The weekend has arrive and this Saturday, I will be staying in G-hotel beside Gurney Plaza. The charge is RM255 without breakfast for superior room with king size bed. I will get to do a lot of window shopping as Gurney Plaza, Penang’s lifestyle shopping mall is nearby. At the moment, it is under expansion, so there will be some construction work going on. Just the other day, I had a set dinner in Manila Place for an affordable price of RM35++. This is because it came with mushroom soup (plenty of chopped button mushrooms in it), bread, butter, appetiser, coffee or tea, salmon teriyaki as one of the many main courses to choose from (quite delicious and big helping) and ice-cream as the dessert.

G-hotel is not like any other hotel that you find here. For one, the interior decoration is very modern and hip. You will not find big vases of flower and hanging chandeliers unlike the older hotels. Here, you will find a very cosy lounge with plenty of sofa sets and cushioned chairs with lighted lampstands beside them. The setting is just like a modern house’s interior, cosy and comfortable. The lighting is dimmed down for that romantic feel. The flooring is raised wooden platform with side lights. I am looking forward to today’s stay and check in time is after 2:00pm.

On Saturday, I stayed in Vistana Hotel with my boyfriend for the weekend. Then we headed straight to Max Gourmet, opposite Queensbay Mall for Tim Sum dinner. The place was crowded with diners as usual from breakfast to dinnner. It is opened from 9:00am to 9:00pm everyday and close on Mondays. I had 2 sets of ‘har kau’, deep fried prawn dumpling in soya bean skin, almond balls, and boiled ginseng with water chestnut drink. I have stayed in Vistana many times before and they offer 4 soft white pillows for a king size bed. I just love this hotel for its comfort but the breakfast buffet was not so attractive and we have to queue up for limited tables and chairs. The selections were very few and not too good. Other than that, the overall stay was perfect.

Last night, I had dinner in The Food Loft in Gurney Plaza. And yes, there is a statue of a brown naked woman with a violin. It was part of the decoration and the ambience looks like those of a hotel. The chairs were linen covered soft cushion. You need to get a card each person to order. Simply find your table and take note of your table reservation number. Then order your food and you need to bring your card along to be scanned by the computer for the order. Tell the cook your table number and he will bring the food to your place. After the meal, you card will be scanned again for the payment.

Recently I treated my family to a sumptious birthday seafood dinner in a cafe in Penang. Above are two lobsters of 1.1kg each with cheese, button mushrooms and onions. The 2 lobsters cost me RM220 on the big plate.

Here is a side view of the lobster thermidor that I order during my birthday treat recently.

This photo is taken of baked crabs mixed with chilly sauce and eaten with bread.

This is my favorite dish of Nestum butter prawns. Notice how big the prawns are. I am feeling hungry again.

Fresh oysters topped with baked cheese. I don’t particularly like oysters but this was something different than the usual order. Thank goodness the cheese cover the raw taste of oysters.

This is stir-fried broccoli with humongous prawns. See how large the prawns are and is one of my favorite dishes. I just love the crunchy broccoli.

Last Sunday was Father’s day and I treated my parents, sister and boyfriend to a delectable Chinese seafood meal in a restaurant in Penang. Above are 10 baked cheese crabs. They were a mixture of button mushrooms, onions and tangy crab meat.

This is a photo of ‘choon piah’ or spring rolls. It is full of julienned turnips, carrots, some meat and spring onions dipped with barbeque sauce. The flavor is piquant and delicious.

This is English spinash soup or ‘bayam chye’ with century egg, dried anchovies or ‘ikan bilis’ and egg white.

This is Nestum butter prawns or cereal butter prawns, one of my favorites. Indian curry leaves and chilly padi are added for the ‘oomph’ flavor in this dish.

This is ‘paitin’ fish streamed with ginger plus some other plum sauce that gives it a delicious taste. Though I have set my camera mode to macro, this shot is not too clear.

This is chicken satay or marinated chicken barbequed with peanut sauce at RM 80 cents a stick which is slightly above the normal price of RM 40 - 50 cents a stick if you buy outside.

Just last week, I treated my parents, sister and boyfriend to a sumptious meal in a Chinese Restaurant that’s always packed with diners. We had to book first for a table of 5 in order to get our place. It was my parents’ 38th Wedding Anniversary on 7th June 2007. I ordered steamed kale, seafood soup which has the sharks’ fins ingredients like real crab meat, dried scallops, etc without the endangered sharks’ fins. I also order ‘choon piah’ or fried rolled vegetables in battered skin or ‘poh piah’ skin. My dad loved the streamed and fried bones pomfret costing RM50 per serving. Finally we had our fried Singapore noodles with plenty of big prawns. The meal was delectable and sumptious and all of us enjoyed dining here.

Above is where I had dinner recently during the business trip to KL at Victoria Station Restaurant serving charboiled steaks, seafoods and salads.

Here is the non-smoking section which was rather squeezed up and too close for comfort. The surroundings are like the cabin of a train.

This is our little corner with cozy curtain furnishings on a small window.

Here is my sharks’ fins soup with complimentary salad that comes with my lobster thermidor at RM75 without service tax. On the right is my ordered drink of star fruit juice.

Here is the main course of none other than my lobster termidor served with plenty of cheese, button mushrooms and of course lobster. The lobster was medium in size and I could get a better and bigger serving in Penang for the same price.

Doesn’t the above photo look delectable? This was my meal in Sakae Sushi in Queensbay on the third floor. It was baked chicken with cheese. Oh…I just love cheese. If you wish to dine in Sakae Sushi, be sure to come early, otherwise there will be a long queue outside the restaurant. They even came up with an innovative idea of allowing patrons to order via a slim TFT screen or monitor. It is a pity they don’t have internet connection for surfing while dining.