Penang Bistro - Vancouver

Just alright. Better decor than food quality. Lots of space & privacy even on a Wed nite 7pm pickup. Kaya Malay better.

Had dinner here with a friend. The decor was nice and we were seated in a booth next to a window at the front of the restaurant. Food came quickly. We ordered the mango chicken which was deep fried topped with a spicy sweet sauce with shredded fresh green mango and onions. Very good but has to be eaten with steamed rice to go with the sauce. The Nasi gorang was delicious, but I found the roti candle just a bit doughy. Probably it was just me as it seems every table in the restaurant ordered it. Potions large for two women and we had enough food to take home. Will return to try out some of the other dishes on their extensive menu.

Few days ago I was meeting some of my friends at the “Penang Bistro” at Fraser Street. The location looked good, the interior was nice. We had a larger table in a separate room that was obviously designated for larger groups. When we were ready to order, nobody was showing up. Even catching the attention of the servers was a quite long, challenging task. When we finally got a server to come to us, we ordered Pandan Chicken Wings, Mango Fish Fillet, Sambal Jumbo Prawns, Clay Pot Mixed Vegetable Curry, Sambal Eggplant, Seafood Curry Laksa, Kampung Fried Rice, Nasi Nanas and Char Kueh Teow. One of my friends wanted to order a very interesting looking special beverage (Cendol). But the server suggested that a special coconut drink would be much better. So we followed her advice and ordered that drink. Since we didn’t get enough glasses for water and a server didn’t show up for quite some time one of my friends tried to go to the servers and to request more glasses with the result that the door was closed directly before his nose – friendly service looked different. We had to wait pretty long until the first dish, the appetizer (Pandan Wings) was served. While some of my friends liked it, I was not impressed since it was just American style deep fried chicken wings (even if it was quite meaty and juicy). The piece of Pandan leaf that was bound around each wing didn’t contribute much to the taste of the meat; to me it was just a marketing gag. The next that was served was the Seafood Curry Laksa, which tasted good. Then came the so-called Mango Fish Fillet. By definition, a fillet is a boneless piece of meat. But our “fillet’ had visibly bones and the entire backbone. When talking to the server about that, she said that it is a fillet because it has lesser bones than a whole fish – a view most of us didn’t agree with. And the shredded mango (if it was mango at all) was green and didn’t taste like a mango, rather like green papaya.While all the ordered beverages came already long time ago, the recommended special drink wasn’t delivered for a long time. They obviously forgot about that since when we reminded them about it, the drink came fast. But I must say that my friend and I were quite disappointed by that drink: It was simply a kind of coconut milk shake (vanilla ice cream, coconut milk and coconut meat). It didn’t tast bad, but it was certainly not that type of fancy looking drink that we intended to order. We did regret that we didn’t insist on that. I suspect that the server recommended us the coconut drink since it didn’t take much to make it at the same price while the Cendol surely needed more preparation.Next served dish was the Sambal Jumbo Prawns. The prawns were really large and tasted well. But I didn’t think that $5 per piece was a fair price – for this dish alone (10 pieces) we paid more than $50 (incl. tax)!The presentation of the Nasi Nanas (fried rice with pineapple) was nice. But the dish itself was not really special – simply a fried rice with seafood, green onions and eggs that one can get almost at any Asian restaurants; the green beans could hardly be found while cashew nuts (that were not listed in the menu description) were plenty in that dish.The Mixed Vegetable Curry in the clay pot were ok. It was just that the sauce had the same taste as in the Seafood Curry Laksa.One of my favourites was the Kampung Fried Rice. Although a bit dry, it didn’t taste as fishy as the description in the menu would probably suggest. The anchovies didn’t taste fishy and were quite crunchy – what I particularly liked.The Sambal Eggplant was ok, but nothing what would have excited me. The same applies to the Char Kueh Teow, which is a simple, standard Malaysian dish that one could find at any reasonable Malaysian restaurant.The biggest shock came after the meal: We brought a cake and had asked in advance on the phone whether there would be any issues with that. But now we were told that this cake would result in a $15 dollar service fee for providing the plates and forks, and the cutting of the cake. Only after very intense protest they waved that fee.As a summary, this restaurant is not so bad, the dishes taste good, for larger groups (e.g 10 people) I recommend to order from each dish twice since one dish is barely enough to give anyone a piece of it – we had to share many of the items. The price for each dish is considerable high. And, although the servers were friendly most of the time, the service has much room for improvements.

This restaurant seems one that can be missed. No fancy entrance here. The dining area had a nice ambiance. Staff were attentive and helped us out on our selection. The restaurant was clean, tables were well-arranged. The food was delicious. I've always been a fan of Asian food and this did not disappoint. They had an interesting selection of beverages as well. I was sure glad to see lychee juice on the menu!Most of the dishes seemed to be spicy so my group ordered a mix of spicy dishes and non-spicy ones. We surely be back to try more selections. We came in on weekday for dinner and it was not busy. Not sure about weekends though.Seafood prices were a bit high and the dishes were small in serving size. But it was just right for my group.

The first thing I get at any Malaysian restaurant is roti canai and their roti canai was delicious. I had nasi goreng (veggie stir fried rice), a whole fish, and green beans. The fish was well seasoned as an Asian dish should be with unique flavors. My friend ordered the coconut ice cream in an actual coconut, that was a great dessert. Great food, nice atmosphere, and friendly service.