Aroy Chang Moo Kata Thai Restaurant @ Burma Lane, Penang

Once again, there is another Thai restaurant opened in Pulau Tikus which has operated for more than 1 year, with the recent mushrooming of all these Thai restaurants, the key factors to attract customers are the price and the quality of the food; Aroy Chang Moo Kata Thai Restaurant has all of them. Ought to serve authentic but affordable Thai food to their customers. the prices in this restaurant are at their nett prices,which means no service charge and government tax will be added to your bill.  Aroy Chang Moo Kata offers a wide assortment of Thai food including the traditional Thai charcoal steamboat. They were also the first Thai restaurant in Penang that serves traditional Thai charcoal steamboat too. The restaurant is quite spacious where it can fit in more than 60 people at a same time. 

Lemongrass Juice (Rm 1.50), this refreshing drink was cooked together with lemongrass, ginger and pandan leaves. The aroma was quite strong and it was not too sweet.

Somtam (Young Papaya Salad, Rm 8), those shredded papaya was gently mixed with chilies, lime juice and fish sauce and topped with tomatoes, peanuts and long beans. The spiciness and sourness were just there and nice to eat as appetizer.

Pla Phad Phed (Rm35-45), deep fried whole sea bass with spicy sauce. The mouth-watering sauce was spicy indeed and more to saltiness instead, it compliments with white rice perfectly. Those green vegetables placed on top of the dish were basils. The basils were deep fried to reduce the strong smell and to increase the crunchiness. Recommended.

Tom Yam Nam Sai (Clear Seafood Tom Yam With Fresh Prawns, Squid and Fish, Rm 15-25) This was actually one of my favorites of the night. The tom yam might looks unappealing and dull, never judge a book by its cover, the tom yam was very very spicy. The seafood were very fresh either, particularly the succulent prawns, very satisfying indeed. However, there were quite an amount of chili seeds found in the tom yam soup which annoyed me especially when i was drinking the soup. The taste was overall, decent.

Cha Om Omelette, as I have introduced Cha Om before in here, Cha Om particularly refers to the green vegetables used in this omelette, where it has a very unpleasant and sulfurous smell when raw but the smell can be get rid of after being cooked. The omelette has a unique aroma and best to go with the specially made Thai chili sauce. The texture was quite special either, imagine this: crunchy green vegetables being coated in fluffy omelette. Recommended as well.

Tamarind Prawns in Basil (Rm 3.50 per piece, minimum order of 6 pieces) The taste was quite good for this dish but probably due to the lengthy time needed for photography, it was cold during the time it was being served. The prawns have lost their crunchiness and coincidentally, the prawns were too fresh and they stick to their shells, making it very hard for me to remove them. 

Larbmoo (Rm 12), Minced Pork With Fried Rice Flakes, I found this dish was quite spicy but I was later told by others that it was not spicy at all, the reason behind this could be the chopped chilies hidden in this dish. Similarly to the fish, this dish was actually more to the salty side and best to go with white rice.

This palatable dish was their Khoon Ob Woon Sen (Rm15), Thai Style Tanghoon (glass noodles) Baked In Special Pot, I adore the glass noodles as they were so tender and full of the aroma of prawns. At first I thought this will be a bit oily but I was wrong, the glass noodles were cooked to perfection, any delay in time could result in the glass noodles being too mushy. The portion was quite big too, at least it could satisfy big eaters like me.

This will be their set up for the charcoal steamboat, similarly to other Thai steamboat, you will be getting some pork lard and to be placed on top of the pot to make the surface of the pot greasy and easier for the grilling part. There are 2 soup bases available, tom yam and clear soup. We had their clear soup version and it was perfect. No MSG (monosodium glutamate) was added according to the owner, some natural sweetness from vegetables like Meng Kuang (turnip) can be tasted too.

These are what you are going to get for a 2-3 pax steamboat set which priced at Rm30. It includes ingredients like pork slices, chicken slices, fish balls, squid, prawns, glass noodles, and some green vegetables. You can always ask for more and those other ingredients come in a very reasonable price (Rm3-5) if I am not mistaken. The steamboat pot will take unusual time to heat up compared to gas stove but this should be understandable as they are using charcoal instead. Its definitely something fun to try.

One of my all time favorite dessert, Water Chestnut and Coconut Milk. Unfortunately, this dessert was a bit disappointing as the water chestnut was very starchy and the jack fruit added was insufficient in my opinion as jack fruits are the main source of sweetness and soul of this dessert. It would be much better if they could include more jack fruit and use fresh coconut milk instead of frozen coconut milk and I was not sure if adding rose syrup to this dessert was a good idea, but it was okay overall.

The place was very friendly and has a very cozy interior, with a lot of Thai-style decorations, which brings Thailand nearer to you. Parking was fairly easy especially during night time, sufficient parking lots will be available right across the road in front of the restaurant.

Ratings:

Food: 8.5/10

Price: 9/10

Service: 8.5/10

Parking: 9/10

Service Charge: No

Government Tax: No

Additional Information:

Address: No. 22, Burma Lane, 10250 Georgetown, Penang. (Opposite to the sleeping Buddha temple, Wat Chaiyamangalaran)

Phone Number: 010- 379 9852

Business Hours: 11am - 2.30pm for lunch; 6pm - 11pm for dinner. Closed on Mondays.

Email: aroychangmookatapg1@gmail.com