The Food Site

As a chocolate lover, I am always on the lookout for a great place to buy chocolates and I absolutely love the specialty handmade ‘designer’ chocolate shops in a few shopping complexes in KL.

It is too bad that there are no such shops here in Penang but I can probably understand that there are probably not much market here since those chocolates are really expensive and we all know how kiamsiap (stingy) Penangites are.

So, a few months back I stumbled upon The Chocolate Boutique in Leith Street here in Penang. Actually I knew about it when it opened last year but never got around to paying it a visit until a few months back. At first, I thought it’s like one of those specialty chocolate shops in KL.

Well, I was wrong! And I regretted ever stepping foot into that place to buy chocolates.

Far from being one of the specialty chocolate shops selling to-die-for handmade truffles, this so-called chocolate boutique sells generic mass production chocolates under the brand name, Beryl. Now, I’ve been buying chocolates for years so I know what Beryl is. It is a local chocolate brand and though the quality is quite okay, it is definitely not Belgian chocolate!

There is nothing wrong if they are merely selling Beryl chocolates but the worse part is that the prices of the chocolates are way too expensive. For example, a box of 200g Beryl chocolate in the supermarket costs RM10. Fair enough right? Well, if you go to the chocolate boutique, the EXACT SAME box of 200g Beryl chocolate costs RM30!

It was obvious that this so-called chocolate boutique is only out to make a killing from foreign tourists who may not know that they are being ‘robbed’.

Luckily I walked out of that place with my wallet intact. Just imagine, if I had not known about the actual pricing of the Beryl chocolates in the supermarkets, I would have been cheated too.

The plus points? They have a lot of different chocolates there (with fruit fillings, with durian, with strawberries, tiramisu flavour, etc), ample free parking space and the service is top notch.

Still…Unless you want to be ripped off…..

Definitely not recommended if you plan to buy chocolates. Better that you stick to supermarkets and if you are looking for variety and more imported ones, go to Cold Storage.

Price: $$$$

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If you have heard of the famous Teochew food especially crab porridge by Cheang Kee Restaurant in Nibong Tebal, make sure you do not go to the wrong one!

We went there recently and had a rude shock when we realised the real Cheang Kee Restaurant had moved to another location while another owner has taken over its old shoplot.

We did not even bother to take pictures of the place (the old shoplot where Cheang Kee used to be) after eating the very first dish, boiled baby octopus. I did not even want to bother with taking pictures of the food either. I do not want to waste camera battery and memory on this lousy restaurant.

The new restaurant, Law Chang Kee Restoran, was a far cry from the old Cheang Kee Restaurant. We ordered boiled baby octopus, butter prawns, fried fish, crab porridge, siau pai chye (green veg) and mantis prawn fried with dried chili.

The baby octopus, even though a simple dish which required literally little cooking skills to prepare as it is just boiled and served with chili sauce, were overcooked and stringy.

The butter prawns were oily, soggy and tasteless. They put some soya sauce over it to give it some taste which makes it worse.

Crab porridge- they obviously had it in with the crab because they smashed it to smithereens so we had to spend a whole hour picking out tiny, minute pieces of crab shell from the porridge. Oh, and the porridge was bland. Bleagghhh.

The green veg - nothing remarkable. I could have cooked better one at home.

Mantis prawn fried with dried chili - extremely soggy and too much of ketchup. It tasted like they fried the mantis prawn and pour in a whole bottle of ketchup and then add the dried chili for decoration. Ugghh.

Fried fish - well, again nothing remarkable. It is just the normal fried fish you can find at any economy rice stall.

Rating: 2/10

Now, if I had not eaten the real Cheang Kee Restaurant’s food, the rating for this faker restaurant would have been a tad higher, perhaps 4/ 10 but it definitely would not have me going back there ever again.

Price: $$$ (for that kind of food!!!)

Luckily, we found the real Cheang Kee Restaurant which had moved to a more prominent location right on the main road just after the toll plaza and with ample parking space too! After the toll plaza, turn left at the traffic lights and go straight. It is on your left at the first traffic light. You won’t be able to miss it since it is a corner lot with a huger signboard.

Here’s the new address for the famous Cheang Kee Restaurant (which I would have rated 8/10):

Restoran N.T.Cheang Kee

No. 60 & 62, Jalan Besar, Air Lintas, Taman Merbah, 14300 Nibong Tebal

Tel: 04-5943728

So, remember. The Restoran Law Chang Kee has lousy food so go only at your own risk! I will do a review of the Restoran N.T.Cheang Kee when we go there next and with loads of pictures too.

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