Sorry dear readers! Was away for the weekend and have been busy with proposals and plans lately. Anyhoos, here’s the dirt on what I was up to one night – having gastronomic voyages as usual, but this time it’s in no where else but Bulgaria.

andre

With an adorable Bulgarian serving me drinks!

Yup, I made a teeny weeny short trip to Penang for this much anticipated event. I was invited for the Penang Food Bloggers Food Gathering held on the 15th August 2009 in a very authentic restaurant called Vintage Bulgaria. For those who are geographically familiar with the Penang, it’s located in Hillside, Tg. Bungah.

entrance
Humble on the outside; but get in and you’ll be pretty impressed

There were altogether 3 levels of this Bulgarian Restaurant. The Penang Floggers had booked the entire 3rd level for 30+ pax. Oh and FYI, the dress code was either red, white or green as it was Bulgaria’s national colours.
welcome

floggers

Prior to the event, I went for a little walk around the whole 3 storey restaurant for a sneak peak at its interior. So guys, Imma take you on my lil visual tour now aye?

fortwo
Upon entering

bar
The bar

cosy
You dine here!

levels
Families enjoying their dinner on both the levels
seperated by a semi-spiral wooden staircase

Very authentic aye? I adore the wooden furnishings, pebble walls and the wheel-shaped chandelier. Makes you feel so at ease – just like in the comfort of your own home. Now, this is the kinda setting that completes a wonderful dining experience.
what
Street lamps

lamppost
Couldn’t resis camwhoring with it

allprepared
Lights, camera, let it roll!

Anyway, remember the adorable Bulgarian that served me mango juice? Well, that’s actually the restaurant manager – Andre. He personally made his rounds to entertain and helped the guests.

hsepouring
The drink that kickstarted the event

We were served an entire set meal which consists of a few choices of entrees, main courses, desserts and drinks. I OBVIOUSLY chose fish as my main course being a hardcore fish lover – but Imma share all the dishes that we had anyways.

yours
The waitress serving our choices of soups
creamy
Choices of :
Mushroom Soup served with vintage garlic bread
and
Seafood soup

I preferred the Seafood Soup anytime, very much better than most Seafood Chowders I’ve tried. The Mushroom Soup was not to bad as well, with that piece of vintage garlic bread, they can never go wrong.

Time for the main course!
Here were the choices :

stroganov
Chicken Stroganov
It was boneless chicken drumsticks cut into strips cooked
with mushroom, cream, wine, herbs and spices

Chicken was relatively tender and I absolutely love those capsicums. The sauce had this tangy and unique taste too. Not a bad choice for poultry lovers!

platter
The Bulgarian Platter
There were a mixed grilled trio of Bulgarian sausages and pork fillet

I found this rather bland, which tasted like almost any other pork fillets and sausages. It wasn’t a favorite among my tablemates as well. It wasn’t bad though as it was pretty filling, but could be better.
ribs
Plovdiv Ribs
They were tasty pork ribs grilled till tender

My grandma would love this. Pork ribs had always been a usual for our family dinners back at home, and this one was grilled to its finest and had the authentic taste of how pork ribs should always originally be.
codfish
My choice of dish
Baked Codfish with Creamy Mushroom sauce

Two words – AMAZINGLY FRESH. Love the texture too. Sorry but hey, I’ve always been partial to fish. So what else can I say but give a biased opinion about this dish? LOL anyways, the peeps at my table had a bite of my fish and all of them agreed in unison.

But as much as a hardcore fish fan as I am, nothing comes close to this winner

knuckles
Bulgarian Pork Djolan
It’s their traditional roasted pork knuckles

Succulent, bursting with flavour and unlike any other. All of us gave this Pork Djolan a thumbs up and even requested for more. This was all before I was told that it was an all-time favorite among the previous crowds of customers.

savaged
Good till the very end
A must try – no doubt about that!

As a wrap to our heavy portions of main courses, came the desserts. We had choices of Chocolate Soup and Chocolate Creme Brulee. They were both cocoa based, but my choice would definitely be the Chocolate Soup… hands down!
cocoa
The smooth and creamy taste of chocolate
is now drinkable!

We set to work the cameras, pens, notebooks and our tummies. And even camwhored along the way! Well, all work and no play makes bloggers a dull one, no?

shooting
Pic courtesy of Ken

camwhore
She mastered d art of camwhoring on the 1st lesson!
Woots jie!

kenme
With buddy Ken

jieme
With ‘big sis’ Anna

owners
With Restaurant Owner Sylvia & Restaurant Manager Andre
Woo hooo for Bulgarians in the house!

This event was also sponsored by a local cake house, Winter Butterfly Homemade Cakes and a gellato outlet, Gelatisimo. Gelatisimo outlets are branched in Penang’s Gurney Plaza and KL’s Mid Valley Megamall.

cheesie

cookie
Rich and abundant Oreo crumbs
My fave of the day

brownies

gelatoboss
Camwhored with the Gelatismo boss
Great idea of opening his outlet in Gurney!

joyous
HAPPY 4TH TO THE PENANG FOOD BLOGGERS!
Thank you for a wonderful time

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