Strada – Grab a bite while it is new and good

You know what? When a new restaurant opens, they usually have bigger portion of foods, nicer taste and service is excellent. Newbies have to work harder to impress new patrons so that when satisfied customers feel happy, they will pass the word around. There is nothing like personal recommendations to get people to visit a new restaurant.

So, if I tell you Strada is worth visiting, do make a quick dash before the ‘newness’ wears off. We had a very cosy dinner last night to celebrate my little boy’s six years old birthday.

The birthday boy ordered a kiddie’s meal. He was delighted to find macaroni ham and cheese on the menu. The kiddie’s meal costs only RM11.95 and has a nice portion of lovely homemade macaroni cream and cheese filled with lots of chicken ham and fresh herbs. For once, a restaurant cook the macaroni al dente. That got all of us impressed with Strada because it is the first dish they served. The meal comes with a glass of guava juice and chocolate brownie for dessert. My little boy gave two thumbs up to Strada’s foods and said he wants to go back again.

The ambience is rather ‘grown up’ and the rest of the diners were extremely quiet. The music in the background is also subtle and soothing. So, Strada is not your regular noisy, ‘trying to act Western’ kinda place sardine packed with maximum number of tables and chairs for maximum profit. It has sparse decoration, no tacky lightings but plain walls and lots of space.

(Calamari rings as appetizer for the RM35 set)

They have two types of set dinner, costing RM35 and RM45. The set dinner is very worth it because both sets come with appetizer, soup or salad, main meal, a pot of coffee or tea and a generous slice of their cakes.

I am struggling to stick to my ‘I am trying to be vegetarian for 40 days’ mantra. Since it is my son’s birthday and I the mommy deserves a treat too, I ordered the spaghetti Al Fredo.

(Baked mussles with cheese for the RM45 dinner set. We also ordered a plate of roasted oysters with cheese and bacon bits. It is recommended.)

I can un-vegetarian myself for a couple of hours, you know? For my little boy’s sake? After removing the evil looking prawns, I dug in and found a lovely creamy sauce that is definitely prepared by someone who knows what creamy pasta sauce ought to taste like.

Hubby has the sole fish with some almond pieces. It is another lovely dish. Unfortunately, my two older sons found their ribeye steak rather ‘weird’. Eldest son knows butchery since he had some classes in his professional course. Second son has excellent taste buds and appreciates fine foods. They insisted that there is something not ‘quite right’ with the steak because eventhough the meat appeared medium rare, it is very tough.

We didn’t make a complaint because it is just a set dinner and we felt it is not quite right to demand a new dish. However, the lady boss graciously told us we could send it back to the kitchen if we are not satisfied with the quality.

The gentleman who runs Strada had earlier told us that the service was rather slow that night because their assistant chef just met with an accident and they are short of staff in the kitchen.

So, if you have not heard of Strada, go check them out. They have set lunch too. The restaurant is exactly opposite Tan Mark Bookstore/Raffi nasi kandar in Pulau Tikus.

238 Burmah Road 10350 Georgetown Penang Tel:
604-229 0882.
website : http://strada.com.my/