KEN HUNTS FOOD: Dicken Street Cafe @ Lebuh Dickens, Georgetown, Penang.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Dicken Street Cafe @ Lebuh Dickens, Georgetown, Penang.

There's this humble and quaint little cafe well hidden in the bustling road of Georgetown. Named after the road where the cafe is situated at, Dicken Street Cafe serves some delicate Western dishes at really affordable prices. The cafe is facing the side entrance of the main police station in Penang, at Dicken Street. I was attracted by some of their uncommonly seen dishes namely Squid Ink Risotto, Creme Brulee, Blue Cheese Pizza etc.... most importantly, they are priced reasonably and wallet-friendly. The only draw back could be its serving speed, it took them more than half an hour to serve all the dishes to us while the restaurant was only half-occupied by customers. Finding a place to park can be a headache at this place. Nevertheless, the foods are generally good and I will definitely come back for more. However, do note that this place has NO sign board at all, it took us some time to locate the cafe, you might want to pay a little attention to how the exterior of the cafe looks like.

Intrigued by the Pizza choices, we had finally settled down with this Spinacia with Blue Cheese Pizza (Rm 12.80). The thin yet crispy crust was baked with a layered of Cheese first before the adding of Blue Cheese. I was rather skeptical in trying this Pizza out due to the pungent yet uneasily acceptable flavor from the Blue Cheese but was later convinced by the waitress to try it out. To my surprise, it turned out to be perfect, it carried a hint of sweetness, together with the crunchy Spinach and Crispy crust; the combination was rather inexplicably delicate, a must try dish for Pizza and Cheese lovers. However, the edges of the Pizza turned out to be slightly too dry and hard to my liking. Other choices available are Chicken & Leek Pizza, Bacon & Mashed Pizza as well as Tuna & Tomato Pizza.

Another noteworthy choice would be their Linguine Carbonara (Rm 14.80) with Bacon, Button Mushrooms, Baby Asparagus with a touch of freshly ground Black Pepper as well as sprinkle of Cheese Powder. Portion might be small for some. The Linguine was cooked perfectly to my liking- al dente, the sauce was slightly too watery but the overall flavor was okay. A plus to this dish was the use of Bacon, which the smoky flavor from the Bacon has successfully infused within the Linguine. It was decent but certainly not the best Carbonara that I had.

This enticing Tomato Seafood Risotto (Rm 16.80) was served to us piping hot using a small Casserole, it was topped with loads of Seafood such as Shrimp, Clams, Squid as well as a Mussel. A pity that the Risotto was slightly overcooked and the portion was small. A properly cooked Risotto should be al-dente or having some resistance to bite, probably the chef was trying to localize the dish as some might not agree with the al-dente texture of Risotto. It tasted similar to Spanish Paella but the seafood sweetness was rather mild, standard satisfactory. This dish needs some fine-tuning but it certainly has some potential.