For Ivy’s Kitchen, an arrangement was made for some of us food bloggers to sample their spread of a-lar-carte dishes and combo meals. The a-la-carte sampling was held on a Friday night and the combo meals were arranged for on Sunday’s lunch. It was good because we could just waltz in after Sunday Service. The Sunday lunch sampling was mainly to introduce the various sets and combinations that Ivy’s Kitchen can dish out daily. Other than sampling the meals, we were also given the opportunity to put-up some personal feedbacks on the food and also give some thoughts on the possibility to utilise some of our know-how to attract and improve in certain areas ranging from food quality and business management.

The value sets or combo meals are specially created to cater to those who need to grab a quick bite that is value for their money. The combo meals are priced from RM 7.50 to RM 9.00 per set and what one would get is a rice set, a glass of freshly squeeze fruit juice and dessert, and for noodle sets they are accompanied with ‘thong shui’ and jelly dessert. You can say that their combo meals cater to both rice drums(fun tong) and noodle freaks.

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Haven Delight is located on the 1st Floor of Penang Time Square which has open its doors not long ago on 2nd of March and officially launch on the 7th, and started their buffet spread on the 20th of the same month. Words have it that Penang Time Square would hold their official grand opening in between the month June and August this year. Thus, Haven Delight would be one of the pioneer businesses to step foot into this mall. This outlet in Penang Time Square is the flagship restaurant conceptualised and created by Mr. B.T. Ng who is the Managing Director of this restaurant. And at the helm of the kitchen is their Executive Chef, Edwin Teo, who has in total 10 years of experience in the kitchen preparing various types of cuisines ranging from Japanese to local Malaysian cuisines. At the Haven Delight kitchen, Edwin has teamed up with Alex a Sous Chef who specialised in Hong Kong and Shanghainese cuisines, K.P. Lim a Demi Chef de Partie and Melvin Loo at the sushi bar.

Any person who steps into Haven will be greeted with their specially design decor and friendly crew of stewards who are ever ready help you on your orders and recommendations as there roughly about 200 different dishes to choose from the A la Carte menu. And if are undecided on what have, may be you would like to try out their Buffet Menu which would only set you back RM49.90++ per person for adults, as for kids under the age of 12 you can expect to only pay 50% of the adult rate. In the buffet menu there are around 90 different dishes to savour within the stapled two(2) hours ordering period. Although it is stated that the ordering period is only 2 hours, you are most welcome stay longer to finish the food that you have ordered within that period to prevent any waste of food.

Accompanying the abalone dish was the Unagi Tofu which is also found in the cold cut section of the menu similar to Hotzzz Abalone. The Unagi or eel in Japanese Restaurants are normally served with sweet sauce, at Haven Delight there is no exception. The only difference here is that the unagi sweet sauce was not too sweet like those found elsewhere. As the name says UnagiTofu, the dish is really just a cut of unagi resting on top of a small block of cold tofu dressed overwith sweet sauce and garnished with sprinkles of spring onion, sesame seed, bonito flakes andcrispy bits of garlic. At the first bite into the unagi, the texture was plum and firm and the taste was not excessively creamy. Then when I combine the unagi to the tofu, it gave another type pleasure to the senses in my mouth. The cold tofu with its sweet soy scent and cold creamy taste match well with the unagi cutlet, giving it a refreshing experience rather than a dull end. But one thing to point out was that the unagi’s skin was a bit chewy, otherwise it would be a fantastic starter.

After the two cold cut samples that we had, the steward crew started to roll out the main cause sample for our review. In all we sampled 7 main dishes during the event, which was started with their Chicken Ban Ban.

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Last Saturday, we were invited through Penang Tua Pui(PTP) to join in a food tasting and cum review at Miss Saigon at E-Gate. It was our first time there but not the first time savouring Vietnamese cuisine. It was was joyful event for the bunch of us bloggers from Penang. From previous conversations with PTP, their initial review of this place was a thumbs down. And because of the review there were some negative comments at their blog, but as time goes by we saw a huge change in the reaction from this Miss Saigon and a lot of improvements have taken place. The main purpose for food floggers are to share what is good and to encourage improvements for those eateries who are not performing well in their food offerings. We do not like to see any food business go bust, but to see them flourish.

Vietnamese cuisine or food differs in the north, south and central regions, but 2 key features are shared in all these regions. One, rice is the staple through out the country, which is the typical of any South East Asian Country. Two, almost every meal is complimented or not complete without fresh green, be it vegetables or wild herbs like coriander, mint, basil, etc.

Vietnam's food culture or habits are a reflection of its history and geographical location. Vietnam was once a colony of China, thus the influence of the use of chopsticks, woks, soya sauce, etc. Their use of European cooking ingredients and style were due to the colonisation by the French. That is why one will often find ingredients like cheese, white potato and French bread on their menus. Geographically, Vietnam is blessed with the Red River Delta and Mekong Delta where rice plus a wide variety of fruits and vegetables which provides for the country.

North Vietnam is near to China and coupled with harsh weather, their ingredients and taste differs from the South. They tend to use less meat, fish and vegetables, and for seasoning black pepper and soya sauce is the norm instead of chilies and fish sauce. North Vietnamese tastes are strict and less sweet but saltier than other regions.

In Central Vietnam there is a distinct and extreme use of spices and color in their cooking because of the influence of their ancient history as the royal capital of the country. Hue’s cuisine, emphasised on the quality and quantity, with lots of small and complex tasting dishes.

Southern Vietnam tastes are heavily affected by Cambodia, Thai and China(due to trade and immigrants). Their taste preference are sweeter, richer and spicier as compared to other regions. Fish sauce and chillies are a must in this region for seasoning.

Now back to the review! The place is comfortably situated next to Old Town at E-Gate. The interior and exterior looks kind of normal, so don't expect a lot on the ambiance. The interior would be a bit tight when it comes to peak-hours due to the space constraints. The outdoor seating would be my choice during a cool and breezy night. With the lights switch on at the bridge and on the mainland, it would be a view to gaze at after mouth fulls of fresh and flavourful makan.

The review was mainly to try out their somewhat new menu and dishes. They have actually introduce quite a number of new dishes and improved on some of the old ones. To make it easier for the customer to choose their meals or snacks, Miss Saigon's management has categorised their offerings into 5 main categories, which are Summer Rolls, Exotic Sides, Salads, Rice & Noodles and Vietnamese Sandwiches. The new menu outlook is something that even I agree that will really help reduce the 'deciding' duration for the customers and also speed-up the table service from one table to another. The pictures and short description really helps. But if you are not really keen in those new dishes, you could ask for the old ala ca rte menu. There are more varieties in it.

First to come from the kitchen were the Summer Rolls or hand rolls Vietnamese style. In this category there are 8 varieties to choose from. There is the Traditional Northern Rolls (Prawn or Chicken Slices), Farmer’s Egg Rolls, Mini Prawn Paste on Sugar Cane (with some DIY wrapping action with rice paper), Crispy Gourmet Seafood Rolls, Crisp Fried Hanoi Rolls, Fresh Vegetable Rolls, Southern Fish Rolls and Classic Rice Flour Rolls.





Tham Chiak from PTP is seen here trying his hand in the Mini Prawn Paste on Sugar Cane DIY rice paper roll. I hope he had washed his hands! If not, I sympathised with person sharing that piece with him.

Second on the new menu are some of the Exotic Foods found in Vietnam. Although exotic, they very much acceptable by all of us. They are nothing like the the chows from Fear Factor. In this category, one could choose from Cinnamon Beef Chunks La Lot, Grilled Chicken T-shaped Wings, Wok Fried Flower Chicken/Beef, Spiced Grilled Eel Cake, Villagers Grilled Snail Cake, Street Style Salty Soft Shell Crabs and Royal Seafood Skewer. One of these or a few might give you the tang that you need for the night.

Grilled Chicken T-shaped Wings

Wok Fried Flower Beef

Wok Fried Flower Chicken

Spiced Grilled Eel Cake / Villagers Grilled Snail Cake

Street Style Salty Soft Shell Crabs

Royal Seafood Skewer

I especially like the Wok Fried Flower Chicken/Beef and the Grilled Chicken T-Shaped. The Wok Fried Flower Chicken/Beef was stir fried with a herb which is commonly found in Vietnam. Thailand also produces this herb, Pergularia, which it is brought in from. It has nutty taste to it, and almost taste similar to Asparagus tip when it was fried with beef. When the Pergularia was cooked with chicken, this dish produce a light and sweet taste with the chicken taste still in tact. As for the Grilled Chicken T-Shaped, it taste unique with the use herbs spices, which the chef is not willing to part with, and the texture was a bit powdery because of the ground spices used.

The Street Style Salty Soft Shell Crabs was crispy to the bite and was filled with the taste of Dill. Something different from the usual method of cooking soft shell crabs. As for the Royal Seafood Skewer, the Salmon was slightly over cooked. The Salmon had already loss its unique rich oils and moisture and that is why it was dry and too firm. But if taken with the accompanying grilled fresh mushrooms and capsicum would have enhanced the texture and taste of the Salmon chunks.

Next on the new menu was the Salads category. The choices are Sour Green Mango Salad, Miss Saigon Salad, Cold Glass Noodle Salad, Crunchy Papaya Salad and Jelly Fish Salad. The salads did go down well with me and Gill, except for one which was the Miss Saigon Salad. The pineapple and prawns did not really compliment each other in taste and texture. All the salads had the natural sweetness from all the vege, fruit, fungus and seafood ingredients. They were also sour but not too sour, thus they quite an appetiser and 'hoi wai' (start the gastronomic activity) in Cantonese. The roasted peanut toppings were also fragrant and crunchy. With all the various texture of smooth, crunchy and firm dressed with the sweet and sour taste, the salads are a must have any patronage.

After the salad section, next in line was the noodle section. In this section, one could choose from the choices of Crunchy Eel Glass Noodle Soup, Villagers Snail Noodle Soup, Traditional Southern Beef/Chicken BUN and Traditional Vietnamese Chicken/Beef PHO.

The Village Snail Noodle Soup was..... Actually I did not really try this one, I only had the snails. The snails are earthy, sweet and a bit chewy. A good compliment to a bowl of fluffy noodles.

The Traditional Bun is something like our 'Kon Lou' noodles, but without the dark soy and fragrant oils. It is sour with a hint of sweetness on its gravy/sauce. This noodle is quite a appetiser because the sweet and sour really opens up the stomach for more to come. The sourness is light and tangy, unlike the sourness from our local Laksaa. The condiments of mint leaves, bean sprouts and spring onions, compliments the silky smooth noodles with is rough texture and crunch, they also provide some of the sweetness that this Bun has to offer.

The last category on the new menu was the Sandwich section. There are only two to choose from, Vietnamese Street Baguette and Frog Curry with Garlic Spice Baguette. In between the two, I fancy the Street Baguette more because of the taste from the chicken pete(it is actually chicken liver pete) combined with the cold cut meat and the juicy tomato and fresh salad greens. The texture of the baguette was also something to look forward for, in fact the bread wasn't the usual hard baguettes, it was replace with the softer French Loaf. The substitution was because of the hardness of the baguettes that will affect the enjoyment of the soft and smooth fillings.

As for the Frog Curry with Garlic Spice Baguettes, I was too busy mingling around and the baguettes were all gone. But from the looks of it, it should be Garlic Bread to the extreme. The Frog Curry, that I did taste a bit. It was creamy but not too rich and sweet with a bit of heat, unlike the curries here which are spicy and rich(lemak). May be the curry would taste better with the baguettes.

Overall the dishes that were presented to us was quite interesting in the sense of the composition of the aroma of the herbs and spices used in the dishes, taste of their unique seasoning, texture of the ingredients and the use of various vegetables to compliment almost every dish. Definitely I would try to make an effort to go try the Vietnamese Cuisien at Miss Saigon again. May be the whole range of the new menu again because me and Gill did not really experience what could be offered by the dishes, but not at one seating because the prices of certain items are a bit on the high side.

From this outing with this group of PFB, we can see that we are all doing it because of the passion we have on food. It was a great time to mingle arround and get to know one and another. But as a formal review of a business or restaurant, it was not quite a successfull one becasue we(me & Gill) did not really sat down and let dishes arouse our senses. After everything was over, I felt a bit guilty because Miss Saigon has taken the effort and time the organise this session, but no justice was done for them. Then PTP's Huat Kuih and I got thinking, it would be better to have a proper procedure and pre-arrange with the restaurant so that we can make the best the opportunity and give a quality review rather than something which cannot justify the effort and cost on the restaurants part. To really savour and enjoy food, we must be comfortable and relax so that we can really experience what the dish can offer! Anyway, I would like to give thanks to Leslie from Miss Saigon and PTP for making this event happen.

On a more serious side, I can see that Miss Saigon still have long way to go to promote their Vietnamese cuisine and restaurant. As a marketer, my suggestions to them are, provide more education on the specialty and benefits of Vietnamese cuisine, tell people the history and culture that shaped and influence Vietnamese cuisien to what it is now, put more effort in the promotions. Entice people to try their food with special discounts, like happy hour or tea time treats to attract the crowd who are always there at their neighbouring Old Town or Starbucks, special Purchase-with-Purchase Deals, Bring-in-More patron discounts and etc. The food is healthy and wholesome niche market it to the healthy consciouss.

On average, I would give this place:

• 3.3/5 for value
• 3.7/5 for taste & texture
• 4/5 for service
• 4/5 for cleanliness
• 3.5/5 for atmosphere