Le Grand Penang

Dim Sum is not the first thing that comes to mind when it comes to Penang dishes and it was by pure chance that I came across the feed of a Penang food blogger doing a review of Le Grand Penang

Located at the Teoh Kong Si, the restaurant is tucked away behind Lebuh Carnavon which is a popular street for tourists. Famous for Nonya dishes, Le Grand also offers dim sum in the morning

The restaurant stands out from the rest of the establishments in the same row of shophouses with extravagant and over-the-top decorations at the front door. The same decoration style extends into the restaurant interiors with red lanterns, golden ornaments on the wall, crystals hanging from the ceiling, jewelled chandeliers, and golden phoenix displays scattered throughout the dining space. It almost felt like stepping into a room in the Chinese dynasty with the loud decorations but it also provides a great background for photos

Most of their menu is focused on Nonya dishes and a small portion is dedicated to dim sum. While they offered some familiar dishes like siew mai, cheong fun, char siew bun and fried yam pastry, there are also some new innovative items

We ordered the pork and century egg congee, caviar siew mai, shrimp rice rolls and braised spicy chicken feet which were served in bamboo steamers like usual dim sum restaurants. The porridge was smooth and thick with sufficient ingredients and balanced flavours. The rest of the dim sum was pretty general in flavour

The fried items were served in more elaborate containers like these cute bamboo baskets for the yam pastry, shrimp spring roll and carrot cake sticks. The fried yam pastry was quite delicious with well-fried skin and creamy and smooth fillings of yam and minced pork. The carrot cake sticks and spring rolls were nice to eat but not too memorable

One elaborate dish we ordered was the abalone chicken nest bun which was shaped like a bee hive with a small abalone on top. The hive was made of the usual bun dough but with a slightly doughy and chewy texture to hold the design in place. The inside was filled with braised chicken fillings. Overall, the bun was nothing special but more of a gimmick as we found the bun texture too chewy and hard

The one thing I found interesting was how the tea was being served with a nice wooden sign with a description of the tea chosen for the meal. It was great attention to detail which impressed me

Overall, the highlight of the restaurant was definitely the over-the-top decorations which were quite unique compared to other restaurants. The dim sum was mediocre in flavours and some were gimmicky with expensive ingredients. While the food does not taste bad, it is also not one of the best dim sum I have eaten. To be fair, the restaurant is more known for its Nonya dishes so it might be more worthwhile to visit them during dinner

Address: 260, Lebuh Carnarvon, George Town, 10100 George Town, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Operating hours: 9 am to 4 pm and 6 pm to 10 pm ( closed on Wed)