CMR at D'piazza @ April 11’2012

Anyone know why April 11’2012 was declared by national public holiday of Malaysia? Yes, this is due to the installation of The Sultan of Kedah, Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong. I did not aware of it since I need to work as usual on that day until one week ago, I received a special invitation from Cutie.

Dear all,

Reservation done under Ms. Loh @ 11/4 (Wed) 12.00pm
Venue: CMR Restaurant
70-01-12A D’piazz Mall
Jalan Mahsuri 11950 Bayan Baru, Penang
http://www.cmr-restoran.com/

Regards,
Cutie

I have seen this restaurant several times before but don’t know why I never think of stepping in. Anyway, the invitation provokes my vigorous curiosity towards the Chinese Islamic cuisine, hence I accepted the invitation immediately. =)

Well, for those who are 'katak di bawah tempurung' just like me, I have did some research about the Chinese Islamic Cuisine. According to wikipedia, Chinese Islamic cuisine (清真菜;回族菜) is the cuisine of the 'Hui' (ethnic Chinese Muslims) and other Muslims living in China. Chinese Islamic restaurant can be similar to a Mandarin restaurant with the exception that there is no pork on the menu and is primarily noodle/soup based.


清真菜，既有伊斯兰教习俗，又有中国饮食风格的菜肴。又称回族菜。

在中国，回、维吾尔、哈萨克、乌孜别克、塔吉克、塔塔尔、柯尔克孜、撒拉、东乡、保安等民族有着共同的饮食习俗和饮食禁忌，但在饮食风味上则存在着一定的差别，因而人们在习惯上又常常把主要居住在新疆的几个少数民族的风味菜肴划出来，称为新疆菜，而特指回族菜肴为清真菜。

清真菜的口味偏重咸鲜，汁浓味厚，肥而不腻，嫩而不膻。但不同地区的清真菜又有西北地区、华北地区、西南地区等不同的流派。这一间坐落在槟城的唯一一家清真菜馆又有着怎样的特色呢？很抱歉，我不是食家，所知道的讯息实在有限，只查到这家的回族厨师是来自中国宁夏回族自治区，还有这家是槟城第1家以中国西北式烹饪获得马来西亚回教发展局的清真(HALAL)证书的餐厅。

Let me share with you guys the dishes we ordered first. Oh ya need to correct my phrase, the dishes were actually pre-ordered by our organizer and the mission of the rest of us was just ‘EAT’ and ‘COMMENT’. =)


The appertizer – deep fried crispy calamari
I assume they have adapted to the local preference as this is a very common dishes which can easily available in every restaurant either Western or Asian food.


The signature dishes

伊斯兰教认为，人们的日常饮食不仅为了养身，而且还要利于养性，因而主张吃佳美、合法的食物。此外，无鳞鱼和凶狠食肉、性情暴躁的动物也不能吃，如鹰、虎、豹、狼、驴、骡等。清真菜选料主要取材于牛、羊两大类，特别是烹制羊肉菜肴极为擅长。
中国清真菜点用料极为讲究，主料突出，注重香料的使用。明代马愈的《马氏日钞记》中，有“回回人食事之香料”的记载。因为注重使用香料，所以清真菜点一般醇香味浓，甜咸分明，酥烂香脆，色深油重；肉肥而不腻，瘦而不柴，鲜而不膻，嫩而有味。

Special Deep Fried Mutton Chop
I think this can consider something extraordinary to me as they applied the ‘spices’ instead of sauce to strengthen up its taste. Thumbs up!

Chinese Napa in Hot Oil, Garlic & Chili
It consists of pickled Chinese cabbage. Don’t it look like Chinese Muslim version of Kimchi? It seems simple but delicious~

Delicious Jumbo Eggplant
The outlook is attractive and creative. It seems like a big squid at the first glance, but it was indeed a healthy aubergine dish.

Quick boiled fish with special sauce
Not sure the fish name, but I think this is another highly recommended dishes of CMR.

Both of them taste similar, I love the way they prepare the sweet potato. The taste is slightly similar with the orange colour potato snacks which I bought from pasar malam every Tuesday.

Stir fired prawn with sweet potato

Stir fried beef with sweet Potato

Fried Spring Bean with Chicken Minced
Oh, I just realized that this fried spring bean consisted of chicken minced when I wrote this post. It seems like my food review is not convincing at all as my tongue is not sensitive enough. =.= anyway, to me this is another common one. =)

I wish to have wide angled camera so that I can capture all the dishes in one picture...

Last but not least, the dessert - sago lemon

饱食了昂贵的一餐过后，又免费帮人在这里做宣传~ =P
对了，我们在西瓜汁里发现有苍蝇。来这里用餐，要小心苍蝇！就这样，分享完毕~

顺道分享411那天我的余震感言：-

~ 谢谢一直以来没放弃约会我的人，虽然你们知道我可能不能出席，或答应过后会临时放飞机，但你们还是把我记住了。还有感谢一直以来会打电话给我，sms给我，和我MSN聊天分享生活点滴，又或者是透过别人关心我的朋友。=P 我知道现在的我对于朋友这个角色扮演得没以往的投入，但我的内心其实还是一个很重视友谊的人，关心着每一个朋友的近况，所以我想在这里感激没把我这个傻瓜在脑里删除掉的每一个人~