Malaysia Food Blog - Sugar Dynasty (糖朝)

Greetings from Sugar Dynasty

Location: Georgetown, Penang Isle

When I started off working in Penang, my colleagues and I used to organise a "makan-makan" trip to sample food from different corners of the isle. I was new then and had no inkling of where what was, but I do recall vividly this shop. When I tried to work my way around the twisting roads of Georgetown (pardon this fellow who has trouble around Georgetown even after 3 years), I finally managed to revisit this small shop located in one of the locations listed under World Heritage Site - Nagore Road.

The name Sugar Dynasty is actually a homophone in Mandarin. The name in Mandarin, 糖朝 (táng cháo) is a homophone of Tang Dynasty, 唐朝 (táng cháo), and truly, the shop is a haven for lovers of the Chinese style dessert. Sugar Dynasty greets its customer with a menu filled with 4 pages worth of dessert of your choice, and most of them are less than RM5.00 per bowl. Some of the choices cater for those with exquisite taste, with expensive traditional Chinese herbs like swallow's nest (燕窝) used as the ingredient, and costs more than RM30.00 per bowl. 

So what can one dine in a Chinese dessert shop? Of course Sugar Dynasty does offer choices of main dishes as well, so its patrons can either dine in and request for dessert later, or just visit the shop after their dinner somewhere else to sample its dessert. For patrons dining around the area, they can ask for the dessert to be delivered to the dinning spot as well, as Sugar Dynasty has an understanding with the owners around Nagore Road. If you are not sure, do ask the shop owner in which you are dining in about this, and if the owner disagrees to it, you can always visit Sugar Dynasty after your dinner.

Except for a certain few choices, most of the dishes in the menu are offered as set meals, which is what I loved about it. The usual Chinese meals are available - fried rice (RM4.50), fried bihun (RM4.50), fried chin choo (珍珠炒) (RM4.50), and others (well, I do loved those fried food, hence me listing down the fried ones...), all served with a cup of herbal tea as long as they are listed as available as set meals. The reason that I loved these fried dishes from Sugar Dynasty is that they are generously served with button mushrooms and prawns, the former of which is my favorite and the latter is rarely served nowadays. The dishes are neither large nor small, leaving just enough to stuff yourself with desserts later on.

The delicious Fried Chin Choo (珍珠炒) (RM4.50), one of my favorite.

One can always give the usual dish of Fried Bihun (RM4.50) a try.

Fried Rice (RM4.50) will cater for the more usual appetite.

Crispy Noodles with 'Lor' Sauce (香脆生面) (RM5.00); I guess not everything can be translated... Needless to say, the noodles are crispy at first and gets soaked in the thick sauce gradually.

Seafood Lor with Rice (淋饭) (RM5.50); another one that cannot be translated... this rice is soaked within the viscous sauce, which is usually prepared with eggs.

Pork Ribs with Black Bean Wine (黑豆排骨酒) (RM8.20) - one of my favorite as well; the sauce smells awesome and the taste of rice wine soaked pork ribs augments your appetite for more.

Of course, what is the point of a dessert shop without its share of dessert? Sugar Dynasty has 2 kinds of desserts, the warm ones and the cold ones; if you are not sure, the waiter is always happy to answer your question.

A cool bowl of Honeydew Sago (蜜瓜西米露) (RM4.20), especially popular under the hot and humid Malaysian weather; slices of honeydew pickle provided a stark sour taste to the condensed milk poured generously over the piled-up ice-blend.

Unlike the usual ones I tasted anywhere else, their Longan Red Bean Paste (莲子龙眼红豆沙) is sweet with the taste of longan.

My photo collections of Sugar Dynasty's dessert are by no means enough to show their range of choices, so I guess this means that there will be a second article for me to share more on their desserts in the future. A worthy shop for dessert lovers to stuff themselves full, this is definitely a place for me to visit often. With an affordable price for its food, Sugar Dynasty will be suitable for either family and friends' gathering, although the place is slightly small and may not be able to accommodate too many people.

Suitable for:            usual lunch and dinner, and family or friends' gathering

Cost:                             affordable

Contact:                     +604-227 1163, +6019-512 1163

Address:                     29, Nagore Road, 10500 Georgetown, Penang.

Operating hours:  (Tue - Sun) 11.30 a.m. - 10.30 p.m.

                                         closed on Mondays

Parking:                   Parking could be a challenge around Nagore Road, as it may be quite packed at anytime. One may park in New World Park or slightly further away and walk to the shop.