Home Cafe @ Alora Hotel, Penang

The well known cafe in Parit Buntar - Home Cafe which was established by a retired air stewardess from Malaysia Airlines, has setup a branch at Alora Hotel in Bukit Jambul. We just made a first visit to the cafe recently and was impressed by its homey plus spacious setup. An inclusion of kids corner definitely is an innovative approach by the owner. Home cafe features a bible thick like menu, offering oriental and western dishes. However, its higher price tags for average dishes (though the nasi lemak is good) did not manage to coy us for another visit.

Nasi Lemak here is good, and it offers a variety of selection such as fried chicken, sambal petal, salted fish cake and combination of the mentioned. We had a Fried Chicken + Salted Fish Rice Cake (RM 16.90) and it was an impressive choice. The blue pea rice is fluffy and each of the rice granules are well distinguished to each others, then topped with an elusive sambal that slowly build up the non-hostile heat in the oral environment. Anchovies are crispy and the salted peanuts are big size. Combining all the above positive factors, it makes the Nasi Lemak here is good choice for dining here.

Homemade Tomyam Noodle (RM 17.90) allured us but it was a less impressive choice. Four prawns are served with the tomyam, which are the worthy highlight that contributed to the exorbitant price of it. The tomyam soup was not enticing, lacking the expected spiciness or sourness, and it was somehow diluted. 

Drinks choices are vast but we made some wrong choices. Perhaps we were misled by the word "premium" for the Premium Charcoal Coffee (RM 5.90), as it tasted more like was a cup of coffee made from the premixed 3-1 coffee powder, which did not justify its price tag. Another drink Northern Light (RM 10.90) has a catchy name (price was catchy too) but it was too sweet to enjoy. 

Overall, it is a nice and cozy cafe for a family gathering or meeting but for gastronome choice, our comments are reserved as we only tried 2 dishes.