The chicken is plump with yielding, pliant flesh and a heaping of aromatic shallots, scallion and ginger atop. — MAPLE PALACE
Loy Tan is a man who knows the value of hard work. After all, Tan has been working since he was just 14 years old to supplement his family’s income.
“I grew up in a very poor family and my dad was 55 when I was born, so I had to look for a job when I was very young as my father couldn’t really work since he was much older,” says Tan.
As a teenager, Tan began working in restaurants in his home state of Penang, first as a waiter, then a butcher, eventually working his way to assisting in various restaurant kitchens, where he was tasked with menial jobs like chopping vegetables.
He grew to love the industry so much that he enrolled in a college-level course on hotel management, but had to quit halfway through as he didn’t have the money to finish the course.
Tan has been working in the restaurant industry since he was 14 and is passionate about making quality Chinese food, something he does daily at Maple Palace. — MAPLE PALACE
At 19, he started working on cruise ships, simply because salaries were paid out in US dollars and he needed more money to help out his family. It was while he was on his first cruise gig (where he worked as a commis chef) that he discovered that his counterparts in the Chinese restaurant on the ship were earning US$300 (RM1,294 today) more than him.
“When I found out that others were earning more working in the Chinese restaurant on the ship, I asked for a transfer, but at that time, there was no vacancy. So I started working extra hours in the Chinese restaurant. After finishing my own 12-hour shift, I would go to the Chinese restaurant to help out. I did that for three years with no additional pay. But to me it was worth it, because that was how I picked up my Chinese cooking skills,” he says.
Eventually, Tan was offered a job in another Chinese restaurant on another cruise liner. When he was 29, he decided to take a leap of faith and opened a restaurant with his childhood friend. Then in 2009, all his hard work, experience and passion finally bore fruition when he opened Maple Palace, a 300-seater Chinese restaurant that has since become a household name in George Town, Penang.
The restaurant is ensconced within a heritage building that is over 100 years old and oozes both old-world charm as well as cosmopolitan grandeur. It is this winning combination of old and new that Tan has also incorporated into the menu at Maple Palace which encompasses both traditional Chinese cuisine (encompassing Cantonese, Teochew, Hokkien and Szechuan dishes) as well as contemporary Chinese fare that blends different elements together.
Every item on the menu is the brainchild of Tan’s fertile creative mind and he works hard to come up with fresh new additions that reflect the ethos of the space.
If you’re looking for more modern Chinese dishes, you could opt to customise a special menu (which starts at RM250 per person) that melds old with new in all sort of fun, interesting ways.
The restaurant is housed in a century-old heritage building in Georgetown, Penang. — MAPLE PALACE
The Barbecued Iberico Pork Bun Glazed with Honey Sauce for example takes the classic char siew bun and turns it into a far more unctuous, luxurious affair. The Iberico pork is oh-so meltingly tender and this segues seamlessly into the soft, cottony bun. This is a superlative pork bun that is so fantastically good, it’ll be immensely hard to go back to the ubiquitous version after.
The Szechuan Goby Fish Fillet with Pickled Mustard and Vermicelli meanwhile is phenomenally good. The fish is incredibly fresh and co-exists harmoniously alongside the broth, which has light mala (tongue-numbing undertones) that instantly tickle the palate. The pickled mustard meanwhile offers acerbic, tongue-puckering qualities that go well with the vermicelli and everything else in this constellation. This is a dish that will linger in your memory long after the meal is over.
The Szechuan style goby fillet with pickled mustard and noodles is a tantalising dish that is addictively good from start to finish.
The Sweetened Herbal Jelly with Peach Resin in Almond Milk is a sweet treat that combines the medicinal qualities of jelly with almond milk in what proves to be a combination that you’ll either love or hate, depending on your affinity for almond milk, which has an odd-ish, almost synthetic taste that not everyone might be a fan of.
From the more conventional options on offer, you could opt to try the Maple Palace Signature Curry Prawn with Crispy Bun (RM128), which is fashioned after the famous Seremban-style curry bun. Here, a thick, fiery, incredibly creamy curry rife with prawns is paired with a bun that has a crisp outer carapace and an incredibly soft and doughy interior.
Up next, try the Steamed Estuary Goby with Chilli, Tofu and Black Fungus. The dish highlights the natural attributes of the fish, which is incredibly fleshy and fresh. The chilli in this mixture gives it a light kick while the tofu and black fungus add textural contrast. It’s a simple meal that highlights a nuanced depth of flavours.
Finally, indulge in the Corn-Fed Chicken with Ginger, Shallots and Scallion (RM90 for half a bird). The chicken is plump with a distinct avian quality to it and tender flesh that is also very firm. The ginger, shallots and scallion heaped atop the chook give it a pungent aromatic component that complement the dish exceedingly well and give it a whole new dimension.
Moving forward, the ever-enterprising Tan says he hopes to one day own a large-scale restaurant of his own (he currently rents the space on which the restaurant is located).
The estuary goby with chilli, tofu and black fungus highlights the freshness of the fish while also celebrating the other elements in this configuration. — Photos: MAPLE PALACE
“Real estate is like gold in Penang, so the space that I have is very valuable but I dream of owning my own place one day. I hope that dream will come true in the future because I am very passionate about F&B, and this is an industry where you cannot succeed if you don’t have passion,” he says earnestly.
Maple Palace
47, Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah
Georgetown
10050 George Town
Penang
Tel: 04-227 9690
Open daily: Noon to 2.30pm; 6pm to 10pm
