Victoria Station Restaurant @ Bayan Baru, Penang

Victoria Station Restaurant started strong in Penang back in the 2000s, serving one of the best steak in the town, alongside with an extensive western delicacies menu such as seafood, poultry and etc. The signature of the Victoria Station Restaurant would be their locomotive inspired design, featuring a train alike dining area with their rustic and cozy ambiance. However, shame to us as we did not manage to taste its delicacies here during its prime time and now the dishes served here are now half-past-six.

The restaurant still maintained its elegant design albeit with a slight run down signboard. Its extensive menu coupled with the premium price tags did give us a hard time to arrive at our picks for the day.

We had a plate of Fisherman's Platter (RM 43.30). We were delighted with the fresh and decently seasoned fish fillet, added with drizzle of lime to elevate its taste. Then we were caught in surprise when the mentioned items calamari and crabmeat sticks were missing on the platter but fortunately it was replaced with a nicely seared scallops with golden crust and juicy meat.

However, the rest of items on the platters were under par. The deep-sea prawns were fresh but it was coated with a thick dough, which tasted like a soggy bread and undermine all the freshness of the prawn. The Oyster money bag had some tasteless mushy sauce on it and the oyster was small in size. Overall, we felt undermined by the platter's taste.

V.S. BBQ Chicken Fillet (RM 29.90) on the other hand, had a tender and juicy chicken fillet which has been marinated for days (as written on the menu), then topped with VS Wild Wild West BBQ Sauce. While we agreed the sauce is nice on its own with a slight sweetness balanced with zesty, it does not blend well with the chicken.

Moreover, the fries served were definitely under seasoned. We had to salvage it by sprinkle salt and pepper on it. The salads were raw and with minimum dressing, till we barely could finish the raw lettuce.

Overall, the price was too high and not matching with the quality served. Do not get us wrong, we felt the price was alright for the description of the dishes, just the taste was lacking in the serving. With such a competitive F&B business in the vicinity, Victoria Station Restaurant definitely have to push themselves further to live up its previous glory and reputation.