My Penang Solo Stumble 04 ~ Tree Monkey Restaurant @ Tropical Spice Garden, Teluk Bahang, Penang

One of my favourite picture spot during my visit was the Tropical Spice Garden, situated along Teluk Bahang after a seaside drive by Tg Bungah. Boasted to be an eco – friendly park, this park houses various herbal plants in lush tropical setting. Prior to entering, you’ll be spritzed with a citronella spray which acted as mosquito repellent. How is that for eco – friendly?

I started my visit with a food peek at Tree Monkey, an al fresco diner serving Northern Thai cuisine. The place has a serve – no – pork status since they serve alcohol, opens daily at 9 am – 12 am. Apparently they served vegetarian too.

 They were having mocktail promotion at sunset hours at that time so I had my lovely Sunset Paradise with some appetizers. The waiter was like, “It’s not sunset yet.”, and I was like “I don’t care”. LOL

Thai Express = Thai fastfood

A day of hardwork, no one to cook for me at home and a craving for rice (After 1 week avoiding due to my expanding waistline... ). So a drive to The Curve, Mutiara Damansara...

Simple Thai food, not authentic enough but as mentioned above, I feel like this place is more of a fast food version. Contemporary setting, modern music, Thai - looking waiters.

I had sweet and sour fish with white rice, which was nice accompanied with my favourite vege, brinjal cooked in tom yum paste (not spicy).

Variety: Grace Point

CAUTION: SERVES ALCOHOL / COOKING MAY CONTAINS ALCOHOL

Status: Serve no pork

Venue/landmark: Sembulan. This map is a bit lacking in detail. So let say you’re coming from the direction of the mosque, then at the round – a – bout turn left 9 o’clock. If you are coming from the direction of Sutera Harbour, then at the round – a – bout turn to the 3 o’ clock direction. Once you pass the round – a – bout the rest is easy as you can see the place on your right side, a large open air dining area with its grand entrance.

Time open – close: unsure. I usually frequent it in the evening around 6 – 8 pm.

Basic RM per meal: RM 8 (starting pay)

Parking is free. I like that.

Food court style, on grander scale. Clean, bright, airy and spacious. Sunset here is a blaze. A nice place for friends to come, relax and chat.

Here you can find all sorts of food, Japanese from Wagamama, Thai, Indian, Korean, claypot meals, all sorts of rice, local food from Etnik Sabah, noodles and Western. As usual Wagamama is nice and in my list of favourites, next is Etnik Sabah with their tantalizing local food including hinava (raw fish tossed with ginger and onion in lime juice) and ampap fish (fish cooked in gravy of tumeric, ginger and other spices, served with rice); Thai section is pretty decent though the fried rice has somewhat a flat appearance; Indian food turns out good with their tosai, claypot section has this amazing black pepper chicken; and the drinks section. The coolest no. plaque (the one they give you with your order no.) so far is from Etnik Sabah, a wooden spoon – shaped one. You can’t helped but be delighted at it as you received one. As for drinks, the waiters will come over to your table to take down your orders.

From the Thai food section: Green curry mussels.

Noodles section is pretty basic, and on one occasion the laksa was disappointingly lacking in taste and contents. The Western corner so far failed to attract me as their pasta struck me as flat, unappetizing – looking.

Overall, service is good except on busier hours. And finally, a properly presented local cuisine.

Rating: 4.5/5