Penang Place Restaurant: Buffet buffet!

December 16, 2008 | 25 Comments

Television often play an important part in our life, and definitely have great influence on many people. But the debates on whether it is a good thing or not continues to rage on. Many certainly thinks that Television’s one of the greatest inventions, while some in the other camp believe that it is a bad influence on children, especially so when they get addicted to watching TV programmes. Did you ever hear a parent telling her kid to watch more TV shows?

Recently, we have a television show on Channel 8, “Buffet Buffet” which has garnered much interest among the young and the old. And its hard not to see why, food-related programmes have always been a hit with the audience, not to mention this one introduce all kinds of buffets in Singapore. I saw Penang place restaurant on one of the episodes, and since the price is reasonably cheap and near to my place, why not?

If you just watch the crowd in the place without knowing where is it, you’ll never guess its located within the International Business park (IBP) at Jurong. Perhaps that’s exactly the reason why the owner set up shop there, since there’s so many hungry white collar workers in all the offices around. The atrium building is just beside Creative, so its pretty easy to find, and there’s shutter bus from Jurong East mrt station.

Penang place oozes a sense of tranquil with its simple furnitures, and the water settings just beside the restaurant. It was fully packed when we visited on a weekday lunch, Singaporeans do love their buffets!

The selections actually is pretty decent given its reasonable pricing of $19.80++ for weekday buffet lunch.

Well, the intention was to make it an ice kachang, but we somehow added toppings which we like, so it didn’t look exactly the bit like ice kachang.

The Penang laksa actually comes in the form of Assam laksa, sour and spicy in taste, which differed greatly from our local version. The katong-laksa purist might not take quite well to this, which is more like a mix between tom-yam soup and laksa, with the sourish taste dominating the taste bud. But that’s the authetic Penang laksa for you.

I was rather impressed with the seafood soup, well for one it tasted like shark fin soup (even though there’s no shark fin of course), and secondly, i felt that it was similar to my mom’s home-made soup, and that’s a compliment!

What do you think of when I mentioned Penang? The name synonymous with the city is definitely Char Koay Teow. And if you didn’t notice, even the spelling differs slightly from ours. Well, there’s also Assam laksa, wonton mee and hokkien mee too, but Char Koay Teow certainly is the one which leave most people with memorable memories of Penang. Their rendition comes slightly spicy, not too oily and with a generous serving of ingredients. And the best part? Penang Place actually replenished their char koay teow in small portions very often, since it’s like the most popular dish there. While Char koay teow has a reputation for being unhealthy, and even though i had eaten it twice that week, i couldn’t help myself to second helpings. My sinful food.

The Nasi Lemak is served simple and nice with the fragnant rice, crunchy ikan billies, crispy peanut with cooling cucumbers. There are some other common dishes like curry chicken, fried food, but one dish which i found it good was the Batu Uban Ayam Panggang, which was seasoned grilled chicken with peanut sauce. A pity it was gone when i wanted to take a shot of it.

Glutinous rice is often use in the Asian context, and its no surprise to see the Kueh Salat here. Basically steamed glutinous rice topped with a layer of pandan flavoured custard. Well, i didn’t know if it’s just me or what, but i didn’t really enjoy glutinous rice done this way. The taste was rather weird for my liking, and i guessed i still prefer the Chinese dim sum glutinous rice in lotus leaf.

One of my personal favourites, the Kueh Dardan was actually pandan flavoured pancakes filled with sweetened coconut shavings. The pancakes were very soft and nice, with the coconut shavings coming not too heavy. Easily finished a few of them even thought we were full from the buffet.

Another glutinous rice, the Pulut tatai, steamed glutinous rice eaten with kaya.

Kueh Kosei, palm sugar roll with coconut shravings.

Another dessert, or rather kueh that i enjoyed was the Kueh Talam. Essentially a pandan flavoured cake topped with a savoury coconut milk layer, the pandan cake was very fragnant indeed.

Total bill was $69.90 for 3 person at their weekday lunch buffet. I must say, for $23 per head after taxes and service charges, its rather reasonable for the amount of food served. Note, i didn’t say its excellent, but for the price, its rather acceptable since i find it hard to name another place serving buffet in the 20 dollar range which is good. I guess the money will be worth it if you eat more of their Char Koay teow which will cost $8.90 if you order a plate a la carte.

The location might be a tad difficult, since its within the International Business Park, people wouldn’t travel all the way there just for their buffet, but i did. Well for the rest of you lucky souls who are working in the area, i’ll say this is one place to check out for lunch when you are in the mood for a longer lunch.

Penang place restaurant
6 International Business Park
#01-05 Atrium
Tel: 6899 9446
Lunch: 1130-2pm

Comments

25 Responses to “Penang Place Restaurant: Buffet buffet!”

adeline
December 16th, 2008 @ 7:42 am

I used to work in the building opposite Penang Place’s building (Atrium).
So, for OT, sometimes, I will pack Char Keow Teoy which is more worth it without 10% service charge.
For farewell, for nth time, we always held gatherings there.
CORRECTION: A la carte Char Keow Teoy is actually SGD 8.90.
Thanks for the pic to reminisce..wish I could have those keow teoy to taste again
malaysian explorer
December 16th, 2008 @ 8:50 am

Ummmm all those yummy food makes me hungry already, especially the Char Koey Teow. Really like your photo skills, sure is much better than mine. Wonder if it is ok I put some of your photos on my site at

The Malaysian Explorer

Cheers!

malaysian explorers last blog post..Nov 28, Information about Malaysia
pchong
December 16th, 2008 @ 8:55 am

best part about CKT here is that even though it is buffet, it is cooked in, um…smallish portions, so the cook can control quality…the control of fire on the ingredients are critical for a good, flavour filled, wok hei infused CKT. However, I must say that their a la carte CKT is slightly better, but still not quite up to those one can get in Penang…but possibly amongst top 2 in Singapore…the other being Penang Penang at Coronation Arkade (who does fry by the plate on order).

pchongs last blog post..Tai Cheong Egg Tarts
Evan
December 16th, 2008 @ 9:13 am

haha so this is the post that u were keeping in suspense :p didn’t think u could write so much in such a short time…how u do it *salutes* LOL and every time i visit yr blog, i become very hungry!!

i saw this place already when i was working @ synergy 3 years ago, but it looks so…normal…i didn’t go in & try :p the char kway teow looks good, yr fav as usual la!
ladyironchef
December 16th, 2008 @ 10:43 am

adeline: haha one plate of char koay teow 9 bucks also buy? lol! yeah i changed the price already, thanks for the reminder.

malaysian explore: thanks for the compliment, i’m still learning to improve my photography skills : )

pchong: yeah agreed, they still cook it in small portions, not those mass-cook one. haha. ah, i heard abt the penang penang at cornoation arcade

evan: i did it with my eye almost close last night. haha. yeah my favourite : )
didally
December 16th, 2008 @ 11:58 am

This place is too far away for me. lol

The Penang Char Kway Teow sounds good though.
Nic (KHKL)
December 16th, 2008 @ 12:46 pm

the char kway teow here is pretty good! i think i only had that (lotsa) and chendol the last time i went..hehe…nice!

Nic (KHKL)s last blog post..Pick n’ Brew @ 1 Utama
ladyironchef
December 16th, 2008 @ 7:39 pm

didally: lol! travel for food yay!

nic: yeah it is. eat lots of char kuay teow enough to pay off the price tag. ha
keropokman
December 16th, 2008 @ 11:12 pm

Sometimes when the crowd’s not packing the place yet, (we usually go early and leave early), the CKT is not in the buffet trays yet. You can request for them to fry them for your table.

The night buffet’s has extra stuff too.

I have not been here for a long long time

keropokmans last blog post..Christmas Log Cake from Getel
Foodies Queen
December 16th, 2008 @ 11:28 pm

I thought of visiting the place when it was aired on tv that day. But they don’t offer buffet on wkend right?

Foodies Queens last blog post..203. Yee Cheong Yuen Noodle Restaurant
vonvonx
December 16th, 2008 @ 11:50 pm

this is the ONLY buffet place I wanna bring my mum to, after watching it featured on TV, becos they made it seem so worthwhile and yummy! But after reading ur blog… i feel even more convinced!! Thanks for doin a review…man I love the places u choose!!!!! It’s all the nice ones!!!!
ladyironchef
December 16th, 2008 @ 11:59 pm

keropokman: hahahah great tactic. around 12+ then packed liao. wow, what extra food? but then dinner shouldn’t be as crowded as lunch right? everybody go home already. haha

foodies queen: hahaha! yeah they do actually. weekend buffets 2 bucks more.

vonvonx: lol! I think i happened to have a good pick of places. Because i can’t afford the too expensive ones, so i try to find all the unique and not-so-expensive type : )
sgfoodlover
December 17th, 2008 @ 12:57 am

the pastries look good been some time since I had buffet ha

sgfoodlovers last blog post..Punngol Curry Fish Head
Foodista
December 17th, 2008 @ 2:41 am

I was mesmerized by the pictures you took! Really wonderful! http://www.foodista.com

Foodistas last blog post..Curried Butternut Squash Soup
Jacelyn
December 17th, 2008 @ 10:39 am

i believe my mom would love this. i don’t really trust TV programs these days, went to a place for this buffet and it doesn’t seem as nice as it is on the TV + reviews. it’s all fake!
harris
December 17th, 2008 @ 12:22 pm

oh my looks promising. it’s definitely on my “to visit” list now! =) keep the great pictures and posts coming!

harriss last blog post..The Mind Cafe III
Renee
December 19th, 2008 @ 11:34 pm

Haha I was beamin wen this Penang buffet was shown on telly cos b4 dat, I have had been 2 this plc 4 dept lunch…one yr ago.!! Lols..!I will still choose e penang laksa, ice-kachang & kuehs over their selections… =D the “Buffet Buffet” is anthr gd media for buffet-whores…haha..
claudia
December 21st, 2008 @ 4:57 pm

Woah! Your photos getting very very “blur” liao leh. DOF is nice but a little too much for food photography imho. Looks like you’re loving your new lens.
ladyironchef
December 21st, 2008 @ 9:48 pm

sgfoodlovers: i don’t eat buffets too, cos they always make me feel so full man.

foodista: you flattered me, thanks : )

jacelyn: haha ya don’t know which ones to trust nowadays everything is so… you know. haha

harris: thanks for reading! let me know if you ever go try yeah?

renee: haha! yeah the buffet buffet attracting a lot viewers man

claudia: macro lens blur ma. haha! yeah loving it, no regrets although a bit ex :p
Nate
December 25th, 2008 @ 4:25 pm

Those are some beautiful pictures of kueh, especially the dardar.
ladyironchef
December 27th, 2008 @ 10:59 pm

nate: thanks! the other photos i took not so nice, so i posted a lot kueh photos. hahahaha
wolfey4
February 1st, 2009 @ 1:30 pm

I have a blog all about malaysia but very little on “penang”….I would like to add some of your content to it, if possible….I must comment on the clarity of the pictures….nice job
Meg
March 25th, 2009 @ 8:07 am

Wow, some of those sticky rice dishes look tasty! I also noticed the indoor-tree decor — I saw that all the time in China but almost never in the US. Wonder why?

Megs last blog post..Cheer Up With Glitter Rainbows
ladyironchef
March 25th, 2009 @ 8:48 pm

Meg: hahaha they do look very pretty indeed. lol! I have no idea about the tree decor though, didn’t really see it often over here
The Merry Traveller
December 11th, 2009 @ 7:01 am

I work opposite. LOL.