Invited Review at Ko Fu Loft (口福楼)

On 17 May, it was an honor to receive an email invitation from Mr. Patrick Neoh, Director of Ko Fu Loft (口福楼) and very generous of him for allowing 21 people attending the review. At that time I was still new to all these and am glad that Criz was willing take over the arrangement part. Thanks to everyone for attending the review :D

As you can see, Ko Fu Loft has replaced the previous eatery, Food Loft (Gurney Plaza Old Wing) and with some renovation, they opened on 20 May.

So once you get to 4th floor through escalator from Gurney Plaza's main entrance, you would be able to see Ko Fu Loft.

Below are Ko Fu Loft's main chefs, namely, Chef Hong from Hong Kong (Dim Sum Kitchen); an E&O chef (Chinese Kitchen) and lastly, Mr. Johnno (Executive Chef).

Pretty decorations isn't it? They were hanged along the place we would be seated.

I believe the bird cage decorations would be even lovelier during night time.

If you like sunshine and beautiful scenary, you can choose to be seated at the tables placed along the stretch of windows. Sipping a cup of tea while taking in the view from a higher ground is quite enjoying I would say.

(click on the picture below to view a larger version)

This area is the left side of the restaurant, located together with one of their open style kitchens. This is where they prepare the chinese tea and some deep fried items are placed here so they could serve more efficiently.

I quite like the big comfty chairs and it would be nice to sit around for a chat with friends.

They also have private rooms if you wish to have a quiet dinner with family. Am not sure but I think it would be safer to specify the seating area when making a reservation.

At the middle section of the restaurant, there is a beverage and dessert station. They serve regular beverages like fruit juices, drinks and...

flower tea :D Based on the menu they offer :

1. Green Tea Fairy (出水芙蓉)
2. French Rose (法国玫瑰)
3. Lavender (薰衣草)
4. Osmanthus (柱花)
5. Peppermint (薄荷)

Haha Green Tea Fairy, cute name. Tea was already served that day so didn't manage to try it.

If you don't like flower tea, local beverages like kopi o', iced tea and etc are also available.

As I'd mentioned, this is also a dessert station.

There are ais kacang, cendol and ice mango to choose from...yumz... I heard that the ice mango is the KL Mango-lou style but have yet to try :P

This is the dim sum kitchen under Chef Hong's supervision. At that moment they were preparing Deep Fried Pandan Lotus Paste Dumpling (芝麻枣).

While this is the Chinese Kitchen. Vast kitchen area don't you think?

Stomach growling fast so we speed up a little on the food photography session :)

First stop, Vietnamese style Crystal Spring Roll Skin Stuffed with Vege and Shredded Chicken Meat (公主水晶卷)， RM6.90 per plate.

Densely filled with shredded carrots, cucumbers, glass noodles and lettuces, not bad. Pretty refreshing but I was expecting additional ingredients in it such as fresh herbs (bunga kantan) and slightly more tangy sauce.

Frankly speaking, I still prefer Chef Derek's (KDU cooking school lecturer) version.

Next was Ko Fu Sesame Seed Ball (口福芝麻球)， RM10.90 per plate (5 balls).

This sauce came with them right? Sadly I didn't get to try the sauce because its gone when we transferred the food to our table :P

The sesame seed ball is actually meat ball. Very surprising indeed. Its made of minced pork mixed with chopped spring onions, black wood fungus and mengkuang I think. A weird dish as appetizer indeed.

After 2 appetizers, its HK dim sum time! My favourite part. I am pretty satisfied with the dim sum items prepared on that day.

What's dim sum without Steamed Fresh Prawn Dumpling (鲜明虾饺) eh? As expected, the har gao was fresh and good. No weird prawn smells and tasty :D RM5.50 per basket (4 piece).

And of course if there is har gao, siu mai (Pork Dumpling with Fish Roes, 鱼子烧买皇) would be there too :) RM5.50 per basket (4 pieces)

The siu mai was fresh and crunchy because HK style siu mai uses small pork chunks, not minced pork. Besides, they marinate the pork minimally to keep the taste as simple as possible. The pork would then be topped with whole prawn.

The siu mai skin was also thin unlike local siu mai.

The next steam item was Minced Squid with Crab Claw (百花酿蟹钳), RM6.90 per basket (2 piece) I think this dish's texture is similar to the fish dumpling I had in Bali Dim Sum, smooth smooth.

According to Steven, it didn't taste fresh. I think its probably because we eat the dish cold :P

The following item was my favourite. Signature Steamed Custard Creamy Bun (美味流砂奶黄包) RM5.50 per basket (3 buns).

Its sooo delicious! I love the creamy buttery filling with salted egg yolk :D Every bite was bursting with buttery and salted egg yolk flavour. Yumz! The filling was quite smooth with some salted egg yolk bits for texture.

RM5.50 is not expensive actually. Normal pandan lotus paste bao (slightly bigger) is already RM1. With so much work in making this custard bun and eating at a decent restaurant, I did say this dish is reasonably priced.

Another common item (besides har gao-siu mai) found in Dim Sum places is Deep Fried Yam Paste with Minced Pork (炸芋角), RM4.50 per plate (3 pieces).

The wu kok was nicely fried without absorbing oil and the fillings were still moist too.

Final item for dim sum was Deep Fried Pandan Lotus Paste (), RM4.50 per plate (3 pieces).

Although it tasted quite normal, the lotus paste was smooth and not too dry and not too sweet. As for the glutinous skin layer, its chewy and not hard at all. Nicely fried.

Done with dim sum, I was already 2/3 full :S There were still an array of main dishes to try.

Szechuan Aromatic Duck (四川香酥鸭)，RM18.90.

From the name, we can know the duck is deep fried. The flavouring was quite heavy and overwhelmed the duck flavour. The sweet bean sauce was still acceptable. On top of that, the duck was pretty dry. It could be partly our problem because we ate it after it was prepared for quite some time. The crepe skin is mass produced so no comment.

Jingdo Pork Ribs (京都骨) RM14.90 came next. The ribs were served in huge chunks and it was a problem eating it. Other than being tough, the taste would be better with less pepper. Nevertheless, the ribs was very flavourful with chopped onions and garlics.

Its hard to imagine this was Deep Fried Five Spices Calamari, RM13.90.

I personally think the five spices smell was quite pungent, don't really like it. Calamari was bouncy though, perfectly fried.

Next, Deep Fried Homemade Bean Curd (香炸黄金豆腐), RM12.90.

Bean curd was crispy and smooth on the inside but it can be better with a bit more flavouring.

Because the taste of the bean curd was quite bland, it had to depend on sauces. However, the chilli sauce that came with it didn't really suit the fried tofu :P I personally prefer sweet-sour & slightly spicy sauces, maybe plum sauce would be a nice addition to the chilli sauce.

This is the second time I had pun choy. All in 1 Roasted Meat with Vegetables (盘菜), RM19.90.

Pun choy can be made of various ingredients depending on your budget. In this case for RM20, this is roughly what you would get, 2 types of vege, the main dish and a bowl of rice. The roasted items in it were not bad especially the duck. Roasted duck was very fragrant. The soup was sweet based but has weird taste like how Cariso described.

The 3 pieces beige colour thing are not abalone but some sort of shell fish, conch. Produced in Taiwan, they are available cheaply in local supermarkets and already marinated with abalone sauce.

As if we are not stuffed enough, Fried Seafood Emperor Noodle (香炒海鲜皇帝面), RM12.90 was part of the planned menu.

Portion wise was ok but it could do better with more wok hei (锅气) and flavouring :D Anyway, I did felt the noodles were a bit limp from over blanching or was it because we ate it cold? :P

Lastly, a bowl of hot dessert was served. Water Chestnut and Sago with Coconut Milk RM3.50.

This dessert was not in the menu as it was the dessert of the day. We didn't know what it was until its served lol.

Hmmm I would prefer they use fresh coconut milk instead of powdered ones and I think they did not sieve the coconut milk mixture properly. A thicker soup with more coconut milk would be a nice change.

Am so bloated...burp~
Happy reading~

To those whom I met, nice seeing you guys :D

Allie
Buzzing Bee
Cariso
Criz
Food4tots
Nutty Eve
Food Paradise
Food Promotions
Gourmet Garden
Now Eating
Penang Tua Pui
Steven Goh
What2SeeOnline
Yummy Station
Yum Yum Bites
Chef Khoon from KDU

Location:
170-04-59 Plaza Gurney,
Persiaran Gurney,
10250 Penang, Malaysia.

Business Hours:
9am - 10pm
(Dim sum would be available from 9am to 5pm)
(Ala carte items are avaiable all day)

Contact:
Tel - 604 2295011
Fax - 604 2294011

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