Yin's Sourdough Bakery and Cafe (Penang) — Restaurant in George Town

📍Yin's Sourdough Bakery and Café @ Pesara Claimant, George Town (Ingredients sourced from Halal suppliers)

Yin's Sourdough has been making headway in this niche market of sourdough baking, even so in the midst of this pandemic. Having already 4 branches (3 in Penang, and 1 in KL), they started 8 years ago, a small abode at Balik Pulau. Using strictly unbleached flour & no preservatives, Yin's mastery over sourdough baking has expanded through much creativity. Not only is sourdough used for her baked goods; it is also the essence of all her homemade pastas, pizzas and burger buns.

🏨We decided to try Yin's very own main branch, the bakery in Georgetown where all the magic happens. Much to our delight, Yin herself was there manning the bakery.

The cuisine served there was excellent.

🍕Let me start with the pizzas. We ordered a mushroom pizza with rocket-leaves, and another version which was ?Hawaiian. It was PERFECT. The sourdough base was thin and crisp, the rocket leaves complemented the mushrooms incredibily, and the taste was mouthwateringly amazing. According to the reviews, some guests claim that this is where you can get the best pizzas in town. Clearly, if you are looking for the conventional style of pizza, this isn't the place to go. I feel as if the pizzas here are authentically and uniquely their style. It's a must-try.

🍝The lunch-set menu is delicious and affordable. It comes with the choice of a home-made pro-biotic drink (it was a gingery tonic which was lovely), or having coffee from their very own roastery. I had the Beef Bolognese and it was delectable and pure luxury. Generous chunks of home-ground beef with their very own sourdough pasta; it was rich and filling. My colleagues tried the Chicken Luncheon sandwich; it's really cool to know that their luncheon chicken meat is home-made, thus giving it a most rich and flavoursome taste.

🍔Just check out their Homemade Ground-Beef Sourdough Burger in the pictures. Everything in the menu has been well thought of, and crafted with pride.

☕We had the opportunity to chat with Jonathan, the head barista and roaster of their coffee-beans. Separately running the coffee show under a different name (Bayan Coffee Roasters), Jonathan has come up with favourites by locals who often come by just to purchase their roasted beans. As you enter Yin's Sourdough, you will notice that just next door, their roastery is going on full pursuit, roasting their coffee beans to perfection. Many blends come from them, such as their signature Pinang blend. Bayan Coffee Roasters offers training as well for upcoming baristas.

I've been to Yin's Sourdough thrice already and am loving...

UPD: I was happy with the place, so came again and was utterly disappointed. The place was not even fully busy, there were a few empty tables, yet, our food took over an hour to be served and drinks over 30 minutes. At the same time, people who came after us got served faster (with the same drinks we ordered!). I thought, maybe it was just one day issue (it happens, right?), but just exactly the same thing repeated the next day.

I had to come up to the counter to ask about my coffee after I saw that exactly what I ordered was served to someone who came later. They showed me the queue of orders on the baristas table and somehow my ticket was after like 7-10 other tickets. And that was 30 MINUTES after ordering. I don't think they are just slow, I think they just messed all the orders.

When we finished our drinks and the food still was not ready (45 minutes after the order) we asked if we could just cancel our food, they said it was coming. Then after another 20 minutes they brought us only 1 dish!!! The second dish we've never gotten because it was not ready even when we finished that 1st one. Unbelievable.

Had to cancel and ask for the refund. The staff did not even apologize, and you know, they did not look busy or anything like that. There were 2 other girls apart from the cashier behind the bar just chatting and playing with their phones. Maybe it could be a good idea to take care of the situation with your staff before they ruin your business completely. Also, some tips for improvement:

A) Notify people that the food is going to take longer than 20-30 minutes to prepare. If it takes longer, AT LEAST apologize!! B) Serve food for all people at the table at the same time. Don't create an awkward situation, when 1 guest can't start eating because their friend is still waiting for their dish to arrive, starving. C) You should only have as many tables, as your kitchen is capable to serve. D) If your barista can't make a cup of coffee in 2 minutes (longest), get rid of this one or invest in their training. I worked as a barista, so telling from the experience, these two minutes would include preparing the drink, handling the payment and a small talk. E) Keep the track of orders. It's not ok, when some people who sit next to you get the same dish you order in 10 minutes after they arrived and you have to wait for...

MYR12.50 : seeded sourdough

For tourists and foreign residents from the west, this sourdough bakery is most welcome. I get the impression that they have been here longer than many of us. They successfully bridge the culinary gap between non-Asian foreigners and Malay/Nyonya/Chinese. This is not one of those bakeries that cause major disappointments when you are looking fir something similar to home - 'is that really a bakery? It's all fluff, oil, sweetness and pork! Just do have realistic expectations.

I appreciate the tabs to fold the bag.

To mainstream North American-tastes, not to Slavic [no dense ryes], maybe not to French tastes either [no crispy baugettes]. Seeds are both on exterior and interior of bread, though more on the outside. Same happens at cheaper bakeries in Canada.

For those who are as fussy as I am, Yin's has a list of which loaves are sugar and/or egg-free. None are gluten-free (not that I care).

Previous day's baked goods are discounted 30%

AC is a bit too warm (nice change). I was very happy with the service. I have never eaten here, only took away the bread.

Bread: first impression is that the bread does not have the classic sourdough aroma, at least of the San Francisco variety I am used it. Is it preobiotic? Is any sourdough truly so? I do not know.

Assessmemt: toasted 6.5/10, untoasted 5/10. So, not great but also not bad. Keep in mind that for me sourdough itself is a major compromise from Ukrainian and even German rye. I prefer something very heavy and hearty. But, if I cannot find a heavier bread at Yin's or elsewhere I might have to settle for this for my beans n' toast...