offense, I guess it didn't really suit our taste buds despite the fantastic reviews or raves we've heard.


Not our cup of tea

Dim Sum at Zhong Hua Restaurant

Deciding what to eat and where to eat is always a hassle; and the first meal of the day is even more difficult as you've just woken up from a night of sweet slumber.

On a early morning in little Penang, all sorts of food run through your mind as the first meal to start the day but dim sum is always one of the choices especially on a weekend.

Enjoying dim sum in a restaurant amidst the busy traffic at about 9am in the morning is a bliss on a weekend.
I just need to remember to bring along a sweater next time due to the chill from the air-conditioner.

Zhong Hua Chinese restaurant is located on the first floor of the gracefully aging Midlands One Stop Plaza in Pulau Tikus.

They are offering 50% discount for selected dim sum plates.

They start serving dim sum from 9.00a.m and the restaurant is pretty quiet during those early hours.

Even the staff were really dragging their feet around.

One of their staff; a middle aged man, was really rather arrogant and I felt rather disappointed that they can't even put on a smile for their customers early in the morning.
Talk about enjoying your breakfast!

There is a a nice selection of dim sum; mostly made of fish, shrimps, etc.
You are to tick your choice and indicate the quantity on that piece of paper.
The 50% discount is not applicable to the higher range dim sums categorized as L and XL.

One of my favorites; the Cod Fish with shrimp dumplings (The XL range; priced at RM6.90 I think)

Smooth and succulent flesh from the fresh cod fish fillet with equally juicy and crunchy shrimps beneath the fillet, it is a palatable delight!


Chives Dumpling

I find the crystal skin wrapper rather thick though but the shrimps were fresh.
It was a little oily inside; probably to keep the chives to the wrapper.

Rolled shrimp dumplings

No more compliments on the fresh shrimps as I believe they came from the same batch.
This is another nice try!

And plain ol' fish balls


Overall, the dim sum here were not too bad; as this is not the first time I have been here although I have stopped coming here for some time.
But for the promotion, why not?:)

Thai Lunch Buffet @ Prontip

Located at Peel Road in Pulau Tikus area, this restaurant offers Thai cuisine and late last year, they started their Buffet Lunch in the afternoon.
Priced at RM10.90 (weekdays) and RM12.90(weekends), the buffet seems to attract a crowd of Thai food or buffet lovers.


I find choices rather limited as there were only about 10 dishes and dessert, fruits and also drinks.
But for such RM10.90-RM12.90, what more can we ask for, right?:)
They have tomyam soup, Laksa Siam,Kerabu, Fried Vege, Stir-fried vege, Fish/Prawns (Occasional), Chicken, Curry,Fish Cakes, Omelette,Satay, white rice, fried beehoon, fried rice.






Drinks; Chrysanthemum tea, Chinese tea or cordial drink


Fruits and Sweet Sago Dessert

I loved the sago dessert; albeit the greenish color and also the slightly sweet taste and also the chunks of yam which i conveniently tossed out!:P



They have more variety on weekends; since they charge an additional of RM2:)
Not a bad place for a cheap Thai variety for lunch where you can stuff yourselves to the content for RM10.90-RM12.90.

Cuisine Bou

Pulau Tikus in Penang was one of the most happening places and offer a wide variety of food outlets; ranging from hawker food to fine dining outlets.
The most populated offer came from Japanese cuisine, where you see a number of Japanese restaurants residing in the top neighbourhood in the island.

Having tried most of them; or almost all of them, the new Japanese restaurant located along the Belissa Row heading to Cantonment Road caught my eye.
Cuisine Bou was the latest addition to the Japanese Food neighbourhood and we made our way there on one rainy evening.


Pretty neat and relaxing environment
We were there early and were a little disappointed when they told us that the chef was not there yet and we need to wait for 10-15 minutes for the food to be served. Apparently the chef was stuck in traffic due to the heavy rain. Oh well, that was pretty understandable and we told the owner not to worry over it :)


We ordered the Teppanyaki Seafood (RM28)

2 large pieces of Salmon fish fillet, squids, prawns and vegetables were always my favourite type of Japanese food

*If you have been reading my blog, you will notice the almost-similar food I order each time I am go Japanese...in fact, I am pretty generic huh:p

And of course, the Yasai Itame (RM10) - stir fried mixed vegetables



And this was the Spicy Seafood Ramen (RM16) ordered by my ever-food-dynamic foodie partner aka Dear too :)

Pretty nice with the soup and also the fish fillets, prawns and squids...aren't we seafood overdose?:p

It wasn't too spicy though...so it was okay for a non-spicy gal like me:)

And this was complimentary ice-cream; think this was the Green Tea flavour


Not a bad choice for Japanese food and the waiters/waitresses were pretty friendly too :)
With complimentary ice-cream, I am sure floggers would flock here to try too right? *winks*