Penang Delight Cafe

Seeing as Marv is originally from Penang, we knew we had to visit Penang Delight Cafe when we saw it open up across from Oscars.  So I think I’ll hand the reigns over to him on this post.  Here’s his take on the restaurant below.  🙂

Penang Delight Cafe
3885 Rupert Street,  Vancouver BC
Tel:  (604) 566-9898

I’ve been avoiding all so-called Malaysian restaurants ever since I’ve come to this country.  For the simple fact that they just don’t ever make it right.  And that’s honest.  However, on more occasions than I would prefer, I’ve been coerced into trying out several of the already existing ones around, am I a snob?  Hell’s yeah.

So Colleen and my good friend Alex V keep telling me to try this Penang Delight restaurant for weeks now, so why not? I gotta eat right?

Here’s a drink(Teh Tarik) that I’ve been drinking ever since I was a kid. Always preferred to have this served to me surrounded by hawker stalls in a casual table and chairs setting outdoors.  

Now I don’t know about you, but if you serve this drink without showing off the cool pouring styles of what I call the ‘2-cup transfer’ trick, it defeats the purpose of the drink. Not only that, how would I know if they didn’t just mix this up from a powder mix you can get from any asian supermarkets?  As for the drink, it was not even close to what it’s suppose to taste like.  I did not enjoy it at all.

We ordered the Nasi Lemak. This was a mixture of coconut milk rice, with sambal, ikan bilis, egg, peanuts and cucumbers.

I remember this meal as one of my favorite lunch time meals at school.  The lunch lady would serve it in a clear bag with a spoon all ready to go for like $2 ringgit. lol. And yes, this was after I had already consumed my packed lunch. lol

Everything looks and tasted really well with this dish. Better than a few I’ve had at other places. I’d definitely recommend this dish, pretty good flavors here. No complaints. Colleen also enjoyed the crunchy texture of the peanuts with the rice.  Just wanna add this little tidbit, my auntie makes this sauce waaaaaay waaaaaay tastier and much much more flavorful, of course she makes it from scratch and man do I eat it by the gallon.

We also ordered the Kari Beef Brisket.  I originally wanted the Kari ayam but they were sold out, so I will definitely try that dish when we revisit.

Decent portion, well flavored kari and the beef brisket was very tender – a good substitute.  Try to get a Beef rendang instead because Indonesian curries are always better  (beef rendang@Kedah House)

Penang prawn meehon and mee arrived next to the table.

This dish was spot on. The broth was incredibly flavorful, you can taste the shrimp in the broth. Not to mention that the portions for this soup was very generous. Plenty of noodle to go around and the broth I drank half way before I had to stop myself and try the chicken satay.

Penang Satay Chicken Skewers came to the table next.

Now I’m gonna be completely bias here and say that this dish was an epic fail. I did not enjoy this dish.  The chicken was very hard, and the sauce resembling the peanut sauce had absolutely no taste.  Portion wise, there were only 4 tiny skewers of chicken on the plate.  Normally you would get 6 at the minimum.

But in all fairness, they get a B+ for effort, I’m sure a few people loved this version of satay. I wouldn’t want to recommend this to any of my family members for the simple reason that I would get slapped across the head for even bringing this up. lol

Up next, the Roti Canai.

The portion size was good and I enjoyed the taste of the kari sauce they give you for dippin the roti in.  Colleen thoroughly enjoyed the Roti Canai. We also wanted to order the Roti Coconut with Ice Cream for dessert, but unfortunately they were all sold out of this item as well.   Guess we`ll have to try this one next time too!

Ever heard of Murtabak? If you have, then we can relate. Other than that, unless you’ve been to Malaysia and eaten this roti made from scratch while you wait and drink your Teh in the morning then you’ve never really had roti canai.

If you can find a clip on youtube of them flippin the dough around and cooking it right on the side walk I say go check it out.

All in all our meal was good. Decent portions and a B+ for effort is good enough for a Malaysian restaurant in Vancouver.I’d probably be back, who am I kidding, I will be a regular! I mean where else can I eat Malaysian cuisine? Don’t you dare suggest Tropika or Banana Leaf!  As far as I`m concerned, Kedah House is the only other place I’d go to for Malaysian/Indonesian type cuisine until Colleen can come up with another place to change my mind again lol!

Post by Marv