Macoy European Restaurant @ Greentown Square, Ipoh
February 9, 2010 | 2,976 views| 25 Comments » |
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Macoy European Restaurant opened its door recently at Greentown Square in Ipoh without much fanfare nor publicity. Seriously, if you’re not one who travels the stretch of road passing in front of Greentown Square (the business centre housing David’s Diner, and Restoran Simpang Tiga) then you probably would not be aware of this spanking new European style diner in Ipoh. How new you ask? Less than a week old, apparently.
The interior decoration of the restaurant looked sparse, with none of those fancy bells nor whistles. You might even flick this off as just another fine-diner wannabe, with mid to high-end pricing but lacking in substance, courteous service and most disastrous of all, pathetic food.
Until ….. you glance at the menu written with chalk on the boards hanging on the wall. Two blackboards only, by the way. 24 items for the time being, from starters such as French Onion Soup and Tiger Prawns with Garlic Butter, to various meats such as lamb, steak and poultry. The seafood selection sounds lovely in its own right, with dominant use of tiger prawns, sole fillets, and even salmon steak.
Prices range from RM4.90 – RM15.80 (USD1.40 – USD4.50) for starters, and around RM15.80 – RM52.80 (USD4.50 – USD15) for the mains. There is also a separate menu for light snacks, which is thankfully not too ambitious nor exhaustive. Covering snacks such as roast beef sandwich, fajitas and chips, I foresee the light snacks menu would be even more popular come lunch hours, aside from their Business Lunch promotional sets.
The temporary set lunch menus, A Sets for RM14.90 (USD4.20) and B Sets for RM19.90 (USD5.70)
Chunks of caramelized onions, cooked in a thick, hearty broth for starter.
It’s been fairly long since I’ve tasted REAL French Onion Soup. You know, the variety with REAL chunks of sweet, and slightly smokey caramelized onions. The piece of soggy bread with melted cheese notwithstanding, I had to salute Macoy for bringing this appetizer back to the dining table. For many other similar diners would be contented with the predictable mushroom (wild or canned) or chicken soups. If you love your onions, you will fall in love with this hearty affair.
My set of Pepper Beer Steak with Garlic was served with the aforementioned soup, and ended with a serving of tea or coffee. For RM19.90 (USD5.70), the set was somewhat a good deal. Thicker than your average minute steak, and grilled to a juicy and tender finish, the steak was marinated with beer (yes, you can REALLY taste the faint hint of alcohol, but not overwhelmingly, no worries), and adequately seasoned with pepper and finely minced garlic. Though I wanted my steak to be cooked Medium, the slab of meat arrived Medium-Well, almost Well-Done. Teething problems? Maybe. But something they should seriously look into. The steak was served with thick cut fries and tarty salad of julienned vegetables.
The RM14.90/USD4.20 sets come with a fresh papaya OR watermelon juice as starter (wacky huh?) and a cup of tea or coffee to end the meal. Two beverages in one meal sounds awkward though, and I’d rather have them change the juice to a soup, a salad, or even a dessert.
The Breaded Fish Fillets & Tiger Prawns set sounds awesome on papers, as for RM14.90 you can barely get a piece of tiger prawn in other restaurants. But bear in mind you really GET WHAT YOU GIVE. Hence the medium-sized prawns (two pieces) and two small slabs of sole fillets arrived breaded and deep-fried, and served with a dollop of mayonnaise and a wedge of lemon. The fish had that unpleasant tinge of earthy, muddy taste associated with freshwater fishes. But the prawns were fresh, succulent and bouncy.
The Grilled Chicken with Rosemary, Garlic and Pepper Marinade came in a disappointingly minuscule portion, though the slab of juicy upper thigh of a chicken was delicious, and topped with three roasted cherry tomatoes for that striking finish. Not a bad choice, though I’m sure most would appreciate a heftier cut.
The Fresh Papaya and Watermelon Juices, and Coffee to end the power lunch. Okay, maybe not. The meal took us more than an hour to finish.
The lunch took us more than an hour from start to finish. And take note that we were the first customers that afternoon. Minor gripes, for new eateries have always been plagued by haywire service, mistakes in taking orders, and a generally longer waiting time for the food to arrive. David’s Diner improved almost dramatically back then. Surely Macoy can emulate just as well?
I was informed that the restaurant is opened and run by a family that had experience working in the F&B business in Europe before.
Address & Contact Number :
MACOY EUROPEAN RESTAURANT
C-G-2, Greentown Square,
Jalan Dato Seri Ahmad Said,
30450 Ipoh,
Perak, Malaysia.
Telephone : 605-255 6567
Opens daily. 12pm-3pm, and 5pm-10.30pm.
Pork-free. Meals will be charged with 5% Service Charge. No government tax.
Here’s a GOOGLE MAP TO MACOY EUROPEAN RESTAURANT.
Wah, u got Foodbuzz, Nuffnang, and Innity. $$$
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Fascinating and informative food blog!
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Oh I DO love my onions, especially sweetly caramelised. Yay for Macoy!
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keke can try for cny!
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I wanna eat the tiger prawn. :p
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is it the real.. MACOY? lol.. forgive the pun la.. steak looks excellent.
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J2Kfm Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 9:11 am
I glanced, glimpsed and looked twice, for I thought there was a typo as well. Hehehe .. but it was really MACoy.
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I like that they serve fresh fruit juice together in the set lunch. Normally people only serve sky juice with coffee or tea
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J2Kfm Reply:
February 10th, 2010 at 9:15 am
True, but at the expense of a soup or salad as an appetizer. Kinda funny, having a juice for starter then coffee for dessert.
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the food doesnt look that good….guess should b another run of the mill so called western food..anyway, thanks for sharing,,,,i will sure give a try but mayb later…let those guys settle themselves first haha
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The portion for the prawns and chicken were really small! I bet one would not feel even remotely full after eating that ..
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Hmm …. the portion can barely feed my appetite. ….
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Looks like a promising new restaurant.
*glances at chalk board* <40 bucks for an 80 day aged steak sounds pretty reasonable….
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J2Kfm Reply:
February 11th, 2010 at 10:05 pm
Yeah, was tempted to opt for the ala carte items on the wall. But thinking that the business lunch might be served pronto during lunch hour, we opted for the sets instead. Only to have an hour and a half of lunch, way exceeding our permitted lunch hour.
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If you find the portion is too small for the price, maybe you’d wanna zoom out. Place a credit card or something next to it for scale. Then take a photo.
The chicken is so small. Some the of fries seem longer than the portion of chicken. I doubt you’re full when you left huh?
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J2Kfm Reply:
February 11th, 2010 at 10:02 pm
Yeah … I understand. The portions were indeed on a smaller scale. But still, I find that the steak set rather reasonable, for RM19.90.
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looks like are going to be doing good business.
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Was wondering when you would review this place…drove past the place last wknd prolly a day or two after it opened for biz….THanks for the review
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J2Kfm Reply:
February 11th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
You’re most welcomed Anne. They opened for roughly a week now. Since last Thursday, if I’m not mistaken.
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Got spelling error in their sign!! Sorry!! picky!! hahaha but ok new restaurant for me to try when i balik kampung this weekend
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it’s pork-free but still…non-halal..lol
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J2Kfm Reply:
March 29th, 2010 at 6:41 pm
Yeah, being a rather new outlet, they have yet to get the Halal certification, IF they’re gonna get it at all.
The stringent requirements may be a bane to all proprietors though, until now, only David’s Diner managed to get the certification from JAKIM.
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amole Reply:
May 23rd, 2010 at 3:11 pm
J2K,
My understanding about Halal requirements is that the premises should not only be pork free and not use pork based cooking ingredients, but also be alcohol free.
You mentioned that there was a tinge of alcohol in the Steak which would be a no no for JAKIM.
Again, this would not necessarily put off Muslim diners. Most of my Muslim friends who have the spending power for expensive meals don’t mind patronising a place which serves alcohol as long as there is no alcohol in their meal. More often than not, the raw meat is sourced from a Halal source.
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J2Kfm Reply:
May 23rd, 2010 at 9:49 pm
Thanks amole for the clarification. Yes, I do come to realization that not only the food has to be pork and alcohol-free, the PRACTICE as well. Meaning the preparation of the food, the staff being qualified and kitchen being monitored/certified or something.
Stringent, yes. But do take note that David’s Diner, the American diner a few doors away has the HALAL certification, though I am not sure if that is the JAKIM’s one. Do check them out.
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