Tucked in the lush greenery in ESH Landscaping along Botanical Garden Road, this fairly new tong sui dessert cafe in Penang is one of the coziest spot to fix your tong sui cravings. Imagine sipping a hot bowl of tong sui, surrounded by tall trees & birds happily chirping away in their nests.
Located right beside the famous Big Ben breakfast, you’ll easily spot this quaint cafe because of the long line of customers waiting to be seated. Their seating is quite limited but the table turnover rate is rather high, so you don’t have to worry on a long wait before reaching your turn. We reached during peak hour (7.00pm) on a weekend, so we waited about 10 minutes before getting a cozy seating next to the cashier counter. There are ample of parking space nearby the cafe, so one problem off the list.
They’re open from 5pm onwards only, which makes sense because you’ll be boiling if you dine there anytime before 5. I’ve seen reviews that the weather can be relatively hot if you visit early evening but I’m not a fan of air-con, so the temperature was just right. The service was fast, servers were diligent & food was served fairly fast despite the large crowd.
If you do not find any main course that tickles your fancy from their menu, you can easily order Western meals from its neighbour – Big Ben Breakfast. I personally find this flexible options great for their customers, tho I am not sure if you can order their desserts over if you dine in Big Ben.
Ample of tong sui choices with a modern twist. There are also options of traditional tong sui, but not many, imo. The pricing is a lil’ expensive as compared to other tong sui shops in Penang. Enough babbling, let’s dive in to what we ordered:
Tomato & Beef Brisket Broth Noodles (RM22) – This dish was quite a disappointment. The noodle texture was OK but the beef portion was very little seeing that the price is pretty steep.
Sichuan Mala Dry Pot / Mala Xiang Guo (RM18) – portion is decent for 2 persons. We enjoyed this dish the most. Not too spicy nor too numbing. Very flavorful. The only hiccup was the rice, which was extremely dry.
Tom Yam Fish Ball Bowl (RM6) – 4 pieces of fish ball. The tom yam curry is quite nice but made me thirsty after
Purple Sweet Potato Soup with Red Bean Glutinous Rice Balls (RM11) – MY FAVOURITE! This is one of the best tong sui out of the four we tried which we ended up taking away 3 packets for our parents. The soup wasn’t too sweet, thick & packed with so much sweet potato flavour
Purple Sweet Potato Soup with Sago (RM9) – this is basically the “ice” version of the above. Did not enjoy as the shaved ice diluted all its purple potato flavour. Just order the hot one.
Pandan Tofu with Boba (RM9) – Another favourite! I love how they infused a modern twist/trend to this well-loved traditional dessert. The pandan tofu was very fragrant but could be softer. The brown-sugar-coated boba was sweet & chewy. Yeap, we tapao-ed this back too 😉
Sticky Mochi with Glutinous Rice (RM8) – This is quite a unique dessert. My partner enjoyed this but I am not a fan. Maybe because of its strong milk smell from the mochi. If you love milk, you’ll enjoy the mochi! Its sticky texture makes it quite hard for me to enjoy. Perhaps I’m just a fan of traditional peanut mochi.
Menu (click to open bigger)
Would I revisit? Yes! I love the environment and there are tons of dessert I’ve yet to try.
Is this worth the money? I wouldn’t say they have the best price tag, so just stick with the “thumbs up” recommendations to avoid disappointment. Remember to try that potato soup dessert! 🙂
Location
ESH Landscaping, Jalan Kebun Bunga
Operation Hours
5pm – 11pm
Social Media
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Gudeiary 