Max Gourmet Restaurant @ Gurney Plaza, Penang.

It was beautiful Saturday night and my other half and i went for window shopping at Gurney Plaza.
Actually, we were searching for something.
After wandering in the mall, we have finally decided to have our dinner at Max Gourmet Restaurant which previously had a branch in Bayan Bay area.
The restaurant is on the same floor with Golden Screen Cinemas.
I remember when we just finished having our SPM examination, we would visit this restaurant once a week.
But, it has been months since my last visit.

We had our seat and their new menu looked more elegant, but the food choices remain the same.
Surprisingly, they now do offer memberships and most of the food prices shot up horrifyingly.
Still, our preference went to our favourite baked rice, Chee Cheung Fun and fried radish cake.
The Stir Fried Radish Cake with Prawns (7.90 bucks, original price was 6.90 bucks) was quite delicious, and much cheaper than Dragon-i's.
I felt the cake melting inside of my mouth, but the only dissatisfaction was the not-so-crispy outer layer.
The bean sprouts and egg which have been stir fried along with the cake tasted nice.
I am an anti-bean sprouts person but i consumed many of them today.
Can you imagine that? That certainly indicates that this dish was yummy!
Some more, the sambal was tasty until it can be eaten alone.
I do recommend this thingy as it can't be found easily here and yet it was the best dish among all tonight.


The Hong Kong Style Prawn Chee Cheong Fun was priced at 4.90 bucks.
First of all, the gravy was a little bit starchy like the way it supposed to be.
The gravy was a little bit salty and it will be fine if you stir in the sambal.
The Chee Cheong Fun was too 'fragile', it may be separated in two or even three with only a tiny amount of force exerted on it.
But, the prawns were damn fresh, as well as those served in my plate of radish cake.
Generally, the tasted was acceptable and i believe that the price was still quite reasonable.


The baked rice of Max Gourmet was once very scrumptious but not anymore.
What we have ordered was the Cheese Baked Rice with Portuguese Style Chicken Chop which cost us 14.90 bucks and the price was originally 12.90 bucks.
What a large disappointment, the baked rice tasted completely different from the old ones.
The way the rice is baked was totally different too.
During the old times, only a little amount of turmeric sauce or more commonly known as kunyit was added.
But my baked rice was fulled of this yellowish sauce, which created a not-so-aromatic thick smell.
I did not adore that.
Besides, the were a lot of large partially cooked onions which are not our cup of tea.
There was only a little bit of cheese and rice.
Yes, it looked like there were quite a lot of chicken meat but sadly, most of them were not meat but fat.
The chicken meat plus fat tasted well with the turmeric sauce.
The combination of rice and the sauce just tasted so-so, nothing special.
Seriously, both of us did not enjoy this particular baked thingy.
Thumbs down for the 360 degree change of taste and the horrible price rise.



The only items tonight which the prices remain unchanged were the Chee Cheung Fun and my other half's favourite drink, Winter Melon with Sea Coconut (3.50 bucks).
The Winter Melon beverage was sweet.
I have no comment on the drinks.



The only better thing was that the prices are subjected to only service tax of 10%.
That did not make any difference, actually.
In conclusion, i will think twice before paying this restaurant a visit.
I want my old Max Gourmet back!

Posted in: Chinese Cuisine,Non-Halal,Rice,Snack Food