My LIFE, Food & Travel Experience ~ Malaysia, Taiwan & the World: Herbs & Spices Flavors @ Eastin Hotel Penang for November 2013

For the month of November, Eastin Hotel Penang is having its Herbs & Spices theme for their buffet spread and they strive to bring dishes that has been infused with lots of these herbs and spices. These are flavor additive that has been used for centuries and since its also Deepavali month, there are of course some influence of Indian flavors as well.

This time round, we have Chef Buvanes and Khalil leading the menu and they try to bring a new twist to some tried and tested recipes. So do read on to see what I think of the menu for November.

Its also good to note that the pricing is still the same as stated below. Best part is Maybank, Standard Chartered, OCBC, CIMB and Citibank credit card members are entitled to a 15% discount as well for the dinner menu! So check it out.

Lunch: Monday-Friday (12-2.30pm)

RM48++ Adult, RM24++ Child

Hi Tea: Saturday-Sunday (12-3.00pm)

RM55++ Adult, RM28++ Child

Semi Buffet Dinner: Sunday-Thursday (6.30pm-10.00pm)

From RM48++

So to start of, we have some Appetizers and Soup

First we have the Achari Paneer which is a homemade cheese which I initially thought was tofu. It has a very soft texture and really almost like tofu but just that the flavor has a more milky taste to it. The use of the spices to cook it makes this an interesting item on the menu. One thing I learnt was that compared to tofu, this cheese does not break down when cooked in a wok and thus it still retains its chunky form.

Next there is the Deep Fried Pakoras which to be is one of the best items of the day! The Pakoras were so crunchy and flavorful that you just had to have more of it. Topping it with fried curry leaves helps to give it the added oomph to the taste but again, try to control the intake of fried items :)

Then there is the Soup Mulligatawny where I found it to be abit overpowering with all the spices used as well as its abit oily here. But I found it interesting where the chef chose to add some bits of cooked rice to give the soup some added textures.

Starting on the mains, we have Chicken Tikka Masala. This is marinated chicken which is then fried till golden brown. The chicken was very well tenderized but I found that maybe abit more spice would be good to add some additional flavors.

Goan Fish Curry comes with chunky pieces of pre-fried fish and the curry was neither Chinese or Indian style specific. It has a bit sourishness to it but then not like an Assam style curry. But I do enjoy the use of quality fish which helps to make this curry very suitable to go with noodles of rice

Sindhi Kadhi is a vegetarian themed soup pot and it is very similar to dhall curry though with way more chunky bits of vegetables which give it a natural sweetness.

Murgh Aloo Masala is cauliflower cooked with potatoes. I enjoyed this dish very much and the spices were just right for the vegetables here

Lamb Briyani was well executed and as expected, did not disappoint with its flavors and soft tender pieced of lamb! I like it even more when I added some curry from the fish!

And for desserts, from left, we have Payasam, Gulab Jamun and Mango Lassi. I found the first 2 items overly sweet (I guess thats how desserts are) but I found the Mango Lassi to be great. It was sweet just enough and served chill, it was great to end the meal.