KEN HUNTS FOOD: Irrawaddy Fine Foods @ Chow Thye Road, Penang.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Irrawaddy Fine Foods @ Chow Thye Road, Penang.

Hidden in one of the small roads near Pulau Tikus/ Burmah Road, one can find a decent restaurant named Irrawaddy Fine Foods, said to be Penang's first New York style delicatessen but at the same time, offering some unique yet delectable dishes to the public. Bread lovers should particularly try to look for this place as they do bake and sell breads (Focaccia bread, French Baguette, Semolina Bread, Oregano Bread, Pretzel and even the rarely seen bread in Penang- Sourdough!) fresh on a daily basis (except Sunday). Apart from that, they do sell some imported goods such as jams, pickles and even their home made sausages (kindly refer to their website or contact them for more information). Another thing which surprised me was the price, everything seemed to be so economically priced, yet, the dishes come with a huge portion. Since the place has a very homely ambiance, I just know where I should head to if I were to look for a place to spend my lazy afternoon with my friends and family. I also like the fact that this place serves some really healthy but delicious foods and the service was very impressive. It should not be too hard to locate Irrawaddy Fine Foods, kindly turn into Chow Thye Road and you should be able to find this place (a stone throw distance from Harvest Inn and Isaribi Tei Japanese Restaurant).

The meal kick started with their Soup of the Day (Rm 4.90) which was some Tomato Vegetable Soup which has some Potatoes, Tomatoes, Celery, Cucumbers in it. The soup was reasonably flavored but it has a very unique aroma which I don't quite fancy of (I have no idea what was that nor what ingredient contributes to that), it could be my problem but I don't really like it that much. The soup was however, very light and appetizing.

I was shocked to see the price of New York Pizza Slice (Rm 5), this could be the cheapest Pizza ever (in Penang), with that generous portion, the three of us struggled to finish it off since we had ordered our mains. Anyway, herbs were heavily used on this Pizza, particularly Basil. I like the fact that this Pizza being simple and not over abused by ingredients. It could be slightly bland for meat-lovers though.

Italian American Sausage (Rm 10.90) was ordered by my friend. It comes with 4 thin slices of bread and 2 sausages, as well as some sauteed Onions. I don't quite agree with the sausages being garnished with some Tomato Ketchup and I would personally prefer a mix of Tomato Ketchup with some Mustard. The sausages were quite crunchy and flavorful. My friend seemed to enjoy them though.

Another friend of mine had this Tuna Mayonnaise Sandwich (Rm 11.50), the Tuna with Mayonnaise was equally spread onto the bread and baked with Cheese. This set was no doubt filling enough but I find it slightly dry to my liking although my friend finds it perfectly okay and he certainly enjoyed it. The side was very good in my opinion, although it was simple but tasty enough for me- some Lettuce and sliced Tomatoes topped with Balsamic Vinegar and Olive Oil combination certainly served my taste buds well.

Their Hot Lunch Special (Rm 11.90) of the day was this Beef Meat Loaf, a thick layer of minced Beef Loaf was sandwiched using their Sesame Bread. The meat was so tender and juicy to my liking, together with the extra touch of some herbs and tomatoes, it has truly tantalize-d my taste buds with an explosion of flavors! The meat was too fine and tender that you can't really tell that you are eating beef. This is something that I will look for during my next visit.

We had opted to go for their Apple Cinnamon Cake (Rm 5) as dessert. It comes with a scoop of Fresh Cream which I would personally prefer it to be replaced with a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream. The cake was flavorful and robust in the flavor of Cinnamon. As much as I adore the Cinnamon flavor, I find the cake a little too sweet to my liking (those with a sweet tooth might find this perfectly fine) or maybe even better if they could use Green Apples to give the hint of sourness to balance the cake up. The texture was amazing too, it was firm and chewy. They do have an array of cakes for their diners, kindly ask for more upon ordering.