Straits Quay: Penang

On Sunday 24 April I ended up eating at the Blue Reef restaurant (review to follow) after taking a walk from the G Hotel up to Straits Quay situated on Jalan Tanjung Tokong (about 45 minutes) and had looked briefly at a map, getting it into my head that the restaurant I HAD planned to eat at (No Eyed Dear) was near Straits Quay also. In fact it isn't really and I bimbled aimlessly past the NED on my way to Straits Quay. In fact NED would probably only have been about a 20 minute walk!! I put the pilot error in this case down to two quite late nights!! The walk did however allow me to stroll through the boulevard that runs through the E&O Quayside development of properties en route to Straits Quay (of which more will be to follow).

Straits Quay is a quite a new Marina development and is an attractive looking site. E&O, the developer, is well respected for its tasteful designs and quality of its finish to properties. Adjoining the Marina is a shopping mall area which currently houses a number of eateries and shops albeit it is clearly in the early stages of development in terms of occupation of the store units. I suspect it will pick up over time though.

Some of the restaurants there actually front on to the Marina and you can either sit inside or out. In addition there are are a few bars which have now opened up. There is a Healy Mac's and also a Finnegans, both Irish themed bar restaurants and a German styled bar/bistro called Weissbrau. All of these were quite quiet when I visited but it was Sunday and also Easter. It is however becoming clearer that the nightlife is a little quiet during the week with Wednesday (when may places host a ladies night), Friday and Saturday being the busiest nights. I suspect these bars may be busier then and they are also supposed to be quite popular with the office crowd turning out locally from about 5-6pm but I have yet to check this out.

Overall I found the area quite pleasant and over time I think it will come on more. Whether I could spend a whole evening there I'm not sure and will need to return maybe on Friday or Saturday to get a feel for the place but it certainly seems a pleasant area to stroll around and also for a meal overlooking the Marina, perhaps followed by a drink or two in one of the bars either of an evening or even in the afternoon as I did.

The drinks at Healy Mac's seemed to be fairly standard prices at around RM 20-23 for a pint of beer at standard prices. It was Happy Hour prices when I was there so I paid about RM 17 a pint IIRC.