After I got home from Mui Garden for lunch my Mom called me saying it was my Grandma’s birthday and she wanted Hainanese chicken rice for dinner. I can’t complain about that! We went to Penang Delight Cafe, a Malaysian restaurant on W.73rd in a little neighbourhood that you would only ever be in if you lived there or you were headed to one of the many office spaces. My Grandpa is Singaporean so he ordered all of his favourites for us and had quite lengthy talks with the owners (in Cantonese) and he was quite pleased with how authentic the food was.
What we ate
Roti Canai
- Indian flatbread served with curry dipping sauce
- These came out very fresh. The bread was soft and quite flakey. Curry sauce was lightly spiced and a bit sweet
- Really god appetizer, my whole family enjoyed it
Char Kueh Teow
- Rice noodles with shrimp, bean sprout, chinese sausage, and green onions in slightly spicy sauce
- This looks similar to that beef noodle dish thats quite popular – its pretty much the south east Asian version
- Slightly spicy, but well balanced and not overpowering. I really liked the egg and chinese sausage in this
Nasai Goreng
- Fried rice with shrimps, egg, pork, grean bean, and chili
- Similar to any typical fried rice but with a slightly more spicy flavour
- The pork in it was good BBQ pork, and the beans were cut so finely I thought they were green onions!
Malaysia Speciality Vegetable
- Stir fried okra, eggplant, and green bean, with dried shrimp and chili
- Okra wasn’t (too) slimy, green beans were still crisp
- The dried shrimp added a bit of saltiness and the chili wasn’t too much (Chili is super common in Malaysian food, but its not always too hot)
Rendang Beef
- Beef in lemon grass, curry, and coconut milk gravy
- Beef was kind of tough and the sauce is quite thick and oily
- Flavours were all there and well done though
Hainanese Chicken (+ Chicken rice)
- Boiled chicken. I can’t really explain how its made (properly) but its so popular its considered the national dish of Singapore
- Often served hot or cold. This one was hot (and therefore lacked the awesome jelly layer)
- Often served deboned. This one was deboned and I much prefer it this way.
- You have to order chicken rice separately, but its a must have with the dish
- Writing all of that made me realize its a really hard dish to explain, but its delicious and a personal favourite of mine. This place did it well.
Signature Steamed Fish
- Steamed whole Tilapia covered in black bean sauce
- For a black bean sauce, this sauce wasn’t very salty at all. There was a citrus/acidic flavour (tamarind?) that balanced the salt from the black bean perfectly
- My whole family really enjoyed the dish
- It was a bit expensive though (~$30)
Final Thoughts
Pros:
- Authentic Malaysian food
- Very homestyle, which is something I prefer quite often
- All of the food was very good
- Not super busy (due to the location, there are others though)
Cons:
- You would never just “stumble upon” this restaurant if you didn’t have reason to be in the neighborhood
- A bit expensive
