Invited: Grand Opening of Dragon9ine @ Belissa Row, Penang.

Dragon9ine (traditional Chinese: 九龍餐廳) is one of the latest modern Chinese-based restaurant that hits the town.
Unlike those ubiquitous Chinese restaurants such as Xuan Xin Restaurant, Dragon9ine chefs add a twist in some of their food by blending in foreign elements notably western.
Other than that, the restaurant interior design is colourful and alive with Chinese retro embellishments like opera masks, potteries and vintage posters.
The ground floor is warmer and is definitely ideal for family dining where as the upper floor which is made darker, colder suits those who is looking for a chillful drinking time with their mates better.
I could not agree more that the lighting along with the cool surrounding on the upper floor made me want to Karaoke.
Besides that, you could always use the private room but make sure you enquire them before doing so.

Four days ago, i had the privilege to attend as well as witness the grand opening of Dragon9ine which was started in January 2011.
Dragon9ine is now not only more well-organized but also completely ready to serve its clients proficiently and professionally with a brand new cooking style, menu and chef - Chef Pele Khor.
Since Dragon9ine is a Chinese-based restaurant, it definitely fits the restaurant theme when a lion dance team was hired in order to boost luck for better business.
Two red flamboyant lions eventually danced their way from the entrance to the kitchen before 'eating' the mandarin oranges, piecing the remainings together into a Chinese word, '旺' which means prosperity.
In addition to the great lion dance show, there was a spread of several dishes opened for public.

I, along with the other bloggers were treated to an exquisite fine dining experience which was launched not long ago.
The set dinner which consists of 4 entrées, 4 main courses, 1 dessert and 2 beverages has a price tag of RM69.90+ (subject to 10% service tax) and is only available with a minimum order of two sets.
All the 4 entrées shared a square white ceramic plate while the first to catch my eye was the Golden Sand Soft Shell Crab which had a rich flavour.
The crab was fried to a light crisp and was prepared using red hot chili flakes, garlic flakes together with sesame seeds.
Who knew that such ordinary ingredients could produce such wonderful starter? The chef did!

Only a few of us enjoyed the Fresh Oyster in Bloody Mary Cocktail as some they found the strong gummy ocean taste of the big raw oysters eewwyy.
However, the oysters tasted much better with the so-called world's most complex cocktail, Bloody Marie which bathed the oysters.
With accordance to Chef Pele Khor, the cocktail was a mix of tomato juice, vodka and flavourings like Tabasco sauce, lemon juice and black pepper.
The spiciness was purposely made mild so that we could taste the cocktail without losing the trace of oyster.

Next, it was the Ginger & Shallot Fried with Chicken which was fine.
The ginger and shallot were sliced before being fried along with the chicken.
The combination was simply awesome.

Last but not least, the Mango Prawn Spring Roll emerged as the hot favourite that night.
A golden Tempura crisp enveloped the fresh ground prawn paste paired with the sweet starchy mango sauce.
The whole thing turned out to be spectacular with a simultaneous taste of the mango sauce as well as the paste.

We were presented the main course one at a time.
The first one was the Smoked Duck Breast Meat with Mongolian Sauce which came with 4 fine slices of smoked duck breast meat, crepes, fresh onions and fresh thinly sliced cucumber plus mild-flavoured Mongolian sauce.
To get a little taste of heaven in every bite, we basically wrapped everything up with a piece of crepe before intoxicating ourselves with the flavourful combination.
The Mongolian Sauce's mild flavour means it won't overpower the other ingredients especially the smoked duck meat.

Tofu is something you can't miss when you are having Chinese Cuisine.
In this case, one of the main courses was the Stir-fried Tofu and Prawns with XO Sauce.
The spicy XO sauce which was made from dried scallops and dried shrimp, cooked in red chili and spices, garlic and oil undoubtedly enhanced the flavour of Tofu, with the aid of minced prawns, capsicum, snow peas and snap peas.
Anyhow, the lack of egg resulted in a lower texture quality and they must consider what our elder bloggers have pointed out - peel off the strings.

The following main course was the Crispy Sea Bass with Butter Orange Sauce & Tempura Greens.
Before sending for grilling, the fish fillet was well-marinated and in the end, it was served together with capsicum, asparagus, young corns, onions, tomatoes, herbs and the chef's special butter orange sauce.
The chef's intention to grill the sea bass fillet for a perfect two-sided crisp resulted in failure as it was over grilled, the texture was a bit hard and it was a salty.
Still, this dish turned out to be appetizing with the strong butter orange sauce covering the aftertaste of the fish.

We all were glad to hear that the Stir-fried Seafood Yee Mee Noodle with Grandma Sauce was the last main course as we were very full after rounds of continuous dining.
The chef named his secret sauce Grandma Sauce because the phrase grandmother gives a warmer feeling if compared to grandfather.
From the aspect of taste, this main course was more and less like Aglio Olio but it was more flavoursome with the fried chili and sprinkles of sesame seeds.

Sweetened Red Beans is one of the most common dessert dishes in the Chinese world and the chef's production was just top-class.
The red beans were blended pretty well before being sweetened with sugar or honey.
Surprisingly, the amount of sweetness was perfectly right to me and i believe also to the others.
Besides, a black sesame sweet dumpling (tang yuan) was included.

For your information, this set dinner does include a glass of red wine and Provence Lavender Black Tea but they might replace that particular tea with another type of tea.
That was what we have encountered.

Address:
368-1-5 & 6, Belissa Row, Pulau Tikus, 11350 Penang.
[google map]

Operation Hours:
11am - 3am

Contact no.:
04 - 2294099

Website:
[click here]

Facebook:
[click here]

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