[Penang, Malaysia] Thai dinner at Laem Charoen, Queensbay Mall

We were actually planning to check out Madam Kwanโ€™s much talked-about new outlet at Queensbay Mall today when we came across the one-month-old Penang outpost of Bangkokโ€™s popular ๐—Ÿ๐—ฎ๐—ฒ๐—บ ๐—–๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฒ๐—ป restaurant chain.

Iโ€™d been a customer of ๐—Ÿ๐—ฎ๐—ฒ๐—บ ๐—–๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฒ๐—ป whenever I visited Bangkok for the past 4 decades. Founded by Athorn Wongweerathorn, and his wife, Naruemon Wongweerathorn, ๐—Ÿ๐—ฎ๐—ฒ๐—บ ๐—–๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฒ๐—ป has more than two dozen branches in Bangkok, including those in top-end malls like Siam Paragon, Central World Plaza and EmQuartier.

Now, I donโ€™t have to wait till my next visit to Bangkok to have ๐˜ฑ๐˜ถ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ (Thai stir-fried yellow curry with lump crabmeat)! Super-happy to be able to get it here now at ๐—Ÿ๐—ฎ๐—ฒ๐—บ ๐—–๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฒ๐—ป Penang. Interestingly, the most popular curry powder brand used in Bangkok for this dish is Waughโ€™s, which is made in England.

What we had:
:small_orange_diamond:Deep-fried seabass with signature aromatic fish sauce (๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ข ๐˜ฌ๐˜ณ๐˜ข ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ข - เธ›เธฅเธฒเธเธฃเธฐเธžเธ‡เธ—เธญเธ”เธ™เธณเน‰เธ›เธฅเธฒ). This dish was done to perfection - the fish-meat still moist inside, whilst the outer skin was crusty and tasty from being basted with a light fish sauce-palm sugar dressing.

:small_orange_diamond:Stir-fried crabmeat curry (๐˜ฑ๐˜ถ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ - เธ›เธนเธœเธฑเธ”เธœเธ‡เธเธฐเธซเธฃเธตเนˆ) - one of my fave dishes of all time. The dish gets its richness from evaporated milk, and the light curry taste from English-made curry powder (Thais generally cannot accept Indian curry scent). The fresh crabmeat here was stupendous!

:small_orange_diamond:Creamy tom yum prawn soup (๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ ๐˜บ๐˜ถ๐˜ฎ ๐˜จ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ - เธ•เน‰เธกเธขเธณเธเธธเน‰เธ‡เธ™เธณเน‰เธ‚เน‰เธ™) - not as creamy-rich as weโ€™d expected. A fail.

:small_orange_diamond:Prawn cakes (๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ ๐˜จ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ - เธ—เธญเธ”เธกเธฑเธ™เธเธธเน‰เธ‡). Very average, and nowhere near the best ones weโ€™d had in Penang, let alone Bangkok. Quite disappointed here. In Bangkok, Laem Charoenโ€™s standards are generally held consistently high across all their branches. Looks like they could not do so here in Penang.

:small_orange_diamond:Green chicken curry (gaeng keaw wan gai - เนเธเธ‡เน€เธ‚เธตเธขเธงเธซเธงเธฒเธ™เน„เธเนˆ) - this is actually the best-tasting Thai green curry Iโ€™d had in Penang!

:small_orange_diamond:Red beef curry (๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ถ๐˜ข - เนเธเธ‡เน€เธœเน‡เธ”เน€เธ™เธทเน‰เธญ) - average rendition. I wonโ€™t bother to order it again here.

:small_orange_diamond:Crispy morning glory salad, with sweet chili dip (๐˜บ๐˜ถ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ฌ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฌ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฃ - เธขเธณเธœเธฑเธเธšเธธเน‰เธ‡เธเธฃเธญเธš)

:small_orange_diamond:Spicy basil chicken (๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฌ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ช - เธœเธฑเธ”เธเธฃเธฐเน€เธžเธฃเธฒเน„เธเนˆ) - a toned-down rendition here, with none of the heat nor the assertive spike of fish sauce one gets from this dish in Bangkok.

:small_orange_diamond:Thai omelette (๐˜ฌ๐˜ข๐˜ช ๐˜ซ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ - เน„เธ‚เนˆเน€เธˆเธตเธขเธง) - a simple but must-have Thai dish. Thai omelette involves cooking in copious amounts of hot oil, resulting in very fluffy egg omelette flavored with fish sauce.

:small_orange_diamond:Pad Thai (เธœเธฑเธ”เน„เธ—เธข) - no, just no.

:small_orange_diamond:Mango with sticky rice (๐˜ฌ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜จ - เธ‚เน‰เธฒเธงเน€เธซเธ™เธตเธขเธงเธกเธฐเธกเนˆเธงเธ‡) - nowhere like the excellent renditions we get in Thailand. The sticky rice was also steamed and served plain, unlike the version in Thailand where sweetened & slightly salted thick coconut milk were stirred into the hot, cooked sticky rice and left to soak in. Very disappointed with the one we got here.

:small_orange_diamond: Thai iced milk tea (๐˜ค๐˜ฉ๐˜ข ๐˜บ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ - เธŠเธฒเน€เธขเน‡เธ™) - quite diluted and rather tasteless.

Overall, more misses than hits here. I might come back, but only for the crab curry and the signature deep-fried seabass. Guess the Laem Charoen brand doesnโ€™t travel well outside Thailand.

Anyhoo, this is our last meal for this year. ๐™ƒ๐™–๐™ฅ๐™ฅ๐™ฎ ๐™‰๐™š๐™ฌ ๐™”๐™š๐™–๐™ง ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™–๐™ก๐™ก ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ƒ๐™ช๐™ฃ๐™œ๐™ง๐™ฎ ๐™Š๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™ค๐™ฃ, ๐™–๐™ฃ๐™™ ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ข๐™ค๐™ง๐™š ๐™™๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฅ๐™ก๐™š๐™–๐™จ๐™ช๐™ง๐™š๐™จ ๐™ž๐™ฃ ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ข๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™ฎ๐™š๐™–๐™ง!

Address
Laem Charoen Thai Seafood (Queensbay Mall)
2F-50, Queensbay Mall, 51, Persiaran Bayan Indah, 14300 Bayan Lepas, Penang, Malaysia
Tel: +604-646 3882
Opening hours: 11am to 10pm daily

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Happy new year to you too Peter! May we enjoy another year of your wonderful posts showcasing Malaysiaโ€™s beautiful cuisine. :slight_smile:

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Happy New Year, @damiano. Letโ€™s all continue to have great food discoveries & experiences this year.

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