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.
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.
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.
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?
Upon entering
The bar
You dine here!
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.
Street lamps
Couldn’t resis camwhoring with it
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.
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.
The waitress serving our choices of soups
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 :
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!
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.
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.
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
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.
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!
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?
Pic courtesy of Ken
She mastered d art of camwhoring on the 1st lesson! Woots jie!
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.
Rich and abundant Oreo crumbs My fave of the day
Camwhored with the Gelatismo boss Great idea of opening his outlet in Gurney!
HAPPY 4TH TO THE PENANG FOOD BLOGGERS! Thank you for a wonderful time
First of all… the food looks yummilicious. Bulgarian language and culture is a bit close to Slovenian, some words are same in the language. I guess I'd love the food, too. But of all the yummy things I like the desert most! Especially the one with the white hat and sexy pose, hahaha.
Woot woot is that?? Seriously, Jess, u have the model pose.
And one more thing: That pic where all photographers aim at the table is so funny, hehe 🙂
Hi! Welcome to TheJessicat.com - an urban lifestyle blog established since 2005, written from the perspective of a Malaysian blogger. Discover the latest and all that the city has to offer! Do bear with her occasional rants & musings though. Happy reading! ❤
IM DA 1st to SCREAMMMM HERE !!!!! haha..
omgawddd, the food so temptimg can anddddd
i heart you outfit much!
9/10
Oreo cheese cake is good but the best cake I've ever had was a Mars chocolate cake. Absolutely sinful.
BTW, I'm full but the photo of the pork knuckles?
Makes me wanna eat again. >.<
OMG.
The cake.
DA CAKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
First of all… the food looks yummilicious. Bulgarian language and culture is a bit close to Slovenian, some words are same in the language. I guess I'd love the food, too. But of all the yummy things I like the desert most! Especially the one with the white hat and sexy pose, hahaha.
Woot woot is that?? Seriously, Jess, u have the model pose.
And one more thing: That pic where all photographers aim at the table is so funny, hehe 🙂
Fuah, never really though of having any Bulgarian food before but after reading this post I definitely want to try it!