Penang problem

Lunch at the original Penang seafood restaurant
on Prince Street. Their stellar Roti canai came
with a thin, diluted curry, missing all of the
thickness, expressive contrasts of flavor, and
tiny fragments ofturs, save for he obligatory
chickenjoint with attached sinews. The roti bread
was very sugary. New menus seemd uniform: perhaps
they have supplanted the old one? Yes. Missing
was their masterpiece grilled skate wing with
tamarind sauce. The only similar grilled ray came
with a horrid sweet & sour tomato sauce (ketchup
& chili sauce combo). The underlying funkiness of
the fermented wing was minimalized by the sauce,
rather than blending with the old tamarind. When
I asked an unhelpful waitress (probably glum due
to the wages they scrape out) what had happened
to the original dish. No one was willing to
explain or mention the old menu. Worse - a plate
of fried squid came, which would have been subpar
in a 2nd rate pizzeria ($9 for about 20 tiny
chunks). The grilled ray was offered for $13 as a
special and was more a stingy ray than a stinger.
Colossal disappointment! Perhaps Gary Cheong and
other experts can stop by and see if either the
menu has been standarized or all their locations
or whether Penang is suffering from the syndrome
Jim describes plaguing Greek restaurants.

The time I was at the Upper East Side (uh, Yorkville)
Penang, the waitress told us there were only two true
Penangs - the one in Soho and the one up on upper 2nd
Ave. All others, she said, were imposters. Maybe
they've finally all been bought by the same chain.

The waitress at the Upper East Side Penang must be
mistaken. The only "fake" Penang I know of is the
Penang Bar & Grill on 3rd Ave. & 11th St., which is
opened by a brother who had a fight with the family
and broke off on his own (but ripped off design and
menu from the old place).

And HOW could that waitress forget to mention the
mother of all Penangs (the Flushing location) ? I
have not been to the Flushing restaurant since
January. Looks like I'll have to pay a visit after
Allan Evans' comments to see for myself.

I can guess at what the problem is. Too many
branches. Outside of New York, I hear think there are
Penangs in Boston, Washington DC, and Atlanta. There
are just only so many competent people who can make
that great roti canai and the curry sauce perfectly.

Another thing to note -- a lot of the food served at
Penang are street food or "hawker food" as they call
it back home. These hawkers specialize in serving
only that ONE thing, whether it be the roti, or the
Hainan chicken rice or the satay. Here in the
restaurant, it's one kitchen serving the many dozens
of hawker items. So there are hits and there are
misses.

Gary, I'm very upset about Flushing Penang. I haven't
been there myself, but I trust Allan's taste (his
palate's a lot less flakey than some of his postings
have been recently). He told me in an email that the
roti canai dipping curry was watery gunk with nary a
potato, and that the menu has been redone to fall into
line with all the other Penang/Nyonyas around town.
You know, we'd been talking about what a miracle it is
that the original Penang stayed good after expansion
(that is NOT the normal course of things!). Maybe it
was just a matter of time before it fell.
I suppose the good chef is taking the Joe (of Joe's
Shanghai) approach: float around different branches,
training the staff of each new kitchen.

"Here...it's one kitchen serving the many dozens of
hawker items. So there are hits and there are misses."

yeah, great analysis. Exactly the problem with that one
good Nyonya on Grand Street...they never totally have
EVERYTHING together at once. And perhaps shouldn't
expect to.
Ciao

" Exactly the problem with that one good Nyonya on
Grand Street...they never totally have EVERYTHING
together at once. And perhaps shouldn't expect to. "

That's been my experience -- they never totally have
everything together. And I don't think we can expect
it so. So far the only consistent thing I had there is
the Hainanese Chicken Rice. As for the "watery gunk"
of curry reported by Allan, I think he got a very new
batch that has not been reduced to the proper
consistency. I suspect it also gets thicker after a
few hours of simmering when the potatoes disintegrate
somewhat. But yes, the curry sauce has been
inconsistent lately.

woops, first a correction...when I said I hadn't been
to Flushing Penang, I meant (of course!) that I hadn't
been there very RECENTLY.
Gary, just trust me on this...I heard the whole story
from Allan and it's not looking good for the Penang
mothership. Does not sound like a "bad day" scenario.
But let's hope for the best, and get out there as soon
as possible to assess any possible damage.
If anyone else has eaten there in the last couple of
weeks, please speak up!
Ciao

Penang just opened yet another restaurant...
in Chicago!

Gary's right: In Singapore and
KL, a hawker who sold, say, roti would likely
have been making only the one dish his entire
life, and more likely than not, his father
and grandfather would have made roti too. It
sounds as if the competent cooks are being
stretched thinner than hand-pulled noodles!

There were some other horrors such as sugary
bread. It's always tragic when the lure of
expansion undermines the essential cuisine. Pace
Gary, the sauce didn't seem in the works, needing
time: it impressed as being cost-effective and
finite. What a loss! But let's hope Gary will
conduct a proper investigation. Otherwise we'll
need a new category: Former Great Restaurants.

Allan Evans writes: "Otherwise we'll need a new
category: Former Great Restaurants."

I thought we already had a "Downhill Alert!" section of
Chowhound; we just need to update it.

I've eaten at the Elmhurst branch several times over the past year. The roti canai was quite good on each visit -- generous portions of chicken and potatoes in a gravy the was neither watery nor "gunky". The rest of the menu was equally good. Can't see what all the fuss is about...

For about $2 a portion for the roti canai, I wouldn't
exactly call a couple of pieces of bony chicken and
potato in a small bowl of curry "generous portion"
(nor would I expect it to be at that price).

I assume you must have read the entire thread from the
very beginning. Yes, Allan complained about the curry
sauce in the roti canai, but it is more than that.
With Penang's rapid expansion to other parts of the
country, standards are declining.

I'm glad you find the rest of the menu "equally
good". But I beg to differ -- not all the things on
the menu are good (for reasons I have stated in a
previous post). But then I guess we must all be wrong.

I ate at the Flushing Penang not too long ago, sometime
in January. The roti canai tasted good to me - not a
whole lot of chicken in there, but tasty nonetheless.
I also tried a noodle dish, the name of which escapes
me at present, which I liked a lot - it involved lemon,
chicken (I think), tomato...But the duck with ginger
and scallions was rather disappointing - the sauce was
yummy, but it was very light on the actual duck meat
and very heavy on the bones.

I think the Elmhurst roti canai is worth the $2.
As for the other dishes, I admit I've tried about a half dozen and most were pretty good. I like their mee goreng (the "Indian" noodles) in particular. One night a group of us ordered a dish that can best be described as sweet-and-sour tofu. Borderline repulsive.
I'm not saying you're all wrong about Penang; I'm certainly not willing to describe them as "lower" than yours. I am simply stating that I rather like Penang. Actually, the great thing about that location is that one can make a last-minute decision among Penang, Pho Bac, Joe's Shanghai and the new Thai place in that strip mall. Never had Singha's pizza though,,,,