Mood at Rope Walk has been operating quietly for 1.5 years but has sailed silently below our radar, until a visiting foodie friend from Kuala Lumpur brought it to our attention.
A real cool space with an open kitchen:
Fronted by a passionate, creative, young head chef, Dev Adnan, and his equally young kitchen crew, Moodβs take on Mod-Penang is creamy-rich, with a pronounced restraint on the use of spices and pungent herbs typical of Penang cooking.
Our dinner spread this evening is a selection of tapas-sized creations:
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Chili crab - fried mantou - pickled onions - these were little Singaporean-Chinese-inspired sliders filled with de-shelled crabmeat dressed in the classic sweet-sour-spicy dressing, enriched with cream, and topped with generous tangles of pickled red onions to cut through the richness. A (really) good start.
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Flower crab capellini - truffle oil - salmon roe - cold capellini, generous helpings of flower crabmeat, topped with large orange ikura pearls, with the truffle oil giving the dish an intoxicating, earthy flavor and aroma.
- Prawn toast - roasted prawn emulsion oil - every time someone mentions prawn toasts, itβll bring to mind this London Chinatown staple. But the version here is a luxe version, with a moist, creamy, prawn-rich sandwich filling. The golden squares of bread were perfectly fried, albeit a bit greasy. The prawn oil-accented mayo dip was wholly unnecessary for an already cloyingly rich dish. Still, best-tasting prawn toast ever.
- Oven-roasted cauliflower - pureed cauliflower - pickled cauliflower - cauliflower tempura - cauliflower foam - this dish was the piece de resistance for the evening: mind-blowingly delicious - cauliflower done five ways, and where the varied flavors and textures all come together beautifully. Transcends description - this is simply a must-order!
- Taro millefeuille - XO sauce - scallion oil - an interesting send-up of a Teochew taro cake, with the requisite old-fashioned, traditional flavors. Beautifully presented, and a deconstructed version of an old classic.
- Grilled squid - laksa sauce - pickled jicama - never easy to cook a squid, but Chef Dev acquitted himself superbly here: beautifully textured, with a beautifully aromatic, well-balanced Southern laksa sauce. Iβd gladly return just for this dish.
The wispy leaves of pickled radish blanketing the dish was sheer genius.
Desserts:
Chef Dev actually makes his own desserts, an very, very good ones, too!
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Sticky date pudding with roselle sorbet - my fave items for the evening: moist pudding, refreshing sorbet, match made in dessert heaven.
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Dark chocolate tart with βgula apongβ ice-cream - love the tart. Never quite βgetβ gula apong, the East Malaysian version of palm sugar. For me, this really pales in comparison to the richer, smoky Gula Melaka.
Very talented and disciplined team there: (Left to right) Sous Chefs, Benson Yeap and Kausikan, together with Head Chef, Dev Adnan.
Address
Mood
133, Jalan Pintal Tali (Rope Walk), 10100 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
Tel: +6017-960 6133
Opening hours: 6pm to 11pm, Tue to Sun. Closed on Mondays.
