I was in Penang the other day. Going to some places to have breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I had no issues with other places, but only at one place where I had lunch. Most places, not everything I ate in Penang was a bargain.
At one restaurant, I ordered a plate of rice with some side dishes. The food itself was alright, but when the bill came, I noticed something that caught my attention.
BABY LOBSTER — RM35.
I looked at the plate again.
Baby lobster?
To me, what was on the plate looked like a prawn, not a baby lobster. And RM35 for that portion seemed extremely expensive compared with what I would normally expect to pay for a similar dish.
The entire bill came to RM48 — RM7 for the nasi dalca, RM3 for the vegetables, RM3 for the fried fish and RM35 for the seafood.
The RM35 seafood accounted for almost 73% of the entire bill.
That was the part that really got me.
RM35 for one piece of seafood.
Maybe there was a legitimate explanation. Perhaps the restaurant uses the term "baby lobster" differently, or perhaps I simply misunderstood what I was being served.
But as a customer, I can only judge what I see on my plate and what appears on the bill.
And looking at that plate, I certainly didn't feel that I had received RM35 worth of seafood.
It was a reminder that even in a food paradise like Penang, not every meal is a good deal.
Some meals leave you satisfied.
Others leave you looking at the receipt twice.
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| The receipt |


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