Villains Dining at Andaman E&O

This new restaurant is making a buzz in the casual dining restaurant scene in Penang. Villains, located at the reclaimed Andaman island is co-sharing its space with the popular Moonshine Bakery. By day it is a lively bakery and by night the mood changes to a romantic dimly-lit restaurant. The classic fusion-inspired dining concept is helmed by four young and talented chefs, previously from the Michelin Guide’s Bib Gourmand awarded Communal Table by Gen.

Villains offers an ala-carte menu and a “Feed Me” option which goes for RM128/pax. The Feed Me option is a curation of the ala-carte menu and consists of snacks, small plates, main and dessert customized to your liking or you can just leave it to the chef (Feed Me option comes in a pair). Since this is our first visit, we went for this option to be able to sample and taste more dishes.

For appetizers, we were served the pickle platter and sourdough with garlic butter. The pickle platter with whipped groundnuts and asam was really mouthwatering, perfect to whet your appetite. The sourdough bread was delicious, chewy with a slight tangy taste and match perfectly with the garlic butter.

This was followed by small plates, where we had Prawn Crudo with Thai vinaigrette and coriander and a kind of octopus salad served with crackers. These seafood fusion dishes tastes tantalizing but not overpowering as you can still savor the freshest of the ingredients. By this juncture, we were already almost stuffed and yet there is still the main and dessert to go. But we were unperturbed, as we are looking forward to more exciting dishes.

To our surprised, they had brought on the dessert “Stone fruit with strawberries and ume”. We were told that this versatile dish acted as the palate cleanser before the main, which it serve its purpose well. Next comes the main, duck confit with barley cassoulet and pangrattato. The duck confit was cooked to perfection, the meat was rich and tender without a hint of the gamey taste or smell. The barley cassoulet replaced the traditional mashed potatoes and the pangrattato added layers of texture, which was ingenious!

To end, we had the mango sorbet with nuts and milk cream in a coffee mug which was heavenly. Even though we couldn’t finish all the dishes, we really enjoyed each and every plate served. In terms of beverage, they had limited wine selection, so we brought our own wine for a corkage fee of RM30.

Villains definitely raises the bar when it comes to fine casual dining cuisine in Penang. Just after our first visit, we couldn’t wait and are looking forward to explore more of this hidden gem. We are confident that they will continue to innovate and charm the palate of fellow Penangites and visitors alike.

Note: Their menu changes occasionally, they are already at Volume 6 during our visit. Be sure to make a reservation as their space is limited.