Review of Le Venue Restaurant Penang

November 17, 2019

As with all my other reviews and posts, this is not a sponsored post and I am in no way affiliate to any of the establishments mentioned. I paid for this with my hard-earned money and this is my unbiased honest review. Le Venue Penang was listed as one of my favorite restaurants in Georgetown, Penang 2019 and it is still unchanged after my latest visit. I was there in August 2019 for the Villa Maria Wine Dinner organized by AsiaEuro (read my post here).

It was a spontaneous decision to dine at Le Venue Penang, so we did not have any prior reservations. We were lucky to acquire a seat on a busy Saturday evening. With their open kitchen concept, a seat at the bar is the closest you can get to all the action and camaraderie. Too bad Chef Petr was not on call that night.

Le Venue serves ala-carte menu with an extensive appetizer, light bites and soup while the main course options are not huge but certainly sufficient. Premium Australian and Japanese Wagyu beef is on offer with highest marbling of 7 and A4 Kagoshima respectively. The seafood platter and seafood paella is to pre-order in advance.

We started with the house specialty 1/2 dozen of the Royal Miyagi oysters, followed by the marinated white anchovies. As for the main we shared the truffled angel hair with lobster medallions and caviar and Pata Negra – spanish cured ham. And we paired them with a bottle of Cono Sur Chardonnay and San Pellegrino sparkling water.

Despite Chef Petr’s absence, the team did a fantastic job serving exceptional dishes which was flavorsome and delectable. The highlight for us was the oysters which were so fresh, succulent and creamy. Le Venue certainly lived up to its hype as one of the top restaurants in Georgetown, Penang. We will certainly be back and would love to try the Wagyu beef and seafood platter for our next visit.

If there’s one area we could see improvement is the high price tag for the wines and premium water. If we compare with other restaurants, their wine list is not extensive and all are priced above RM150. The majority of the wines I recognized are from AsiaEuro and significantly marked up. If they could bring in more labels priced between the range of RM100 – RM150, we could have ordered another bottle easily (do the maths). Also other restaurants are selling San Pellegrino for RM15 compared to RM20.