JC3

Mrs JC3 and I had dinner this week at Up and Above - a new European restaurant in Pulau Tikus (Penang) that’s just opened on Cantonment Road - directly opposite the Post Office, and Maybank, and one or two doors away from Markus Restaurant (the modern Italian place – another JC3 favourite).

The kitchen is headed by young adventurous chef Thomas Lee, whilst out front Milon manages with great charm and efficiency.

If you like Markus, or Thirty Two at the Mansion, I think you'll like Up and Above too, it's at a similar level. Good food, good service, nice ambience and not too expensive. We both enjoyed it and will be back. We both chose from a five course set menu, and the bill with two glasses of house wine and two coffees came to just under RM300 including 10% service.

Worth noting is that upstairs is also cosy and there’s a private dining room that seats up to 14.

The restaurant website is here: Welcome to Up and Above European Cuisine | Up and Above European Cuisine

And there's a review with photos on the excellent Ken Hunts Food blog (specifically about eating in Penang) here:

Ken Hunts Food: Up and Above European Cuisine @ Cantonment Road, Pulau Tikus, Penang.

JC3

ex reg

When we were in Penang a few weeks ago we tried 'Western Spices' just along the road from the Padang.

Good meal, nice staff and friendly chef.

We'd eat there again.

owned

Amphan

Wow, my favorite Thai on the Island now. And knowing how good Chok D is I don't say this lightly.

Its where the old middle eastern restaurant was at the end of food street in Tanjung Bungah (by the 7-11). Its run by a Thai lady called Amphan and she is the nicest person you could wish to meet. She is married to a Local Malaysian man and she has just opened the restaurant. It also serves dim sum from 6.30am in the morning.

I tried the green chicken curry, 2 types of rice (a tamyam fried rice and some kind of chicken rice) both of which made any Chok D rice look pathetic, and a pad thai, which was the best I've ever had anywhere. All of it was unbelievable and I'm going to have a short nap now dreaming of that food as I fall asleep.

Amphan cooked the meal we had and I hope she continues to cook all the meals there as its that good. Go before this place gets busy though, as it won't be long before its packed. Being able to sit either inside or outside is also nice and you will not be shocked by the bill. A can of beer is only 8RM.

geedee

I wish I'd read this thread... very helpful!

We've just come back from a short stay in Penang and to be honest we were underwhelmed by the food. We first ate at a "famous" Thai seafood place in Batu Ferringhi and most of it went back uneaten... it was overpriced garbage!
We ate at the top resort there too (one of the 3 restaurants) and it was Ok but nothing special.
We also ate in Georgetown at a place that made Trip Advisor's top 10 places to eat... we have better in Gelang Patah for a quarter of the price!
Still, food aside, what a beautiful place Penang is, and lovely people. Must be a great place to live. We will be going back and will take notes from this thread first :-)

ex reg

Come on name and shame.

geedee

Ok, why not...

Awful Thai seafood.... Golden Thai Seafood Village... the pits. Food garbage, service garbage. Location the best! What a waste.

Bland blend resort ....Spice Market Cafe at Shangri-La's Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa - Ok, not great.

Top 10 Trip Advisor (actually No 2 in George Town!) Mews Cafe.... Star Chef in Gelang Patah is much nicer (food, not furniture!) better atmosphere and quarter of the price.

There you go, named, shamed. My opinion only, of course.

ex reg

When we were up in Penang a month or so ago the missus wanted to go into the Mews Cafe when we were passing as she had seen the reviews on Trip Advisor.
I wasn't too sure myself just looking at it so we went to a place a bit further along the road.
I guess we were lucky.

Gunnar45

We and some visitors have been to 59-sixty in Komtar a few times.
even though a mixed buffet, the seafood is nice with fresh rock lobsters, prawns, etc.
Not like Rasa Sayang where I found the shellfish to be quite watery. (Probably refrozen)
Additionally beautiful views, nice service staff and a 20% discount for seniors.
(After us visiting, I don't know if the discount still applies though)
Entrance to the elevator is at Maybank
Restaurant on 59th floor and a nice bar on the 60th.

geedee

The Mews wasn't bad to be honest, just not what we expected from a Top 10 in Penang!

NeonHippy

A lifelong Penangite chinese friend of mine has offered to show us some of the best local food restaurants on Penang and the mainland. Last night was our first outing with him and we went to the Teluk Kumbar Seafood Restaurant. Situated at the southern end of the island it is a bit of a trek from the usual expat haunts. But proved to be well worth the effort.

Anyone familiar with Tsunami Village in Tanjong Bungah will be familiar with food served on plastic plates sat at large circular metal tables. The restaurant cannot be described as elegant but the food certainly lived up to expectation. The sweet and sour crabs were sweet and succulent and the freshest I have eaten in a long time. We were encouraged to have fried buns instead of rice as these are good for soaking up the crab sauce but I think next time I will have rice. The clam soup was a surprise, although weaker than our chinese friends would make for themselves at home, it was full of interesting flavours with added goji berries and ginseng. The nostrum prawns, about 10 in total, were nicely cooked and were quite delicious. A quick Google of nostrum suggests that it is a quack medicine similar to snake oil (hhmmm). For vegetables we had stir fried potato leaves. Although past their best and a little stringy, these were not just flavoured with the obligatory garlic but also small slices of chili to add heat and interest. A large bottle of tiger and four soft drinks of homemade nutmeg infusion rounded off the dinner. The cost was rm150 for four of us and we all came away full.

The restaurant is situated right next to the beach with several fishing boats moored there. Although it seats, I would estimate, more than 150 diners it is not visible from the road and there is no sign. To find it, continue on route 6 past the airport until you reach the new Lexis Suites Penang Hotel. There is a low building just before the hotel and you get to the restaurant and car park by driving down a small sandy track between the two buildings. Go early, we arrived at 7:30 and had to wait a short while for a table and some dishes were no longer available. When we left at around 9pm there was not much seafood left in the tanks. It is open 5:30 to 10:00 each evening.

It might be best to go with a Chinese speaker as the waitress only had a smattering of English and there is no menu that we saw, you just tell them what you want and they will suggest some options for it to be cooked.

ex reg

If you drive a further 2km west then you come to the Hai Boey seafood restaurant as mentioned above.

NeonHippy

Yes, our friends also mentioned that one last night as a recommended restaurant.

kebi

Could it be nestum prawns which would be more common in Penang - their name comes from Nestum Cereals.

NeonHippy

Yes that would make more sense, thank you.

JC3

Went to try out Amphan Thai restaurant (Hillside, Tanjung Bungah) on Saturday night.
Felt like a different restaurant to the one described above. No pleasant greeting on arrival, the menu was in disarray with lots of loose pages falling out (I had to re-assemble the pages myself to make sense of it), service was poor, our drinks took ages to arrive, and when they did it was clear the waiter didn’t understand the term a ‘bottle of water’. The (small) Pad Thai was very so so and only two prawns to boot.
Perhaps Amphan herself wasn’t cooking that night?
It was cheap and perhaps you get what you pay for, but frankly I don’t think we did. Disappointed.

JC3