Pasembur at Penang

Penang in Chinatown bills itself as Malaysian which, like Malaysia itself, means there's some of everything. I took some friends there earlier this evening.

I keep going back for the Pasembur, an entree-size appetizer of shredded cucumber, jicama and bean sprouts with tofu, sliced hard boiled eggs and the "chef’s special seafood sauce." It looks like something they swept up off the floor but it is awesomely delicious. Best use of tofu ever.

I'm also partial to the Buddhist Yam Pot, a bowl of fried taro filled with shrimp, chicken and vegetables.

Tonight we also had the fried red snapper topped with black bean sauce. The fish was served whole and covered with a rich sauce that reminded me of molé. I liked the sauce better than the fish.

Service tonight was a little erratic and on the slow side, but usually it is good. The wait staff is typically excellent but the servers can be uneven, as they were tonight.

Because of the variety, Penang is a good choice when you aren't sure how far your companions are willing to go, or when you're jonesing for some Pasembur.

Penang
2201 S Wentworth Ave
Chicago, IL 60616
312-326-6888
http://www.penangcuisine.com/

cowdery wrote:Penang in Chinatown bills itself as Malaysian which, like Malaysia itself, means there's some of everything.

Terrific line!!

I have not been to Penang in quite awhile; your descriptions have prompted me to go in the near future.

Sweet Willie wrote:I have not been to Penang in quite awhile; your descriptions have prompted me to go in the near future.

Sweet Willie,

I was thinking almost exactly the same thing. Cowdery's Penang post got me thinking I had not been in a while and should go back, soon.

Enjoy,
Gary

For those of you headed to Penang, try the "peanut pancake" - I have absolutely no idea whether or not this is at all an authentic dessert (Malaysian or otherwise), but it's really quite good.

Hi,

Penang has a northwest suburban location on Algonquin Road:

Penang
1720 W Algonquin Rd.
Arlington Heights, IL, 60005.
(847) 222-1888

Regards,

Anbody been to the Arlington Heights location? I'm thinking of going there Friday night.

It's a bit snazzier than downtown. I haven't been to the Chinatown location in a while, but I don't recall as much Thai emphasis as Arlington Heights has. AH doesn't serve sushi. I think the Malaysian dishes are about the same.

I particularly like a chilled salad called achat, a melange of Malaysian-style pickled vegetables, including cabbage, zucchini, cabbage, carrots and string beans, in a sprightly dressing piquant with lemongrass and tamarind, topped with peanuts -- a delicious blend of sweet-sour flavors and crisp and crunchy textures.

The pandan chicken, an appetizer of deep-fried, batterless chicken wings, was very good, as far as wings go -- crisp, meaty and ungreasy -- but the promised pandan-leaf seasoning was disappointingly subtle.

Penang's staff does seem to feel that its suburban patrons might not be up to authentic flavors. Our server warned us away from the Hainanese chicken, a steamed half chicken served at cool room temperature with dark soy sauce, insisting that "only Chinese people like that."

Penang
1720 W. Algonquin Road, Arlington Heights
847/222-1888, www.penangarlington.com

Hmmm - maybe I should take a pass.

I didn't mean to imply it's not worth going to. Everything we ate was very good. The service was a little disjointed, but I'm sure if we'd insisted on the chicken they'd have brought it.

It looks like I'm heading there tonight. The fuddy duddy couple that was supposed to go with us bailed on us.

Oh yeah. It was good. Ate there last night.

I had the mango shrimp & my wife had the rack of lamb. Both were quite tasty. We shared a spring roll appetizer. Great service. Nice bathrooms.

My only (sort of weird) complaint is the booth size. It's u-shaped. But the table is too small for the booth. We both had to lean a bit forward to eat.

Wasn't Zippy's there in a previous life?

Just had lunch at Penang in Arlington Heights today. We had an absolutely delightful waiter -- not fluent English, but enough to be both enthusiastic and helpful. As I ordered, he'd say, "You like spicy? This better." He then directed me to a dish with Chinese sausage and squid -- so no "warning away" now, at least not today. It was not killer spicy, but was plenty hot for me ("we make all medium hot," I had been assured -- but that implies more heat is possible, for those who wish it).

Indonesian foods (and food words) were largely lifted from Malaysia, so I was pleased to see foods that were familiar from travels in Indonesia, including pandan chicken, ayam (chicken) rendang, cendol, and ice kecang (and if they don't warn you away from a dessert that involves shaved ice, red beans, sweet corn, and strips of pandan jelly, I don't think they're worried about your reaction to authentic flavors). I haven't had some of these flavors for years, and I was delighted. We also ordered the Chinese-influenced fried rice noodles recommended by our waiter - Penang Char Kueh Teow -- which included, in addition to the squid and Chinese sausage, shrimp and bean sprouts in a spice soy sauce. Everything was sensational.

As for the Hainanese chicken -- my experience of this dish, which I've actually only had in China, is that it's boring, not exotic. It's the perfect dish for someone with a cold (which is why I first ordered it). They probably warn diners away from it because they're worried people will complain about the food being uninteresting. Just a guess, but I can't imagine they would be worried about "authentic flavor" with this wholesome but bland dish.

I was delighted with my experience at Penang. Now that I've found it, I'll be back. (Nice decor, too.)

I have to say that my experience in Penang have been nothing but strings of disappointments. As much as I wanted to like the only Malaysian restaurant in town, most of their dishes are mediocre and overpriced. I gave it one last try late last year when I had friends over from New York and every dish tasted off. We ordered the sambal petai (sator beans) and all we saw were onions with a few speckles of the sator beans. The rendang beef sauce was all over the plate with very little actual meat. Sting Ray dish was a major disappointment as well.

Redeeming quality about the restaurant was that the staff were friendly and the place was big so there was no wait and accomodates big parties. I will not be back again there for the food.

I was cruising past Chinatown this morning at about 11:45am, and saw this:

Firefighters battle 2-alarm fire at Chinatown restaurant

Firefighters are battling an extra-alarm fire Sunday afternoon in the South Side’s Chinatown neighborhood.

The fire started about 11:40 a.m. in a two-story building at 2201 S. Wentworth Ave. and was elevated to a second-alarm, Fire Media Affairs Chief Joe Roccasalva said.

Roccasalva said the building has a restaurant on the first floor and businesses on the second. Penang restaurant is listed at that location.

Firefighters called for a mayday alarm because a firefighter was believed to be missing, but everyone was accounted for at 12:15 p.m. and the mayday was secured, Roccasalva said.

Nobody was injured as of 12:15 p.m., but crews remained on the scene battling the blaze.

Trib: Extra-alarm fire damages Chinatown restaurant

gleam wrote:Firefighters battle 2-alarm fire at Chinatown restaurant

Firefighters and police were still on the scene at around 1:30 when my mom, sister and I got to Chinatown for lunch at Lao Sze Chuan. We only saw them from a distance. After lunch, we took a closer look. There wasn't much to see except yellow tape, blown-out windows and piles of glass. Very sad. (I didn't think to take a picture with my phone until we had already crossed the street on the way back to the car.)

Very sad. I went to Chinatown Penang all the time in 1999 and 2000, and have visited affectionately but infrequently since. It was my wife's and my "first date out" place. When it reopens (and I hope it will), I will put in my standard order of what I think are the three strongest menu items:

- roti canai (paper-bread with bone-in chicken curry)
- penang char kway teow (charred noodles with squid, sprouts, and leeks)
- peanut pancake

I will then order a coconut water, and if the first coconut is not the sweetest and most succulent sultry coconut in all of the Indies for my beautiful lady, I will send it, and following coconuts, back to the kitchen until they provide me with the perfectly cool, sugary, silky coconut. There will also be corn.

Good thing the fire department's practically located across the street.

While you are waiting for the Chinatown location to reopen, you can visit Penang in Arlington Heights.

Penang
1720 Algonquin Road
Arlington Heights
(847) 222-1888
http://www.penangarlington.com