The lounge is nicely design with floor to ceiling glass window offering some great view of Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya.

Royal Club Room guest can enjoy this lounge whole day, either having some small chat here while enjoying the view, or using the free wireless broadband, or even use the 2 iMacs here. Besides, you can also enjoy free flow of coffee and tea, bottled mineral water, soft drinks and bottled fruit juice too.

Hors d’oeuvre, or better known as appetizers or starters are served daily from 6.00Pm to 8.00Pm too. I personally feel that starting at 6.00PM is a bit too late for me as I usually have my dinner quite early. Starting at 5.00PM or 5.30PM will be much better, but that’s for me.

Food choices are limited with some salads, fruits and some fusion dishes.

Besides, evening cocktails are free flow during this hours too. It seems to me all the liquors here are the cheaper ones in the market, but since it’s free, can’t complaint too much right?

Besides liquor, red and white wine, and champagne are served here too. LY loved the champagne here since it’s sweet based.

I try to eat as little as possible when I am here, but ended up I treated the pre-dinner as my dinner. I enjoy the pandan chicken very much, and end up I have to cancel my reservation at Prime as both me and LY are too full for it.

Total Damage: Complimentary from staying in the Royal Club Room @ Le’ Meridien Kuala Lumpur

Operating hours: 6.00PM to 8.00PM for Hors d’oeuvre

Location: Level 33 @ Le’ Meridien Kuala Lumpur

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While all restaurants inside the hotel are closed at 3.00PM besides Latest Recipe, we had no choice but to dine here.

Prawn Salad @ RM40. Seriously, RM40 for this???!!! Although the salad does taste okay (well, how can one fail in salad?), and the presentation is good, but such small portion…..

Not to mentioned that the prawns ain’t fresh too. 6.0/10

Singapore Fried Bee Hoon @ RM25. If I remember well, Singapore Fried Bee Hoon is supposed to be a bit more wet instead of the total dry version, no? It does taste like normal hotel quality food you will expect noramlly. 4.5/10

Overall, I will just never come back to Latest Recipe for it’s À la carte menu. The buffet spread here is very good though, I had tried it’s buffet breakfast and buffet dinner before, and it’s both impressive!

Hence, come here for the buffet, but other than that, you might as well give it a skip.

Total Damage: Less than RM40 for 2 ( I am using my Starwood Privilege Card hence I got 50% discount on it)

Operating hours: All Day Dining

Location: Latest Recipe @ Le’ Meridien Kuala Lumpur

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Before I am here, I had heard that both Prime and Favola served amazing complimentary bread, and yes, it’s true! The bread here is just AMAZING! I don’t really know the names of the dip bar the olive oil with balsamic vinegar. But it’s just just just great!

I and LY almost finish up all the bread before we force ourself to stop, just so that our stomach won’t be full even before our apetizer is served!  10.0/10

The free wine I got by giving them my Free Complimentary Wine voucher.

Chef’s Antipasti @ RM50. It’s a sampler of five antipasti. Each antipasti has a price range from RM30 to RM45, and although it came with a smaller portion, but I can taste 5 types of it, which is good for me.

Starting from bottom left is the seafood salad which is just normal in my opinion. Nothing to shout about. 6.4/10

To the right, it’s Caprese – Buffalo mozzarella, tomato, basil, garlic confit and oregano. The mozzarella is good! 7.4/10

The middle one is Bruschetta – Smoked salmon, tomato salsa, buffalo mozzarella and porcini ragout. I personally loved the Bruschetta with smoked salmon, yummy! 7.5/10

The top leftt will be Bresaola – shaved dried beef, rocket, cold potato and pommery mustard salad. As I am totally not a fan of rocket, hence to me, it’s just a normal appetizer that I don’t enjoy. 5.0/10

For the top right one, sorry I totally forget what’s the name of it. :p

After the antipasti, soup is served – Zuppa di Pesce alla Marinara @ RM35. Well, in English, it’s seafood tomato and saffron soup, with garlic toast. The garlic toast itself is nothing compare to the complimentary bread, and the soup, well, I can’t say it’s bad, but it’s not memorable. 6.1/10

1 of our main dish, Risotto Nero @ RM50. As many of you will already know, Risotto is a class of Italian dishes of rice cooked in broth to a creamy consistency. So why is the rice black?! Well, it’s actually squid ink risotto. And although the colour of the risotto might be scary, it actually taste wonderful! The toppings will be sauteed slipper lobster, broccolini, lemon rind and cherry tomato.

And yes, the lobster is good! However, I will not recommend most Malaysians to order this and alone, as 1 might find it’s too creamy. Hence it might taste superb if you ate a bit, but the more you consume, it might become too ji-lat. Sharing this among 2 to 3 person is okay though. 7.8/10

Something off the menu, but I saw it from their Cuisine Volume 12: Food and Beverage promotions from April to June 2011, which is Grilled Langoustine @ RM108 (1/2 dozen). A langoustine is a marine crustacean which looks a little like a miniature lobster and a lot like the river dwelling crayfish. It’s grilled with lemon butter and served with refreshing panzanella salad made with bread and vine ripened tomatoes on the side.

However, seeing that it’s a promotion item, it might be a chef’s special or something, which supposedly should be good, right?  It’s however, a total let down. It’s way too salty and although I never had a langoustine before, I just don’t find that it’s fresh as the meat are soggy. 5.5/10

Overall, my dining experience here is okay. I liked the ambiance but I do hope the food can be better considering that the price is not cheap.

Total Damage: RM203.60 (I am a Starwood Privilege Card holder, hence I get 50% discount on food, 20% discount on beverage). Promotion item such as the Grilled Langoustine are not entitled to the Starwood Privilege Card discount.

Operating Hours: Daily Lunch (except Saturday) : 12.00 pm to 2.30 pm
Daily Dinner : 6.30 pm to 11 pm

Contact: 603 – 2263 7434

Location: Le’ Meridien Kuala Lumpur

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It’s Monday, and being a weekday, the restaurant located underground of Westin Kuala Lumpur is sorta empty.

Being served first is the bread, but no way the standard is near to Prime @ Le’ Meridien Kuala Lumpur. The bread is to go with olive oil, which is quite bland in terms of taste, hence just a bite of it, I gave up (just like in almost all other places that served free bread before my food).

Maybe that’s just because I hate most bread unless it was reallllly delicious, but well…

The waiter is a friendly one, and for appetizer, we get the Hokkaido Scallops and Western King Prawns with Romesco Sauce @ RM38. Well, I must say the Romesco Sauce is actually very unique and I like it very much. However, something I can’t accept is, for such a restaurant, the prawns served ain’t fresh at all! The prawns is soggy and does not have the sweet seafood taste that it should have. The scallop itself was okay though. 6.0/10 (the score will be much much higher if the prawns are fresh)

For LY, I get her the QBA Signature steak without wine pairing @ RM168. The concept of this is the same with Prime’s Simply the Best, where 3 type of meats, each 100gm are served for you to sample. Every piece of meat is really really tender and taste excellent! Due to the fact that I only have 1 small bite for each piece of meat, I can’t really give a good review here, but what I can say is all 3 are way much better than the Oyster Blade Steak I had few days back. 8.0/10

Tasman Beef Sirloin, Fresh Green Horseradish Butter and Sautéed Baby English Spinach. I had few days back.

Master Kobe Oyster Blade, Piquillo Peppers and Canary Bean Puree.  (much much much tender than the other oyster blade)

1824 Grain Fed Eye Fillet 200 days, Cep Mushroom Gratin and Habanero Bearnaise.

So, while the Signature steak is quite satisfying, what will be the outcome of my cut? Being piss off just few days back, I straight away tell the waiter of my disappointment few days back, and ask him to recommend me something that will literally melt in my mouth type of steak.

And hence, medium rare doneness Australian Wagyu – Centre Cut Eye Fillet Mignon Sc 7 , 300gm @ RM268. It might looks small, but it’s actually quite thick and very filling for me.

And whao, it taste good! The meat is so much more tender than all of the other steak I had tried. However, as much as it taste awesome, it still doesn’t really give me the ‘melt in mouth’ sensation. Am I asking for too much? I don’t know. But this piece of meat is rather satisfying for me. 8.5/10

Total Damange : RM274.90 (I am a Starwood Privilege Card holder, hence I get 50% discount on food, 20% discount on beverage)

Operating Hours: Monday – Saturday 6.30pm – 10.30pm, Closed on Sunday

Contact:  03 –  2773 8338

Location: Westin Kuala Lumpur

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Well, first of all, it’s a small family business, operate by the couple Michele and Tonio. The building is already quite a history itself  and is part of the heritage pre-war building.

Besides, rather than serving the traditional local Chinese/Malay/Indian hawker food you can find all around in Penang, it served Italian food instead.

My beautiful Cappuccino @ RM5.

And LY’s freshly squeeze and flavourful Orange Juice @ RM5. Price might a bit steep you might say as we are not dining in a air-conditioned restaurant, but the orange juice is pure and good, unlike those you get in normal coffee shop where you taste water and sugar syrup more rather than orange.

Instead of giving a beautifully designed menu handled to you to order your choice of food, all the food served are hand written on the chalkboard on the wall. While for the beverage menu, customers are given a hand-written paper though.

It’s breakfast time, and I had their English breakfast with Bacon @ RM9.

Nothing special, well it’s just normal breakfast although the bacon is nice.

The Yoghurt Muesli on Papaya @ RM9 is something really special though as I never saw it before. Home made yoghurt pair with muesli, and the original sweetness of the papaya, what a healthy breakfast!

I really enjoy myself eating here, quiet and slow pace, relaxing and reading my newspaper while sipping some coffee. Excellent! I will definitely come back here for their lunch or dinner menu!

However, my dear Michele and Tonio, please don’t commercialize yourself too much or by expanding too fast. Stay as it is now, don’t be another Lang Sae Lee @ Tan Jetty where the quality of food drop rapidly when they become famous. Please don’t make us Penangtie lost another gateway for breakfast.

Total Damage: RM28 for 2 person

Operating Hours: 10am – 3pm & 6pm – 9pm ( Closed on Tuesday)

Location: No. 102, Lebuh Muntri, Penang

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Luckily, La Bodega is the saviour,  unluckily the nearest La Bodega is like 400km far from my house. Sigh…..

The thing I love about La Bodega is the wide choice of finger food aka Tapas, which is inexpensive and in good quality. The choices of wine, cocktail and beer is amazing too.

For the starters, I and LY opt for the Mediterranean Style Seafood Soup @ RM26 which is quite appetizing, prepare our stomach for the upcoming dish. 8.0/10

Our first Tapas served will be Patatas con alioli picante @ RM11.

HUH??? Well, it’s actually Potatoes in a spicy garlic mayonnaise. Man, this is the type of snacks should be served when drinking, and not those stupid French Fries. The spicy garlic mayonnaise sauce is really really good. Absolutely love it with my Hoegaarden. 8.5/10

Gambas al ajillo @ RM24. Er…okay, it’s tiger prawns sauteed with olive oil and garlic. This might be too oily for most people although the supposedly healthier olive oil is used. I don’t really enjoy this dish as much although the prawns were fresh. I can’t really drink the soup by itself too since it’s too oily. 7.0/10

Sorry I forget the name of this dish, but it’s kind of some seafood salad which is served cold. All the ingredients are very fresh and it taste great! 7.8/10

How I miss La Bodega with it’s great choice of finger food while I drink and have some small chat with my friends, and how I wish someone can open something similar in Penang. Sighh….

Total Damage: RM166.75 (2 person with 2 pint of Hoegaarden)

Location: Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur

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I know I might get a lot of hatred mail or even shrugs or disbelieve, well….

Okay, to start it off, it’s LY birthday, I decided to bring her to Prime, the highly sung best place to have steak in Malaysia. I am especially excited when I saw that their Blackmore Wagyu promotion is back, hence I can finally taste the melt in mouth kind of steak for the first time!

Red meat must go with red wine, and since I am not a Wine expert at all, I asked the waiter to recommend me a wine which is not dry and sweet, hence I was recommended the Terrazas Mabec @ RM190, which is exactly what I want. Kudos to them!

After we made our order, the bread is here. Yes, it’s definitely the best ever bread I had tasted in restaurant. I especially love the Emmental Cheese & Black Pepper Bread which is just amazing to go on with the 3 types of butter which is 1 infused with spinach,  1 is salted and the other is with poppyseed (from left to right). The bread itself is already amazing and great on it’s own, and with the super creamy and soft and generous butter, it’s just AMAZING! Seriously a perfect score for a bread! 10.0/10

I also ordered their Lobster Bisque @ RM45. The soup was divided into 2 portion without me asking and no extra charge, how attentive!

The soup itself is super yummylicious, so infused with the taste of lobster, and the crust is so thin and great! Simply amazing.  9.8/10

It’s also my first time having Foie Gras @ RM75. Charcoal grilled, terrine and crème brûlée from left to right. I especially love the with crème brûlée with caramelised top. I can’t say I really enjoy this French delicacy though but I know very well it just me. 7.0/10

Okay, service is awesome, food is great, ambiance is awesome, wine is good, I am so excited and waiting for my steak to be presented in front of me! Being cheap I order their cheapest Blackmore Wagyu promotion @ RM98 (I forget the name of the steak, something blackmore wagyu …. one, but in receipt it wrote blackmore wagyu ribeye). And no, I got a hard time on cutting my steak with my knife on some part, let alone on melt in mouth! My steak doneness was medium though. Seriously, I am hugely disappointed. I thought that I will only face this (hard time cutting my steak with knife) in those stall selling western food in food court! In most part when I am able to cut the meat, I need to chew chew chew chew and chew, what jaw exercise! 2.5/10

When the manager came and ask how is my steak, I straight away tell him it was bad. He proceed and ask what I order and the donness of my steak. The manager then told me that my steak is actually the 2nd grade cut, and for me to get the melt in mouth feel, I should order their premium cut such as the Chuck Flap Tail. Being disagree as my steak is really too bad, I proceed and show him how hard isit for me to cut my steak, the manager straight away tell me, something is wrong as it shouldn’t be that bad. He then proceed to say he will change a premium cut for me, and ask me to wait for a while.

I gladly say okay.

While waiting, LY’s Australian Master Kobe Oyster Blade Steak @ RM130 (doness: medium) is here. Although she does sometimes face cutting problem of her steak, but it’s much much better than mine. It’s miles away from my previous best steak experience. Seriously at this price, I still find that what we get should be better. 6.9/10

Okay, so after around 15minutes, my new cut of steak is served – Blackmore Wagyu Chuck Flap Tail @ RM180 (from the menu). Doness is medium rare. Well, although it’s much better from my previous cut, but still, I still got some hard time in cutting it in some part! What????!!!

You must be asking am I serious. Yes, I am dead serious! So how about the melt in the mouth part? Er….if a steak is hard to cut, how do you think it will be? Jaw exercise of course!

At this point of time, I am too lazy and don’t have the mood at all to take any picture of it. Hence sorry, no picture of the Chuck Flap Tail. I can’t even finish my steak and left after finishing the wine. Don’t even bother for desert, and I sorta lied to the manager by saying the steak is ok when he asked me again.

Some of you might asked,  did I have to pay for the Chuck Flap Tail or not. No, I don’t. I only pay for the cut I ordered. This is why I called it great service! Besides, when I posted it on their website, someone immediately responded to me. Another superb great after sales service.

Hence, I will definitely give Prime another chance, not only because of their fame, but mainly due to their superb excellent service that lead me to give them a second chance.

PS: Fawked, I am sorry if this post annoyed you. Thanks for the help and I appreciate it

Total Damage: RM378.15 (I am a Starwood Privilege Card holder, hence I get 50% discount on food, 20% discount on beverage)

Operating Hours: Monday to Friday – 12.00 pm to 2.30 pm (lunch)

Monday to Sunday – 6.30 pm to 11.00 pm (dinner)

Location: Le’ Meridien Kuala Lumpur

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The environment here is really great, especially for a crowded place like Penang, where land is limited. By judging so many old trees around, and even a river (Air Itam River) beside it, one will think that it is located totally out of George Town, which was not.

The design and architecture of Suffolk House is also one of the purest example of Anglo-Indian architecture outside of India. So if one is interested in history and architecture, shall look into it more. One should also noted that it takes more than 40 years and efforts of countless individuals to restore one of the earliest heritage of Penang into this now.

We walk around the building before we settle down. The environment here is great. Drinking and chit-chating at the lounge area will let you totally forget that you are actually inside the city of Penang. I feel like I was at some island relaxing when I walk around here.

Some shots taken at the dining area.

I love the decoration here, gives you a very warm feeling. You can see that another customer is also taking pictures too.

We were then lead to our table when we finish looking around and taking pictures. Only 2 table include us was there when we were being seated, which is good, as for fine dining, the lesser people around is the better in my opinion.

Suffolk house only offer set dinner, but the set dinner is also a unique one. It’s a 8 course meal. You choose your main dish (5 type to choose from), where price range from RM90 to RM120, and you will get 7 more which range from appetizer to dessert.

Sundried tomato. Err….seriously, this dish is nothing. Can’t feel anything special, or nice on it. Worthless for me.

Tuna with honey sauce. This is not bad though, but I do find that the appearance is a bit messy for fine dining. But as long as it taste not bad, ok la.

Seasame tofu, baby spinach, olive & pudina leaf with tomato chili lime dressing. This is good, I am starting to love those salad served at fine dining restaurant since the one at 32 the Mansion is great too. It’s very refreshing, and the dressing is just great.

Cream of carrot & celery shop with buttered toast. This soup is GREAT! I love it very much, and was wondered, why so small cup! I can finish up the whole bowl man. It’s great!

Tomato sorbet with plum shavings. It’s not bad too. The sour plum shavings makes the tomato sorbet taste both sour and sweet, and it really open you appetite and make you want to eat more for your next dish.

Here comes the mains. You can choose from fish, lamb, beef, chicken or spaghetti.

Panfried cod fillet with tarragon grape cream sauce @ RM115.

Charbroiled grainfed beef tenderloin with mustard seed black pepper cream @ RM130. This is awesome. The beef is juicy enough even though it was ordered as well done. The best main course that they offered in my opinion.

Chan-grilled rack of lamb with rosemary infused lamb jus @ RM120. This is what I ordered. The lamb is tender enough, but the way it was cooked, was just average in my opinion.

Chan-grilled chicken with pineapple barbeque jus @ RM95. This dish really reminds me of Secret Recipe. Just like the kebab with rice served there. Please don’t order this unless you wanted to be disappointed. It really taste like the one at Secret Recipe.

Desert time. 3 types of desert was served.

Vanilla ice cream with chocolate biscuit. The biscuit taste not bad though.

Banana spring roll with caramel drizzle. I don’t really like this.

Orange almond cake with citrus syrup. Hm…ok la this one. Taste like normal cake lo lol.

After desert, we were served with coffee/tea with frothed milk, which conclude our 8 course set dinner. Dining here at Suffolk House is really a nice experience, especially when you want to surprise your girlfriend/wife. The atmosphere really make up everything, and the quiet environment also make it up. They also change their menu every week, so each time you visit, you will be eating different dish. I won’t say it’s a Must Try! restaurant as most of their food is average only, but definitely a good restaurant to dine, especially on special occasion!

Total Damage: RM800 for 5 person, include 1 bottle of wine

Location: 250, Jalan Air Itam, 10460 Penang (When at Jalan Air Itam, turn left into the small road which is before you pass by Methodist Boys School. The road is very small, and please be alert while you are nearby or you will certainly miss it. There’s a sign board showing Malaysia German Society at the entrance of the road. After turn in, just follow the road straight to the back, and you will reach eventually)

Contact: 04-228 3930

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References:

Restoration of Suffolk House – Penang Heritage Trust website.

The beautiful building of where 32 at the mansion located in.

The lounge outside the main dining area. However, on that day itself, nobody was there. Not even a single waiter.

The bar beside the main dining area is really a great place to have a sip of cocktail while listening to the music and enjoy the blow of sea wind.

Some shots inside the main dining area. The center stage is where live band perform during the night.

Another view of the restaurant inside.

I actually reserve my table for 9pm, but we reach at around 8.15pm.However, they manage to get us a table for us although we are way too early.

Since it’s Christmas eve, they only have set dinner, a 4 course meal at RM120++. We only have 3 choices for the main dish, which is turkey, seabass and steak. I opt for turkey (well it’s Christmas!) while LY opt for seabass.

Appetizer came first, a total of 4, all in small servings, but all seems nice (besides the one 2nd from right which looks normal).

X’mas parcel of mixed seafood “nantua”. This is good, however, it gives me a very Chinese taste, like eating some claypot seafood.

Slipper lobster in “sarong” with curried cream. The single most normal dish for the day. It taste just like normal fried prawns, just except that it’s lobster.

Tuna with some special wasabi sauce. Well, this taste actually not bad. Something special and nice.

The salad is great! I love it very much as the lemongrass vinaigrette sauce is really awesome. I am grumbling for the small portion! I want moar!

The soup – “cream of watercress cappuccino” is great too! Hm, sorry for don’t know how to describe it, but yeah, its good.

After the soup, our main dish took some time to come. We waited maybe around 30minutes, but since we are not in a hurry we just wait. 2 of the waiter apologize to us for taking so long although we did not complain, neither we show our impatience face. Good service.

LY’s main dish – Grilled seabass filet with salsa verde & avacado cream sauce. 1st few mouth it’s not bad, but after that it seems to give some boring taste. Anyway, still not bad.

My main – Roast x’mas turkey with port wine cranberry demigiaze spiced plum. This is not bad too. The sauce is a bit sweet, thus making it to become boring after some time. However, I still don’t really like turkey as turkey meat is usually very lean.

Desert time! From left to right is fruit cake, banana strudel and vanilla ice cream. Well, I don’t know is it that I am too full for drinking too much water while waiting my food to come or what, the desert is bad. I always love to eat desert, but the desert is just disappointing. For the fruit cake, those that you can get a good bakery taste better, while the banana strudel is nothing else but sweet. The ice cream, well, it’s just a scoop of ice cream with some sour strawberry, not Häagen-Dazs also.

Anyway you look at it, 32 at the mansion is still a very nice place to dine at Penang. The environment just make it up as it’s very romantic, quiet for 2 person to dine in. I would very much wish to come here and dine again during normal days and see how’s their food quality when the crowd is not as much. Definitely a good restaurant that worth to visit if you plan to have fine dining in Penang!

Total damage: RM276 for 2 person

Location: 32, Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah

Contact: 604-262 2232

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