Ocean Green Restaurant 海洋青 @ Penang

Last night in Penang, and a farewell dinner with everyone that came for the meeting. Since we have a big group from all around the world, seafood is in order.

We see this restaurant from our office windows everyday, an idyllic setting by the beach with fishing boats dotting its coastline which is a promising sign for a seafood restaurant.

Ocean Green Restaurant & Seafood is one of the pioneer seafood restaurant in Penang, sitting by the seaside in the town and co-share the premise with another archaic hotel – Paramount Hotel. Some of my colleagues from Penang heard about it but never tried it themselves. But they all know that it has always been here for the longest time.

Hainanese-style Satay 海南沙爹

We started with some satays. As this shop is Halal, the satays only come in chicken flavour, no beef because many Chinese don’t take beef, and no mutton as it is not a popular meat for its muskiness.

Lobster Sashimi 澳龙刺身

And the next appetiser, we had a local rock lobster 澳龙 that was first served as sashimi. It was still swimming in its tank a minute ago, and now it was laid out on a bed of ice. Need I say more about freshness!

Lobster Steamboat 龙虾火锅

Next course, we had the remaining lobster meat cooked in steamboat. We didn’t have much lobster meat leftover from the sashimi, so it was more like a herbal vegetables soup with shimeiji mushrooms, lettuce and tofu.

Steamed Marble Goby 清蒸顺壳鱼

Marble goby 順殼魚 is a fish with either very tender flesh or absolutely inedible one, and it is often a hit or a miss, especially when they are farmed. But here, we got a very fresh fish, and what better way than to simply steam it with ginger and drizzled on a savoury sauce.

Sautéed Venison with Ginger and Scallions 姜葱鹿肉

Very old-school way of sautéed venison with a light coating of oyster sauce and venison that has been tenderised with baking soda. I love this dish as the venison was so tender and the savoury, umami-laden sauce was so full of MSG 🙂

Stir-fry Belachan Kangkong 马来风光

This dish has a beautiful Chinese name, 马来风光 or “Scenery of Malaya”, named after the ingredients that are so local. The sauce is made from belachan or fermented shrimp paste that’s a local specialty and is actually made in Penang (or Melaka or Perlis or Sarawak.) And there’s kangkong aka water spinach that we jokingly (or truthfully) said that can grow even in your longkang (drains). The belachan is toasted and combined with sambal chilli, and this condiment is then stir-fried with garlic together with the kangkong. Delicious.

Chilli Crab 辣椒炒蟹

Some argue that chilli crab is a Singapore invention from the East Coast seafood alley. Most would assume that it is from Malaysia. In any case, both versions taste totally different. The Malaysia version has more assam (sourness from the tamarind) and a hint of curry powder.

Deep Fried Mantou 炸馒头

And what better than deep fried mantou (sweet buns) to mop up those delicious sauce from the chilli crab. The size of these pillows of puffy sweetness was not what I expected though, but no one complained.

Hakka Spring Rolls 客家春卷

I was surprised by the appearance of this dish, as I completely forgotten that I ordered the Hakka spring rolls. It should have been served with the satays.

Sautéed Lobster with Crispy Egg Noddles 龙虾焖生面

The lobster head made its reappearance, chopped and sautéed with scallions and ginger, and served on a bed of crispy egg noodles with a savoury, rich sauce. The noodles were gone in a heartbeat. Nobody touched the lobster head.

Ice Jelly Mango 芒果爱玉

And for dessert, we had a very refreshing ice jelly mango, with cubes of fresh mango. Ice jelly or aiyu 爱玉 is made from the seeds of the awkeotsang creeping fig or o-gio 薁蕘 found in Taiwan, and made its way to Malaysia and Singapore as 文头雪. It was purportedly named Aiyu after the Taiwanese girl that discovered its gel forming property. Anyway, I love this jelly (or any other jelly for that matter) and it is usually served with syrup and lime. Mango is a nice touch.

Sometimes, the seating in the restaurant will spill into the Paramount Hotel nearby, especially if you have a big group and want air-conditioning. In any case, the washrooms are located in this really old colonial hotel. Can be quite spooky to walk alone to the washroom in the evening.

But this is why you would come to dine at Ocean Green. The sunset is spectacular and you can view it from the private beach facing the restaurant.

Ocean Green Restaurant 海洋青
48F Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah (formerly Northam Road), George Town, Malaysia
Tel : +60 4-227 4530

Visited Apr 2025