Update: Due to the fact that it is a smaller sized restaurant compared to the other outlets,up till today the most packed outlet is still Blue Reef.Beware that the former Azuma type window sluts have taken to this outlet.Have yet to try the food here even once cos I notice that not many diners seem to be eating.This I presume is caused by extremely slow service.
Small and packed with no breathing space while strangled by window sluts is not my cup of tea.Thanks but no thanks.
On the brighter side most places(not Blue Reef) now display their prices for set lunches and dinners
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If you had listened to rumours like I did,and believed the rascals that spread word around the whole of Penang and got us Penangites so excited that lots and lots of shops had opened for business here,then you would have seen what I saw.
Maybe if I had come from a nearby kongsi and have never ventured further than the nearest neighbourhood grocer,I would be impressed.Other than KL based businesses making their first foray up north,the Sydney old quarter inspired interior cum dining piazza aiming to be an upscale Bangsar cum Clarke Quay and the stunning views,this place fell way below expectations.The place is still undergoing renovations at certain sections and most of the tenants have not moved in.Along the way you see plenty of wooden construction plank walls bearing promised names of various not yet opened outlets.
The doors are an ankle breaking trap for older folks,a stilleto destroyer and a deterrent for the disabled because when you push open the rather heavy glass doors,you'd least expect to step 3 inches down,right?Which bright spark thought of this inconvenience?
I have been had.
Either us Penangites love listening to untrue rumours and spreading them to their contacts without first checking them out ,or, for the sake of conversation they like to appear more informed and just blabber out without a single inkling or clue.
The 2 speciality shops have owners that look both anxious and wary of new customers.I don't know why.
Chew aquarium looks so sad and half heartedly filled with staff that suddenly spring up and give you a heart attack because they weren't expecting you to pop in.The 2 children's activity centres looks like a low cost outlet with bad ventilation and is so dusty looking .
Other than the very nice xmas tree,the so called Candyland advertised in countless banners,is nothing more than a few painted wooden planks for crying out loud.
Most of the dining outlets do not display their menu nor price lists.
Casting aside the spectacular view from the restaurants,the overall feel you get is truly unwelcoming and cold unless you arrive drunk and are tripping tipsy around for the next bottle of moet,chivas or stout.
As such after having taken a long walk from one end to another,from my observation,most first time local visitors (not me)will end up in the Blue Reef partly because
1.they don't have customers that stare window shoppers down
2.it doesn't look as if it will punch a hole in your wallet.
3.perhaps they travelled all the way from Nibong Tebal with their kids in tow.When the Candyland turned out to be a Scantyland,tired,defeated and hungry,they decided to dine here hoping it would cheer everyone up(you should have seen the sour faces,I didn't hang around to find out)
From the way the open air dining area is planned,I expect this joint to turn into a watering hole or an expats den filled with angmos(the rude types who have stayed here for some years already,the type you find in Cold Storage) who aren't local friendly.
The German joint had a very unsettled looking angmo lady customer,whose face and choice of menu (just a cold beer) spoke volumes to all passers by.Finnegans had foreigners and locals sitting like the same sides of a magnet,apart from one another and the Japanese inspired Four Seasons bakery has Singaporean ties if I am not mistaken.If I am right then it will mean you get nice looking breads bloated with minimum usage of flour.This is like a more upscale Gama four leaves bakery,you get my drift?
In Japan,the bakeries have evolved to equal Parisian ones,yet here in Malaysia and Singapore the owners still want us to think that the Japanese people still consume these kinds of breads.Then we come to Cheeky Duck a chinaman restaurant which is from England again( how come these people keep coming here?).Enough said.
I certainly won't come here for Christmas when it's still pathetically empty and still undergoing touch ups unless it's for a morning or evening stroll outside the promenade.This is the reason why even though hotels give huge discounts when they are undergoing renovations,the rooms still remain empty.
Not many like the idea of dining amidst unfinished business.
Perhaps it will pick up by next year.But if the place is gonna be filled with angmos like those you find in Soho's,Penang Road who are expecting SPG's for a good time and nothing else,or the type that emits bad vibes,would you like it?The only solution then would be to swamp the place with locals which will send them fleeing,yes?
Small and packed with no breathing space while strangled by window sluts is not my cup of tea.Thanks but no thanks.
On the brighter side most places(not Blue Reef) now display their prices for set lunches and dinners
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you had listened to rumours like I did,and believed the rascals that spread word around the whole of Penang and got us Penangites so excited that lots and lots of shops had opened for business here,then you would have seen what I saw.
Maybe if I had come from a nearby kongsi and have never ventured further than the nearest neighbourhood grocer,I would be impressed.Other than KL based businesses making their first foray up north,the Sydney old quarter inspired interior cum dining piazza aiming to be an upscale Bangsar cum Clarke Quay and the stunning views,this place fell way below expectations.The place is still undergoing renovations at certain sections and most of the tenants have not moved in.Along the way you see plenty of wooden construction plank walls bearing promised names of various not yet opened outlets.
The doors are an ankle breaking trap for older folks,a stilleto destroyer and a deterrent for the disabled because when you push open the rather heavy glass doors,you'd least expect to step 3 inches down,right?Which bright spark thought of this inconvenience?
I have been had.
Either us Penangites love listening to untrue rumours and spreading them to their contacts without first checking them out ,or, for the sake of conversation they like to appear more informed and just blabber out without a single inkling or clue.
The 2 speciality shops have owners that look both anxious and wary of new customers.I don't know why.
Chew aquarium looks so sad and half heartedly filled with staff that suddenly spring up and give you a heart attack because they weren't expecting you to pop in.The 2 children's activity centres looks like a low cost outlet with bad ventilation and is so dusty looking .
Other than the very nice xmas tree,the so called Candyland advertised in countless banners,is nothing more than a few painted wooden planks for crying out loud.
Most of the dining outlets do not display their menu nor price lists.
Casting aside the spectacular view from the restaurants,the overall feel you get is truly unwelcoming and cold unless you arrive drunk and are tripping tipsy around for the next bottle of moet,chivas or stout.
As such after having taken a long walk from one end to another,from my observation,most first time local visitors (not me)will end up in the Blue Reef partly because
1.they don't have customers that stare window shoppers down
2.it doesn't look as if it will punch a hole in your wallet.
3.perhaps they travelled all the way from Nibong Tebal with their kids in tow.When the Candyland turned out to be a Scantyland,tired,defeated and hungry,they decided to dine here hoping it would cheer everyone up(you should have seen the sour faces,I didn't hang around to find out)
From the way the open air dining area is planned,I expect this joint to turn into a watering hole or an expats den filled with angmos(the rude types who have stayed here for some years already,the type you find in Cold Storage) who aren't local friendly.
The German joint had a very unsettled looking angmo lady customer,whose face and choice of menu (just a cold beer) spoke volumes to all passers by.Finnegans had foreigners and locals sitting like the same sides of a magnet,apart from one another and the Japanese inspired Four Seasons bakery has Singaporean ties if I am not mistaken.If I am right then it will mean you get nice looking breads bloated with minimum usage of flour.This is like a more upscale Gama four leaves bakery,you get my drift?
In Japan,the bakeries have evolved to equal Parisian ones,yet here in Malaysia and Singapore the owners still want us to think that the Japanese people still consume these kinds of breads.Then we come to Cheeky Duck a chinaman restaurant which is from England again( how come these people keep coming here?).Enough said.
I certainly won't come here for Christmas when it's still pathetically empty and still undergoing touch ups unless it's for a morning or evening stroll outside the promenade.This is the reason why even though hotels give huge discounts when they are undergoing renovations,the rooms still remain empty.
Not many like the idea of dining amidst unfinished business.
Perhaps it will pick up by next year.But if the place is gonna be filled with angmos like those you find in Soho's,Penang Road who are expecting SPG's for a good time and nothing else,or the type that emits bad vibes,would you like it?The only solution then would be to swamp the place with locals which will send them fleeing,yes?
