Have Perut Will Travel...: PEN Day 6 │ Improvised Penang Night — Closed Hawker Centres & Red Garden Feast

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Thursday, 28 December 2023

PEN Day 6 │ Improvised Penang Night — Closed Hawker Centres & Red Garden Feast

Improvised Walkabout — Evening Edition

Evening came, and Brendan declined our invitation to join us for dinner yet again. His feet were probably still sore from the afternoon’s excursions.

Remember the phone screen protector I replaced earlier? Turned out it was for the wrong model, and as a result the face unlock didn’t work.

So first on our agenda tonight was a walk to ICT Mall.

Fixing the Screen Protector

We left The Green House at 6:30pm and headed straight to Standard Classic Mobiles on Level 2. Once we explained the issue, they apologised immediately and replaced the screen protector on the spot.

We thanked them for their prompt and excellent service while they continued to apologise profusely. Kudos to the team — a truly 5 star shop, highly recommended.

The Quest for Dinner

We crossed over to 1st Avenue Mall, and suddenly had the urge to try Cecil Street Market Hawker Centre again. So we exited the mall, crossed Jalan Magazine, and walked onto Lebuh McNair.

We walked the kilometre or so southwest… only to find the hawker centre closed again.

We turned back and asked a kind gentleman, who confirmed that Cecil Street Market only operates in the daytime, from morning until about 4pm.

Shame on you, Google Maps.

Plan C: Red Garden

We continued walking until we reached Presgrave Street Hawker Centre, but it was packed to the rafters. Desperate times called for desperate measures, so we hailed a Grab for RM5.00 (≈ USD/EUR1) to — where else — Red Garden Food Paradise.

We arrived close to 8:00pm and were relieved to find plenty of empty tables.

Partly to comfort myself after the earlier disappointments, I went a little overboard. We ordered:

My Mixed Grill Platter — RM45.00
Cat’s Char Kueh Teow with Duck Egg — RM9.00
Vietnamese Spring Rolls — RM16.00
Cat’s Abra Juice + My Apple Juice — RM11.00

Our extravagant dinner came to RM81.00 (≈ USD17/EUR16). I managed everything except the fish — that’s when I waved the white flag.

Cat texted Brendan, who asked us to take away two Classic Beef Nachos for RM44.00 (≈ USD10/EUR9).

And because I needed to “wash down the voluminous amounts of meat,” I ordered a small bottle of Heineken for RM14.00 (≈ USD/EUR3). A lame excuse, I know.

Slow Walk Home

With our perut filled, we took a very slow stroll: