Khunthai Authentic Thai Restaurant @ Butterworth

Welcome to Nang Nak's playground.
Take away the fairy lights and the crowd and it will get incredibly eerie.

Tables are scarred from bearing thousands of hot dishes and lazily wiped till it has a layer of unclean, sticky feel to it.Floors are made kept in natural dirt form, under raised pavilions, infested with flea hosting felines that creep around trying to steal a bite.

Fine thai cuisines are a big fat hope.
Authentic ? Are you kidding me ? Really ?  Gosh .....I can't taste any fish sauce anywhere nor fresh thai herbs, all the hallmarks of authentic thai cuisine.
There is plenty of galangal, chinese celery, serai and prangin mall tomyam paste....all malaysian-thai-chinese hallmarks.
While drinks come served in disgusting plastic recycled mineral water bottle containers.

Pretty telling how this place with plenty of outlets from KL to Penang is more chinese than thai,then eh? Must be real imaginary thai cuisine coupled with refugee camp hospitality.

Where the heck do these people come from ?
I don't think they treat their staff well cos the poor fellas all look so tired and worn out like they're so genuinely fed up of us stuffing our faces like pigs.

And how exactly did they accumulated their so called awards ? Paid for after getting an invitation by a scam award giving company ? Probably.
Especially when their food presentation and cleanliness level scores a great huge ostrich egg trophy.

Only plus, is the substantial portions and fresh seafoods.
Even so, I still rate Khunthai as contender for one of the most gross thai food presentation category with the most incredible bluff for authenticity.

Authentic Prangin Mall tomyam meets Restoran Kolam Ikan Sg Kob,Kulim cum highway rest stop cuisine on a bigger scale.
100 percent yes.

C-Xin General Manager @ Berjaya Midlands Hotel ( now known as Berjaya Penang Hotel)

Tripadvisor is a great way to know if you're getting a raw deal. Bad reviews are common,glowing ones too.

However the General Manager at this Berjaya however goes on a long winded veiled offensive against the customer. I think he is either on the end of his teethers or is facing a bleak future for him to react this way.

Here are some of his crazy no PR skills ,ultra bristling defensive,mighty angry and offended replies on that site . I'm just gonna quote the brainless excerpts. For the full story, click on the links provided.

C-Xin...whoever you are...I say you are going Chi-Xin.

-----------------------------------------------------------

“It's nothing like their official website! Terrible!”

18th April 2012

We usually start off by thanking Reviewer for their feedback whereby we try to improve from our shortcomings. In this case, I would have to echo Ms Kirsten Lau's assertion that it is a SCAM as they have left RM1,311 UNPAID (only 1 nights prepaid RM742) before quietly leaving despite being reminded about the outstanding!
# It is not true that towels were left for 3 days unchanged, It IS possible that face or hand towels have been short supplied. I would asked what Reviewer's friends used to dry themselves after a shower??
# We are unable to trace the request for chopstick or fork.
we sincerely regret the inconveniences to Ms Kirsten and friends. However, we would also ask Reviewer to kindly pay up the outstanding RM1,311 bill left unsettled.

“Price ok but not for location”

13 April 2012

We thank Reviewer Stephanie Low for staying at the Berjaya Penang Hotel.
Finally, if we way counter the comment about our location, we feel that this is relative.

As such we would consider our location to be very ideal.

“This hotel managed to completely ruin my honeymoon and wasnt even interested in giving a proper apology”

23 March 2012

It is really unfortunate that the positive uses of the Social Media as a communication tool, being as powerful as it is today, is being utilize in a negative or exploitative way by some people.
It is noted with regret that despite our personal attention to her complaint (responded within the same day - I doubt many hotels can reply to guests complaints this fast!), Ms Ravinder has chosen to post her comments with an INACCURATE title here.

“Clean the Room Properly Before Opening to Guests”

8 March 2012

We thank Pinky Chocolate for the feedback which we value for the information with which we can use to correct and improve ourselves. We would have appreciated it more if this review was more timely, and not for a stay 6 MONTHS AGO in August 2011.

“RE: Front desk ...oooo...Front Desk”

1 February 2012

Again unfortunately, peak season has taken its toll on our staff who are usually more hospitable and warm.

Looking forward to having Lauknight back and hope that his future comments will be Front Desk .... YES! ... Front Desk.

“Terrible Experience”

1 February 2012
we appreciate that CMESL had good things to say about our breakfast and room itself as well as our good location near Gurney Drive. Also inspite of the very strong negative sounding title, reviewer has scored us at least 3 stars in many of the other criteria.

“only good if you visited penang adventist hotel”

4 December 2011

As for the staff, we have a young team at the Front Desk and many of them are not local Penang people, which may explain why some are not familiar with certain local places. Our Bellmen however are generally better aware & informed on such matters. We do hope that by the time of Jakarta0's next trip, they will be better trained and more familiar to provide information to our guests.

“Don't expect too much..”

4 December 2011
we were in a way disappointed that despite the many positive things and his individual scores of mostly 4 or 5 star rating, Strat77 had only given us 3 star on overall basis.

“Just a simple hotel”

11 November 2011

How strategic a location is depends on the purpose of each Guest

“Dirty and rundown, extremely filthy bathroom, stains on carpet and walls,no hot water, slow Internet but yet charges $5 per hour”

10 October 2011

however we are still shocked by the extent of Reviewer's comments.

“WORST HOTEL STAY EVER”

25 September 2011

We are certainly shocked by the very negative comments by this Reviewer

Chee Cheong Chook Stall,Kopitiams Raided & Shutdown @ New Lane

Although 2 kopitiams and the famous Chee Cheong Chook stall were shut down, I really wonder why Da Long kopitiam (the large one right at the corner ), got away with a slap on the wrist.

Da Long kopitiam belongs to the gross out category of a third world express bus stop.
Like a fountain of marbled pee atop a mountain of rubbish.
Almost on the same scale as the disgusting Goh Chew kopitiam behind it.

Not only that,Da Long,dares charge tourists and locals for using their filthy as puke toilet.

The famous Chee Cheong Chook stall which is the worst offender of them all, finally had their secret recipe revealed : RUST marinated foods and cooking utensils coated in more jaw locking rust.

Offences chalked up by the unfortunate ones were

1. unsatisfactory food preparation in terms of hygiene and cleanliness
2. obstruction (for placing their stalls and various items on the road)
3. having workers who had not been given health jabs
4. expired operating licences

The fines range from RM10 to RM250 with 2 kopitiams shut for 2 weeks.
Pathetic.Hopefully the 2 week shut down order,will teach them a lesson once and for all.

What's scarier is that one can count how many pass the test on Penang island.
If the Health Department & the MPPP really goes on the offensive, I am afraid Penang will be left with tiny pockets of unknown hawkers and kopitiams,devoid of famous fastfoods and a wide,diverse range and category of restaurants.

Read all about it in the "Sights That Kill The Appetite " The Star April 17th,below in this link

http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2012/4/17/north/11115070&sec=North

Subway Restaurant @ Straits Quay

Old mother hubard is a retiree who runs this franchisee place. She doesn't dress in uniform,doesn't put on an apron,thinks her terrible dress sense makes her ugly face look better.
In fact she doesn't even wear a cap to keep out her nest of hair cos it is so crazily tussled like she just tumbled out of a cupboard.

Old mother hubard doesn't like to clean the place.She leaves trays and cups and wrappers lying all over without batting an eyelid. Half an hour goes by,even one hour later,she still refuses to clear anything.
If you are a customer who wants to sit down and eat in,you have to do the clean up yourself or push it to the next table because she is still not bothered with the mess.It is her way of getting free unpaid labour.
Needless to say crumbs are all over the place,tables are wet and dirty,yet she just doesn't give a damn.
It's not her problem. It's yours. Her job is just to, collect the money after putting a miserable sandwich together for you,stretching out the inner expensive ingredients, so she can piece them together and make herself a free meal at your expense.

Old mother hubard not only runs this place but also has other interests in another place within Straits Quay.Money minded, profit driven , kiamsiap, allows her customer to get the shortest end of the worst deal.
Forced customer charity begins with sandwich under construction.

I want to tell you what this hygienically challenged sunken triple chinned aunty's sandwiches taste like

1. Tomatoes are bleaugh,soft,overripe,warm
2. Bacon looks inedible
3. Lettuce is WET,water logged,warm
4. Breads have such a lot of airspace in between when you bite,must be EXPIRED !
5. Counter foods are not stored at the correct temperature
6. Expensive ingredients are less to increase profit.More veggies are piled up,less hams and meats ,also less cheeses are given
7. Onions stink cos she obviously used her hands and not gloves
8. Coffee has been compromised and I suspect alternately substituted with other cheaper brands
9. Iceman comes,no gloves,dirty shirt, sweating,she gets HIM to pour in the ice himself straight into the drink dispenser.This spectacle wearing witch is THAT LAZY.
10. Overall  verdict : NO GOOD,BAD QUALITY,FOOD POISONING POTENTIAL , CHEATING CUSTOMERS BY REDUCING UNNOTICEABLE AMOUNTS OF EXPENSIVE INGREDIENTS.

By shortchanging you,all that extra savings goes into her pocket/free boss/franchise holder/family/staff meal.

Fans are switched on to the maximum speed cos she either has a problem coping with hot flushes or she simply loves driving customers out of the shop by freezing them to death till they cannot warm the seat longer than they would like to.

If you think I'm just being extremely demanding as usual, a check on foursquare reveals the following

Shun Jie   : April 12,2011 They never smile to you

Jayson G : August 21,2011 Stuff is kind of lazy, poor services :-(

small r     : December 1, 2011 No bread supply ask customer wait for 2hours ....swt

chintee    : September 7, 2011 Beware of miscalculation of the total amount. The staff sometimes calculates wrongly when you buy not just a sandwich

yee theng : November 15, 2011 Service very very bad

On top of that, I found this posted on their facebook about their Beach Street outlet

Miss Klieo Lee says :

Dear Subway Malaysia, I am very disappointed with the fact that I can't post on your wall. I want to complain about your outlet at Beach St, Penang. I've been there 3 times the past 1 month and I must say, I am disappointed with all 3 visits. Quality of the food and service is really bad that I actually felt embarrassed seeing tourists at your outlet. I wonder what they were thinking in their minds. I used to visit Subway at Kelana Jaya very often and I totally love that place. Unfortunately, I can't say the same of this Penang outlet. As a standard question, you may ask me what happened etc. Trust me, just send your trainer down there and get the SOP right!

April 7 at 5:51am

The Most Annoying Penangite In The Whole World

If so happen you are in any fastfood centre or any free space that anyone can convert into a no need to pay rent mobile meeting place or office for recruiting downliners,you just hope you will NEVERRRR have to hear this Chinese Yul Brynner speak.

He's big,he's bald,he's brash,he talks cash,he can single handedly make anything you eat change into Borhochiak trash.

He carries a backpack which contains his X files containing the Rich Dad(him) ,Poor Dad(you) principle to get you in Debt ed to him.

Worse still he smells like he doesn't believe in paying more for a better brand of detergent for his laundry.Or he collects free liquid soap from all the toilet dispensers he frequents.

He doesn't wear spectacles but only puts them on when he wants to bring you over to the dark side.

Although many others may choose fastfood centres like McD's,KFC etc,to conduct their free enterprises,he takes the cake.

His voice is like a baritone catapult forcing its way past your eardrums,till it ends up knocking the inside your head over and over and over, till it hurts your brain.

Your head throbs,he NEVER stops talking and soon everyone imagines they are gonna go so crazy till they already fantasize that they are all writhing on the floor already.

REAL STRESS !

One might think he is a male Susan Boyle (who makes your blood boil) with Mammoth lungs,throwing his voice with all his might cos he is afraid nobody can hear him.

So Kingkong,Goliath loud,he doesn't need a loudspeaker.

But the fact that a fastfood restaurant like Mc Dees is confined,every diner within earshot (that is the entire floorspace) will have their eardrums assaulted when he sits down and opens his mouth.

I think their glass panels must be bullet and shockproof to withstand a beating of such a nature.

In fact if the aliens were listening in ready to invade earth,I'm sure they would do the smart thing,U turn and leave us to his mercy.

I have so far bumped into Dr Vulcan 2 times.

The first time I heard him brag about his business to a trio of similar minded men, who felt the need to match his octave in stature.

The whole room evacuated,just under the 8 minutes he was there, as every child ,teenager and female,frowned at them and huffed off, till one of them finally got the message or got embarassed enough to keep his voice down.

I cringed ,sucked my cheeks in,gnawed on my fingers and stayed the furthest distance possible till I too surrendered and left.

Not him.

He thinks that if we stare at him,we find his botakness sexy. He thinks we need to go, because we beh tahan his hot sizzling aura.

If I ever have the misfortune of meeting him a 3rd time, I would rather swallow a small capsule of cyanide.

Instant death is better.

Before he enters the fastfood/public space,the floors will experience tremors.

His voice has the ability to do what two Sunda plates can summon up.

Come to think of it,maybe that day when many parts of Penang experienced tremors,he was hosting a Cepat Kaya convention in an underground venue closest to the earth's core.

When he sits down,and opens his gap,you feel as if you are being brainwashed by Pyongyang.

with the following repetitive MML catchphrase words being hammered into your skull,to get you agree to sign Condemned on the dotted line.

PERCENT....

BELI.......

JUAL.........

LU.........

UNTUNG.........

PAHAM ?...........

AAAAAAAAAA...........

KALAU...............

PAHAM ? ...........

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA...........

BETOLLLLLLLLL..........

OKAY !.................

HAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA !!!!!!

SO ! .......

As if you were in a special class with a special teacher giving you special after school attention.With an ulterior motive.

Except that you won't feel that you are very untung.

Cos he not only wants you to hear,he wants to spread his propaganda by killing many birds,bangaus,murais and cuckoos with One Voice.

If I were his captive audience,his choosen victim ,I know that if I were to try and flee,his voice would Taser me enough,and fill me with such fear,my body stays rooted to the ground even though my soul tries to leave my expiring,perspiring human form.

His tone instantly confirms him as a public nuisance.

You might go into a panick attack mode and chew up your paper cup or flush your head in deepest end of the toilet bowl.

If you're thinking of getting rid of him by sending him to Tibet partly due to his monk ready hairstyle,another because somewhere in your kind heart you want to make him more unmaterialistic,forget it.

Himalaya will surely be flattened and we'll all be damned.

Pray you never have to sit in close quarters and encounter his extremely irritating lectures.

Tree Monkey @ Teluk Bahang

These so called Eco warriors aka Superduperkiamsiapers, deviced a clever way to work up your appetite, by making you walk up a slope that is bad for high heels and the aged.
Mighty good for the healthy.Just bad news for the wheelchair bound.
Get it? Make sure you are fit first before you come all the way from AS or SP.

For the prices they charge there is no help offered,no ushers,a very bad first impression indeed, to begin with.
Like a DIY,No Frills place with staff more suitable for a foodcourt at prices that want to challenge Batu Ferringhi tourist open air (save on air cond bill mah...) makan places.
If you still don't understand,coming to eat here is like going to a Thai resort style Outward Bound,Urban Sakai camp in Lumut,with obstacle number one,a small steep hill designed to make you sweat and flea market toilet that posesses the aura like the one featured in Karak,the semi pontianak horror movie.
So please,try to hold your popot and dump your mess somewhere else or you might agree that Tree Monkey like Outward Bound,fosters the importance of team spirit by making you make aware that you should all go together,holding garlic, to the toilet at the back, while chanting some hocus pocus spells to keep away wandering spirits.

Basically you are paying for maintainence of the stunning leafy half hidden sea views,
not doing so great slow moving giftshop,
'natural' smelling ewwww toilet constructed from salvaged items,
upkeep of the not getting enough sunlight spice gardens that consists of pathetic potted plants and plots,grown side by side with shop plants that grew larger in the open space yet look like they were rescued from the florists dustbin,
office with second hand salvation army furniture
and the foreign staff manning the cool treetop environment
so that Tarzan can romance his Jane.

Since I still cannot get over it,I want to talk about the toilet once again.
So kanasai if you wan lausai.
Aiyo,the bowl also dunno get from where.Geli.
Looks like they salvaged the toilet bowl from a roadside dumpster and the door from a haunted kopitiam or ghost town.Very geli.

The cutlery they use looks new,same with the restaurants Thai resort style furnitures.
But you never know.
I think I can only safely vouch for the tissues ...it is probably one of the only things that are guaranteed  NEW and UNUSED in this place.
You can never be too careful .

As if that is not bad enough,you not only pay for the experience with cash or credit, but also with your own blood in kind,as you give sporadic donations for the duration that you are seated,while assuming the time honoured role of playing philantrophist to jungle mosquitoes that seek fresh platelets.

Summary :

Thai foods               weird combo between south and north east.
Deep fried foods     come soaked in glistening oil
Cold drinks            are served almost warm
Hot drinks              warm by the time they get to your table.
Mocktails               everyone orders this,nobody finishes it
Food presentation good

Food taste              conflicting

Dessert presentation below par

Dessert taste          ordinary,not worth the extra $$

Service                   irritating if you get Miss Jungle Frown

Final Bill                EXPENSIVE

Toilet                     Unlike the 3 monkeys,you'll See evil n Speak evil,

                               cos Here is very the evil

Summer Garden Food Bistro @ Vale of Tempe

Everything in here stinks of hard liquor.The stench hits you hard in the face and lingers throughout the entire restaurant.

They even lace your drinks, food sauces and cakes with it, so you unsuspectingly get high on 'happy' and hopefully get hooked into coming back.

Even though the environment may look nice from the outside,the fact that this is essentially a bistro where drinking and smoking is encouraged, makes it smell exactly like a hardcore watering hole,which defeats the purpose of it being regarded as a nice place for some nice food.

The open air bar is too close to the non smoking section. In fact it acts as separator between the smoking and non smoking area.
Smoke from the smoking section will inevitably whaft over to your side till you feel trapped in stale headache inducing air while the sexy piped in music that is played over and over again like a broken record makes you feel as if you are a hypnotised snake in a snake charmers air conditioned basket.

The much touted homemade cakes are a load of hype.Not wonderful nor scrumptious as what it is said to be.Spare me.Never again.

The lady boss tries too hard till she comes off as scary to customers,she talks too much,offers too much and gets too close for comfort.
Look,we came to eat,not to yikkity yak till our jaws ache.
Once she notices that your table will be sharing 2 orders amongst yourselves,after all that PR,
she'll return to sulk somewhere nearby while still keeping a watchful hawk eye on you.

She's also way too attentive to details till she borders on the obsessive,moving way too fast for a place like this .
Maybe she's got trust issues or maybe she feels she is the most efficient worker or maybe she feels that all her staff are useless and too slow and she'd better do it herself than rely on them,I don't know.

Look aunty,this is not a fast food restaurant.And please....you are the boss.
You are not the usher,not the cleaner,not the mamasan g.r.o.

She keeps up an aerobic pace,while going about her chores,as if trying to shed calories while trying to wipe the windows of a passing bullet train while trying her utmost to make everyone feel comfortably settled in like in HER home.
This is the reason why former superwomen aka housewives who have achieved spotless picture perfect homes without the aid of any domestic help should not open restaurants,cos they tend to clean like superfowl mother hens irregardless if there is anyone lazing around .
Most unwelcome distraction one can do without.
She destresses by cleaning. You get stressed out just by looking at all her undertakings.

When she promises to deliver the most tender cuts of meats to your table,the cooks will make it turn out so dry and hard you'll wonder if she knows what soft means or if they are out to spite her.

Portions are just enough to fill half your stomach at prices that are meant to fill her family's needs.
Not to mean that the prices are expensive,I would say that it is actually moderate until you lump in the double tax death knell .....of service charge and government tax.
When that happens, somehow you won't be convinced that the billing justifies the portion you just ate.
You might even think it is not worth it. You decide to put off coming back here again. When you return you know that you have come here not to chiak par but to chiak song.
You're not full and even if you have the whole portion/plate to yourself,you will still need to eat some roti or maggi....just to top up.


The food served,while I agree,is interesting,nicely presented and tastes quite good, I still cannot get over the fact that not only do I walk away half full, but that I am also reeking of smokey booze that sticks from head to toe,making you dizzy from the scent alone, till you take a shower to make the smell go away for good.


What I would suggest that they do is to

1.  increase the portions.
2. cut out the liquor lacing,ask the customer if they want it or not.
3. for goodness sakes get a stronger,more powerful air duct system or filter
4. omit the cake section .please
5. keep the aunty owner behind a cctv system,equip all the floorstaff with earpieces. She's got to learn to let go or be a real boss that can delegate tasks.

Spasso Milano @ Straits Quay

The pizzas are ok,the pasta is better,the prices are not.

If you don't take alcoholic drinks,may I suggest you do, cos a can of $1.20 coke costs $9.80 ++ here.
Not only that,the alcohol will most certainly help ease the pain and suffering upon receiving the bill,numbing your senses till you break out into a huge grin and smile,blurring your vision so can't really make out the total.

Pizzas arrive faster than the speed of light and look huge but is actually flattened out thin with thinned out ingredients so it looks good.
There is a possibility that you may still be hungry even if you polish the pizza on your own.

The pastas are a self explanatory demonstration , as to how and why the chef , ended up looking as if he swallowed a whole drum of olive oil coated in buffalo mozarella.And it effectively got stuck there cos it couldn't pass tru his ...erm....gap at the bottom.

Meat portions are ...chiakbehliao.....chew chew chew .....time passes by.....tick tock tick tock.....still you are chewing......till you want to jump into the marina  to do the backstroke,cos you still absolutely cannot manage to finish it even if you are a certified greedy pig.

The modern minimalist decor intimidates a lot of people.
Except those who stomp in like badly behaved loud models dressed in Ah Lian couture and try to look cool by looking cross because they're actually trying to track down the big fishes who parked their Ferrari and Lamborghini at the back.
So because she failed in her quest,again today,she is prepared for second best. Parks herself by the window of this restaurant,a vantage point indeed and zooms in with her inbuilt telescopic spy squint vision, to look out for one of those who own a yatch/white male cleaner of a yatch or perhaps to hook up with Chef Yak himself,who knows ?
Oh who cares? I don't care. Do you care ?
If you do,please make sure you are rich and loaded or ancient ang moh,or younger penniless angmoh road sweeper also can lah,haiyah,in order to land your first romantic dinner job.

If you want cheap,Italian food that is good enough,go to that outlet in Pulau Tikus.

If you eat here be prepared to choke after you get the bill.
It's actually not that expensive if you look at the menu,everything's around $35++ up up and upwards.

Pretty reasonable for quality,fresh ingredients if you ask me.
But due to the fact that the food is ok,can eat, the ++ is going to be the numero uno factor, that will make you go x x and minus minus and suddenly be able to think like an Italian by screaming "Mamamia"(interject your imaginative process with wild hand gestures at this point ) silently inside cos you wanna save face in a place like this.

Other than that the
Service staff is ok,alright, but scared stiff of the High Temple Culinary Priest himself ..... Mr Mozarella Musollini ,himself , when he makes his appearance.

Because the place is mostly empty,take care that you might give the staff a heart attack because they never expected that you wanted to eat in there.....not for a moment, till they scamper to their feet and tussle to open the doors for you,risking a head on collision with you or the glass door.

Porridge Supper Buffet @ Cititel Penang

You might be forgiven if you thought you have stumbled upon a soup kitchen for obese and overweight jailbirds ,at the back of this hotel.

The sight that takes you aback is 10 tables full of ravenous bulging eyes,getting ready like at the start of a marathon line, almost to the point of popping out of their sockets,eyeing the miserable offerings on which dish is most valuable to attack first.

Never mind,you let them go first and you choose to wait,cos hey,it's a buffet after all right? By right the food will be replenished right?

Wrong.

The crowd was kind enough to leave us the only thing from the battlezone,that they were not interested in for that moment.Stewed chicken feet with no mushroom.So that was exactly what we ate first .Stewed chicken feet and white porridge.

When we went back for a second round even that became extinct.

Half an hour goes by before the staff replenish one dish. I don't care what it is,nothing looks edible.
By this time the Hungry Starving Ghosts,have gone on to bulldoze other things they didn't care for in the beginning.
I think if they had steamed rocks they would have snatched those too.

Finally after wrestling past a rampaging aunty anaconda, I got some chai boey that looked so overboiled till the leaves were about to disintegrate.

You could kill a bird with the pau.The paste is atrocious.
The fairytale dimsums were the happy ending at the bottom of some fatso's stomach lining.Of course naturally never to be replaced with new ones ever again.

It was interesting to note that I could easily poison the entire ecosystem just by throwing the dish of fish with beans back into the ocean.But those desperados also whacked them as if there was no tomorrow.
Cos they ain't humans,they're pigs with stomachs of goats.

Woefully I look back at where the stewed chicken feet used to stand,.
My friend,oh my friend ....where art thou?
In its place were stewed half boiled eggs.Laid by feetless chooks.
Cos no more feet even.Just saucey hard boiled eggs which are so hard to digest without a drink.

So you drag your feet over to the drink section.The dark dark half lit area where the coffee machine lies shivering,hoping the gang will overlook its existence.

Forget about any other drink other than self pressed coffee and water.

You tell me,how to eat Teochew porridge with hard boiled eggs, kerabu whattheshit , nescafe kaukau and creamer? Cialat,real cialat.

Then...suddenly the skies opened up,a rainbow appeared and I thought I struck lottery until I found out that the chopped chicken smells and tastes so unappetising as if they were left to absorb the roadside drain aroma of Cecil Street market.
Still they soldiered on.And whacked all that to oblivion in no time with big happy satisfied smiles.

That's it.

Now I know what the heck is wrong. Everything tastes like leftovers from the various restaurants in this hotel.

And I can't believe we're actually paying for it..

Ugh !!

Sister's Char Koay Teow @ Lam Heng Cafe,Macalister Road

They made obscene amounts of money during their heydays and cleverly invested them in various properties.

If you are trying out Ah Leng CKT (no,I am not recommending Ah Leng, as he is inconsistent and the end product comes out half cooked or misssing an ingredient) ,do keep a look out for an office building between the Esso,Perodua showroom and that corner lot coffeeshop.

That's one of the buildings in town,these sisters own.I don't know if the hair salon is still operating on the ground floor, but it also sports their namesake.


When it comes to their CKT,it used to be good many,many moons ago when Penangites fell in love with the fact that they added a dash of snow white crab meat on top.
The crab was what made them fab.
We couldn't get enough of it.Didn't mind paying at that time.
Plus they also used self produced peanut oil which made the dish highly aromatic.

Fast forward,this place is a sad shadow of its prime.
No more as good.
Any Penangite who points you in this direction, probably is so homesick,it's hard not to blame them for being caught up in reliving the nostalgia of the days of old.

The inside is extremely dark,humid and dingy.Very hard to see. They don't even bother to upkeep the place. Just looks so greasy and dirty.

Today,the verdict ranges from "Hype" to "waste of time" to "ordinary" to "bad service"


What caused the exodus of customers ?

1. The fact that they were the most expensive and dared overcharge just because they used crab meat.
2. The dish simply did not taste good anymore,lost its sparkle,as if it were fried with a grudge
3. The stuck up,avoid eye contact,fed up of customer interaction,attitude of the friers whose ice queen presence greeted everyone who walked into the shop
4. Chaotic,long waiting time,forcing one to order other foods before your CKT finally made its appearance.
5. Everyone could see that the sisters frankly lost their care and passion.They were just frying for the sake of capital M only.Quality control went out the window in their frenzy to earn more.
6. As if that were not bad enough,the coffeeshop owner charged irrationally sky high prices that angered many and that frankly like what happened in Swatow Lane,it really was the price of accompanying drinks fixed by an insatiable greed for more profit on the part of the kopitiam owner, that eventually sealed the final nail in the coffin for this sibling enterprise