Red Garden Food Paradise — Restaurant in George Town

We visited this non-airconditional foodcourt on 3 separate occasions. In all 3 visits, 50% of the tables were occupied. The ambience was a bit warm before 7:30pm. Ordering at individual stalls. Serving within 10 to 20 minutes.

Fried rice with seafood was slightly above. The fried skill was excellent, and each rice was with well even wok hei. The ingredients were generous. The scallop was large, juicy, and so delicious. RM25 per serving. 4 stars

Fried pan cake with banana and peanut was perfectly done. The outer layer was crispy, and inner filling was addictive. RM2.70 per serving. 5 stars

Fried koay teow with duck egg was delicious. It was full of wok hei. Great frying skill. The egg was perfectly done. RM10 per serving. 4 stars

BBQ butter prawns were slightly above average. It was juicy and fresh. RM36 per 6 pieces. 3 stars

Grilled chicken wing was too salty to our liking. It was juicy, but unfortunately, the saltiness overpowered all. RM3 per pieces. 2 stars

Prawn mee was mediocre. RM7 per serving. The noodle was overcooked. The broth was too watery. 2 stars

Japanese rice set of saba fish was below par. The fish was very salty. The miso soup was nothing attractive. RM18 per serving. 1 star

China dumpling at RM1.50 per pcs and buy 10 free 2. Taste wise, it was mediocre as the skin was too thick. Service wise, it was one of the worst. When I ordered the buy 10 free 2 and I requested to mix all flavours. When it was delivered, to my surprise, it only consisted of the meaty varieties. When I asked the waitress why the mix didn't have the vegetarian variety, to my surprise, she told me all customers when requested a mix of flavour implied only meaty version. There was no apology...

Overall: I love this place. I think every tourist should go there on their first night. But that doesn't mean it's a 5 star venue. Food: Everything. It's a food court surrounded by 30 or so stalls cooking up food from all over the world. Mostly Asian, but a huge variety. Generally it's quite low quality, but there is lots of good food too. It's dirt cheap though! The beauty is you can order a little from many different places. Veggie friendly: Hmm, yes. You need to poke around a bit to find it though. Try the Indian guy or the swarma guy. I think there's a veggie pizza too. Price: Haha. Nothing. Eat and drink for 15RM. Maybe less. I'd recommend going with an appetite though! Service: Drinks guys come to your table. For food, go to the stall, give your table number and they bring it to you. Pay at the table. Atmosphere: Busy, lively, noisy, lots of smell and bustle, semi outdoors, fans not Aircon. There's a guy whole plays jaunty tunes on the keyboard and karaoke nights. They advertise a Thai ladyboy night but Ive never seen it... Location: Straddles two different roads, so there's a front and back. One is directly in the street, the other is through a big car park. Check the map. Amenities: There are toilets here, they're a little dodgy and I generally avoid using them. Must try: a little of everything, don't get stuck at one place! Note: if this is your first time in Asia, you might be taken aback a little, but dive in, it's always packed and that's...

If this is the only food place you visit in Penang, you might draw the conclusion that Penang food is mediocre. Don't be fooled by the name, this is more a tourist glue trap than a food paradise.

Laksa is one of Penang's famous dishes and my wife loves it. But one sip of the laksa from Little Hong Kong, and her face was full of disappointment. She said it tasted flat and not full bodied.

Our second disappointment arrived in a plate of fried oyster omelette (M portion RM$20). Now again if you're a tourist passing through and trying this for the first time, you can't tell good from bad oyster omelette. Trust me this belongs to the bottom rung and in the "don't bother category" - cold and unappetizing. I didn't know that oysters can come in sizes smaller than a 10cent coin.

And the last thing we had was chicken satay from Taste of Penang. There's a spicy and regular version but I couldn't tell the difference between the two, while my wife said the spicy tasted odd. It's all chicken breast, and oddly when it turns cold it hardens like a rock. The peanut sauce wasn't fragrant either.

The only thing that didn't disappoint was a can of Sprite. That was a depressing thought to end our dinner. When we arrived at 530pm on a Monday, it was quite deserted and the hawkers looked grumpy and lethargic. On hindsight we should have just left.

My recommendation is don't come here if you have a choice. Anywhere else would surely not be as bad as...