Sweet Willie wrote:The specials contained some interesting items I had not seen before, such as beef with stinky bean. I'm intrigued as to what stinky bean is and will likely try for lunch sometime this coming week.

Those must be sator beans. Thanks for the heads up -- I'm a fan of both sator beans and Penang and will try to make it over there soon.

cilantro wrote:

Sweet Willie wrote:The specials contained some interesting items I had not seen before, such as beef with stinky bean. I'm intrigued as to what stinky bean is and will likely try for lunch sometime this coming week.

Those must be sator beans. Thanks for the heads up -- I'm a fan of both sator beans and Penang and will try to make it over there soon.

I've had them in Thai dishes before (back in the day at TAC Quick). I believe one of the reasons they're called stinky beans is because they have an effect similar to asparagus.

=R=

Penang no longer offers chicken rendang, that's ok, the lamb version is well worthwhile and was a nice meal to cap a hell of a week. (beef version is available as well)

Sweet Willie wrote:Penang no longer offers chicken rendang, that's ok, the lamb version is well worthwhile and was a nice meal to cap a hell of a week. (beef version is available as well)

I like the beef rendang so well, I never even noticed they had chicken rendang. Maybe that was a common reaction -- and maybe why it's off the menu. However, after your note, I'm going to scope out the lamb rendang -- haven't had that yet.

I went here for lunch today, first time. I asked the hostess to identify which items on the menu were considered Malaysian.

Based on these choices I selected Mango Chicken. It came with hot & sour soup, a spring roll, and rice. The menu indicated it was spicy. I told the waitress that was fine.

The soup was bland mostly liquid. The spring roll filling was thin. I ordered coconut rice, which tasted like rice. I've never have tasted Malaysian Mango Chicken, but I found this dish extremely sweet.

It was a lot for $8, but mostly disappointing. Service was excellent.

D.

dodger wrote:I went here for lunch today, first time. I asked the hostess to identify which items on the menu were considered Malaysian.

Based on these choices I selected Mango Chicken. It came with hot & sour soup, a spring roll, and rice. The menu indicated it was spicy. I told the waitress that was fine.

The soup was bland mostly liquid. The spring roll filling was thin. I ordered coconut rice, which tasted like rice. I've never have tasted Malaysian Mango Chicken, but I found this dish extremely sweet.

It was a lot for $8, but mostly disappointing. Service was excellent.

D.

I'd say a good rule at Penang is to not ask the waitstaff for recommendations. They will always offer something they think is "safe," no doubt because a fair number of non-Asians have had bad reactions to the authentic food. They argued with me the first couple of times I went -- "oh, you don't want Chinese sausage" -- that sort of thing. Your best bet would be to look over the posts here and order things people have loved. I have friends who just got back from two months in Malaysia, and they adored Penang -- so it's not just folks here who like it. But seriously, never ask them to suggest stuff.