Penang Delight Cafe, Marpole: Delightful indeed!

Night out with my girls! Someone suggested Malaysian which led to Penang being brought up =) Decided to go for the one with a higher rating on Urbanspoon, and glad we did, it was not disappointing!









Restaurant: Penang Delight Cafe 馬來檳城美食 (visit their website here)

Location: 1316 West 73rd Ave., Vancouver
Cuisine: Malaysian
Price range: $20+




Date of visit: July 25, 2013
Atmosphere: 4/5
Staff/service: 5/5
Food variety: 5/5
Food quality: 4.5/5
Buck worthy? 4/5

Wanting to try more variety, we opted to share our food. One thing they lack from the menu are more vegetarian dishes, since CM is vegetarian, there were few choices for us to pick from. They had some interesting drinks, such as the Grass Jelly Soya Bean ($2.95) that DC ordered. Might want to try making it at home too hehe, she said it was good.

Others ordered Teh Tarik ($2.95), which was a Malaysian styled milk tea, and is smoother than your Hong Kong style milk tea. Positive feedback from CM and AH. I ordered a Honey Lemon ($2.30) which was basically Kumquat with honey, a bit bland, could've had a bit more flavor in it =)

Ordered some appies since they included the few vegetarian dishes, first was the Roti Canai ($5.95). There were two fairly large pieces. I quite liked it, very chewy, soft, and flaky at the same time with the curry dip, it was delicious! The dip was a flavorful and rich milky curry. I felt the dish portion itself was not worth $5.95 though.

Then there were Vegetarian Spring Rolls ($4.95) which weren't that amazing. They were pretty tiny and there were four pieces. Freshly made though, and filled with carrot and cabbage, I believe, definitely did not contain everything mentioned on the menu (or it was just my luck in my spring roll).

I really enjoyed their Malaysia Specialty Vegetables ($11.95) which contained okra, eggplant, and string beans with dried shrimp and chili. I think we ordered non-spicy, since it wasn't spicy when I had it. The okra was cooked perfectly, not not slimy and had some crunch to it without it being too raw. The sauce was flavorful but a bit salty and oily, otherwise, executed beautifully.

We were intrigued by their Marmite Shrimp ($18.95) because in Chinese, it translated to "Mommy Shrimp" (literally written like that!). There were 6 shrimp, but they were all very large.

Mines was greater than 3 inches in diameter! They tasted great too, the sauce was a soy saucey base but was sweeter and I think they added a bit more herbs to it. Albeit $18.95 for six shrimps is a bit steep for my financial status =P

For our carbs, we decided on a Curry Laksa with Mixed Vegetables ($9.95). This was the first time I've had something closer to an authentic laksa, since there were two kinds of noodles, yellow egg noodles and rice vermicelli. It was pretty full of ingredients and our server was quite honest that the vegetable option only contained lettuce and tofu.

The double-yolk egg made up for the sad lettuce. It was herby, just they way I like it. Curry base was delicious too, not too overwhelming on the curry part and a bit spicy. Perfect. One of the highlights of the meal.

We were going to order a Hainanese Chicken, but our server recommended the Crispy Duck ($25.95) -- not on the menu so we didn't know it was THAT pricey. Either way, it was very well made and fresh. The duck meat was tender and the skin was crispy. The plum sauce was tasted a little different than what I normally have at Chinese restaurants, but I can't quite put my finger on what. Overall I liked this dish, but $25.95 is too much to pay for half a duck =(

Last to arrive of our mains is another vegetarian dish, Curry Mix Vegetable ($12.95), which came in a nice clay pot. It was bubbling as it arrived, so very fresh! There were lots of onions and cabbage, in addition to okra and eggplant. The curry flavor itself was similar to the Roti's curry dip. It seems as though their vegetables are not very diverse, since most of our dishes consisted of the same veggies in different sauces. Nonetheless, not bad.

Ordered a White Rice ($2.00) to accompany the curry. Look at the tiny spoon =P

To finish our delightful evening, we ordered a Kuih Talam ($4.95), a glutinous steamed cake with pandan and coconut cream layers. This was very intersting because of its serving temperature. I've never had it before, but the temperature was luke-warm. Odd. Anyways, the texture was in between chewy and floury. The pandan flavor was well-balanced, although the coconut flavor was overwhelming the pandan flavor a bit.

The server and owner were all very friendly people, had some nice conversations with them. Enjoyed my evening and we all spent an average of $25 each. A little much for my wallet, but I feel the quality was not all unworthy of this money.

The lovely ladies hoho~