Bistro: Amelie - Armenian St, Georgetown, Penang

An acquaintance of mine from my fact finding trip in April/May took me to this charming little bistro just 2 days after my arrival back in Penang in July. This is one of those places that unless you know it’s there, or just happen to stumble across as you wander the side streets of Georgetown (which while very enjoyable can be a bit hit and miss in terms of the discovery of eateries), you would likely never find.

Amelie’s is situated in Armenian Street, Georgetown and is really a cracking place to try for a light lunch or even a less formal early evening meal. It is quite small inside with seating for maybe 15-20 people at a push but it really is a quaint little eatery. The menu is not extensive but does have quite a good range, much of it being Italian in style. They have a nice and varied range of salads and a good selection of freshly blended soft drinks. The soft drinks seem mostly to be served in 'glasses' which bear a distinct resemblance, and I suspect more than a resemblance to empty jars!! Very 'quaint'.

We started with a mixed salad with feta cheese which had a superb dressing based on oregano and red wine vinegar. We followed this with a spaghetti carbonara at RM 17 and a pesto pasta with grilled sausage at roughly the same price. For me, I have to say that the carbonara had a little too much sauce with insufficient cheese incorporated making it somewhat overly creamy and wet. It was however pleasant enough. The pesto pasta was very nice though. There was quite a good range of deserts but having consumed most of the salad, the carbonara and a significant amount of the pesto pasta I was a little too full to try!! From memory the whole meal with soft drinks came to less than RM40.

I would certainly recommend Amelie’s as a cracking little bistro to try, something with an almost olde-world Italian chic to it. I would likely ask for the carbonara to not have too much sauce if I was to order it again but all of the other dishes I saw coming looked very well prepared and apetising. If you are in that part of town I would suggest you certainly give it a try.

NB: Updated 28/01/13 - Sadly Bistro Amelie has now closed down.