Demona: My muslim colleague brought me here for lunch during my field work in Penang. She hasn't tried the food here herself, but heard good reviews about this place and seems, this is the first Chinese Muslim restaurant in Penang. The restaurant had minimal interior decoration, and at my first impression, it looked no different than a mamak place, especially the non-airconditioning area downstairs. The weather was fiery hot that afternoon, lucky us, there was a cooling airconditioning option upstairs. Needless to say, these little princesses (and prince) chose the 2nd option.
Demona: The Kong Pow chicken tasted average. Just chicken bits, with capsicum slices and groundnuts. Nothing much to shout about as the sauce tasted like it came from the sweet and sour sauce maggi bottle. No where near our Chinese KP chicken non-halal counterparts.
Demona: This was an interesting dish. When it first came, I could not make out what it was. Initially, I thought it was a deep fried fish looking at its shape. To my biggest surprise, it was actually a brinjal. Nicely, sliced into a giant curly spring, then coated with flour and deep fried. It left me wondering how was the brinjal cut into such a shape. It went really well with the sliced mushrooms, and sweetened sauce. I had never eaten this in a chinese restaurant before.
Demona: This dish was pretty average too. Basically, sliced beef with black fungus. Slightly salty but bearable. After finishing this, I did not have much recollection of it.
Demona: This was CMR's trademark dish. Fried mutton. Under normal tummy growling conditions, I'd only take mutton when it comes in the form of thickened curry, or rendang, or barbequed (which was also rare). Never once I had mutton which was cooked like the one above. Surprisingly, it tasted really nice. Some what like jerky, but not as hard as one. I couldn't consume too much of it though, after a while, my breath does smell a little awful and my tummy started to feel sickly. I'm guessing this meat really worked your digestive juices hard to finally break down its structure.According to the menu, it boasts its trademark CM, by stating that all the ingredients are halal and apparently, their chefs originate from the "Muslim Federal Autonomy of NingXia, China". NingXia has the largest Muslim community in the whole of China. The food doesn't really taste very Chinese alright, but I'd give credits to the dishs' uniqueness. The taste was really different and myself being Chinese, I don't mind trying out their other dishes on my next visit to see how more unique this peculiar restaurant can continue to offer me!
