Penang Flavours — Restaurant in Melbourne

Not the first time to Penang Flavours. Most of the items are yummy. Today we had the Char Bee Tai Mak and the Butter Chicken with rice.

I'm happy with my Char Bee Tai Mak. There's wok hei. Although I asked for mild spicy, it was still a little too spicy for me. Not a deal breaker though. I still enjoyed it. My fav items in the menu are Penang Char Kuay Teow, Char Tang Hoon, Assam laksa and Sat Hor Fun.

As for the butter chicken, hmmm... The chicken is separate from the sauce. So you get deep fried battered chicken fillet with the sauce. The sauce tasted too sweet for our liking. Not quite like the authentic butter chicken, but who orders butter chicken at a Chinese restaurant? Should have known better.... Lol... I wouldn't order this dish again next time. Also, I feel it's a bit pricey at $21.50, especially when the dish was disappointing. Wouldn't mind the price if it tasted good though.

So why 5 stars if we didn't like the butter chicken? It's cos we have been to Penang Flavours many times and we love all the other items in the menu. One bad dish shouldn't ruin the ratings.

The restaurant is usually busy during meal times so to avoid having to queue for a table, try going a bit earlier...

Like most dining venues of this genre, the attraction is inexpensive tasty food aka hawker street food in a chaotic environment. The problem with these venues is inconsistency in food and service. We experienced both. When the quantity of a not inexpensive dish was noticeably smaller than the table next to us, we enquired with the service staff why. The matter was brought to the kitchen staff who responded crudely and rudely, oblivious to the fact that the kitchen is open and everyone could hear and see their discussion especially how our dish was picked apart by bare hands. The kitchen decided the quantity was fine and to "take it or leave it." The tension between the kitchen and the service staff was obvious. This, as we all know from Anthony Bourdain and other food bloggers, is common. The problem is the paying customer suffer the indignity of seeing and paying for these kind of inconsistency. To be fair, the service staff tried their best but the kitchen staff, presumably the owners(?), are obviously not bothered at all. It was quite an authentic moment. We decided to send back the order and risk the wrath of the kitchen. Luckily there was none. For all future diners....

Had lunch here today after hearing so many friends rave about the food. After driving 50mins we arrived at Westfield for some shopping and then lunch at Penang Flavours. There was a queue when we got there, took us about 20 mins to get a table of 7 for the whole family. My first impression was the amazingly modern design for a Malaysian Restaurant and how clean the place looked and felt. We ended up ordering their signature dishes plus a couple of our family favourites. Char Koew Teow, Char Tang Hoon, Assam Laksa, Har mee, Char Bee hoon, Curry Laksa Chicken, Lobak and Wan ton mee for the kids. Our food arrived about 15 mins and us thinking how quick it was. Every meal was delicious, portions were huge compared to what we are used to, plus there is no weekend service charge and no extra charges for green chilli and sambal. The whole family really enjoyed their lunch, in fact so much my parents ordered take away for dinner. Pity we live so far away, otherwise we’ll be dining here more often. Will definitely come back when we are around this area. The owners have done a really good job at managing this place. We...