Invited Review at Ivy's Kitchen

One afternoon, I received a surprise email from Criz asking if I am interested to join a food review on 3rd May as well as to hangout with some of the Penang food bloggers. Since I haven't meet any of them before :P Why not?

So there I was at Ivy's Kitchen before 11am. He sure did choose a great day to meet up :S I was practically dragging myself out of bed on that chilling cloudy day.

After waiting for a while, Gill and Jason turned up followed by Cariso. Hahaha I think they did be wondering what is this budak doing here when looking from afar XD But at least Gill manage to recognise me.

This video below shows the surrounding of Ivy's Kitchen. I quite like the quiet surrounding but it could be due to the weekends and the unpredictable weather.



The boss (Mr. Tan) was attentive as he asked if we wanted some drinks while we were waiting for Criz and Steven. So I happily ordered Fresh Carrot Juice (without syrup) as I noticed fruit juices were offered for all of its set meals. There should be something to it.

Indeed, the carrot juice was thick and sweet even with no sugar added! Priced at RM2.20 and I felt its worth the price. Regular coffee shops are charging RM1.50-RM1.80 for the watered down version of the juice. RM3 for a thicker juice (double).

Apart from fresh juices (usual fruit juices such as apple, orange, etc), normal hot drinks like tea, coffee and Milo are also available.

Ivy could finally start whipping up her fried ikan cincaru after the late comers arrived. By that time, some of us were already famished haha.

Here's a video of how Ivy prepared one of her specialties.


Clean kitchen and clean oil most importantly. Her fish came out perfectly crispy.

This fried ikan cincaru was meant for the Custom Combo: Stuffed Hardtail Mackeral (Cincaru) – RM9 or RM3.80 per fish. The fish would be served with keropok ikan, half hard boiled egg, some pickled vege (comprises of cucumber, pineapple, onion and chilli), fried peanuts and fried ikan bilis

This is Ivy's Kitchen secret recipe paste that was stuffed into the fish. They did not skimped on the local herbs and ingredients for making the paste. A little bit spicy with distinctive taste of lemon grass and kaffir lime leaves (my favourite herbs) with a hint of sweetness.

Then came COMBO C: Nasi Lemak - RM7.50 which is one of my favourite. The rice was fragrant and not lumped together. Ginger was meticulously grated instead of being left in chunks while cooking the rice. This enabled the ginger to better infuse with the rice. However, I personally still find the rice lacked the fresh coconut milk smell.

The sambal ikan bilis was nice as I prefer the sweet variety sambal. Must have added alot of Shallots. Combo C was served with keropok, slices of cucumber, half hard boiled egg, fried peanuts, fried ikan bilis, fried chicken wing and fried sardin. The ikan bilis (anchovies) was properly washed as the saltyness was not overwhelming.

Next was COMBO B: Beef Rendang - RM8.50. Tender pieces of meat cooked in savoury (with a hint of sweetness) rendang gravy was paired with white rice, half boiled egg, papadam, pickled vege, fried peanuts and ikan bilis. Very familiar taste but I can't seem to remember where I've tasted the flavour from :P

If you can't take beef, you can always opt for COMBO A: Chicken Rendang - RM9 :)

Not oily and the drumstick was nicely done.

Besides the set meals, they also have Popiah Chee (mini spring rolls, RM2/RM3.80 for two) on the menu. The spring rolls weren't oily and packed with stuffings. It still remained crispy after being left aside for some time.

We tasted the Laksa (RM5) as well. From the looks, its pretty impressive with all the toppings and fish added into this bowl of laksa. Not very sour and overly spicy and NO fishy smell.


The final combo, COMBO D: Fried Fish Fillet Noodles – RM9 is good for those who wanted have something else, other than rice. The broth was clear and has natural sweetness to it. Didn't try the fish fillet but the handmade chicken balls were ok. It was smooth and lightly flavoured with pepper and sesame oil. The vermicelli should be of good variety as it did not kembang much after soaking up the soup.

Grouper Fish Porridge - RM9 is one of the ala carte items from their menu.

These are the rest of the items on the menu.

*Please click on the photo to have a better view of the menu.

To finish off the meal, you can order a plate of Rojak as an add on to your set meal too for RM2 (Normal price: RM3). It tasted ok but I prefer the peanuts to be slightly finer. Or, add another RM1 for a bowl of Red bean soup(Normal price: RM1.60) which is the alternate option for those who do not fancy rojak.

Finally, you can wash it all down with a glass of fresh watermelon juice and soya jelly with longan.
*All combos comes with a fruit juice and a dessert (soya jelly with longan).

Ivy's Kitchen serves dinner too. Below are the menu and sets they offered.

*Please click on the photo for a clearer view.

*Please click on the photo for a clearer view.

After drinking so many juices (I had another glass of lime juice) and having the nasi lemak as well as some choon peah, I was pretty bloated :P

Thanks to Criz (especially Cariso!) for inviting me over for the food review and also to meet up with the bloggers. It was nice meeting all of you in person. Hehe... Again thanks to Mr. Tan and Ms. Ivy for the lovely meal :)


Location:
Ivy's Kitchen
58 Jalan Chow Thye, 10250 Penang.

Contact:
013-433 7878 (Mr. Tan), 016-433 7130 (Ms. Ivy)

GPS:
5.424715, 100.320686

Happy reading~

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