Be Delighted

If you’re after the sort of good food from yesteryear, when, with just a stroke or two of their razor-sharp cleavers it seemed like, Hainanese chefs used to knock up any kind of cuisine, be it western – Chicken Chop and Macaroni Pie spring to mind – or nyonya, then head for this place, located on the ground floor of the 1926 Heritage Hotel with its distinctive yellow façade, on Burmah Road.

It’s not a smart, upmarket eatery, but that’s beside the point, because this is where Penangites go with just one aim in mind: to eat the sort of good Hainanese food which has become associated in people’s minds with the colonial days, when a stop at a hilltop rest house would bring not just fresh cool weather but also delicious offerings.

There are creamy thermidors, in this case with using the much more luscious and tasty tiger prawn, salads and pies; Hainanese-style soups, roasts and stews – lamb features significantly here (try their famous Braised Lamb with Lady’s Fingers) – amongst many others. Talk about a nostalgic trip down memory lane.

The place was started at the end of 2009 by JP Wong, the son of a former Hainanese cook, so the menu is basically a recreation of the sort of food he and his siblings grew up with. Everything is made by their local chefs, even their light-as-air pastry – try one of their yummy Chicken Curry Puffs for starters … on the other hand, don’t, because you won’t stop at one, and that won’t leave you enough room for the other dishes, of which there are plenty.

“We have so many recipes that we change the menu regularly,” he explained, but popular staples like their famous Choon Piah (Spring Rolls), Macaroni Pie, Chicken Pie and Yam Duck will always be available. Some, like their Oxtail Soup or Lamb Stew, require advance notice.

Of course one of the most famous dishes is perennial favourite Chicken Rice, the white chicken smooth and silky as it should be, here served with the chilli and ginger as separate condiments. I’d go there just for that, but there is also a good selection of some of the more popular local and nyonya dishes, as affluent nyonya families, emulating their colonial masters, would often hire Hainanese cooks for their kitchens, so try the Chicken Inchi Kabin and Kari Kapitan, here eaten with fluffy white Bengali Roti.

Hainanese Delights

@ 1926 Hotel

227 Jalan Burma

10050 Penang

Tel: 604 226 1926

www.hainanesedelights.com

Opening Hours: Tuesdays to Sundays 11.30am – 3pm, 6-10pm