Food Gallery @ Penang Times Square

10/6/2011
Tried the nice looking pork noodles (in the picture)at the fish head noodle stall and found it to be utter rubbish.The lady is in her fifties with a few grandkids hanging around yet cannot cook for the life of her.The noodles are coated in boric acid and the sauce is utterly hopeless.The sawi also tastes of boric acid. Big yucks! The pork had been restewed couple of times and has been left out to air dry.Doesn't look anything like the reddish looking one in the picture above her stall

27/5/2011
The fairytale has crumbled.The wifi is apparently off at times.Plus I would like to inform you that the thai station does not offer pineapple fried rice anymore cos their cowboy lady managress is a fickle person.
An encounter with her is like bumping into the Cruella De Ville of the International Foodcourts.
Because this is a male dominated sphere,she acts like an SIA air stewardess here strutting her tush about as she rudely brushes past customers to collect monies,pamphlets,arrange the acrylic info cards top of every counter etc etc.This creature from Uranus sometimes wears a fitting collared tee with the word Coffee Island on it and flirts with every male staff.
Now this is a turn off.

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No don't groan.Not just yet.
I came here ready to condemn again but was pleasantly surprised when I discovered that this place has

1. very courteous,efficient foreign worker floor staff
2. extremely polite,hardworking table clearers,foreigners again
3. drinks that taste like they came out of your favourite inner city kopitiam
4. clean presentation and interesting ambience
5. nice airconditioning and a balcony for those that find it too chilly
6. good wifi
7. smiling and helpful young female local cashiers at their respective counters(I just can't believe it)
8. friendly chefs and order takers that seem very comfortable interracting with customers yet know how to keep their distance
9. a better array than a lot of places
10. dishes that cost more than $7 onwards seem to be the bestsellers here compared to cheaper offerings that hover around $4
11. they actually have a thai counter that serves non haadyai style of cooking
12. Almost every diner orders one set from the Taiwan grill
13. the Japanese counter has sushi balls that look too cute to eat
14. am sure the bah chang counter does not use preservatives

I never imagined this day would come.
Based on the above,would like to congratulate Bali Hai and Ivory on a job well done.
Clean,well maintained,happy cleaners,servers,staff and cashiers.Even the chefs are happy for goodness sakes.Nice! How on earth did you achieve this mammoth feat?

Now for the bad.

1. the Indonesian restaurant area is so deserted like a ghost town
2. the Italian corner immediately after it spends more time swatting flies
3. Mr Soup same.
4. roast meat counter's business surprisingly not as hot as others
5. Turn the corner and the wantan mee aunty shows you her cannot smile face
6. The Bah Chang aunty looks disturbed/pained/headache most times
7. The CKT uncle got botox syndrome
8. The mee counter right next to him has the most glum looking foreign staff (must be a disease on this side of the foodcourt)
9. The German sections food presentation doesn't really look appetizing (don't know about the taste haven't tried it yet)
10. The Taiwan grill confuses me cos it tastes like a cross between taiwanese street food and thai cooking plus the entire set is rather heavy for a lady to carry.
11. Most of the foods here are very different tastewise and might take some getting used to
12. When it is quieter or the crowd has dispersed the male staff (from floor to kitchen)here like to occasionally rest their eyes on us women and quickly turn away when we lock eyes.That is quite disconcerting.
13. It's a really,really quiet complex on the whole like walking into Tomb Alley to access the party 6 feet under
14. Thai tomyam waaaayyyyyyyy too sour although it contains 5/6 moderately sized(considered large by Penang standards) pieces of fish and 2 medium large prawns

Overall,hey,I never expected to find a foodcourt that would serve me pineapple fried rice as good as the one dished out by the Bangkok chefs employed by the mistress of a tycoon that served fabulous thai food at her very very expensive upscale restaurant many many eons ago in Kay El.
Excellent are their kerabus too!
Unbelievable but true.