Penang Bagus - Penang and Korean Food and Dessert Cafe

• Operating Days: Closed on Tuesdays
• Operating Time: Mon, Wed & Thu: 11.30 AM to 11 PM
• Fri & Sat: 11.30 AM to 11.30 PM
• Address: 232 Tanjong Katong Road, S 437020
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Penang Bagus is a newly renovated shop located beside Ponggol Nasi Lemak at Tanjong Katong, serving Penang street food, as well as serving Korean desserts and snacks.

Previously, this cafe serves only Korean Bingsu and other Korean snacks. It was only until recently, Penang Bagus took over the premises to sell Penang dishes, and still preserving the original Korean dishes.

This is an air-conditioned restaurant with a relaxing ambience. Most of the decorations from the previous Korean cafe were preserved, with adding of some Penang feel to it. Changes were quite a minimal as compared to previously.

One of the staffs informed us that all the food from the Korean menu will still be prepared personally by a native Korean.

So there is the Penang famous street art wallpaper with the real bicycle on it, very much similar to the original one located in Penang. With that, it felt almost like we were dining at a street-side stall in Penang, with the comfortable air-con ambience!

Penang Bagus is pretty much an all self-service restaurant. You order and pay at the counter, then collect your food when the buzzer beeps. There is no service charge here so the prices stated on the menu will be the nett price you pay.

 We ordered a Korean Injeolmi toast and a Chocolate Banana Bingsu.

The tiny mountain of shaved ice was covered with Milo powder and topped with banana slices, almond flakes, chocolate syrup, served with a scoop of vanilla flavoured ice-cream on top.

Like most bingsu, the ice shavings were milky and slightly sweet. Even with the ice-cream and chocolate syrup, the dessert was surprisingly not too overwhelming. In terms of texture, the shavings were more icy than creamy.

Next was the Injeolmi toast. It is actually a Korean rice cake sandwich. The toast was delicious, crusty and crispy on the edges and the cheese added a savoury dimension to it. It was thick with a good layer of rice cake sandwiched between the two bread slices. You can top it up with condensed milk but I liked it as how it is served.

The toast was slightly sweet, with the salty cheese layer which can be seen on the top. It was a nice combination in my opinion.

The air-conditioned dining space makes the overall dining experience a good one, with friendly staffs and the good service seen. We will be back soon to try out their Penang dishes.

OLEG - Cafe with waffle as sandwich

• Operating Days: Daily
• Operating Time: 10 AM to 10 PM
• Address: 3rd Floor, Aeon Bandar Dato Onn, Jalan Dato Onn Utama Kempas, Johor, Malaysia
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We are back at AEON Bandar Dato' Onn in Johor Bahru, and this time round we have tried OLEG. OLEG is a contemporary casual eatery serving burgers, waffles, small bites, snacks, cold drinks and coffee. They have stalls at City Square, AEON Tebrau City and AEON Dato' Onn.

It is hard to miss this shop with its striking interiors located at level 3. This is mainly the reason why I visit them.

Everything is pretty much self service at OLEG. You order at the counter, pay and wait for your order number to be called. I had a hard time trying to communicate with the counter staff as they don’t really speak English. 

They also serve breakfast for just an hour. The price are so much cheaper than their normal menu. Chicken porridge for 5.90 RM?!

At OLEG, you can customise your burger or waffle by selecting either chicken or beef and then choose one of the following types of sauce to pair with. They have Teriyaki, Wasabi mustard, signature curry, mayonnaise, signature spicy, honey mustard, barbeque, cream of tartar, and cheese.

We ordered a Waffle O' grill set, priced at 17.90RM. The set meal comes with fries and ice lemon tea. Even though there were no crowd, our waiting time was 20 mins after placing our order.  You can’t expect too much from their service. 

The waffle came with cucumber slices, leafy lettuce, juicy tomatoes, and the sauce you chose. Their so-called home-made ice lemon tea tasted artificial to us which we didn’t like it. The fries given were also dry and cold when it was presented to us.

OLEG's waffle has medium thickness, is light and is slightly crisp. It has a slight saltiness in the waffle, unlike what I'm expecting (I was expecting a sweet waffle!). The chicken is tender but has not much taste by itself, it would be better if it is paired with the sauce they have in order to enhance the overall taste of this whole meal.

Overall, OLEG has a comfortable and casual ambience with food selling at reasonable prices. I would probably go back again only to try their signature soft shell crab charcoal burger.

Hawkerman - 3 Hawkers in 1 Trendy Food Court

• Operating Days: Daily
• Operating Time: 11 AM to 10.30 PM
• Address: SingPost Centre, B1-128, 10 Eunos Road 8, S 408600
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At the basement of the newly renovated Singpost Centre at Paya Lebar, there are a good mix of established restaurants, and here we are to try out the Hawkerman restaurant that is opened by actor-host Ben Yeo.

Hawkerman is a restaurant that incorporate 3 famous hawker brands into 1, so that their customers can enjoy the best from each stall. It is definitely a new concept introduced in Singapore. I’m sure you are interested to know these hawker stalls are:

• Warong Kim's Hokkien Mee 金記福建麵
• Tenderfresh Fried Chicken 可愛雞
• Ah Boy's Good Chance Popiah 好彩薄餅

I would define Hawkerman as a trendy food court more than a restaurant itself as you do not need to pay for any service charges, which that means All the price listed on the menu are all nett prices.

After flipping through the menu, we were really spoilt for choices! As we didn’t know what to choose, we’ve decided to try their “Bao Ka Liao 包到完.” Just as what the name stated, Bao Ka Liao has everything in it: hokkien mee, fried half spring chicken, popiah, kimslaw (kimchi coleslaw) with fried muah chee, chicken karaage with salted egg mayo, fried XO carrot cake, and watermelon with citrus plum juice. Portion was big and it was enough to serve 2 hungry adults.

When you are ready to place your order you go up to the cashier to order and pay. 

At Hawkerman, everything was pretty much self service; you order and pay at the counter, wait for the pager to buzz and subsequently to collect your food at the kitchen counter when it is ready. The condiments and utensils provided were also placed at a corner for you to take.

The Bao Ka Liao presented was served in a large tray. Each item was very neatly placed. 

The first item we tried was their homemade citrus plum juice with watermelon. Both the citrus plum juice and watermelon were refreshing but I would prefer both items to not mix together. I guess it would be better if they were presented seperately.

The next item we tried was the Hokkien Mee. I like how the noodles was moist and tasteful but it still lacks a bit of wok hei taste. Overall, I will still return for this dish with other variety in future, maybe with chicken chop. 

This fried half spring chicken brought my childhood memories back where I had this - the exact same taste and texture of chicken bought at the coffeeshop nearby my house. It has crispy skin and the meat was tender. 

Karaage with salted egg mayo was not as crispy as the fried half spring chicken, and for tastewise was very normal. Nothing to shout about.

Popiah was very filling, the mang guang wrapped inside the popiah skin was very generous. It was one of my favorite dishes here.

Their homemade carrot cake - a tray of delicous radish cake with stir-fried egg and preserved radish was not served hot and we were a little dissappointed because of that. It would be a fabulous dish if it can be served hot.

Overall, Hawkerman provides a trendy concept to their customers, which at the same time, bringing in the best dishes originated from the 3 hawker stalls. We will be returning to Hawkerman to try other items on their menu, especially their Popiah and hokkien mee.