gēn — Restaurant in George Town

I have been looking forward to going to Gen for a while now, being based in Melbourne we are blessed with many fantastic restaurants so when I heard of Gen I knew i had to try it when I was back in town. They only have the option to do the tasting menu. Starting with the food, most of the dishes were actually quite nice. The first course was one of the highlights, and the housemade luncheon meat was great. However, the rest of the dishes were a bit of a miss, the flavours for the strawberry,ginger and tomato were odd and the soy sauce dessert course( pineapple,soy sauce,pandan coconut) was very odd and unpleasant. When my partner booked they asked for any dietary requirements, which we highlighted my dairy allergy, despite that the first thing they told us was they could not accomodate it in any way as it would ruin the overall taste of the dish, but it should be up to the customer whether or not they want the dish flavour altered. What was the point of asking for dietary requirements if there was no intention to accomodate them. There were a few dishes that contained some dairy, so those dishes i could not eat much of. They could not even be bothered to separate the sauce on the main( steak) . What made us really uncomfortable was the head chef spent most of the night standing at the front staring at us and other tables which made us very uncomfortable, and he had a very unfriendly and sour look on his face which was very poor customer service. He did not look busy in the slightest and yet he did not come around and check if the food was okay, or if there was any feedback on the dishes, it gave off a sense of arrogance, that sense of arrogance was also felt with the main server/ head of the service team, she would very rudely ask us why dont you like the dish, whenever there were dishes left untouched. We were not given very detailed explanations of the dish( what component contains what) , instead we were given very complicated explanations and when we tried to ask for clarification or when my mum made a joke about the decoration looking like food, we were met with arrogance and an unfriendly attitude. The whole team in the kitchen looked very unfriendly, and because it was an open kitchen you could see them very clearly. The impression we got from the whole team, from the front of house to the kitchen was " our tasting menu is the best, it is your fault if you cannot appreciate or enjoy the taste of the menu". We will not be back. The experience and food was not worth the price we paid for it, which is a shame because some of the dishes were actually really nice, but the service ruined the whole experience. The rest of the front of house team were actually more friendly than the head of the front of house team. Did not feel very looked after. Do...

I was told the name Gen 根 means roots. That was what today's degustation adventure is about: seeking the roots of the Penang people. All the ingredients are locally sourced and commonly used in traditional cooking.

One particular ingredient caught my eye : Retired Milk Cow. Is the meat tastier because the cow is more mature or would it be tougher? I would find out later

Our hostess Sherri candidly explained every dish and allowed us to feel very very at home. We were allowed to bring our kids and that was a huge plus point. They even plated our kids food.

Of all the dishes served, I need to mention a few: the mackerel , the vege, the flowercrab rice and the beef.

The mackerel was easily my favorite. Fresh tasting and they served it with a small shot of fish soup. So good.

Vege dish was beautiful, I loved how banana leaf oil was used although I have no idea that tastes like. The only part I didn't like about this dish is how I couldn't feel the unique crunch of petai. It was made into a moose. I really liked the gourd used.

The flowercrab rice won me over when I was taught that it's colloquial name is FA HAI. Reminded me of my travels to Hong Kong where I would hear people endearingly call each other chow hai. The dish was hearty and regal. Flower crab by itself is so hard to eat. Who else gets their flower crab deshelled for them so beautifully besides royalty?

Now comes the controversial dish. The beef. The presentation was fantastic, the beef stood upright like a severed tree trunk. Buah keluak formed a skin around the steak. 3 different sauces swirled together at the base of the steak. When you first cut into the steak, there was resistance cutting through the bark. The buak keluak seemed to have formed a thick bark around the beef. The beef itself was lean but tender. Definitely tastes like an old cow. I would say this dish could be vastly improved if the bark wasn't so thick. I helped my partner eat their steak because they could not chew through the bark. By the end of the night, my jaw was tight

Overall I really liked the experience in gen! The dragon plates provided to us reminded me of how the Chinese people are called the descendants of the dragon . This place is truly grasping at the roots of the dragon. Google translate says this act...

Visit my Instagram @janefoodbaby for more! Second visit here but unfortunately it's a disappointing one - will not revisit in the foreseeable future. Service is still really great though, very polite and attentive staff.

Price: MYR 614.80 (2 pax, inclusive of SST and service charge).

Previous visit was in Nov 2021, recent visit was in May 2022, both are lunch menu. They have since increased # of courses from 7 to 10. But portion size has greatly reduced. Didn't feel full after 10 courses.

Food (pics are not in exact order of menu) Semporna abalone: Nice pairing with the abalone & pork belly pie. Homemade pie is one of their signatures. Like the creativity.

Mackerel papan: This is mixed with anchovies, ulam, tempoyak and made into crispy fish crackers - optional chili oil drizzle (super spicy for me 🥵). Wasn't impressed with this esp after I found out tempoyak is a reallyyyyy cheap ingredients lol.

Bentong Ginger: This was good. Chicken shreds w/fried ginger strips served on tartlets, paired with homemade soup, which you can customize with rice wine, soy sauce or ginger oil.

Bunga kantan: Fresh poached prawns with jelly. Very refreshing dish - cold and sour.

Buah Kulim: Grey mullet fish with jackfruit and santan(?) Didn't like this cause I don't know how to eat the fish. Too bland to eat it alone, but too soggy to dip in the sauce.

Kurau: Cooked in Teochew style - beancurd sauce was sour and the fish was tough to chew, texture is almost like chicken. Did not like this as well.

Desserts were generally great - Cameron strawberry, honey dew sorbet w/ice cream (not pictured), pineapple tart and dark chocolate drinks (my personal fav!😍)

While the dishes were creative (in terms of pairing and plating), I feel like diversified ingredients/proteins should be used. They should also up their portion size... Eventhough I'm a small eater, I still feel this is really...