Zhou Restaurant (粥杰伦) @ Macalister Road, Penang.

Amused by the name 粥杰伦 (similar to the name of a famous Taiwanese Singer- Jay Chou/ 周杰伦) when I've passed by the place. Located in the bustling heart of Georgetown, Zhou Restaurant is situated at Macalister road, facing the busy hawkers of New Lane. Zhou Restaurant offers a wide variety of creative Porridge-dishes at reasonable and economical prices. Some notable ones are Pumpkin Frog Porridge, Salmon Porridge, Curry Soup Based Porridge and Herbal Soup Porridge etc.... Parking can be troublesome, I had my car parked right in front of Public Bank (at Macalister Road) and when I was ready to get back into my car after the meal, I've came to realize that my poor car has been bombarded by bird feces. Do beware of the places you are parking your car at. Anyway, one good thing about the place is that they will be operating until late night (3-4am everyday) so if you are starving in the middle of the night, you may consider to grab yourself a bowl of hot porridge to ease your hunger. Taste-wise, I would say there are rooms for improvements still.

Pumpkin and Frog Congee (南瓜田鸡粥, Rm 9.80) was served hot in a clay pot with some chopped Spring Onions sprinkled on top. The porridge was silky smooth in texture but it lacked of some flavor in my opinion. I had to add in extra spoonful of Soy Sauce to spice things up. The porridge was more to the sweeter side thanks to the Pumpkin but it wasn't the taste that I was seeking. Moreover, the amount of Frog was too few too, I reckon that there might be only half a Frog being added. 

We also had their Minced Fish Congee (香滑鱼茸粥, Rm 8.80) which turned out to be bland too. Despite the fact of the Fish Meat has been minced but the so called Fish Meat was no where to be seen, or at least, too insignificant. No doubt the texture of the Porridge was good enough to my liking but the taste was still below par.

Apart from the Porridge, we had opted for their Fish Soup Based Bee Hoon (鱼骨汤底米粉, Rm 3) with some extra Taiwan Sausages added (台湾香肠, Rm 2.50). The soup was flavorful and rich enough to my liking, tho it possesses a slight fishy-smell but I was perfectly okay with that. They have added some evaporated milk to silken the texture too. However, no extra ingredients come with the soup and we had to order them separately. Despite the fact that we had to pay an additional Rm 2.50 for the Taiwan Sausage but it turned out to be 3 small miserably sized Taiwan Sausages. Prices are on the steeper side for these kind of orders.

We had some side orders too. Swiss Chicken (港式瑞士鸡, 1/4 bird, Rm 8) was a bit dry and rough in texture. Their "Swiss" sauce was not up to par in my opinion, where I was expecting a hint of sweetness in the sauce but the sauce tasted like some diluted Soy Sauce instead. Some home-made Chili sauce was given to us to complement the dish but it tasted very common to me, just like any other Braised Chicken. Overall, the dish lacked of some "kick". 

Barbecue Roast Pork (Rm 7) was again, too dry in my opinion. A good Char Siew should made of a well-balanced of Meat and Pork Lard to give the juicy and succulent bite. The marination comes in a very important role as well. You might have probably seen from the picture above, where the meat was dry and not juicy enough. Not a good Char Siew.

Ratings:

Taste: 6.5/10 (1-3 bad, 4-7 average, 8-10 good)

Price: 7/10 (1-3 expensive, 4-7 average, 8-10 cheap)

Service: 7.5/10 (1-3 bad, 4-7 average, 8-10 good)

Ambiance: 7/10 (1-3 bad, 4-7 average, 8-10 good)

Parking: 4.5/10 (1-3 bad, 4-7 average, 8-10 good)

Service Charge: No

Government Tax: No

Additional Information:

Address: 68A, Jalan Macalister, 10400, Penang. (Beside Lye Peng Travel Agency)

Business Hour: 6pm to 4am. Daily.

Contact Number: 604- 226 3695

Zhou Restaurant Facebook Page