Dinner at Number Eleven, located in the two-month-old Angsana Teluk Bahang (opened Oct 2020), a lush sea-fronting hotel under Singapore’s Banyan Tree Group, in partnership with the French Accor A.S. Group.
We started off with some cocktails at the bar - both pretty flavorsome and well-concocted, despite their rather unusual composition.
(i) Smokey House - dark rum, red vermouth, absinthe, triple sec, nutmeg juice, lime juice & white sugar
(ii) Nyonya Curry - Malibu, pineapple juice, basil leaf, coconut cream & curry powder
A tray of focaccia with balsamic vinegar and olive oil dips, and plain & herbed butter was served as we perused the menu.
Our dinner this evening:
Amuse bouche: tuna tataki, with soy butter, egg yolk & yuzu-mirin sauce. - a good start, well-seasoned seared tuna perfectly complemented by egg yolk cooked sous vide.
Appetizer: Diver scallops in mirin, yuzu, fennel and rosemary dressing, served on a cold potato salad with pomelo vinaigrette, topped with dill crackers. - a study in contrasting textures: the fresh bouncy scallops juxtaposed against firm potato discs and the crunch from the rice puff crackers seasoned with dill. Ikura provided salty bursts of flavor. Delish. We just wished there was more of it.
Main 1: Salmon, marinated in calamansi-lemongrass, wrapped in banana leaf & baked, then served with saffron-laced fondant potatoes and miniature vegetables, in wild ginger cream. - one of us opted for the salmon, a generous portion, just very slightly overdone by about 10 seconds, so no complaint there. The ginger cream sauce was a bit on the weak side - maybe the chef should’ve been more brave with the ginger.
Main 2: Corn-fed chicken, seasoned with maltose, ginger, apple juice and peppercorns, served with rosemary-and-vanilla pumpkin stew, and charcoal-tinted Hollandaise espuma. - the meat here was moist from perfectly-timed cooking. Delicious sauce - one is obligated to clean up the sauce with any leftover bread.
Palate cleanser: Carambola sorbet
Dessert: Semi-frozen espresso and chocolate mousse, scented with cinnamon, garnished with chocolate milk shards. - very creamy-chocolatey: a perfect ending to a very satisfying meal.
By Penang standards, this dinner surpassed our expectations. Taste-wise, the cooking here yielded dishes which were more distinct and flavorsome, compared to the grand old dame of fine dining along the Batu Ferringhi stretch, Ferringhi Grill at the Rasa Sayang. Much credit goes to the youngish Chef de Cuisine, Mohd Azahar bin Azmi who was last with KL’s Sheraton Imperial for 9 years, and was with Vivanta by Taj Langkawi before that.
Address
Angsana Teluk Bahang
1, Jalan Teluk Bahang, Teluk Bahang
11050 Tanjung Bungah, Penang, Malaysia
Tel: +604-817 0888
Operating hours: 6pm to 11pm daily
