Ideal Function Dinner @ Zhonghua Restaurant, Penang Road

Looking for a proper place for an official dinner or more proper setting could be a difficult task as the famous ones you need to book a week ahead while the not so famous one you might have doubts of their food and service.

The place that I am going to introduce below fulfills the requirement of good service, food and the convenience of parking. It is located at town area at Penang Road inside Cititel Hotel, which is Zhong Hua Restaurant.

To go to Zhong Hua Restaurant you just need to walk directly to the entrance of Cititel Hotel at ground floor and walk until the end of it which you will pass by Kirishima Japanese Restaurant. In fact, if the restaurant is full there is another branch which is located at 1-stop complex which serves the same quality dishes.

This post below consists of 2 different sets of banquets which are semi-budget type and exclusive type.

Semi-budget type banquet (RM250)

The starter of this banquet is the crunchy skin of Peking Duck. The waiter will serve the duck is front of you and slice off all the skin “live”and place it to a plate.

The skin of duck is served together with thin egg slices.

Complete with cucumber sticks and spring onions with chili slices.

The duck skin slice is to be wrapped into the egg slice together with the spring onion and cucumber, accompanied by sweet soya paste. The duck skin was very cruncy with the nice aroma of roast duck. Together with the softness of the egg slice, the juiciness of the cucumber and the strong smell of spring onion and chili, the taste is simply divine.

“A meal is never complete without wine.” This sentence is said by a wise man which I find it quite true.

After having the Peking duck skin, the need is Chinese Water Crescent Soup. The taste was quite delicious.

The next dish will be the mix veggie with tofu. The ingredients are green peas, mushroom, carrot, cauliflower and tofu. It is then finished with starch. The taste is acceptable with slight sweet base.

Fried Kailan is a very simple dish with some salt and Chinese wine, it is done. The dish is simply good.

Fried Duck Meat with Zhong Hua Style Specialties, garnished with spring onions. The dish is cooked with dark sauce and some secret recipe with slight spiciness of the meat and it is tasty.

Steamed Garupa, a simple steamed garupa without any other additional ingredients other than fried chopped onion, soya sauce and sprinkle of spring onion and chives on top. The fish was fresh and the simple cooking made the fish stands out.

Exclusive type banquet (RM500)

Besides the semi-budget type of banquet, Zhong Hua Restaurant also provides exclusive type of banquet. As for starter, there is always the usual 5 cold/hot dishes to kick off. The dishes include marinated baby squid, dark sauce fried chicken, deep fried spring roll and pork slices with cashew nuts. The taste was like the usual starter from most of the restaurants.

The next will be shark’s fin soup with crab meat. The taste and the look of the shark’s fins were real and the amount was generous.

Next to come is the highlight of the exclusive banquet. It is the deep fried suckling pig skin. The skin of the suckling pig was cut into small pieces. To eat this, it is best to combine with sweet soya paste. The slices were so crunchy and melted in your mouth.

The next was the Steamed Garupa Fish, this dish was the same as the previous semi-budget banquet.

Next was the Baked Cheesed Prawn. The prawn was very fresh. The combination of saltiness and richness from the cheese was very delicious. However, I find it abit overwhelming as I was already feeling full at that time.

After the skin of the auckling pig had been served, the meat was taken to deep-fried with salt and pepper. It was simply delicious,  Deep Fried Suckling Pig With Salt and Pepper.

Next on the menu, the Abalone Mushroom with mushrooms and broccoli. There were 2 types of mushroom in the dish and the ingredients were covered with starchy and tasty gravy. It is great to have this after all the meats.

Fried Bee Hoon, for those who has got room for food, this dish is specially designed for you to fill up the gap in your stomach.

Last but not least, Honeydew Melon Cream with Sago. It was a refreshing ending with sweet honeydew and sago.

Overall, the food here is acceptable and there are a lot of parking space around the hotel. There is another branch available which is at 1-stop if this place is fully booked.  The service and the presentation here are up to standard. For those that looking for a place to invite your customers or family and you need some privacy, this might be your choice.

Editor’s Review (5 Stars Rank):

Taste
Price
Food Presentation
Service
Overall

Quick Facts:

Family Friendly
Parking
Pork Free
Alcohol
Corkage Charge
Credit Card
Smoking
Reservation
Private Room

Operation hours: 11:00am – 3:00pm; 6:00pm – 10:00pm (Mon – Sat), 9:00am – 3:00pm; 6:00pm – 10:00pm (Sun)
Contact: 04-818 2268, 012-428 9329 (Doris Ng)
Address: Ground Floor Of Cititel Hotel Penang, 66, Jalan Penang, 10000 Penang.