Penang Kitchen

The Coronation area is slowly but surely heating up as a chowing hotspot for those living in the west. Whether it's to grab a cup of Starbucks on the (newly opened) corner cafe, or to enjoy enticingly flavoured local ice-cream, you can find a whole array of eating places in a walkable stretch that are begging for you to try them.

Having eaten from the Penang Kitchen before, I dropped by on a lazy Monday afternoon to fill mine and my 3 companions' aching bellies for lunch before we went off on various appointments. We ordered 2 portions of the ever reliable Penang Char Kway Teow and the Penang Char Bee Hoon, with a request for one of the plates of Char Kway Teow to be slightly hotter than they usually make it. The first plate of Char Kway Teow came, albeit after a long wait, and was duly noted by the server to be the "more spicy" one, and expecting that the next plate of Char Kway Teow would follow soon after (since in all manner of efficiency, all the chef had to do was fry two portions, scoop half onto a plate, then fry the other half a while longer with more chilli paste, and then serve both plates), my first companion decided to wait before digging in. The wait, however, proved too long as the next plate must have taken more than 7 minutes to come.

Another >7 minute interval had to be observed before the first plate of Char Bee Hoon arrived, and with newfound savvy my dining companion started eating, not trusting that the next plate would come logically soon after. We were prepared to wait for the last plate of Char Bee Hoon to arrive 7 minutes after the first one based on a disastrous combination of the kitchen's seeming inability to multi-task, and warped idea of professionalism, which involved cooking one plate at a time. This of course results in the plates reaching each table at such staggered intervals it's impossible to wait for all to begin eating. The waiting, however reached incredulous heights when we realised other tables (that came in way after we were done ordering) were getting their Char Kway Teows and Assam Laksas long before another plate of Char Bee Hoon was emerging from the kitchen, and it wasn't long before I realised I wasn't going to be getting any food from the Penang Kitchen that day.

The worst part was, when we first brought the error in placing the order to the attention of the waitstaff, no apology was issued. Any savvy restaurant hoping to retain it's customer base would have tried to make amends at that point, but it was only upon settling the bill and prompting from one of my friends who went up to the cashier that any semblance of an apology was made. And even then it was an ambiguous one, with the cashier stating that only one order for Char Bee Hoon was placed (as if we didn't make ourselves clear enough while ordering!). So I left the place with an empty stomach, and a perhaps explainable desire to kick a few chairs on the way out.

From what I have tasted previously, though (you know, since I didn't really get to taste anything this time) the herbal duck is served in a very well flavoured broth, and the Char Kway Teow is, as mentioned earlier, reliably delicious. The service in this place on that day of visit, however, leaves me with a bad enough taste in my mouth for me to swear never to step into the eatery again, unless I'm left with no choice. I normally find waiters repeating orders slightly redundant and thus grating on my nerves, but hopefully by that time, that practice has been made mandatory in this eatery.

Missed out going to this place for a long time.

Food: 3 of us ordered penang fried kway teow, seafood beehoon, seafood mee sua and their "lor bak". Lor bak was well prepared, served with the appropriate sweet sauce and chilli. kway teow was tasty but not enough "ku chai". The seafood items were mediocre, poor value.

Ambience: Simple but aircon worked fine.

Value: Overpriced for simple fare that is not very authentic.

Service: Pleasant enough but waiters not well trained.

My dearest wife and I went there this evening for a quick meal before an appointment. Parking is in Coronation Plaza as there's no street parking nearby. We got there at around 7.30pm and managed to snag the last table (two subsequent groups were turned away). We ordered the assam laksa, chow kuey teow and the Penang Sampler, while for drinks, we had the ice barley with lime, and a hot barley.

The assam laksa came quite quickly - I guess it should be quick given that it probably just consists of chucking the ingredients into a bowl, ladling soup over said ingredients and there you go ... The taste was great and being Malaysian (for what it's worth), I think it is 99% close to being genuine. I would have liked more of the broken up fish in the soup but otherwise it was spicy, sour and piquant enough to be considered a great assam laksa in my view.

Next up, the CKT and the Penang Sampler arrived. The CKT had good (not great) "wok hei" and looked good to boot. The bean sprouts were crunchy and this offset the softness of the kuey teow. There were five prawns mixed in and my wife pointed out that they were not de-veined and thus only ate three of them. If there's one criticism of the dish, it's that it's not oily enough so that by the time you get to the last few spoonfuls, the kuey teow has kinda congealed into little lumps. Meanwhile the loh bak and sambal chicken wings in the Penang Sampler were delicious enough.

Then dessert: I had the sago gula melaka while my wife had the bubur hitam. Both were great so no complaints here.

We'll be back for sure!

Great penang food.
Love the laksa.

Service is however very slow.

The penang food in penang kitchen is thus far as close as i can get to penang style food. My family swears that it is 1 of the places which actually serves something close to the real thing.

The duck soup mee sua and the fried kway teo and 2 of the items which when i think of them makes my saliva drip and my tummy go hungry.

the only thing is the price, if the price was not that high, i would have most prob down 3 plates of the kway teow and 2 bowls of the mee sua.

the drinks and dessert are also quite refreshing and unique to the shop, thus far not been able to find similar tastes anywhere.

As much as i like the food, which i like very much, its location and pricing is 1 of those "boutique food places " which i would frequent only if i am in the area.

BUT IF I AM in the area, i will most defintely go there to eat, other than the MAC donalds down the road at serene centre.

You will find standard Penang fare here: Char Kway Teow, Hokkien Mee, Laksa, Herbal Duck Mee Sua, Rojak etc but I found the taste to be very average and hence, expensive, for the low satisfaction quotient. What you'll leave this eatery with is, only the smell of Penang Kitchen on your clothes and hair.

How come no one mentioned the mee sua (swa??)Actually am not a big fan of mee sua usually - it kind of falls into the category of sick pple food.. like porridge and macaroni...

BUT the one here is really yummy. They have 2 versions - one soupier and the other more starchy, bit like horfun style. Both served in claypot. Very comfort food... (= Yummy!

Aside from the must try CKT and Rojak.. give this simple dish a chance ;)

I've never been to Penang, but to be honest, I always cannot differentiate Malaysian food from Singaporean food, except for some seasoning differences.

You can only tell that no mater how u cook a hokkien mee in Perth, it will never taste like hokkien mee in Singapore, that's all I know.

Anyway, me and my boi always like to find out about new food. So we walked past the place once and thought to return to try the food. We originally thought to try the Curry Wok, but it was packed, so we went over to Penang Kitchen.

This is not bad. a bit noisy cos there was a family with a toddler. Obviously the toddler is the love of their life, but not mine (life anyway), so it was really irritating to have the little thing screaming and shouting when its parents find that endearing.

Spoils my mood to eat really, so if anyone can open a place strictly for adults only, do let me know. *bliss*

Back to my food. We both decided to order the prawn noodles cos it look delicious on the picture (we are visual creatures) and order the sampler, which has the lor bak and something else. We both like the lor bak.

When the noodles came, it was covered with chilli, so my boi scooped his into my bowl and gave me a huge grin. :D

Turns out to be pretty spicy but I like the spicy soup and I think it's really good! one of the best prawn noodles I've ever tasted.

The place however can do with better hygiene and ventilation cos my long silky glossy hair taste like prawn noodles after. whahahahahahhaahah~

For $8.50 a bowl and $12 for the sampler, don't expect hawker prices. I don't mind cos I wasn't the one footing the bill.

3 Sister's in Penang is the best but outside of Penang, Penang Kitchen serves up the best Penang Char Kway Teow. I think its even better than the famed Penang Hawkers that come to Singapore every now and then.

When I go down to Penang Kitchen, I usually have to order two servings. The Kway Teow has the 'wok hei'... super shiok. It's also not too oily which makes me feel a little better.

Seats here are hard to find as its a really small joint. But be patient as it's worth it. The other stuff here is decent but nothing beats the CKT. Prices are a little more expensive 'cause they ain't no hawker joint.

For Penangites in Singapore, hawkers food here is just not the same lah. The laksa is too lemak, char koay teow (and pretty much everything) too sweet, prawn noodles are either too wet (if fried) or not spicy enough (for the soup version). Heck, there's even you tiao in the rojak! Thankfully, for those craving Penang hawkers food, Penang Kitchen has an *almost* authentic line up, set in a homely cafe with good service - and all at "Penang" (Singapore adjusted) prices too!

Must try: Char koay teow, herbal duck/chicken soup, prawn noodles and laksa.

Downsides: The dessert options lack oomph, some of the other dishes are not up to par, and the location is not as central as most would like.