BEING AS OUR EATERIES are the result of not just one but probably many persons' hard work, I try not to criticise them too much in any of my articles. The eastern mentality, as I've already blogged about, still finds it difficult to accept negative comments, and I really don't want to be shown out the door next time I go there ... or worse!
HOWEVER we were on the way to the airport to pick up No2 son who arrived home last night when he called from KL to say his flight had been delayed. Nothing new of course; happens all the time. So as we were en route, and the CF Food Court opposite Weld Quay was in sight, we decided to stop by and try it out. I'd been meaning to for a while, so it seemed an excellent opportunity to do so. I'm always on the lookout for places I can write about for my fortnightly Sunday Metro column.
It's a cavernous place, rather dark and slightly dingy, but packed, which initially seemed a good sign, but looks can be SOOooo deceiving. There were quite a number of stalls BUT none of the usual Penang favourites like Hokkien Mee, Kuey Teow T'ng or Curry Mee. Now I know why. Probably didn't want to be associated with the place!
We ordered a few different things: chicken satay, Char Kuey Teow, Chicken Rice and, as I always grab at a chance to do so, Thai Glass Noodle Salad.
Now usually when people ask me where the best place in town to eat is I usually say that's too big a question to answer, because not one place serves everything well. The reverse is true: not one place serves everything badly. Usually. At least I used to think so. Not after last night!! I don't think I've had such a poor meal for a long time.
The satay was dry and tasteless (although admittedly cheap - RM5 for 10 sticks as opposed to RM8 in B Ferringhi) and the sauce a miserly amount. The Char Kuey Teow was fried by an Indon worker; it was limp and sad looking - disappointing. The chicken (I'd asked for kay boey bak) looked OK except I probably got one small piece of edible meat out of it - the rest was just fat and skin - that cost RM3.
The tale of woe doesn't stop there - the Glass Noodle Salad, although I'd asked for it to be "spicier", was a disgrace. Although all the ingredients were there, it was bland and tasteless. It seemed to me that they hadn't used any salt, sugar, chilli, lime juice or fish sauce at all. It really doesn't take much more effort to transform it into a delicious dish.
On top of that when we ordered a large bottle of beer to be split between the two of us the drinks woman kept asking me if I wanted a juice, as though she couldn't countenance me even thinking of having a BEER! Thanks but please MYO biz.
I'm glad of one thing though (apart from how wonderful it is to have No2 son back again): now that I HAVE finally visited the place, it will be one that I can tick off on the list, and never return again. And certainly not recommend to anyone let alone my readers.
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