GEORGE TOWN, Dec 11 — Rembar, a buzzing new restaurant and bar in George Town that opened in May, is one of the most exciting additions to Penang’s food scene right now.
It sits inside The Courtyard on Beach Street, a row of once-abandoned pre-war godowns now refurbished into a dining hub that houses wine bars, ramen joints and innovative restaurants like Lucky Hole, chef Waymann Cheong’s irreverent, freewheeling eatery, which was named in the Michelin Guide last year.
Part of this small but growing crop of “modern” Penang restaurants, Rembar specialises in “modern South-east Asian flavours” and is headed by husband-and-wife duo Bon Leung, who runs the kitchen, and Lee She Wei, who oversees the drinks programme.
Leung, originally from Singapore, worked in the kitchen of the first iteration of Laut, the former Stanley Street cocktail bar known for its focus on South-east Asian ingredients and flavours.
She Wei, who hails from Ipoh, cut her teeth at the iconic Atlas Bar in Singapore, home to the world’s largest collection of gin and previously a mainstay on Asia’s 50 Best Bars list.
The place is rocking on a Friday night, alive with the loud crosstalk of mostly local diners — if you judge by the affinity for dusty open-toed slippers and shorts — and the fiery energy of the kitchen, open for all to see, especially from our seats at the bar.
As Leung and his skeleton team raced through orders, I ordered an apéritif in the form of the Nightstall Sling (RM50), which seems a savoury take on the Singapore Sling, swapping the signature red hue and fruity profile for a greenish-yellow drink, sharp and refreshing from a mint and cilantro foam, and boldly salty thanks to a touch of fish sauce.
A smart way to whet the appetite without overwhelming the palate.
The food is similarly bold, but thoughtful.
The Guava Salad (RM25) is a deft display of crunchy fruit and cucumber, squishy okra, juicy cherry tomatoes, all married in a sticky, slightly sweet sambal kecap manis, which is rounded out smoothly by the not-so-traditional addition of sesame seeds.
Admittedly, I find the sudden influx of Pani Puri (RM28) across menus at places like Rembar rather passé.
So many restaurants treat it the same way, yet here, a medley of yoghurt, tomatoes, and chunks of shrimp, while not reinventing the wheel, still makes for a fresh, cooling bite that’s sure to please.
In between mouthfuls of pani puri, we watched plate after plate of Crab Cakes (RM35) fly off the pass, which naturally pushed me to order one.
It was a special that day, and while we almost never include specials in a story, this felt worth breaking the rule for.
It’s not just that the crab cakes were good; they arrived on a pool of chilli crab rempah, a sweet and savoury nod to Leung’s Singaporean roots and a tidy, very tasty encapsulation of what the restaurant is all about.
For your sake, dear reader, I hope they consider bringing it back, or even putting it on the menu.
In that same vein, Lei Cha (RM42) takes the classic Hakka dish, usually green and intensely herbal, and transforms it into something rich, smokey and almost risotto-like in texture.
Instead of the customary herbal broth poured over rice, the rice is cooked down with the herbs themselves, bolstered with dried scallop and a snowfall of bonito flakes, with bits of shrimp and creamy century egg studded throughout. It feels decadent without weighing down on the palate — remarkably restrained for a main.
Jumbo squid (RM65) is a more straightforward offering, featuring hulking rings of squid pan-seared to firm, snappy perfection and coated in achar rempah, which carries the characteristic tang of pineapple.
On the side is a salad of locally-grown greens and some okra dressed in a savoury sambal of some kind.
This is much more of a no-brainer crowd-pleaser, but it’s not to say that any of the more creative dishes ever risk veering into pretension.
At Rembar, the cooking is exciting, the drinks are tasty, and the service is warm and genial, but at no point are you made to feel like you have to “get it” to enjoy it.
It is a testament to the sentiment that Penang is more than just street food — for all its storied past and heritage, Penang’s culinary future looks equally bright, and it doesn’t have to be at the expense of the past: a point expressed, if somewhat unwittingly, by Rembar’s location in a revived historic stretch of George Town.
Rembar
21G, Lebuh Pantai,
George Town, Penang.
Open Wednesday to Sunday, 5pm-12am. Closes at 10.30pm on Sunday.
Tel: 011-1119 9071
Instagram: @rembar.pg
* This is an independent review where the writer paid for the meal.
* Follow us on Instagram @eatdrinkmm for more food gems.
* Follow Ethan Lau on Instagram @eatenlau for more musings on food and occasionally self-deprecating humour.
