Eastin Hotel Penang, Buka Puasa Dinner ~ Sharing is Caring

Its now the month of Ramadan and I guess for everyone, its a time to reflect and also of course for those foodies, its like a month long of food paradise with all those Ramadan Bazaars hawking some of those delectable once in a year food items.

On the 12 of July 2013, I was thankful and very happy to be invited to join Eastin Hotel Penang for their Buka Puasa Dinner Celebrations. Now, there is your typical dinners but what sets this dinner apart is that the staff of Eastin Hotel Penang took their time, and put in alot of effort to share it with the less fortunate! I enjoy food reviews, but I just love it when it has added meaning to it. This year, Eastin Hotel Penang is celebrating it with the orphanage childrens from Rumah Jagaan Nasyiatul Aisyah all the way from Balik Pulau. Its one thing to invite someone, but when the team at Eastin planned, arranged and even sacrificed their time for this, my hats of to them! I really had a good time, and I sure these less fortunate felt all the love on this very night!

Frankly, I so happy to be writing about this that in some ways, I felt that the food was secondary for the night. When someone is happy and feeling joyous, the sharing environment you are in, everything just taste nicer doesn't it. I'm sure it was like sugar coating for those children, and I can feel their excitement in the air! Ah bliss! I do hope to see Eastin Hotel Penang continuing this very honourable tradition and just before I forget, the staff actually also made a very handsome donation in kind as well as presented goodie bags to the kids! Well done I say again (not sure how many times I repeated this!). This is exactly why I have my blog named as such, TheLifeIsGood when you have the right company.

So, back to the Ramadan Buffet spread. At RM85++ and running the entire month of Ramadan, this buffet to me is a steal. Its probably one of the most authentic of Ramadan Buffets available and I was really surprised to see the number of items being served. From the many unique curry dishes (there was ostrich and rabbit meat) and some very traditional rice with herbs which was just wonderfully flavored. 

Then there is the whole roasted lamb, grilled fish with sambal and their signature, Gearbox Soup! Besides these specials, they did not skimp on other items and had fresh oysters, pasembur and even their signature smoked duck breast! I mean, with so much to choose from, the list goes on. Thus scroll through this post and get your saliva drooling. Cheers!

Candy for the young and old. Well its for the chocolate fondue

The fountain

So colorful all these

A must have which is rendang

Fish curry

Even have a huge pie!

The many assortment for the Pasembur

Selection of local fruits. Now, don't hope for durian but they did have the queen of fruits (mangosteen)!

There was also a whole assortment of serunding, acar, sambal to go with ketupats!

So many types of rice

Love this shot

Assortment of samplers!

Huge prawns from the seafood section

Succulent fresh oysters which kept on being replenished

Quail soup. This is a first and it was made with lots of herbs and spices in the soup

The sun shining on the bright green leaves

The whole roasted lamb.

Carving skills is a must

Even have kebab

And ice kacang

The extra stalls setup for Ramadan spread

The gearbox from their infamous Gearbox Soup. The gearbox is the knee from the cow

The grilled sambal fish

A group photo of the Eastin Hotel Penang team with their special VIP for the night

Chef serving the VIPs with a personal touch

Yum yum

So cute

Handling out some goodie bags after the dinner

Another model in the making

Lucky dude!

The ladies with the kids

And a final one! All in, it was a great night and thanks to Eastin Hotel Penang for hosting this and making it such a meaningful event. I wish all, especially my Muslim friends a Happy Ramadan month! Can't wait for Raya!