Dining Experience at the Suffolk House Restaurant, Penang

During the first quarter of 2014, my group organized a teambuilding event playing "Break the Code" following the team lunch at Suffolk House in Penang, the lunch was partially sponsored by our manager.


Basically, we arrived at Suffolk House around 12 in the afternoon on Monday and we were then shown to our table by one of the waitress. The restaurant area was tastefully renovated with the classy English design, the building has tall dining area - making the dining area looks grand. The surrounding of this heritage building was beautifully restored and only the ground floor is open to all, while there is a tour around this heritage building which cost RM10.

The hall where we had our lunch

Outdoor dining area

Top storey, we are not actually allowed in this area, but there is a tour of RM10 which will bring you here

The menu is the same between the three-course-meal lunch set and the ala-cart; only difference in the pricing where the set was fixed at RM55 except for the lamb shank in which additional RM25 top up is required. The lunch set consist of soup or salad with a choice of one main course as well as dessert, served with either coffee or tea. It makes more sense to order the lunch set as RM55 is already the cost of the main course and soup, so it means that the dessert is free of charge. I ordered the chicken scalloppine with the set as it was highly recommended by the waitress.



I was served with the soup of the day which is the mushroom soup and I can say the mushroom soup is nice and creamy. You can basically taste the soup just by itself without adding in spices or pepper and the soup will still taste nice.

The soup of the day - creamy mushroom soup

Next, the main course - the chicken scalloppine which is the grilled chicken served together with the French beans and rocket salad and garden ratatouille. I do not like the taste of the chicken, not at all - I'm pretty sure that the chicken that I had is "old" and a bit too oily for my liking. The sides are nice, though except for the garden ratatouille which I deemed a bit too sweet for my liking. The main course certainly did not live up to the lofty status of the Suffolk House.

Main course - Chicken Scalloppine

Overall, I was quite disappointed with the main course by the Suffolk House Restaurant, although the dessert which I usually forgo become the saving grace - I like it and finished the dessert which consist of cake and a scoop of ice-cream served together with coffee. I'm thinking either I ordered the wrong main course or the food at the Suffolk House Restaurant does not live up to its lofty status - maybe people only go to enjoy the nice and high class dining experience. 

The saving grace - dessert

Given a choice, I might still visit Suffolk House Restaurant, maybe on other time like for dining or the hi-tea session. The hi-tea seems to worth every price you pay as it cost only RM70 for two. Well, I will leave that for the next session.

Hi-tea area