| Princess
Terrace Café |
|
| Address
Copthorne King’s Hotel
403 Havelock Rd
|
Opening
Hours
Lunch and Dinner
daily Penang Buffet
$33 per head (minus taxes)
|
Telephone
67330011 |
It’s not an unfamiliar story. Young dynamic
hotelier from this part of the world, educated in
the west, jets around the world for business opportunities
and deals, savoured flavours of almost every land
but, still cannot escape the lure and appeal of his
hometown comfort food from…Penang.
So the executive director of Copthorne King’s
Hotel, Mr Yeoh Cheng Kang (Penang boy) decided to
have the hotel’s buffet line sell nothing but
all the favourites that Penang is known for, just
so he can indulge in his comfort food regularly and
each time he returns from his overseas business adventures.
That Penang buffet line was set up, more than 35 years
ago.
I’ll declare first that I am no big champion
of buffet lines. It’s just a place to overindulge
with not much food for thought by way of engaging
a unique Asian dining experience. But my mind is a
spoiled brat. Without any cue, it conjured up images
of Nasi Ulam (best version I’ve ever had was
when recipe book writer Ms Rosalyn Soon whipped some
up in her home using herbs she plucked from her garden!),
which is rare here, Penang Hae Mee, drowned in deep
brown prawn stock with tiny little prawns beckoning,
Penang Cha Kway Teow, all light, smoky and wok seared
with lard and, it wants no hostages.
Nasi Ulam
This kind of savoury terrorism, especially in Singapore,
is a big problem for me. Singapore is known for Singapore
food. A lot of Penang cooks here can’t even
get their act right. I think they were asked to surrender
their recipes at customs. Then a call, arranged from
above,(ring ring) “Hey Seetoh, William Soh here,
I am now the executive chef at King’s Hotel
la. Let’s catch up.”, which roughly translated,
meant “ Hey Seetoh, come stuff you face with
Penang makan at my outlet, makan, makan, makan…..”.
It totally made sense. I have not heard bad things
about this Penang buffet line at the hotel since I
first knew Penang Cha Kway Teow uses no sweet sauce.
Fact was, a fussy Penang nenek (old auntie) who’s
responsible for some of the stinging comments found
in our my Malaysian food guide, actually said the
quality and range had improved over the years. But
that’s aunty’s idiosyncracy.
Fast forward to the buffet table and back to slow
motion. First in was the Cha Kway Teow. Sure, William
had it freshly fried and came piping hot for me saying
“ we do it for our customers all the time in
this buffet whenever they request” (yeah right,
cite his name when you ask for it next time). They
use the thinner Ipoh kway teow noodles and it came
soft, smooth, slippery and peppered with streaks of
chives and little prawns and I was suspicious. So
I sneaked a few bites offered from the chafing dish-
same sensation but not piping hot and as fresh. My
suspicions were confirmed. They fry it with lard.
They even offer the crackling in a jar for added texture
to your enjoyment. Mental picture of Penang Cha Kway
Teow, happily erased.
Kerabu Beehoon
Then I spied the Kerabu Beehoon. Even in Penang
this Peranakan beehoon dish which has Thai influences,
is rare.. I remember that the dish will bite and lift
with the sambal and calamansi lime tossed into the
boiled noodles. The kerisik (fried grated coconut
and spices) lends it aroma and the prawn stock adds
a hint of savouriness. The final touch, comes in the
form of a dressing which includes chopped torch ginger
flower (rojak flower), chilli, coriander, raw onion
bits and lime zest. It helps carnivores to convert.
But sadly, the version at the buffet does not come
close. It takes a consolation prize though.
Two
images down and at least 48 more dishes to go. I devoured
the Penang Hae Mee. The soup was deep brown and richly
flavoured so the little prawn and fishcake topping
didn’t matter.
Chef William told me that his assistants Danny Ooi
and Loh Hong Chye are both Penangites and always get
a knock from their Director Mr Yeoh whenever they
slack on quality. “Are you sure you are form
Penang. Why is the colour so funny?” is what
they constantly get from the boss whip. So, they pay
particular attention to the Nasi Ulam, a delicate
rice dish tossed in finely chopped fresh herbs, spices,
lime, sambal belachan with a hint of fish flakes and
stock. One important trick is that the rice must be
loose and soft but not too starchy. Their version
can’t beat Rosalyn’s but didn’t
fail me either.
Geng geng
By then, the daunting thought of having to face the
rojak, char hu (Penang salad), fried porridge, assam
laksa, ayam curry with nasi kunyit (tumeric rice with
chicken curry), peppered pig stomach soup, bubur cha
cha, geng geng (cheng tng), steam otah, desseerts
like pulot tai tai and nine layered lapis (yes, I
counted) etc…overwhelmed me and all thought
and imagery of Penang makan disappeared from my head.
I am now standing by to pay the next random ransom.
