The View ~ Equatorial Hotel ~ Alaskan King Crab & Semi buffet

Heehhe... I have to say, how lucky I am to have a friend who would like to buy dinner at The View in Equatorial Hotel Penang. For those that are not familiar, I would say that The View is one of the better fine dining restaurants in Penang.
Typically, there is ala carte and then there are those that comes with a semi buffet.
So whats so special currently at The View, well they have the Alaskan King Crab promotion which is for September 2009 only.
On the menu, we have a choice of just ala carte King Crabs or with the semi buffet. We chose the semi buffet and ended choosing the Grilled King Crab and a King Crab Thermidor.
Their semi buffet is actually very good in my opinion. One of their signature is their salmon marinated with Whisky and herbs. This is just so delicious I had a few helpings.
Then they have a very good spread of salads with various garnishing and sauces.
Next would be their seafood cold platter. Here they have boiled and shelled large prawns, scallops on the shell and very fresh oysters. The thing I like about here is that their oysters never run out :)
After this, is their array of appetizers, where there have fish, beef, vegetables and duck. For this round, their duck was just excellent. The aroma and taste was very very good and I had at least 2 helpings of this dish. The fish was not as nice as I hope as the taste felt too complex. I couldn't try the beef dishes as I can't take beef.
Then their last items are their dessert spread. Alas I forgot to take pictures of their dessert today but their tiramisu and crumble and pretty good.
So for today's dish of the day, the focus is of course on the very famous Alaskan King Crab. For those who watch Discovery Channel's Dealiest Catch, this is it. Now when we first heard about it, I though we would be getting the crabs live and ship to Penang. Sadly, they only import the legs of the crab so thats all we got to taste.
Before we get to the main course, we start with the semi buffet as mentioned above. Then we are served with the soup of the day which happens to be seafood chowder. I would say its nothing to shout about as I feel the soup lack a punch to it. After the soup, we get a Strawberry sorbet (the flavour changes often). This I was told by the staff is to clear our taste buds before we savour the main course. It has a minty taste to it and its something like a icecream toothpaste. Leave your mouth fresh, though probably not white. Now is time for the main course.
First is the King Crab Thermidor. The presentation is always excellent here at The View. The food is nicely placed with just the right amount of garnishing. Below the Crab Thermidor is some mash potato with some vegetables. Now the taste of the crab is very fresh, but I feel that the cheese used in this style of cooking overpowered the freshness of the crab. Also the cheese was abit watery in my opinion but maybe this is how Thermidor is suppose to be?
Rating : 4/5
Next there is the Grilled King Crab. Now the garnishing is the same as the Thermidor and the only difference is in the preparation of the crab. For the grilled version, its just much better to my taste compared to the above. The crab is succulent, taste fresh and done just right! This to me is way better compared to the Thermidor version. Given a chance, this is a definitely must try!
Rating : 5/5

Links to more photos : http://www.apples-studio.com/gallery/ww38.4_09_dinner_EQ/index.html

Wikimapia link : http://wikimapia.org/#lat=5.3357035&lon=100.2835464&z=15&l=0&m=b&show=/13213019/Hotel-Equatorial-Penang&search=penang

The marinated salmon
Seafood on ice
My platter from the semi buffetSeafood chowderGrilled Alaskan King CrabAlaskan King Crab Thermidor