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Penang Village (Malaysian cuisine)  $

 7
JaT Rating

1290 Coleman Avenue, Santa Clara, 95050  (Directions)


408-980-0668


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Varied Malaysian foods in building that gives new meaning to Old School.


Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1040
Reviewed: 7/20/2006
Rating: 7
My photo gallery 		It's been almost a week since I've been to Penang Village and still wondering about the old wooden restaurant that serves Malaysian food. This has got to be one of the oldest places we've eaten at in south bay, I think they had horses in the back. As always, we arrive just in time before the lunch rush.

I started off with a Malaysian iced coffee and shared roti cani with Terry.

kopi - malaysian blended coffee with condensed milk, served in a tall pint glass, this had to be the most watered down coffee I've ever had. I"m not much of a coffee drinker so my taste buds aren't immune to coffee flavor yet. It was entirely weak (picture #5)

roti canai - I can eat this for days. If you've never had it, it's a thin indian bread that comes with a curry dipping sauce. Looks like a pyramid and you tear pieces and dip into the wonderful sauce. Kinda sweet, kinda oily, kinda great. (picture #6)

For lunch I went with the Nasi Lemak; coconut rice, chili anchovies, curry chicken, achat with peanuts, fresh cucumber, roasted peanuts, boiled egg, and roasted peanuts.

coconut rice - it didn't taste or smell like coconut rice, I can swear it was plain steamed rice.

chili anchovies - I misread this and didn't know it was going to be onions, sliced bell peppers with fried anchovies. The dish was served cold and I'm guessing this is how its suppose to be? They could have served it heated and I still wouldn't have enjoyed it.

curry chicken - not a fan of thigh meat and thought the chicken tasted like it had been sitting around for sometime. It wasn't served hot and the curry sauce didn't stick to the chicken.

achat - never had this before, it was served cold and tasted very good, I'm guessing it's pickled cucumbers, carrots, and other things mixed with crushed peanuts, it was my favorite part of the meal.

The food was ok. Maybe I ordered the wrong dish but the lunch didn't click with me. The service was ridiculously fast which leads me to believe most of the meals are pre-cooked. There is no way they can cook up those type of dishes in less than 5 minutes, if they do, my apologies to the fastest cooking chef on earth. The prices were reasonable and portion size was euro-asian. If you are looking for a lighter more exotic lunch, Penang Village might fit the bill.
 
7
Agent Rating


Reviewer: ne00
Total Reviews: 187
Reviewed: 7/26/2004
Rating: 7
My photo gallery		 I have eaten at Penang Village two times, and both times, I left unsatisfied. The first visit was back in 2001 where my co-worker and I were seeking a different restaurant that unfortunately closed. We settled on Penang Village as a last resort. I remember ordering the Penang Village Fried Rice, which consists of peas, carrots, raisins, shrimp, chicken, beef, and calamari. The entrée was good but the price was somewhere up north while the portions were down south. My friend ordered some lunch special with chicken, potatoes, and coconut curry milk. I remember a small bowl served with a bowl of rice. He managed to finish off the meat and potatoes and just commented how wonderful the curry was and ate nothing but the coconut milk with the remaining of his rice and another extra bowl of rice.

The second time I came with other friends for dinner. We ordered family style starting with appetizers, 3 main entrees and a noodle dish. For appetizers, we ordered the Roti Canai and Satay Chicken. The Roti was excellent but among three people the portions were not enough to share and the price for the appetizer was on the high end. The Satay chicken was average. The noodle dish was Singapore Meehoon, which is very similar to Pad Thai. The taste is along the same lines as Pad Thai. Portion size wise, the entrée will serve two people with other entrees or satisfy one person if that is all they eat.

Service was friendly and quick. Our waters were refilled whenever our glass was empty.

I doubt I would ever return to give Penang Village a third chance.

Bottom line: Small portions, high prices, with hit and misses in taste category.
 
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montyburnz ate...

Indiean Mee Goreng

“I'm no expert on Malay food. I felt the sauce was suthentic and spicy. The noodles reminded me of homecooked spaghetti. Some fresh ingredients, but seafood was not. The Malay ice tea was nothing like Banana Leaf's.”

7/25/2008 3:59:00 PM