Update: This business has ceased its operations.
The Weld Quay (Pengkalan Weld) is one of the most congested roads in downtown George Town. Old buildings on one side and clan jetties on the other make little room for the road to expand. This is exacerbated by cars illegal parked on both sides of the road.
Amidst the messy situation is a bustling night-time food center, Kedai Minuman Dan Makanan CF (进福饮食中心). It provides some parking space at the back and a couple of blocks away, but these are gravely insufficient compared to the throng of customers.
Like many outdoor food centers in Penang, the place is littered with tables laid out haphazardly that it is impossible to walk across in a straight line. At the middle of the food center is an elevated stage for “semi-professional” singers to entertain patrons with “semi-professional” performances.
There must be over 30 food stalls selling everything from lor bak to grilled fish. I arbitrarily placed an order of Char Koay Teow (炒粿条, RM5.00) from a stall, which calls itself Famous Ko Zai Jiak (驰名阁再吃). Whenever a stall uses the word “famous”, it has to be prepared to be judged with a higher yardstick.
How is the food? To put it in mildest terms, the adjective “lousy” is an understatement. The dish is extremely salty; the chef must have thought that soy sauce is free. The flat rice noodles are dry and coarse. The eggs are definitely overcooked, therefore appear dried up and significantly shrunk.
For a RM5.00 plate, the dish comes with two moderately-sized shrimps (reasonably fresh, I have to admit), a small amount of squid (actually it’s just a couple of tentacles) and some cockles (small, dried and tasteless). For such miserable taste, it is definitely not worth its price!
If you want to advice about ordering Char Koay Teow from this stall, my advice is a simple “Don’t.”