Northam Beach Cafe — Restaurant in George Town

I've been a regular patron there since before the renovation and after the renovation. Might not be any longer after this.

Prior to the renovation, their business was on the slow-ish side compared to other food courts around Penang. Being a regular, I would say it was due to the quality of the food. Previously their dimsum stall was ok, the balitong and cockles stall were ok, but their fried rice was a joke. As for the management/proprietors, previously it had a more homely and friendly vibes that as patrons, we actually know the people there. But right now everything is like purely a commercial transaction.

Neither a good review nor a bad review but as a regular, I'm not influenced by any factors so here are my honest reviews:-

1. one stick of chicken satay is rm2.00 (honestly the marinade is inconsistent with each stick, and satay is ready in less than 5 mins, so lack of char and flavour for satay, first time having such "incomplete" satay)

2. one plate of char kuey teow is rm9.00 (portion is doable, but severely lacks the essence of a good char kuey teow, wok hei)

3. the pasembur is akin to the traditional Indian & Mamak Pasembur around Penang. You pick your own ingredients and let the man add the shredded jicama and cucumber and sauce. HOWEVER, with just a potato, and egg, and a cucur udang, it cost me RM11.00. The sauce uses too much cornstarch as thickener. As a true Penang-lang I've been to many pasembur places and I can vouch that the famous stalls in Padang Kota Lama and other food courts has better value, and a better taste.

4. Not to prejudice or discriminate, but the number of foreign workers employed in the food court is rather interesting. Hope that they have valid work visas and the necessary vaccines etc, apart from the training in food & beverages handling. I would not further elaborate on that aspect.

5. Honestly, do expect a decline in business once the hype of "new food court" passes. Every item has its price increased from previously. A higher rental fee between management and stall tenant= higher food price.

6. Adequate parking. One chinese uncle Peh is around to assist. Not sure whether he is from the food court or from the parking but it doesn't concern me anyways.

7. Honestly, the food taste is mediocre, satisfies the bare minimum threshold for Penang food, so long as you don't nitpick, or if the price is right. It's like finding a "Penang food" stall in KL, Ipoh, Johor etc.

At that price, there are better places for food in Penang. I wonder if the management has looked at the track records of the stall proprietors' experience or had sampled the food before, or solely just renting out to whoever whenever.

8. The scenery is the nicest thing over there.

Constructive criticism. I'm not bothered about the hierarchy and team. But those are points to be addressed by Ah Lau and friends. Y'all sort out who...

A brand new look here for Northam Cafe. Looks like the owner renovated the whole place and left no stones unturned. I would definitely rate the ambience 5 stars for a hawker place. As for food, there are the typical ones that you can find for Penang hawker food. I ordered the Nasi Lemak Wak Zee (Fried Chicken and Sotong), Black Pepper Chop, Grilled Stringray. In general the food taste pretty good except for the Nasi Lemak Sotong which was very bad in my opinion. Small cut pieces of Sotong and I can barely taste the Sotong, instead covered with lots of fluor. Quite disappointed with this from Wak Zee as I have tried before at their original store at town area and it is really good. Anyway, the grilled stingray is very nice. Grilled long enough for the charred flavour and yet not overcooked, the sambal accompanying the fish is very nice too.

Drinks are pretty expensive but looking at how much the owner spent for renovation, I guess it is a fair price.

When I visited, it was raining so I had to sit inside at shaded area. It felt a bit stuffy and not that cooling but I bet when it is not raining, it should be very nice to enjoy the breeze while eating your food. There is a giant fan installed at the middle of this centre.

Parking is very limited and unlike other places where you can park at roadside or further away then walk to the center, but here you can only park at the parking lot in front of this cafe. Otherwise you really have to park far away and walk here. Right outside the cafe entrance is a big main road so parking by the roadside is a big no-no.

Worth checking out but due to the price and lack of some signature stall with really great food, don't think I will come here often but most likely...

It was our first time visiting since they renovated. And we picked the wrong stall. A stall selling Teppanyaki, make sure you guys don't order from that stall or you would have the same fate as us. We ordered two dishes, first it came one, which the order was wrong as we wanted cabbage but o cabbage was given. Then the 2nd dish didn't came after waiting for 30minutes. We went to ask on it and the stall (the long hair guy) insisted that we ordered wrongly which we didn't. He said he will prepare our dish right away but after 10minutes waiting still no sign so we went and wanted him to refund as we don't want to wait anymore but he doesn't wanna refund us. He then said he will pack for us but we doesn't want to pack back since we have been waiting so long and told him so. After some time he came with the package and of course we told him that we already tell we doesn't wanna tapao. He gave a very terrible attitude and was shouting at us. Very very poor and rude service from this stall. Got our order wrong in the first place but never a sorry but even shouted at us. So no choice we took our food home to eat. Very funny.. We went there 1hr waiting for food but had to take the food back to eat. When we got back found that he totally got our order wrong.. We doesn't want cabbage as I'm allergic but as you can see in the picture lots of cabbage and left with few beansprouts. Worst experience ever! Not fit to do food business at all. With this bad experience we were determine not to come...