Flower Mulan @Pulau Tikus
Located on the upper floor of a florist’s shop at Pulau Tikus, Flower Mulan is a Peranakan restaurant set in an opulent setting. You enter via a shared GF vestibule with the florist, then up a steep staircase to the dining room upstairs. Besides the main dining room, there are a total of four private dining rooms.
The interior decor perhaps is best described as “Chinoserie “ East meets “Regency” West. There are Regency style reproductions of classic oil paintings, Regency style upholstered chairs, Venetian mirrors juxtaposed with statues of the Chinese goddess Kuan Yin, old Ming paintings of ancestors, red lanterns and lots of fake flowers (well, what do you expect? The proprietors are florists after all). Lightning from Art Deco style candelabras is kept dim to create a cosy intimate atmosphere for dining.
There is a large air conditioner that also wafts jasmine perfume into the dining rooms. Piped in music is 1920s Shanghai classics. Every square inch of wall seems to be covered with a painting, flowers or objects d’ art.
I ordered the set lunch (RM25) and Chrysanthemum tea (RM6.80). The food at Flower Mulan is of course delicious. I think Flower Mulan is easily one of the top 10 Peranakan restaurants in Penang. 👍 The florist shop is more than ten years old, but the restaurant was added later. The proprietors said their sister does the cooking.
