I believe most people would have heard of Suffolk House located at Penang and its really and amazing venue with its lush green lawn and majestic building. Suffolk House now have a thriving restaurant and its very popular with both tourist and locals. They offer some great value for money fine dining experience as well as their very nostalgic atmosphere. You are afterall dining in a mansion!
So Suffolk House has just recently onboarded their new Executive Chef, Mr Gordon Robertson who is a highly acclaimed chef whom was born in Scotland but grew up in Hong Kong and has traveled the world expanding his culinary skills. His has been head chef at the infamous Royal Albert Hall in London as well as leading various restaurants in his exciting career and now, he is in Penang's Suffolk House with the goal of bringing the culinary experience to the next level! For a moment, that introduction sounded like what you will find from an Iron Chef! Heheh
Anyway, for month of October and November 2013, they are having a special promotion where for any party of four people taking the set menu (lunch, dinner or the chefs tasting menu!!), Suffolk House will give them the cost of the cheapest set menu free (so effectively a 25% discount). For those that prefer to dine à la carte, Suffolk House will offer them a 15% discount on their food bill for diners having two courses including a main course (not sharing). And the most important aspect to get this promotion is to please mention this blog: TheLifeIsGood.com to them when ordering to be entitled!
So do check out the photos, and of course what I thought of it
The magnificent grounds of Suffolk House
Just love these kind of British Colonial window design
There is also guided tours available here
The interior is very classy. This room happen to have a very long table
There is also outdoor seating, and no, one do not need to sit under the sun
Very cozy at the outside actually! I would recommend this for the day time!
Their selection of wine!
This is the main dining area
So lets get to the food shall we. I was very lucky to get to try the Chef's Tasting menu!
All diners here start with some bread and butter! The bun you see if actually very nice with some onions in it! I can eat it as it is. But to me, sometimes taking the bread also means that we will be so full before the mains, and I always want to save some space for dessert right?
To start, this is the Amuse Bouche, Seared Scallop with Coffee Oil. Frankly this was the first time I had coffee oil and its actually very tasty! The scallops were juicy and searing it locks in the flavors and the salmon with the drizzle of the coffee oil really adds to the flavors and textures. Nice start.
Next we move to the Salad, which is fresh garden green with herbs and cucumber jelly. This is a very simple salad, with dashes of fresh herbs and some lemon juice to bring it together. The cucumber jelly was also a first for me and being a salad lover, this one was pretty good except I felt the lemon juice was abit over powering
The soup comprised of Honey Roasted Pumpkin Bisque with Spiced Cream and at this sampling, there was also an Asparagus soup to try! I find the soup very rich but I found the green soup which is the asparagus one much more appetizing. I guess this was probably a lighter version of the 2 soups
When I saw the sorbet, I was like wow this looks like a mint version and boy was I wrong. Its actually apple, lime and the secret ingredient, wasabi! Yeap, first time I had wasabi in a sorbet and it didn't work that well for me. I found the wasabi abit over powering and maybe its because its not fresh wasabi which is much more mellow in flavor
For mains, there are a few choices and diners get to select one mains from the menu.
Lamb Loin, Confit Potatoes, Chick Peas with Cumin and Caramelized Onions was executed well. The sauce that is layered under the lamb was an interesting flavor using some chick peas to get that nutty taste. The potatoes, and the pieces of caramelized onion really mellows out the meat and makes for a good combination.
Duck Breast with Watercress Pesto, Red Cabbage and Pommes Puree. Presentation was pretty awesome for this dish and this is one of the nicest duck breast I have had. One can taste the slight layers of fat from the duck breast and you know its not those prepack duck breast available in many restaurants. Seared and finished in the oven, this one scores high on my list.
Salmon with Cucumber, Caviar and Horseradish Beurre Blanc. Well, this is a chunky piece of salmon that manages to retain its moisture. I should say that the scallop that was used to top the salmon was also very delicious and the slight saltiness of the caviar which were scattered around the plate gave the salmon an added depth. Look closely and you will see silver edible foil which was creatively used as garnishing here. The creamy sauce also worked well to complement the taste of salmon. Nicely done
Boneless Cornish Hen with a Quartet of Corn. Another interesting dish to me where besides the chicken and cornish, its the garnishing that really pique my interest in this. Imagine a whole plate splattered with corn in different state of cooking. There is roasted, popcorn and even off the BBQ. The hen was also very moist.
Finally dessert. This is the Strawberries and Cream Suffolk House Style which comes with a tart and a cup of blended strawberries. It was an interesting combination for the lemony tart and I would have rated it better had the base of the tart not be as hard as it was.
Chocolate Cremeuse with Banana Icecream and Salted Peanuts. This one I like for the unique icecream and the chocolate cremeuse was just melting in my mouth. This one worked well where the banana flavor mixed well with the chocolate and the salted peanuts just gave it that extra oomph when one bites into it.
And finally the best for last, Suffolk House Butter Fudge with Vanilla Salt was probably my favorite dessert of the night. To me this is dessert at its best as you just need one bite size piece, it melts in your mouth and gives a wonderful feeling from the sweetness and then, tweaks it with the vanilla salt. Two thumbs up for this.
And of course, a portrait of Chef Gordon Robertson!
Don't forget to mention this blogs name to be entitled for the promotion!
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