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

Mc Donalds @ Farlim Caltex Petrol Station

Pasting up a copy of a customer complaint on their facebook discussion page,with regards to flies infesting the restaurant.
Currently there is a big hoohaa over their Smurf collection with a lot of pissed off people wanting to boycott buying their toys since they have had the bad experience of being unable to complete quiet a number of their past collections from way back.
This"no stock" excuse,is not a new issue.It's just going to be another nail in the coffin for them.

Maybe that's why it can attract all the lalat cos the whole episode just stinks of fishy business

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Extracted from Mc Donalds Malaysia facebook Discussion page

Flies Everywhere Inside Mc Donald Restaurant
金金
Dear McDonald Msia, I had my lunch by dine in @McDonald Caltex Farlim (Penang) yesterday. I feel very uncomfortable where there are more than 5 flies stick on the sauce pump, salt packs and others. When I take the salt, the flies fly here there!!!

Then, when having my McD lunch on the table, I was seating with a groups of flies on the table and table divider which fly here and there! It is very disgusting.

The HYGIENE is the most important for a restaurant!

I took some photos on the flies. TQ.

*******************************************

Dear McDonald Msia, thank you for your fast response. I already wrote the feedback to the URL that you provided.

I hope that this will be my last disgusting experience with flies in McDonald.

If the same case happen at same place for my next visit, I think I have no choice but will make a complaint to Penang's enforcement department as Hygiene is a serious issue for any restaurant.

Thank you.

Lobster Village @ Jln Pantai Bersih,Bagan Ajam,Butterworth

Aside from the fantastic view of Penang island others will tell you about,let me tell you the things they won't mention.

1. Your entire order will contain one dish which will be jacked up higher than the norm compared to all the other reasonably priced dishes.This will push your grand total to the halfway of the level of Bali Hai in Gurney Drive.No kidding.Now considering the lousy makeup of the area (a mixture of low/medium cost flats and fishermens huts in the vicinity) I would say it costs a bomb.
2. If you order plain boiled shellfish,the accompanying sauce is going to greatly dissapoint you since it comes straight from the manufacturers bottle.Not only that,the shellfish they serve here is of irregular shape,you'll feel like an orang asli dining on some really wild cuisine that have not been properly cleaned of muck and mud.
3. The baked crab was terribly overcooked,that the flesh was stuck to the shell and didn't come off easily.Thus the mini mallet they provide you with MUST be utilised or else it will be impossible to wrestle the meat out.Also,even though we requested for crabs with roe,the waitress noted our order yet never bothered to inform us that it was not available
4. We ordered deep fried sotong in batter.What we got was 1 quarter sotong buried underneath 3 quarters of flour fritters with a light texture that was more suitable for the prawn fritters in loh bak stalls
5. The red tablecloths are riddled with TONS of cigarette burn marks.There are so many holes you wonder why they bother to use it as a cover.Plus it SMELLS so awful,the stink gave some of us such a headache,it was necessary to have it removed.
6. Honestly the food is nothing much to shout about,nothing remotely Penang about it,world's apart in terms of taste compared to other better known places on the mainland.I would say the taste is akin to food court standard.
7. This place is quite a rip off .Naturally before you get the bill or someone else is sponsoring your meal,it doesn't come off as such since the place looks so cheapskate and cheapo.After coughing out blood for the damage,you'll know what I'm talking about.
8. If it's the view you're after,I suggest you enjoy the breathtaking Outer Ring Road drive and stop just before the toll plaza near Pantai Bersih where dating couples like to make misty windowed pitstops.Don't forget to bring along a stash of home made heavenly buttered dash of lemon sardine (oh yes so smelly but oh so good)sandwiches with crisp cool thinly sliced cucumber slices and a thermos flask filled with hot coffee rather than waste your money here.

Curry Mee (Yellow Signboard,Pushcart Stall) @ New Lane (Night)

Last time got the fatty running the stall but today got 2 foreign workers left in charge of the whole show.
They never learn,this is the fastest way to kill their business.
The scourge of Penang Street Food.
These workers should only be employed to just deliver food,NOT cook,nor prepare the cooking station without a sniff of the owners holographic transprojection.
They can be from Myanmar,China,Nepal,Bangladesh,the answer should be a big NO.
See,reason being that they do not understand the concept of first in,first out.
Cos they don't see any crime in mixing the freshest cockles opened at 10pm with the earliest cockles still mingling at the bottom of the bloodied bowl from 5pm.

If you don't belif me go ahead and eat the cockles.
If you think Pamela n Kid Rock were a cool couple then you'll love contracting Hepatitis from A to Z .
Rempah good but so little ....Y?,
Otherwise,got lots of firm unspoilt (yea this is getting to be a major issue)prawns,with the $4 minimum order, but is too sweet for me,with no oomph, zero X factor.

That 24 Hour Fried Chicken Outlet

This was reported in Klang.Am posting this up because I find it interesting that the page has mysteriously disappeared from the Malay Mail online site even though the date of publication is supposed to be today.
As we all know the quality in this place had gone to the dogs,I prefer the Johor based chicken chain and the one with the coney dogs, anytime over this since they fry their chooks on the spot when you make your order.
The cooking oils used are not only bad,their chicken is horrid too especially since they decided to source their meats locally and not take from their farms like before.only the flour still tastes the same depending if you are lucky or not.
Worlds apart from their adverts,stepping into make a purchase nowadays is like a trip to the casino,where on good days you might what you longed for and on most other days...bleaugh!
Make sure you read this on an empty stomach.

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Fried Rat Anyone?

KLANG: A dead rat was found in the frying wok of a restaurant in Jalan Tengku Kelana here last week before it was closed down after surprise checks by the Klang Municipal Council and the Klang Health Department.
The rat-in-wok find at the 24-hour fried chicken outlet was the most sickening case discovered during the two-hour operation in which the team inspected a dozen eateries.
The raid took place after officers went undercover and reported their findings to the council.
Besides eight outlets which were closed down, four were slapped with fines ranging from RM500 to RM1,000 and issued warning letters.
The council's deputy health and environment officer, Amran Jali, said: "The restaurants ordered to close, including two popular 24-hour outlets, will have to cease operating for 14 days. If their owners want to re-open, they will have to fulfil all council and Klang Health Department regulations."
Amran said overall, the level of cleanliness at all 12 outlets was unsatisfactory.
"The unclean and unhygienic environment they operated in posed a serious threat to the health of their customers, who were unaware how food was prepared in the kitchen," he said.
"This attitude of the restaurant and food outlet owners was disappointing as the council had carried out numerous campaigns to increase the level of cleanliness here."
He said the council would continue to send undercover officers to check on eateries and conduct raids.
"The operators should maintain a high level of cleanliness, especially in their kitchens."

Mee Manja @ Hutton Lane

We didn't end up here based on anyone's recommendations.
Just out of curiosity,since at any one time,the shop always had customers and was never empty.
If you pass by on a bike in the early part of the evening before sundown,chances are you might have made a mental note to stop here for a bite since the smell is quite enticing,meandering its way like an invisible net to snare you just before you reach the traffic lights down the street.
Later in the night the shoplight catches your attention as it bathes the streetfront adding to your melancholic yearning for the lost bustle of what used to be our beloved Georgetown's nights of yore,so alive with activity and humming with people.
You end up here because you remembered how the city centre used to throb at night,with families in every nook and corner,grandmas sitting outside on rickety chairs as they fanned themselves while watching passers by go about their business,the streets not so eeriely empty unlike now... years after the rent repeal.
In short you come here for the associated memories yet sadly this is one of those cases where the food smells better than it actually tastes.
Still,lonely old people staying in the vicinity,that are on a strict diet due to illness,actually get recommendations from other old folks to stop by here since the owners are very accommodative in regards to customers preferences.
They make the effort to wobble on their unsteady feet all the way here knowing they will always get an unpatronising smile and warm welcome that needs no words spoken, from the owners that know how not to prod without coming across as cold.The couple with the kindest eyes,exudes a comforting sense of familiarity even though they may be complete strangers.
As such,come here not so much for the food but to partake of a drink and drench in the sadness we all share as modernity engulfs our city and leaves our old people forgotten and unrequitted in familial love until the next chinese new year.

Lest I get more teary eyed,I shall stop reminiscing and sum this place up below,with a good and bad lowdown, that I present to you with a bucket of mixed emotions.
Times like these it truly sucks to be brutally honest but I know that every one of you readers have your own opinion and in the end when we are given the choice to choose whether or not to come here,it is not based on a bad review alone but whether you have the epicurean heart in you to give it a miss or a try.

The Bad
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1. Not enough salt used in everything
2. Whatever bony fragments of chicken meat you find inside your dish is on the verge of spoiling cos kept under unsuitable temperature.
3. Blandest mamak mee goreng I ever had
4. Strangest mee rebus you will ever taste cos it's like a cross between a very dilute soup(no thick sauce) with aji and noodles.
5. Very different from the regular mamak fare

The Good
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1. Very very very clean environment(surprise!)
2. Very rich and creamy milk tea with rose syrup
3. Spices slowly build up,head feels like bursting even though your tongue tells you the cabai is not hot
4. Very very nice owners
5. Very generous with the potatoes,lime and green cabai dip.

Hock Leong Yen Cafe CKT @ Lebuh China

First of all I can't believe that this is recommended by the visitpenang.gov.my website and thus is also featured on a tourist Penang Food Trail map scattered everywhere,meant for visitors to the state.

The place is so filthy it could contend for a "Penang's Dirtiest Eatery"trophy.Ask the proprietor to wipe your table and she will wipe only HALF of the table in protest.
I don't need to tell you that this coffeeshop resembles the sacred insides of a "ask for 4d number"spot,unwiped for fear of expelling decades of blessings from blessed souls that dare to pay homage just so they can eat here.

The CKT is typical olden days Georgetown CKT because of a raw fiery zing,almost zero oil(honestly I don't know how he does it),practically no salt,and one vinegratte seeham.
That's why after the rotound uncle takes an entire fifteen minutes to fry two plates,he happily dumps a bottle of soya sauce and pepper for you to further flavour it yourself.
The portion is big,the prawns are small but of better quality than most places.
Then when you decide to wash it down,you will unlodge grains of rice from between the crevices of your molars because he also sells fried rice.No that's not a bonus to me because I don't know how long it has been since he last fried rice.

Also beware of the fake dog lying lazily without a care in the world just outside the shop.It's actually a pig in disguise.He will stare at you from the corner of his one available eye(the other is resting on the cool floor) as if daring you to step on his tail or better still trip on his rolly polly sausageness.

RM55,000 For Cockroach Leg In Meal

This brave lady took 3 years to bring a big industry player to book.Salute and congratulations.

The following article is taken from todays The Sun newspaper
Shah Alam :
A lecturer who threw up after finding a cockroach leg in her plate of spaghetti was awarded RM55,000 by a Sessions Court yesterday.
Sessions judge Syafeera Mohd Said awarded RM5,000 in general damages for pain and suffering to Goh Sze Ching 28,and RM50,000 in exemplary damages.
Speaking to The Sun after the decision was handed down Goh's lawyer N.Ganesarajah said her client threw up on the table upon finding the cockroach leg in her spaghetti bolognese on September 26,2007
Subsequently when she showed the leg to the waiter the plate was taken back and never returned to her,he said.
In all six witnesses including Goh her dining companion and a doctor who treated her for food poisoning testified during the trial in April and August.
The Pizza Hut,Subang Parade,store manager,assistant manager and the area manager testified during the trial.Ganesarajah said the company had during the trial denied that the item Goh found was a cockroach leg.
In its defence Pizza Hut alleged that it was a dried onion,he said
Howver under cross examination the area manager Carol Ching Fee Yin admitted that there were three outlets with a cockroach problem.
She added that she would not patronise a restaurant with a cockroach problem said Ganesarajah.
This is the first award against a restaurant for exemplary damages.The court is sending a very clear message that cleanliness and hygiene should not be compromised on,he said

Matsuki Japanese Restaurant @ Jln Pemenang

First and foremost I would like to say that I am very dissapointed that one of the bloggers that I like,vouched for this place.That person needs to hop on a plane via Air Asia to Japan and immerse himself there in order to know why I am about to spit fire about this place.Or if that is too much to ask I beg of that fella to please go make a few rounds of  Japanese citizen run restaurants in kayel or singkahpo.Heck come to think of it you can even find excellent ones in jakarta and bangkok
Service is as crass as another place in Tanjong Tokong.Head waitress looks like an Empress Dowager that's about to go undercover so she can escape from the confines of this Japanese hideout that probably enslaved her to a life of waitressing drudgery.All the staff here young and old had bittergourd juice before they started working.All cannot smile.Most like to dress like grubby bangla sweepers in shopping compleks in T-shirt and pants.You come here and you wonder if you have just entered the portal to Manchuria.
Eating Japanese food is about the whole experience.You will not experience japanese culture here.You will experience cold Manchurian culture instead.Taste wise is nice tasting yes that I agree but not what you would expect if you have had better and were thinking that you may have finally hit another home run.
The entire place is so run down and in need of a makeover.This is in sharp contrast to the nice looking bungalow that houses it.
After that 'wonderful' introduction the food arrives,I will cut the long story short and say that the food here arrives presented ala Japanese style but the cooking style has a distinct chinese influence.You will not get your five tastebuds and senses tickled here...maybe it'll tickle 3 out of the 5.
Let me explain it in another way.If we were to go online and purchase authentic japanese cooking ingredients from a real japanese grocer with an authentic recipe provided by a real japanese would that make an authentic japanese meal if we were to ask any qualified chef to cook it for us?No.
A colleague had a horror story to tell.She had decided on takeaway for her lunch break and you know how they packed it for her?They didn't even bother to pack it in a nicely segregated bento plastic lunch box .Her lunch was placed into 3 tiers of styrofoam boxes with the hot miso soup poured into a plastic packet.
It is a nice place indeed of course compared to so many lousy japanese places(popular because they are really really really really cheap) in the vicinity of Pulau Tikus plus they actually use japanese rice here instead of local grains.Also this is a good place to mingle with some colleagues or girlfriends who are not picky eaters and want to believe they are transported to Tokyo on a $12++ cheaper than Air Asia meal ticket.

Old Green House coffeeshop (chicken/fish porridge) @ Jln Burma (night)

This is the closest rival to the Cintra street chicken/fish porridge and another in Pulau Tikus at night.It has seen a great increase in customer traffic due to the fact that he is cheaper and portion looks big.
Things I have trouble with here is

1.the lady server(the one with the dyed hair and red lipstick).When she brings you your food,you will have to look at her fingernails.It is covered in some sort of thick fungal infection.
Arrgh.I couldn't bring myself to eat here again.If I do want to eat I will try to insist on carrying the dish to the table on my own.

2. the owner likes to remove majority of the chicken skin for you if you don't say anything at all

3. the porridge is very watered down compared to his two rivals

Ah Leng Char Kuay Teow @ Jln Dato Keramat

1.He has a tendency to undercook eggs.Was enjoying the tasty dish until I swallowed what felt like a whole lump of uncooked egg white.Please remind him to cook it properly.How come I didn't see it?You see the problem with this place is it is quite dark.If you peer into your dish you can't tell lard apart from noodles.So just shove it into your mouth and hope for a miracle.

2. Beware! outstation plates starting to come here oredy.Nowadays they are using gps to arrive so don't be surprised that some will abruptly stop at the corner and park right there.

3.His Ham is so small it looks like ham fart.A whole 2 tiny pieces of ham fart

4.You need to be specific with him as to what you would like more of everytime you order.On one occasion he omitted lard totally.On other he will leave out other essentials.Actually this is pretty frustrating sometimes you get no kucai.Also it sounds so ridiculous to be instructing a sifu on how to cook and what to not forget to put in.Maybe he does this to stinge on certain ingredients.So you really have to be thick skinned here and stand your ground or just accept your plate as it is.

5.Prawn may be big,but it is the cheaper type of prawn.The jellyish sweet kind of cheaper prawn

Edo Ichi Japanese restaurant @ Island Plaza

1. Never order from their special offer menu.Quality is greatly compromised

2. Is same owner as Azuma in Queensbay so do go easy on the green tea.It is of high quality which will over cleanse/detox your body into over expelling lotsa stuff from your body

3. female patrons that sit in the glass window showcase room ,have the annoying habit of flashing passing shoppers super slutty looks cos they think they are Jolin Tsai or Angelina Jolie or both !

Nasi Kandar @ opp Union Primary school

Some years back health inspectors found traces of shit under a restaurant servers fingernails.This is the place.Regulars boycotted the place for some time but things are back to normal again because the aroma wafting around is excrutiatingly enticing.
At one time some people even cracked jokes that the Nasi kandar here is best because of the 'secret recipe'.Others called this 'Shit Nasi Kandar"
How is it that we forget so easily?

Tanjong Tokong Foodcourt aka Island Hawker Centre @ Tg Tokong

Do Not park your car at this hawker centre and walk off to the shopping complex next door.One person did that and was intimidated by a couple of pai kia into paying RM$200(his case was even reported in the newspapers)
So if you really want to park here please make sure you eat something and after that if you really really want to walk walk,please drive your car out of here and park there at the shopping complex.

Daytime is Cifu Omar hokkien mee which I really don't like,and I really can't understand what the big fuss is over his recipe.Hygiene is ...what hygiene?food is disgustingly strewn all over the place.....anyway he's sold out by 12noon

Night is hawker stalls are a Geylang No.9 frog porridge(not bad),CKT (ok),Hokkein Mee (too blood red oily),capati lady (bitches about everyone of her customers),nasi kandar (luan lai with the bill),beef noodles (easily confised over your order),curry mee (mysterious cos she will tell u she used to sell this 20 years ago but won't divulge further what happened in between),herbal soup(ok),Malay satay that is actually run by chinese boss(so I consider that as a conjob) and many awful other selections just not worth mentioning.

The one drink operator bluffs people that they boil all the leng teh,barley,etc themselves when it actually comes from a just add water cordial bottle.

Yakiniku teppanyaki Japanese Restaurant(grd floor) @ Tg Tokong

1. now I know why they emphasise on the name YAKI

2.service so crass it feels like its a brothel.kitchen helper lady sit like lanchia kia while she pick at vegetables at the counter.where she come from?sia boey ar?

3.food lousy,presentation lousy.all food come on clay tan plates with no sequence of order that no make sense at all

4.only got one chef only .he won't bother to heat up the other teppan 2 cook in front of you if he is so happen cooking on the other teppan

5.they like to serve sloppy and cool food

6.lighting bad plus workers clothes never wash cos not enough detergent.I think is to encourage people to wipe their hands on their clothes

Lok Lok @ Pulau Tikus Night market hawker street

September 2011 Update:

The first stall nearer to Bandar Baru supermarket,has been replaced by a franchise type of stall with the picture of an Octopus wearing a crown.The staff are in T-shirt uniforms.
Clean and attractive looking,you sit down only to find out that even though hygiene has improved,the quality of quails eggs are questionable.
They have obviously been bought from hypermarts.They smell funny and you risk food poisoning.
The taste of the soup is hopeless.Like dipping your stick into sterilised soup.Yucks
Even though the vege rolls are done BM style,the essential dips lack lustre,oomph and fire

The second stall down the road is less hygienic.Cross contamination is inevitable.But somehow the soup and dips taste much much better.
Just comes to show you how uniformed staff ruins the taste.

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1.Not fresh

2.Smelly

3.Owner not vigilant that's why not fresh and smelly

4.Penang people like to eat cheaper things like fishballs that's why there will cross contamination from seafoods like snails.oysters ,shellfish,octopus and such which are left exposed for longer on the table

Gurney Drive Hawker Center

1. Ask any local to take you here and they will try their best to dissuade you because ,the food quality is so bad that we're too ashamed to take anyone here.Penang food is very finely prepared with lots of tender loving care taken to so that finicky eaters will be satiated and return for more.There is none of that over here.Food is roughly prepared,sloppy and done in a great hurry due to the great volume of patrons.

2. Variety no good.There are countless stalls selling assam laksa that is more to KL taste(sourish more than sweet),and Penang Rojak.

3. Beware of the prawn cracker from dancing pasembor man.You might end up with food poisoning cos the prawn in  it has actually gone bad

4. Fruits cost sky high