Seafood Luncheon @ Bali Hai Restaurant, Gurney Drive, Penang

I had been to Bali Hai several times before. However, those times, it had never occured to me to snap photos or to blog about it. I was either too tired or too hungry for that matter. I also meant to publish this entry sooner. However with work commitments plus some pictures of my food tasting in Bali Hai were stored in my office camera, I had to postpone writing this entry. 

Bali Hai Restaurant is situated strategically  along the famous Gurney Drive seafront. Despite the Bali theme setting, they are not specialising in Balinese cuisines. They actually specialise in fresh and live seafood including an assorted range of imported seafood such as Alaskan Spider Crab, Emperor Crab, Snow Crab, Australian Lobster, Rainbow Lobster, Pearl Lobster, Giant Mantis Prawn, Geoduck, Eels and Fishes. 

By the way, this restaurant was recommended to me by my colleagues and staffs. According to them, the former Penang State Exco for Tourism love to dine here.

Can you see the slogan? Very cute huh ... "If It Swims We Have It" ... wonder that includes some amphibians or reptiles that are delicacies in some countries ... euwww. These are some of the offerings that I managed to snap on my digicam.

Rainbow Lobster

Geoduck.

Bottom tank is the Alaskan Crab, kept in cold water.

Hmm ... dunno the name of these freshwater fishes.

We almost lost this important tourist attraction last year when the restaurant was facing closure by the Penang Municipal Council over some land issue. However, thank God the issue settle quickly and I still have one of my important eating places to entertain my guests for gastronomic adventure.Oh yes ... sometimes my "not so new" job needs me to entertain. And being in Penang, the food paradise of Malaysia, automatically friends will expect me to show them the "where" and "what" to eat.

Well, personally Bali Hai price range is neither cheap nor expensive. But since some of the seafood are imported and fresh (alive), I think the price is quite reasonable. The place is also clean , the food is good and the service is fast so we can guess why the place is famous among locals and tourists. However ,I would prefer to come here at night for dinner as it was quite humid in the afternoon. But parking would be quite a challenge.

Anyway, I had "special" guests from Kuala Lumpur coming that day and the last time they came I couldn't bring them here. I was misinformed that it only open at night. Once I learned that Bali Hai also open for lunch, so apalagi .... we quickly hit the place. Since my friend, Andrew was the one who really, really want to tryout the seafood there, we let him do all the ordering.

Chilli Crab

Tom Yum Goong

Teochew styled steam garoupa (or is that red snapper)

Stir fry kangkung with shrimp paste

Fried Japanese Tofu

Fried chicken with curry leave.

Guess what! It rank no.30 out of 187 restaurants in Penang on Tripadvisor as of 3rd March 2011. Wonder which restaurant rank no. 1  ... hmmm

Location:

90, 90A, 90B, 90C & 90D, Persiaran Gurney(Gurney Drive)

Georgetown

10250, Penang

Malaysia

10150