HALAL

An up-market village, if I may say so. In simple, sleek black wood interior with touches of gold-coloured finishing that are accentuated by clever lighting, this restaurant carries the best concept among all the other food outlets at 1Borneo Hypermall. It was enough to tempt us to walk in even though the restaurant was deprived of bustling customers one would expect from every Penang-themed F&B outlets.

Alas! Penangites would probably cry foul, stomp their feet and bang the tables demanding for refund and removal of the word ‘Penang’ if they ever do take a bite at this food joint, which serves food that is no where close to the distinct flavours of Penang.

We were hungry, tired and desperate for good food. So imagine our frustration when we had to wait more than 20 minutes for our food and drinks even though the restaurant only had three tables of customers of which customers at the other two tables were already eating when we sat down. The halal Lobak was pretty alright except for the sweet sauce that they drizzled over the meat which totally killed the appetiser. The deep-fried bean sprouts with carrots and spring onion was rather oily and tasteless. You must take it with the dry satay sauce.

Every other dish was averagely bad including the relatively easy dish, Sweet & Sour Fish. It reminded me of the instant sweet & sour sauce so generously used for all the sweet & sour meals at a Chinese takeaway shop in UK where I used to work when I was a student. Price wise, they have set menus starting from RM29.90 onwards. I’ve read of rave reviews on other franchise outlets in Klang Valley. I must try them out one of these days. It can’t be all that bad, can it?

Where to Eat: Penang Village, Lot C308 – C309, Concourse Floor, 1Borneo Hypermall, Jalan Sulaman, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.