All You Can You Eat Semi-Buffet Dim Sum Lunch @ Golden Phoenix, Equatorial Hotel Penang!!!

Calling all dim sum lovers! Now is a very good chance for you all to enjoy great dim sum at a very comfortable place with a very affordable price. Equatorial Hotel’s Golden Phoenix Restaurant is offering an irresistible price of RM42++ for adults and RM23++ for children subject to 10% service charge and prevailing government tax (6% currently). And good news for those who always cannot wake up early for dim sum, this dim sum semi-buffet is available at lunch only.

Semi buffet means there are some items served at a buffer counter and dim sums are prepared as you order. KayaButter always loved this kind of buffet as the food prepared will be fresher and nicer. 🙂 The promotion starts from 1st October until 30th November 2013.

Let’s have a look at the dishes at the buffer counter.

There are quite limited items at their buffet counter but their choices are quite simple and to the point because our main focus of the semi-buffer is their dim sums right? They have Fried Sesame Seed Ball with Lotus Paste, Assorted Desserts, Egg Tarts, Lion City Style Fried Bee Hoon, Sze Chuan Spicy & Sour Soup, Stir-Fried Yau Mak with Garlic, Assorted Fruits, Pek Tan Chok, Yong Chow Fried Rice and Potato Soup.

Butter particularly like their Lion City Style Fried Bee Hoon. Remember to take it with it is piping hot so that the bee hoon can retain it Q-ness (an expression by the Taiwanese to say that the noodles are nice to chew or the Italians call it al-dente). For Kaya, it is the Fried Sesame Seed with Lotus Paste. Crispy and sweet. Just nice.

Inside Golden Phoenix, the restaurant is rather spacious and can fit quite a lot of people. They even have private rooms for  private groups or discussion purpose.

Beautifully decorated rooms. 🙂

We bloggers are very happy to get a room of ourselves so we can take photos at ease and camwhore without guilt. 😛

Trying out the desserts while waiting for the dim sums to be prepared and served.

The black jelly or we call it gui leng ko in Cantonese (means turtle shell jelly) is rather too bitter and lack of the Q-ness. Feedback has been given and hopefully improvement will be mad. 🙂 The chilled honeydew sago is a clear winner for the desserts category since most of the bloggers love this dessert. Not too sweet and has a cooling effect. 🙂

Butter loves Sze Chuan dishes and this Sze Chuan Spicy and Sour Soup made an impression on her although it could use a little bit more of spiciness for the kick. Overall, it is still a good soup to jump start your ‘engine’.:-P The Chicken Porridge is smooth and tastes good. This is good for those who loves chicken porridge or want something light. 🙂

Mickey Mouse, anyone? 😛

As mentioned above, this Fried Sesame Seed Ball with Lotus Paste is a favourite of Kaya. 🙂 You need to take it while it is still hot for the extra goodness. The egg tart is good although it is nothing to shout about. 🙂

Hak Chiew Kwei Mei Gai/Steamed Chicken with Black Pepper Sauce (黑椒怪味鸡)

This is the winner among the dim sums. Although they use chicken, the meat is tender and very juicy. The spiciness of the black pepper is just nice to give us the kick and the eagerness to take another bite for the continued kick 🙂 And it gives a kind of melt-in-the-mouth feel when you take this dim sum. All bloggers seem to agree on this dish. A must try dish there 🙂

Siew Mai/Minced Prawn and Chicken Dumplings with Crab Roe (蚧皇蒸烧卖)

A must have dish every time most of us who visit the dim sum restaurant and this one from Golden Phoenix didn’t fail us. It is QQ and with a generous amount of shrimps and chicken.

Hoi Tong Gor/Steamed Dried Scallop Dumplings (干贝海棠果)

Heong Sai Char Yu Yin/Deep Fried Fish Balls with Coriander (香茜炸鱼丸)

XO Sauce Siew Mai/Minced Prawn and Chicken with XO Sauce (XO酱烧卖)

Yee Chee Gau/Shark Fin’s Dumpling

This is also one special dim sum that we had that day. The skin of the dumpling is very Q and smooth. 🙂

Pao Choy Gau/Minced Chicken, Prawn and Cabbage Dumplings (鸡冠包菜饺)

Tian Suan Yuan Yang Xia/Steamed Prawn Dumplings with Two-flavors Sauce (甜酸鸳鸯虾)

Lor Pak Gou/Pan-Fried Carrot Cake (美味萝卜糕)

This is Kaya’s favourite. Soft and tender and best eaten together with chilli sauce. 🙂

Sin Har Fu Pei Guen/Deep-Fried Beancurd Skin with Shrimps (鲜虾鲜竹卷)

Char Wu Kok/Deep-Fried Yam Paste Bun with Minced Chicken Puff

Butter is not particularly fond of this dim sum but this one is good. It is very crispy and the combination of the yam paste and minced chicken, yeah, no pork, tasted good. 🙂

Shi Jiu Qing Hou/Steamed Mussel with Black Bean Sauce

Siew Heong Kok/Deep Fried Radish Pickle, Prawn and Minced Chicken Dumpling

Another must try dish in Golden Phoenix. It is very crispy and you can hear the cracking sound of the fried dumpling. The combination of radish pickle, prawn and chicken is just right and Butter loves it a lot.

Jin Yong San Bo/ Braised Stuff Vegetables with Fish Paste (煎酿三宝)

From left to right and up to down.
1. Fried Lor Mai Fan/Fried Glutinous Rice with Dried Shrimps () – A bit too salty. Maybe because of its dried shrimps? Not a fan of the fried version. Kaya is a lover of lor mai fan but Kaya still prefers the steamed version.
2. Siew Mai/Minced Prawn and Chicken Dumplings with Crab Roe (蚧皇蒸烧卖) – Sorry, repetitive picture. 😛
3. Hak Chiew Chup Foong Chao/Braised Chicken Feet with Black Bean Sauce ().
4. Chun Pak Mai/Steamed Tian Jin Cabbage (蚝油津白卖).
5. Sin Har Cheong Fun/ Steamed Rice Flour Rolls with Shrimps (鲜虾肠粉)
6. Pak Fa Yong Hai Low/ Stuff Crab Balls (百花酿蚧柳)

Here is the list of the 28 dim sums that you can order including the fried dim sums and steamed dim sums. Click on the photo to enlarge it.

Overall, KayaButter will say that this a very worthwhile semi-buffet lunch from Golden Phoenix. Although the selections of buffet is not a lot but they do have some killer dim sums and very noteworthy dim sums and the price is very competitive. They do have some special dim sums whereby it is quite hard to find at other dim sum restaurants such as XO Sauce Siew Mai, Pao Choy Gau, Lap Mei Siew Mai and etc.

And those of you who wish to try the restaurant or fine dining version of dim sum whereby each dim sum is prepared hot and fresh for you and without leaving a big hole in your pocket, go ahead and try this! 🙂

If you wish to bring your family members to a rather quiet, classy and air-conditioned dim sum brunch, Golden Phoenix is definitely your best choice. 🙂

contact information

Golden Phoenix Restaurant, Equatorial Hotel
1, Jalan Bukit Jambul, Bayan Lepas 11900 Penang
Tel No: 604-632 7166
FB Page: www.facebook.com/hotelequatorialpenang

business hours

Mondays-Fridays
12:00PM-2:30PM
(Only for the All You Can Eat Dim Sum Semo-Buffet)