♥ Smokeless BBQ at Nation's Barbecue, Georgetown, Penang

Located at Jalan Trengganu and right opposite to Lye Lye (新来来) hawker centre, Nation's Barbecue which officially opened for business on November 20 with the "smokeless BBQ" condition did caught our attention. Hence, we decided to drop by for a different bbq experience. 

This restaurant is not really spacious, with only about 6 tables both inside and outside. 

The only wall decoration we could see.

For the bbq method, traditional charcoal burner and smokeless charcoal are used. They will prepare everything and start up the fire for you, so you won't get your hands dirty starting up the fire and you don't have to afraid of being burn.

This restaurant offers ala-carte but not buffet-styled barbecue. Barbecue ingredients/ items in the order chit, with prices ranged from RM 3 to RM 15, includes the pork (tenderloin, belly, loin, tongue, heart), beef (short rib, strip loin), chicken (wing, fillet, gizzard, bishop nose, pandan /chicken, loh bak), lamb (shoulder, loin), vegetables (mushroom, enoki, shimeji, eryngii, zucchini, capsicum, yellow onion, corn, brinjal), seafood (prawn, squid, crockle, crab claw) and drink. They serves also some special food items such as bbq pork spare ribs, beef/ pork yakiniku, pork belly rolls with enoki and marinated chicken satay. In addition, there are bbq set for 2 or 4 pax. For a complete menu items and price, you can refer to the order chit below. 

BBQ set for two (RM 45). 
This set came with chicken wing x 2 sticks, chicken fillet 50g, belly 100g, loin 100g, pork meatball 50g, mushroom x 2 sticks, enoki x 3 sticks, squid 50g, prawn 50g, onion 50g, capsicum 100g and rice x 2 bowls. 

Some of the ingredients were marinated with sauce which is quite good in flavour (slightly salty), with a sprinkle of sesame, pepper and chilli flakes. 

The chicken wings were real savoury (thumbs up for their marinate). The enoki is another item which worth a mention, an quick and easy ingredient for bbq and it was very juicy. However, the rice which came together was too dry. As for the capsicum and onion, we grilled them until reasonably tender, then we placed the other food ingredients such as chicken fillet on top and grilled. This way can further enhance the foods flavour as well as to help preventing the chicken fillet from badly charred.

Smoke is produced by the dripping sauce on the burning charcoal.

Complementary salt pepper, chilli flakes and home-made dipping sauce are given. You can sprinkle some salt pepper/chilli flakes on food which is not marinated to enhance its flavour. 

As for the home-made dipping sauce, the taste is rather special and quite appetizing, spicy and sour at the same time. It goes very well with all the food items.

Overall, it was really an exciting bbq experience. However, improvement should be made for the indoor ventilation. It was quite stuffy and we felt hot sitting inside. The smokey bbq scent on our body and hair was strong and not pleasing. Service was very slow as well. 

Nation's Barbecue 全民炭烤店

Location: 80-T, Jalan Trengganu, Georgetown, 10460 Penang, Malaysia.

Business Hours: Mon - Thu: 18:00 - 00:00, Fri - Sat: 18:00 - 02:00, Sun: 18:00 - 00:00

Webpage: http://www.facebook.com/nationsBBQ

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♥ The Good Batch at Damansara Uptown, Petaling Jaya, Selangor

The Good Batch, one of the cafe which being featured as the top 10 brunch cafe in The Star newspaper, is definitely a place that worth checking out. We were there on a Saturday night for dinner. 

This cafe is quite spacious. With cemented floor, wooden tables and dim lighting, it provides a calm and relaxing environment for you to dine in. However, we don't really like the indoor smoking area at the back.

The all-day bar.

Some of the decoration items.

After a glance at their menu, then only we discover they are offering all-day breakfast/brunch dishes as well as a few after 6pm mains, desserts, coffee, juices and alcohol beverages (Not to forget to mention, this cafe has an all-day bar). Although with quite limited options, all the food items in the menu sound delectable (especially those egg-laden breakfast platters). 

Caffe Latte (RM 8.50)

Not too sweet, not too bitter, and to my brother liking. Between, complimentary water is given to all the dine-in customers. 

The "Ang Moh" (RM 25.90)

Consists of two softly scrambled organic eggs, streaky beef bacon, grilled chicken sausage, ripened cherry tomatoes, baked "Portobello" mushroom, pan fried potatoes, dad's baked beans and lightly toasted bread. 

We like the scrambled eggs as they are softly set, slightly runny in places and moist in texture. The streaky beef bacon was irresistible, it wasn't the crispy type, not too hard in texture and most importantly not salty. The cherry tomatoes were juicy and the pan fried potatoes were tasted really good, slight crispy on the outside yet perfectly done on the inside. The bread had a slight hint of vanilla flavour.

The baked "Portobello" mushroom which served together with The "Angmoh". One of the best baked mushroom we ever tasted, great tasting, juicy and we like its dense flavour.

Hang Over Mess (RM 20.90)

Corned beef mixed with pan-fried potatoes and capsicums, topped with two sunny side-up and drizzled with herb-infused  Hollandaise. Portion was considered small although with a quite generous amount of potatoes and corned beef. The sunny side-up was good, especially when you eat it with the Hollandaise sauce. However, the corned beef hash texture wasn't really pleasant to us in term of the tenderness (too soft), but it goes very well with the pan-fried potatoes.

The Italian Job (RM 24.90)

A creamy Portobello mushroom risotto topped with poached egg. The poached egg was perfect and good. The same goes to the Portobello mushroom, so good in taste and juicy. The risotto was made with cheese and it was smooth, creamy and oozy. A thumbs up for this dish, although the portion was quite small.

New Yorker (RM 23.90)

Version of hotdog with a twist, topped with corned beef, completed with a mix of their homemade sauces, served with a side of chips. Hotdog was just normal, corned beef was the same as those served in Hangover Mess, the chips were good and in overall, this dish wasn't a bad try.

The Good Stuff (RM24.90)

A mouth-watering dessert which looks appetizing. This freshly baked toast with mangoes was lightly dusted with powdered sugar and paired with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. One of the best sweet dessert we ever tried.

The Good Batch, awesome place for a brunch retreat although the price is on a higher side.

The Good Batch

Location: 53, SS21/1A, 47400 Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

Website: http://www.facebook.com/thegoodbatchkl

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♥ Gala House Restaurant & Cafe at Jalan Muntri, Georgetown, Penang

I love my December 2013 which was an interesting month. I spent almost the whole month of December travelling, to Langkawi, then to Lake Toba and Medan Indonesia, followed by Penang, before the year 2013 approaching its end. I will first share the trip to Penang and here a short summary of the place/ cafe/ restaurant we went:

Day 1: Goku Raku Ramen

Day 2: Ah Lai Coffee Shop; Ali Nasi Lemak Daun Pisang (blogged); Soohongry (blogged); Toys Cafe; some street arts; Gala House Restaurant & Cafe (blogged); Armenian Street Got Talent event

Day 3: Pit Stop Cafe; Balik Pulau (Genting Hill, also called little Genting; 客家山寨 Balik Pulau Lodge; Saneen Goat Farm ); Teluk Bahang Dam; Ben's by BIG 

Day 4: Heaven Gate Dine and wine lounge 

Day 5: Nation's Barbecue (blogged); count down to year 2014

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Gala means happiness. Gala House Restaurant and Cafe serves western and Penang heritage fusion cuisine which based on spices and herbs (This was told by a friendly staff). 

The same concept goes to the interior design of this restaurant. The front of the restaurant building gives us heritage feeling whereas the interior design more on a mix of Western and heritage concept, with quite lovely, romantic and vintage ambiance. Flower and plant pot are one of the decorative items on the table.

The menu and the wifi password.

Wala-wala asparagus, green curry pasta with prawn and kimchi salmon spaghetti are their signature pasta dishes. Other than pasta, lemon grass chicken skewers, lamb osso bucco and the gala steak are the others signature main dishes. In addition to pasta and main dish, they also serves salad, soup, sandwiches and burgers, as well as asian delights such as rendang chicken, curry chicken and Thai curry. 

Wala-wala asparagus (RM 18.00)
This is a spaghetti stir fried with clams and asparagus. The amount of clams are quite generous. The clams are fresh, slight salty with hint of spices, therefore matches quite well with the spaghetti which is quite plain and milder in taste (with only garlic and olive oil). The asparagus is fresh and crunchy. This spaghetti in overall, not too oily and more mild flavoured but we enjoyed it.

Herb-roasted chicken (RM 28.90)
Roasted half chicken served with baby potatoes and mushroom sauce. This roasted chicken is golden brown in colour and not over-roasted. The meat is surprisingly quite moist and not tough in texture with mild herb flavour. The mushroom gravy is special and delicious, with mild sweetness and it goes very well with the roasted chicken. A succulent meal.

For beverages, they serves quite a few special coffee drinks and some with hint of liquor. For example, orang kaya coffee (chocolate brandy affogato), gala's coffee (ice-blended coffee liquor with coconut flavour), a-lo-ha (kahlua coconut latte), bailey's caramel (mixture of bailey's and rich coffee), etc. However, coffee is too heavy for us and so we ordered only a cup of hot Chamomile tea.

Chamomile tea (RM 5.90)
This is a herbal tea and contains no caffeine. It is quite smooth and not too bitter. A good tea to calm an upset stomach.

We had a pleasant dining experience at Gala House. The foods presentation is good. 

Another thing which worth to mention is their superb service and the staff is really friendly. They came to us and asked our comment on the spaghetti. They even suggested and offered a new plate of wala-wala asparagus which is more strong in taste or slight salty, when we commented the spaghetti is mild in flavour. Thumbs up for their excellent service.

Gala House Restaurant and Cafe

Location: 102, Lebuh Muntri, 10200 Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia.

Business Hours: 12pm to 12am daily

Website: http://galahouse.com.my/ and https://www.facebook.com/galahouse.com.my