Swens Homemade Cakes

Alas, I have come! Been curious to try the famous Penang Swen homemade cakes. Its at Jalan Matang Kucing, Air Itam, 5th house on the right after turning into the road. 

Entering into the house, its all white but the decor is warm and simple as shown in the pictures.

They usually make cakes on a big scale however they out aside almost every Saturday to sell some slices so that you can try the flavours available before ordering the big ones.

We tried the tiramisu mousse and the belgium chocolate cake. The verdict after so long of waiting? Quality taste is present and textures are sublime. I still prefer the Italian Tiramisu however Swens are pretty good too and its less sweet. But the Belgium Chocolate is divine. 55% chocolate and its chocolate melts in my mouth like a bar of chocolate does when we leave chocolate long enough in our mouth.  The tiramisu mousse was eaten too fast before the camera came into the picture.

Belgium Chocolate Cake

The price is RM14, seems steep for a lot of people therefore I would say its one of the bonuses of the day to enjoy this. I love it!

Swen's wife Xue Fen ( not sure of the spelling) is a kind lady who assisted us in looking through different designs of the cakes on the computer screen. And we had a pleasant long conversation to end the nice afternoon. 

To check Swens artistic skill in cake making, visit

Swens Homemade Cake

Disease Prevention Through Diet

Every now and then, My TastingOutLoud will have a guest post. And I'm honored to have Healthline which based in US to offer and share with us a topic which serves as a healthy reminder. We can enjoy food but let's adopt a good healthy lifestyle as well. Thanks Healthline !

Article contributed by Healthline.com 

Disease Prevention Through Diet 
     The body needs vitamins, proteins, minerals and carbohydrates to maintain the muscles, bones, nerves, organs, to produce chemicals and hormones to ensure organs function properly. There are more benefits than being fit and slim to eating a healthy diet throughout your life. It can help you with the prevention of diseases such as cancer, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, and heart disease.

    You can prevent health issues in the later stages of your life if you maintain a healthy lifestyle in your youth, young adulthood and middle age. Let us look at some foods that help with the prevention and management of diseases.

Osteoporosis
The bones grow until the early thirties when the maximum bone density is reached. Osteoporosis occurs when the density of the bones is lost with aging. While building up the density of the bones during your younger years you may be able to prevent osteoporosis. Some foods can aid in the prevention and offer relief from the disease.

• Oily fish, liver and dairy products have high levels of Vitamin D, which is needed for bone production. Vitamin D can also be produced with exposure to sunlight. The calcium in dairy products is good for maintaining bone health. 
• Exercise also aids in strengthening the bones. 

Heart Disease
Heart disease risk factors include poor diet and genetics. The basics of nutrition can work to prevent and manage the heart disease. The diet should have saturated fats removed and unsaturated fats used to replace them.
Some of these foods include:

• Low fat cheese 
• Skim milk 
• Lean meat.     

Total fat intake should be limited, and vegetables and fruits should be eaten often. Meat should be grilled to remove the fat. Eating foods such as salmon or mackerel that are high in omega-3 fatty acids and adding soy will lower the heart disease risk by reducing the “bad” cholesterol. Most baked goods and fried foods contain trans fats, which should be avoided. Unless you make them yourself from scratch with ingredients that are heart friendly.

Cancer 
   There is evidence that some cancers can be prevented with healthy lifestyle habits and diet. Things such as drinking excessively, being overweight and smoking are among risk the risk factors for developing a couple of types of cancer. While only drinking in moderation and giving up smoking will help, there are foods that should be avoided and foods that are rich in vitamins that should be eaten.
   A large variety of vegetables and fruits should be eaten daily, while avoiding large quantities of processed and red meat. Foods such as almonds and whole grain breads, which provide fiber to help keep your weight in its target range, can help lower your risk. Fiber, complex carbohydrates, protein and minerals are found in legumes, beans and fish. Omega 3’s are found in fish also.

    Foods that contain vitamins and minerals that the body needs in order for the organs to function properly can help the immune system to fight disease. Healthy foods to add to the diet include:

• Avocados 
• Almonds 
• Eggs 
• Dark Chocolate 
• Legumes such as beans 
• Olive oil 
• Whole grain 

Controlling your weight through proper diet will help to prevent obesity, which is a contributing factor for heart disease and several other diseases. Exercise also does the body a lot of good! 

Tammy Mahan has worked as a nurse for 20 years. She enjoys writing about medical/health articles and often shares her content on Healthline


Twitter: @healthline.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/healthlinenetworks

JT Western Station, The One in Penang

JT Western is about few months old and is situated at a fairly new building called The One. Recently I went for a birthday party and it was in a buffet style prepared and arranged by JT Western. Besides the dessert table that you see below, they served rendang chicken, aglio oglio, mashed potato, fish and chips, mushroom soup, fried rice, steamed vegetables, and etc.

the upstairs have a fairly good size of a hall for parties and big gathering. Easy access to the loo as well. On the same floor, they also have an additional small room that can fit 3-4 small round tables for a more private dining.

Rendang Chicken

What I would like to focus on are the dishes we took a week before the buffet.  what I like the most is the mashed potato. It melts in the mouth and I love the texture. It suddenly topped 1st in my list among all I have mashed potato. The western dishes are reasonably priced and salad at the sides are fresh, crunchy therefore its recommendable.

Honey Chicken-RM8.90

Lamb Shank- RM 20.90

Fish and chip - RM8.90

Mushroom soup

The mushroom soup is homemade and freshly cooked. Thick and tasty. For those who loves mushroom soup, this is highly recommended.

Address: 1-1-11, Tingkat Mahsuri 5,
                 Terrace Plus, The One,
                 11950, Bayan Baru

Contact no: 04-6453373/ 0196621673

Ben's at Gurney Paragon

Introducing Ben's Kitchen, Penang managed under The Big Group also known as Ben's Independent Group

A long awaited visit finally come to pass in one of the birthday celebration we had a few months ago.  Overdue post, I know! Better late than never.

Here it is, Ben's located at Gurney Paragon which is next to G Hotel. Here's some pictures of the ambience and all taken using Samsung Note 2 •

One of the tortilla dish and sadly the content was not too fresh and the supervisor was kind enough to replace it with Deconstructed Thai Beef Salad which was very appetizing indeed. Thanks for the recommendation, Derrick.

Deconstructed Thai Beef  Salad - Rm26.90

We all love the Pad Thai Linguine, the chili was an incredible mix that made it sweet and spicy. Highly recommended.

Pad Thai Linguine - Rm22.90

We also had Pie Wagyu Beef as well as Pie Moroccan Lamb however in my opinion, once you had a taste of  Pie Wagyu Beef, there is no point having the Moroccan Lamb. 

Wagyu Beef Pie (Rm 25.90) on the left.
Pie Moroccan Lamb (Rm 29.90)

Here comes our dessert, Choc Truffle Torte with a glass of milk. A lovely combination, literally craving for this as I blog. 

Choc Truffle Torte - Rm11.90

They have table card games, question cards to be exact like the one below- for conversation starters and its great having those around for some interesting topics to get to know your friends.

The servers were very patient with our antics and demands, therefore they were given a good report. It's nice of us, isn't it?

\\

Birthday girl!

The Food Model , enthusiastic with her foodies.

Yes, Ben's ready to serve you :)

There's a wide variety of food and drinks, but to quote my friend Celyn's recommendation, 

"The soft shell crab tortilla is so yum
The duck confit spaghetti
The carbonara
The pesto spaghetti
The lamb n steak both yumm
Ohh wagyu beef pie goooood
And for desserts ,gosh even I haven't tasted albut the macadamia cheesecake sundae is the bomb
Chocolate cake though a classic is soooooo good
Berry pavlova I love
N the rocky road"

Thanks!

So with that kind of exclamation   stop by and have a great dining experience. With Gurney Drive, there can be walks after meal too. 

All about Ben's:

Address: 163C-1-03, 163C-1-04 & 163C-2-02, Pesiaran Gurney, 10250, Penang.

Business Hour: 11.00am to 11.00pm. Daily.

Contact Number: 604- 228 8909

Website: http://www.thebiggroup.co/bens/

Nextstop at Sunway Carnival

When you are looking for fast food, we usually think of McDonalds or KFC at the shopping mall, but now that I have been introduced to Next Stop, its definitely one to be thought of the next time I need get a quick good bite. Thats not all, it's also a place for family get together and as I observed, a hang out place for the teens too. Next Stop food chains are basically seafood themed. It was operating not more than 2 years ago and the first outlet was at Sunway Carnival Mall. We decided to take a road trip over the sea under the invitation of Golden Fresh Company.  Mr. Lee, the operating manager was kind enough to serve us that day. Giving us an overview of the company and its concept, we were also inquisitively asking Mr. Lee on other food preparation details which he was very open to share.

Burger fish was very tasty, crisp at the sides. 

 The traditional fish and chips were good, I enjoyed it. The fish and chips are served with tartar sauce and fresh tasty coleslaw. Fish sandwich was surprisingly good, as the usual fish burgers I eat did not quite suit me. The other alternative to fish and chips would be the crumb fish burrito. As its just as good. Cheesy stix is a great snack on the go. They used cheddar cheese ,oozing out as you bite. Cheddar cheese is always nice. All the fish served at Next Stop is either yellow tail snappers or Alaskan Pollock Fish.

Fish And Chip

Fish Sandwich

 My friend liked the salt and pepper squid very much, I'm generally not a fan of squids so I can't say much. But I bet lots of kids will love it though.

Salt and Pepper Squid

Its surprising they served Tom Yam soup here nevertheless it's pretty good with the seafood contents. The spiciness of Tom Yam was just right for me though serving it with dinner roll(bun)didn't seem to jive nicely for me. Seafood chowder served with dinner roll was more of the popular choice among us.

Tom Yam Soup

Seafood Chowder Soup

Another dish that came was Creamy Mushroom Seafood Spaghetti and it was served with crunchy prawn twist. I thought the prawn twist was a nice touch to the spaghetti dish.

 Desserts time! All the way from South Africa, Mango-Orange Sorbet and Pina Colada Sorbet.Don't be surprise if it comes in different size packs and its simply because the sorbet is in the real fruit itself. :) 

Try it,its superb!

Mango-Orange Sorbet & Pina Colada Sorbet

 Check out their  Next Stop FB page for more new updates as Mr. Lee has informed us that Salmon is going to be added to the menu and in what form of dish it will be, stay updated.

Next Stop Penang locations are on the link below:
Penang Outlets

And this was where we were...

Sunway Carnival Mall (Lot S-22)

3068 Jalan Todak Pusat Bandar Seberang Jaya,
13700 Seberang Jaya, Pulau Pinang.

Tel: 04-3905296

Business Hours :

Mon to Sun - 10am to 10pm

 Thanks Jo Shi and Mr. Lee for your kind invitation.

Pasta Zanmai, Paradigm Mall at Kuala Lumpur

My first food visit during my weekend in Kuala Lumpur is Japanese cuisine. First time in Paradigm Mall, first time in Pasta Zanmai. A mixed of italian style , pasta is rather the main thing here, thus the name. I was never a fan of Japanese pizza but this pizza gave me a new hope again. For me, it has to go with wasabi as an enhancement. In every restaurants I go to, the interior designs are the first thing I look out for. Pasta Zanmai's layout are simple, table a tad small though. However the wall and ceiling decorations are pretty unique. I like the arrangement of lamps as ceiling light.

Pretty tea cups

Love the salmon salad, fresh and tasty, especially the sauce that went with it. The sauce is so important to make a scrumptious salad. Pizza so yum. And the sushi was pretty common, pretty good!:)

Pasta dishes were just alright but to suit malaysian taste, chili flakes are needed then its complete. Fresh mushroom and scallops are a thumbs up.

Desmond posing with ebi and salmon sushi

The outlet at Paradigm Mall is located Here.

Hogs Breath Cafe, Sydney Australia

As you know, I'm from Malaysia, Penang to be specific and with all the local versus western food, there is no comparison as to which is better. From the way it is prepared to the ingredients involved, it's just different. What I am trying to get at is it is so important for chefs to understand the dish they prepare, in the style of which it is supposed to be. Saying that, I felt personally it was difficult to get a reasonably priced steak in Penang. While I was in Australia, I was introduced to Hogs Breath, sold to the idea that it was the best steak ever, and truly it was for me thus far. For around AUD 25, you can have a juicy steak with two side orders. Extras are with extra charges but honestly even the standard one is good enough. Have a look at our dishes. I understand that there is one in Singapore and another in Vietnam.

I had my first Hogs Breath experience in Sydney, Australia. The place is simple, clean loos, great service and good food.  A casual, comfortable, welcoming atmosphere, great for hang outs and families. I could also imagine a party right here.

My Steak, medium rare - juicy and fresh vegetables. Corn was  very tasty as well.

Have more information at the link below:

http://www.hogsbreath.com.au/