Organized by Food Digest, Celebrity Chef Chen Hong had a conference to meet up with the media and food bloggers. The location was at G Hotel.

The organizer had proudly invited several VIPs to the conference, which were Penang State EXCO for Tourism Development and Culture, YB Danny Law and Food Digest Managing Editor, Tracy Lau.

YB Danny Law had proudly mentioned that Yahoo has listed Penang as one of the Top 10 Islands to Explore Before You Die. One of the main reasons Penang has been chosen is due to its unique fusion of cultures and flavors.

As for Celebrity Chef Chen Hong himself, he mentioned that he has always wanted to visit Penang as there are many good food around. As he mentioned he used to try out the good food at Gurney Drive only and most of the time, waiting for good food is the most difficult time. Therefore, this time he is looking somewhere further where quality of food is the priority and popularity is secondary.

As for Food Digest Managing Editor Tracy Lau, it is their honor to workout with Chen Hong and hope this would be a great success.

The MC of the day were English-speaking Sarah Jamil of Food Digest and Mandarin-speaking Jacgy Chan of Foodtok.

YB Danny Law handed over the token of appreciation to Chen Hong.

The group photo by all the celebrities. From left, Chef Billy Ng Yih Lee (runner-up of 8TV’s Hot Chef Season One) and Chef Park Tae Yeong (from Korea).

Of course, this one is me. Not any famous celebrity, instead just an ordinary food lover.

Very interesting and impressive food illustration shown to me  by Chef Park Tae Yeong. If for me I would rather snap photos than draw by hand. :)

This event is organized by Penang food portal, FoodTok and GG, the Food Digest and Sky Publisher. The organizers will be bringing Chef Chen Hong to some of the recommended food spots in Penang, while playing judge to some of the most famous hawkers and restaurants in Penang. For those who would like to catch Chen Hong’s whereabouts on his journey to find great food between 10 June 2011 and 12 June 2011, you may try your luck from as far as Batu Ferringhi, Gurney Drive, Pulau Tikus until the heart of George Town. For more information you can visit Food Digest official site at www.twitter.com/myfooddigest.

The CSL launching  event was held at the new wing of Gurney Plaza. Although it was very crowded on that Saturday afternoon, coincidently, there was another launching event by Maxis on its iPhone 4 at the centre court of old wing, which had diverted some of the crowd.

The CSL launch for this round was on the Spice Mi700 DroidPad and Mi300 smart phone. Both are running on Android platform which has the second largest user market after iPhone.

All the bloggers were busy filling in the registration form for the event.

The counter which displayed the Spice Mi700 Droidpad and Mi300 phone.

During the midst of the event, the CSL Android mascot was seen walking around the CSL booth to entertain the visitors.

CSL Android was showing the victory sign during his walks.

The group photo of all the bloggers.

Zoom in to the bloggers on the left.

Zoom in to the bloggers on the right.

The grand prize showcase by CSL staff. So how to be the luck winner?

The winner of the Spice Mi700 DroidPad would have 2 dots of black eyes on the Android mascot on the brocher found in the goodie bag.

The lucky winner of the CSL DroidPad is no other than my wife Therefore, I have the chance to use it as well.

Some of the attrractive features on the DroidPad:

Jurin Express, currently this is the only one outlet in Penang which is located at the 2nd floor of Gurney Plaza’s new wing.

The surrounding of this place is very cozy with large windows panes for you to enjoy the nice view of  Gurney Drive and also all walks of life outside the mall.

Very Japanese-style menu.

The gifts provided by the organizer, Jason and Gill from Gourmet Garden and also Criz from Crizfood.

I realized that nowadays most of the Japanese restaurants seem to have modern and stylish chandeliers.

The price for the set meal for each blogger was RM50. However, I find it value for money as the portion was very big and can easily feed the stomaches of two.

The drink of the day was free flow of Hot or Cold Honey Green Tea. The taste was very special with the additional touch of honey to the green tea.

There were 3 types of appetizers:

• Tempura Kani
• Sushi Combo
• Sushi Fried Maki

Tempura Kani, this is the sushi roll with crab stick as the filling, coated with tempura skin. The taste of this dish was crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. It goes well with the Japanese sweet sauce and also some mayo.

Sushi Fried Maki, for this dish the nori rolled sushi is placed in in an extra layer of vinegar rice which has been topped with mayo and ebiko. It was a very appetizing starter. Actually, after tried out the 3 starters, we already felt very full and wanted to call for the day

Sushi Combo, a set of colorful sushi rolls. This dish combines all types of sushi. I just love the taste of hand roll sushi here as the sourness of the vinegar was not too heavy and also the compression of the rice was not too over. However, the taste might be vary from person to person. Some prefers the vinegar to be stronger and also the rice should be more compressed and sticky.

As for Set Lunch, there are 4 varieties of set lunches as below. These sets are only available during festive season, they are not commodities for daily:

Set A: Ginmutsu Teriyaki (Deep fried cod fish in sweet sauce), Chicken Ban Ban (Boneless fried chicken chunks served with Japanese sauce and mayo), Ebi Tempura (Deep fried shrimps in batter), Yaki Tamago (Sweet omelette), Garlic Fried Rice and Miso Soup.

Set B: Salmon and Tuna Sashimi, Unagi (BBQ Japanese eel), Tamago Kikurage (Black fungus with chilies), Yaki Tamago (Sweet omelette), Garlic Fried Rice and Miso Soup.

The salmon and the tuna slices were very fresh, but some food blogger claimed that the salmon and tuna were not fresh as they were a bit watery.

Set C: Salmon and Tuna Sashimi, Spicy Salmon (deep fried and topped with spicy sauce), Kakiage (Deep fried shrimps, squid and vegetables in batter), Yaki Tamago (Sweet omelette), Garlic Fried Rice and Miso Soup.

Set D: Karubi Beef (Stir fried beef with onions), Nama Ika Teriyaki (Grilled cuttlefish in teriyaki sauce), Karaage (Deep fried soft shell crabs), Yaki Tamago (Sweet omelette), Garlic Fried Rice and Miso Soup.

Desserts given to us were green tea ice cream with red bean.

Gill was showing the sponsored chili sauce and requested us to give comments after trying out.

Some of the food bloggers were chit-chatting while some were busy taking photos.

Some were ready to be served while some were staring blankly at each other.

“Here, let me pass you my name card”, Amanda was showing to Cheryl Wee, while her husband and Alvin were sitting wondering.

Chan Lilian was checking on her son if he was still intact.

Cariso was showing off her goodies while Mr. A was watching her from the opposite.

Lay Min was busy shooting while Kok Ann was checking on the goodies.

Criz Lai is planing to get a Lumix semi-pro camera like Sam’s, while Criz friend, Beh was looking elsewhere. Waco Chan was reading the menu.

The two beautiful girls Eunice and SY from Food Promotion got shocked when I took their photo.

Daisy, the owner of restaurant, was my ex-colleague and she is now the lady boss of Jurin Express while I am still at nowhere. Sigh.

Say cheese…. In present:

• Daisy Lee (boss) & hubby
• Alan Choong & Amanda Teoh
• Eunice, SY, Kelvin Tan
• CW Chan
• Criz Lai
• JK Beh
• Cheryl Wee & hubby
• Kok Ann, Lay Min
• Sam Ong
• Gill & Jason
• Steven Goh

(Not in photo – Carrie & partner, Lilian Chan & son).

Overall, the ambience here is very nice and cozy. The sushi rolls, tempura kani and most of the bento sets here are great, the green tea is very special compared to the usual plain green tea elsewhere. However, some of the dish like Set C is too localized and the dessert is just another OEM ice cream instead of  an impressive capture for the ending.

Editor’s Review (5 Stars Rank):

Taste
Price
Food Presentation
Service
Overall

Quick Facts:

Family Friendly
Parking
Pork Free
Alcohol
Credit Card
Smoking
Reservation
Private Room

Operation hours: 11.30am-10.00pm (7 days a week)
Contact: 604-227 7112
Address:170-02-59/60, 2nd Floor, Gurney Plaza (New Wing), Persiaran Gurney, 10250 Penang

A sighted participant will lead another sighted participant to walk blindfoldedly, thus giving the sighted particpants the opportunity to experience blindness; to value sight and to appreciate teamwork; to have fun and of course to raise the much needed funds by St. Nicholas’ Home Penang to help the visually impaired.

I was actually arriving there just to help out in arranging the tables and chairs instead of joining the walk. At that moment I felt very fortunate, it is like the old saying “I kept complaining that I don’t have shoe until I see someone without feet”. Appreciation is the main key factor that makes me keep moving, love and care for those that are not so fortunate.

There were also free foot massage for those participated in the 3.8 km walk. You will just need to donate upon your ability.

The sharing and caring were all around the corner.

The group from Penang Adventist Hospital also joined in the fun.

Meaning and touching video that taken by Chan Lilian

For information about Walk For Sight, please visit: http://www.walkforsight.com

The couple sushi eating contest.

1st Price:   – Wedding Reception Coordination Service worth RM3800.
2nd Price: – One Couple Lifestyle Photo Session worth RM600.
3rd Price: – Lovely Hand Bouquet worth RM199.

Quick Facts:

• Saturday 8 May: 3pm – 6pm(Finals).
• Registration deadline 21 April 2010.
• Preliminary Rounds will be on 24 & 25 April, 1 & 2 May at Sakae Izakaya, Auto City 3pm – 6pm.
• Participants must pair up to compete in the contest.
• Registration Fee: RM10
• For more information, please call: 04-508 0268

Through the Greening Penang Initiative, the PSDC aims to encourage and inculcate the adoption of EM Activated Solution (EMAS) among the residents of Bayan Baru. EMAS is made from organic products and can be used for household cleaning, laundry, gardening and even on pets. Most of all, it is an effective and healthy alternative to the conventional chemical-based solutions and fertilizers. Bayan Baru residents who are interested to find out more about EMAS and how to make the solution from home is welcome to participate in the official launching the Greening Penang Initiative on Saturday, 31 October 2009 at 11:00am at the PSDC premises (1, Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah, Bandar Bayan Baru, 11900 Bayan Lepas, Penang). Complimentary EM starter kits and EMAS will be given out to participants of this Program. For more information, please contact PSDC at 04-6437909 ext. 514/ 596 or email CorpComm@psdc.org.my.

Online Sponsors:

This round the 4th Penang Food Blogger gathering was held on 15th Aug at Vintage Bulgaria.

On my previous post, I had blogged some of the food at this place. As for this time I will be covering the food that I missed out. Thanks to the owners of Vintage Bulgaria Silviya &  Andreas who gave us this good deal on food and place to make noise.

Starter:

Mushroom Soup, the starter of the menu course.  It was delightful, the taste was not too creamy and also the the cheese bread made a good combination with the mushroom soup.

Another starter, seafood soup with bits of tuna. The look is very similar to the mushroom soup except no cheese bread provided. However, compared to the mushroom soup, I personally preferred the former as the latter was too rich in terms of taste and “seafood” smell.

Main Course:

Baked Cod Fish Fillet (finished with creamy mushroom sauce). The creamy mushroom sauce really mixed well with the cod fish. The fish was fresh and it really melted in your mouth. It was one of the favorite dishes among the bloggers. I ordered this for myself , but too bad most of it melted in other people’s mouthes instead of mine.

Platter Bulgaria, Bulgarian mixed grill trio of kebapche, kyofte, kamatche (vintage own traditional recipe of in-house homemade Bulgarian sausage) and succulent pork fillet. This is still one of my favorites too. The platter actually came in 4 types of dishes, out of which 3 were outstanding while the only one left was the sausage, which had an acceptable taste.  Overall the platter was very nice!

Bulgarian Pork Djolan (Traditional roast pork knuckle). Gigantic size of pork kuckle. The portion was very big. In fact it was served for 2 pax. The taste was delicious, is the perfect choice for pork lovers.

Plovdiv Ribs (Tasty pork ribs grilled till tender). It has some barbecue and honey-sweet taste. It is meant for the non-hot & spicy person. The meat was really tender and juicy.

Chicken Stroganov (Boneless chicken drumstick cut into strips, cooked with mushroom, wine, cream, herbs & spices). This was the only dish which I felt it has room for improvement. First of all, the taste of the pepper were too strong which covered up the taste and smell of other ingredients. Secondly, the potato was also cooked with pepper which has made the entire dish tasted like pepper & chicken only.

Dessert:

Chocolate Soup with Vanilla Ice Cream, very rich and creamy dessert. I really ran for 10 extra laps on the next day to maintain my weight. There were bloggers that even told me he was not full until he finished this mug. However, the taste was irresistable as it was so creamy and rich.

Chocolate Creme Brulee. The top portion is burnt with a torch and topped with caramel. Its outer layer was crunchy while inner part was soft. It was also one with the rich and sweet ending.

Coffee or Tea for the end of the session. The aroma of the coffee really woke me up after all the heavy and long meal.

As a compliment of this gathering, Winter Butterfly Homemade Cakes has sponsored 3 cakes for the food bloggers.

Chocolate Brownie, overall I love this cake the best as the cake and the cream were well-balanced. The aroma of the chocolate was really nice.

Cream Cheese Mousse Cake, the cake really had the smell of cheese but to me it was slightly too dry. It would be best if the base mixture was a little more moist.

Oreo Cheese Cake, I melted after tasting this cake. The melted in terms of over richness and creamy. Maybe it was due to the heavy meal.

The birthday bloggers whose birthdays fell on these few months were sharing their cut of cake.

Each one got a taste of the fresh strawberry on top of the cake.

The no smoking sign shows that this is a healthy place for non-smokers. For smokers, you need to puff outside before coming in.

Video capture of most of the Food Bloggers.

The bloggers were busy chit-chatting

Ken from Foodpoi with the upsite down umbralla. Very unique.

The ladies were busying trying and commenting on the cake that they have just cut out.

Silviya &  Andreas, the owner of Vintage Bulgaria. I wonder will they give me discount after the promotion that I have done

All the pretty girl floggers. I still don’t know some of them…. Find one day, I need to know them more.

The funny guy floggers…. Well, we were outnumbered by the ladies. Is there any guys interested to become flogger? You are wanted!!!

Bon Odori is originally started by Nenbutsu folk dance to express the effusive welcome for the spirits of the dead, the style of celebration varies in many aspects from region to region.

In Penang, Bon Odori Festivals are also celebrated every year at Esplanade on the big field. As usual this year Bon Odori had attracted a lot of people too. At this day most of the Japanese Expatriates will gather here with their Yukata (Summer Kimono) for celebration and performances.

Some even put up a stalls to sell Japanese traditional food and games.

There is even a haunted house set up at the front corner of the field. This situation is like placing haunted house during “Cheng Beng”.

One of the Japanese kids is trying to challege another “big boss” at his age while all the ladies are watching.

Check out the ladies who were helping the “big boss” to take off the underpant of the challenger. Whether the underpant will be successfully taken off, that is up to your imagination.

There are varieties of food selling at the stalls around Esplanade. You can see there was a wide array of western bakeries at the stall.

Even Roast Gypsy Chicken was available too. There are also Char Koay Teow and Hokkien Mee available at the stalls there. However, most of the food sells there are local and even western food. There are not much Japanese’s food available. I was looking for “Bando” but no luck.

The Japanese Obasan (Grannies) came in a group with their Yukata uniforms, I believe they were preparing for dancing too.

One of the outstanding Yukata dressing with a golden rose on her head

“Kawaii” (Cute) little Japanese Girls with their Yukata on.

Catching gold fish is one of the traditional games for Japanese. There are many Japanese kids squatting there just to wait for the game to start.

Another Kawaii Japanese girl that will be performing on the stage later.

The teenager group. The guy was speaking in Japanese which I didn’t know what he was saying when I took their pictures. May be he was trying to say “Please make it fast, you are the 20 over people that asking me to pause for photos.”

Finally, a stall that selling Japanese goodies.

Momiji dolls are available for sale at 3 sets for RM28. I really love all the dolls that are made in such cute and fine art. Too bad I didn’t have much money in my pocket so I just managed to take the photos of the dolls only.

Japanese Samurai and Geisha dolls on the display.

The Kawaii girl that was catching the gold fish earlier was rehearsing on stage now.

The drum-beating rehearsal was done after the traditional Japanese dance.

Partial movie capture of the drum performance.

Bon Odori was officially kicked-off by our State Tourism Development and Culture Committee chairman Danny Law.

Finally, YB Lim Guan Eng arrived at 6:30pm.

Overall I find this event is great to let us experience the tradition and culture from other countries. However, there are some improvement that need to be made. The meaning of Bon Odori should be made clear that it is not “Ghost Festival”. Also the food should have been more Japanese style instead of local or Western Style.