PUTIEN Annual Eel Festival 2023 @ PUTIEN Malaysia, Gurney Paragon Mall

It’s the time of the year again for another round of Eel feast in Putien restaurants in Malaysia. This year’s festival is slightly different with Putien Malaysia introducing a few new recipes as additions to the current Eel Festival Menu.

Same like previous years, all selected quality eels were flown in from Shunde Guangdong, China and only the best quality will be picked for the feast.

Special thanks to Putien Malaysia for having me over to try the new menu.

First dish was featuring Fresh Eel Cooked in Spring Water 山泉水煮活鳗鱼where you can taste the best flavour from fresh eel with minimal flavouring added to this dish. This dish will be cooked in front of the diners and will be served individually to you. The soup will only add some ginger, spring onion and goji berries for flavouring. You can taste the sweetness from the fresh and soft eel meat.

Second dish for Eel Festival was Baked Eel Dressed in Garlic & Puning Bean Sauce普宁豆酱焗鳗鱼 was a stronger flavoured eel dish on the menu. This dish served really hot and the waiter will further stir-fried the dish when it is served on the table to let the flavours further infused into the eel meats. This dish is slightly stronger in flavour and goes well with any rice and noodle. The eel meats in this dish is quite springy unlike the one cooked in soup but nevertheless this one should be more favourable by majority. 

The other eel dishes available are2Eel in Fujian Fermented Red Rice Wine福建特色红糟鳗, Spicy Pan-fried Eel 辣子烧鳗, and Steamed Eel in Garlic and Soy Bean Sauce 蒜蓉豆豉蒸鳗鱼.

One of my top favourite dishes in Putien would be none other than the Deep-fried Pork Trotters with Salt & Pepper seasoning 椒盐猪手 that is well balanced in fat and meat layers. The pork trotters were fried to perfection and created the crispiness outer layer with juicy meat inside. One is definitely not enough for me.

One dish that I didn't noticed on the menu before was this Fried Prawn with Cereal 风味麦片虾 which was deep fried to crispy and then stir-fried with some fine cereal they have. The prawns were kinda juicy and fresh, you can even chew it with the shell along as it was kinda crispy, don't waste every bit of it. 

You will not feel unfamiliar with this red-looking dish if you know something about FooChow people.

Being one of the most popular dishes and also the must have festive dish of FooChow people, Chicken in Fermented Red Rice Wine 砂锅红糟鸡 is also one of the must try dishes in Putien Malaysia. It is one of the uncommon dishes available in Malaysia and for people who are not sure how it tasted like, this version in Putien is slightly sweet and a little bit of fermented sour note. Every FooChow family has their own version of red wine paste so although we are cooking the same dish, the taste could be different. 

Other popular dishes in Putien Restaurant are also some of their signature dishes such as their 

虾苗拌头水紫菜 Seaweed with Mini Shrimps 

一品醉鲜鱿 Drunken Squid

莆田荔枝肉 Putien Sweet & Sour Pork with Lychee

自制滑豆腐 Homemade Bean Curd

So how can we finish a meal without some good desserts? 
If you are coming with your family, I'm sure the good desserts in Putien can easily attract some of you or the elderly in your family as there are some good traditional desserts available. 
I've tried the Double-boiled Pear with Osmanthus and Aged Mandarin Peel 桂花陈皮炖雪梨 which was really juicy and put a good ending to my dinner.

Dishes in PUTIEN Restaurant were never disappointing, always the perfect place for a good meal with your friends and family. 

 

Shop, Sip and Save: Sacoor Blue Rewards Shoppers with Free Coffee

Sacoor Blue, a brand with sustainable living at its heart, has collaborated with popular local coffee chain ZUS Coffee to offer a delightful reward to its customers - free drinks! Sacoor Blue shoppers will be thrilled to receive a complimentary ZUS Coffee voucher worth RM15 for every RM199 spent at participating Sacoor Blue outlets*.

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Terms and Conditions

Promotion Period: 25 August - 17 September, 2023.

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Under The Sea Seafood Buffet @ Jazz Hotel Penang

We all heard about Seafood buffet here and there in Penang, but have you heard about a very affordable seafood buffet in a hotel that just launch recently? With RM108nett, you can enjoy unlimited servings of crabs, prawns, shellfishes and many more. 

Jazz Hotel opened its door recently with a restaurant named Feast At Jazz and just launched their new buffet themed "Under The Sea Seafood Buffet" priced at only RM108nett per person and RM88nett for children and senior citizens. 

The restaurant can caters over hundreds of diners depending on seating arrangements in a comfortable dining environment. The buffet theme features wide range of food selection from appetisers, mains, desserts and many more in local and fusion style. 

Steamed Rice & Mexican Rice

Mushroom Soup & Tom Yam Soup

Prawn Curry, Squid with Egg Yolk & Chili Padi & Chili Crab. 

Savour the freshness from selected juicy seafood cooked in curry, sweet and spicy and the famous Singapore Chili Crab style. Best is you get unlimited serving of these so you can enjoy as much as you want with only one price, definitely more worthy that spending so much in a seafood restaurant.

For western food lovers, you can enjoy some of their western style cuisine such as the Pot Roast Beef, Chicken Pie, Sweet Potato Gratin and many more available on the spread. The hot food section will make you feel like trying everything even before the action counters where more food selections available. 

Spaghetti Carbonara, the juicy Tandoori Sausage and french fries are also specially made for the children if you are dining with your kids. What's even better? They have specially prepared cutleries for the children so you don't have to worry about breaking anything and these cutleries are so cute that will definitely help in feeding your children.

It's a seafood themed buffet of course are we in for some fresh and juicy seafood on ice!

On the "Seafood On Ice" section we get to enjoy poached prawns, squid, flower crabs, clams and many more on the spread.

For only RM108nett, you get unlimited servings of all these goodies, definitely won't be able to enjoy it at other buffets at this price.

In the action counter, there's a corner specialised in cooking shellfishes where you can pick your own seafood and let the chef do their magic. 
On that night we get to choose in between Masak Lemak Cili Padi or Sweet & Sour style to go with our seafood so we picked up two bowls and tried both. 

Sweet & Sour version

Masak Lemak Cili Padi version, which was really appetising and flavourful.

If you are into local foods, then you can give their prawn noodle and char koay teow a try. Especially the prawn noodle which has really thick and fishy broth, never thought that I could have a very good prawn noodle in a hotel restaurant.

Sashimi selections: Smoked Tenggiri or Smoked Salmon

If you are into salad, there is a salad bar available available, or you can also for local's favourite making your own Pasembur. A few types of starters are also available on the spread.

Presented to you are wide selections of mouthwatering desserts including tarts, cakes, pudding, chocolates and many more.

 

Marshmallow with PINK Chocolate Fondue specially prepared by the restaurant to match the theme colour of Jazz Hotel Penang.

Craving for ice kacang? 

Come and customise your own ice kacang in the dessert section and choose whichever ingredients you want to fill up your bowl and select Sarsi syrup, rose syrup and evaporated milk to go with your ice kacang. 

If you are in for some drinking, you just gotta add on RM60nett to enjoy unlimited servings of wine and beer. This definitely save you a lot from drinking at a bar or pub. So why not invite your family and friends for dining and drinking here?

It was Father's Day eve when we dined at the restaurant and the chef team specially prepared a cake and dessert table for all the lovely families who celebrated there. They also invited all the guests to join them for singing and cutting cake together.

"Under The Sea" Seafood Buffet at Feast At Jazz is definitely worthy of your money spend and it only happens once a week which is on Saturday hence advanced booking is highly recommended since they have limited seats available. Reservation hotline is (6010) 373 1551

Jazz Hotel Penang is a premier destination that offers exceptional experiences and modern comforts. Located in Tanjung Tokong, Penang, our hotel provides stylish accommodations and attentive service for a delightful stay.

Jazz Hotel Penang

No. 1, Jalan Seri Tg Pinang Seri Tanjung Pinang, 10470 Tanjung Tokong, Penang.

+604-818 0393 | jazzpg@jazzhotel.com.my

Website: https://www.jazzhotel.com.my/

Forest Canteen 森林食堂 @ Lebuh Farquhar, Penang

Humbly located in a small space in the heart of George Town, Forest Canteen 森林食堂 is a cozy place to have a cup of coffee, a good meal and also a place for us to chill. 

Forest Canteen 森林食堂 is located on the ground floor of Penang Bowl, next to the famous Eastern & Oriental Hotel Penang. The place itself offers quite some car park spaces and you can park in there directly. 

It is a shared space with Moonshop Gallery | 森美林学, where you can learn how to create your own terrarium and also purchase some nice plants from them.

The exterior of the place is quite comfy as you can see they blend nature into the space that makes it pretty cozy and welcoming. Feels like Zakka shop in Japan though. 

This eatery is not very big and they can only host a limited number of persons in the cafe. Reservation is highly recommended to avoid any disappointment or long wait.

The time I went was on Friday and they have 4 choices available which are Dang Gui Braised Chicken, Pan Fried Stingray with spicy sauce, Salted Fish Chicken Patty or Signature Omelette Rice. They have different menu on rotation basis and you can have different food on different days so you won't get bored of the same old food. 

香煎咸鱼肉饼套餐 Salted Fish Chicken Patty Set

Every set meal comes with a bowl of rice, sunny-side up, side dish and soup apart from the main dish. 
The patty was really crispy and juicy. You can taste the succulent patty with slight saltiness flavours came from the salted fish. The side dish given on that day was Okra topped with their homemade sauce which was really appetising and delicious. The radish soup was very flavourful and you can tell they have boiled it for hours. Not forget to mention the perfectly done sunny-side up too, simply a pleasure to the eyes. 

当归鸡套餐 Dang Gui Braised Chicken

Another delicious dish we tried was the Dang Gui Braised Chicken which were very well cooked and the chicken was tender and flavourful, probably braised under slow fire or a few hours. They also added some enoki and that added some crunchiness to the dish.

Forest Canteen 森林食堂 serves hearty meals at reasonable price. The only downside of this cafe is that it has limited space and tables hence you may expect long wait during lunch time. Nevertheless it won't stop me from going back to try out other dishes in the cafe. Can't wait to be back!

Forest Canteen 森林食堂

Address: 38, Lebuh Farquhar, 10200 George Town, Penang.

Business hours: 12:00pm - 7:00pm (Closed on Monday and Tuesday)

Contact number: 016-3309868

Location: https://goo.gl/maps/qG7bxSzdFyQsgd8X9 GPS: 5.4236576,100.3338331