Le Café Chocolat

Le Café Chocolat, Lebuh Armenian, Penang (6 October 2020)

Le Café Chocolat (GPS: 5.41503, 100.33756

) is a cafe along Armenian Street in George Town, Penang. Belonging to the same proprietor as the Chocolate Boutique on Leith Street, it originally operated as a French-style cafe serving various chocolate beverages and coffee.

The 2020 Movement Control Order (MCO) has forced the closure of the proprietor's Japanese restaurant Wakaba. With that closure, the Japanese chef of Wakaba was relocated to Le Café Chocolat, and with that, the cafe started serving Japanese food. The result is an interesting fusion of France and Japan.

My wife and I were privileged to an invitation to Le Café Chocolat. We were invited by its manager Mr Kedrick Kok. It was a wonderful dinner that showcases the cafe's famous chocolate drinks as well as the prowess of Chef Takashi Kadowaki.

Thanks to its Japanese chef, Le Café Chocolat offers authentic Japanese cuisine that goes beyond the usual sushi and sashimi. One of the first items we enjoyed was oden, a simple Japanese hot pot with boiled egg, daikon, and fishcake.

Next, we were served kushiyaki, or Japanese satay. A set comprises each type including the popular yakitori (Japanese chicken satay), kawa (skewered chicken skin), sunagimo (skewered chicken gizzard), salmon and mushrooms.

On top of the oden, we were also given to try the nabe, or Japanese hot pot. Various items were added to the pot including enoki mushroom, shimeji mushroom, Chinese cabbage and so on.

Enjoying the nabe, or Japanese hot pot, at Le Café Chocolat. (6 October 2020)

Next came something that I would describe as an acquired taste. That would be Tako Wasabi, or raw squid marinated in Japanese horse radish. I had this with beer. I gave it a try and quite like it, though I certainly couldn't finish a whole platter of raw squid!

Verging even further into exotic Japanese fare, the next item was gyutan or grilled cow's tongue. Okay, I tried one piece, and that's it for me. Tongue isn't my thing!

The next item was more palatable, to me at least. It was grilled sanma, a longish fish otherwise known as Pacific saury mackerel pike.

Another item that you would often find in Japanese supermarkets, and is available here at Le Café Chocolat is the onigiri, or rice ball. Unlike the onigiri wrapped in seaweed found at stores, Le Café Chocolat offers yaki onigiri, with is a grilled rice ball.

Fully authentic Japanese fare isn't the only thing available at Le Café Chocolat. For something more western, you can try the Sumiyaki Burger, which is either the chicken or the beef burger. This is very tasty.

We finished our meal with two pieces of cheesecake: a layered matcha cheesecake and a layered chocolate these cake. These are heavenly, and offers a perfect closure to the meal.