Sunday lunch at one-year-old MICHELIN-Selected ๐๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ธ๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ฒ๐ป at the ๐ ๐ถ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐น on Northam Road. The kitchen is headed by Benny Yeoh, whoโs worked with top Singaporean chefs like Justin Quek at ๐ฆ๐ธ๐ ๐ผ๐ป ๐ฑ๐ณ, Marina Bay Sands, and Jason Tan at 1-Michelin-starred ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ป๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐๐๐ฒ.
We started off with:
๐ผ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐๐ฉ๐๐จ๐๐ง๐จ:
๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฑ - truffle cream, garlic croutons and parsley. Competently executed rendition, though nothing which sets it above others in George Town, and there are a lot because, for some reason, 90% of Penang diners will opt for a creamy wild mushroom soup whenever they eat out at a โWesternโ restaurant, just as they will inexorably go for aglio olio whenever they order pasta in any Italian or Western restaurant.
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฃ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ - Caesar dressing, beef bacon and parmesan. We found much better versions of this dish in Michelin-Select Firewood and the always-dependable Beach Street Bistrot.
But as it needed to serve a halal version here, beef โbaconโ, instead of the real thing, is used here. You lose something when you substitute real bacon with an imitation.
๐๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ชรง๐ฐ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ - with tuna, black olives and mustard vinaigrette. This dish was a let-down as the version here excluded anchovies, which I feel is essential to give the salad its signature umami flavor.
๐๐๐๐ฃ๐จ:
๐๐ฐ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐จ - potato salad, grain mustard and cep butter. Very good, but the serving size was way too small, even for the Asian appetites here.
๐๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ง๐ง๐ข๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ญ - with slow-braised honeycomb tripe and beef tendon, served with steamed rice. This is the only dish on the menu with a pronounced Asian slant, and they do it very, very well indeed. Probably the best dish we had at lunch today.
๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ข - with truffles and mixed mushrooms. Very tasty, although not something we can find elsewhere for a fraction of the price we had to pay here.
๐๐ข๐จ๐บ๐ถ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ณ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ - with onion rings, Cheddar cheese and kelp butter. Undersized and overpriced, average-tasting burger, which also happens to be the most expensive in town, with its MYR 88 / US$22.25 / ยฃ16.25 (*before taxes and service charge) price tag.
Beach Street Bistrot serves an inestimably superior version in every way, and even cheaper at MYR 75 / US$19 / ยฃ13.85++.
Beach St Bistrotโs version is also accompanied by the best-tasting chips in town, whereas the one here comes with a small serving of underwhelming fried onion rings.
๐ฟ๐๐จ๐จ๐๐ง๐ฉ๐จ:
๐๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ค ๐ต๐ช๐ณ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ด๐ถ - mascarpone, espresso and kahlua. The dessert was assembled table-side. This was done very well by our waiter - perhaps the only feature here that reminded us that we are dining a restaurant that is listed in the Michelin Guide.
๐๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ข๐ณ๐ต - caramelised Granny Smith apples, butterscotch and almond cream.
๐๐ข๐ด๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ - with Camembert and cream. Very creamy-rich and delish although, like everything else here, is undersized and overpriced.
Quite a bit of hit-and-misses here. We were far from satisfied. Very far.
Address
Blacklinen
Level 9, The Millen Penang, 55, Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah (Northam Road), 10050 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
Tel: +6019-491 7168
Opening hours: 12pm -2.30pm, 6.30pm-10.30pm Tue to Sun. Closed on Mondays.
