Charlie Brown Cafe Penang

The first and only Charlie Brown Cafe in Malaysia finally opened its doors on the 9th of April, 2011 in Straits Quay, Penang. The popular Peanuts cartoon-themed cafe finally reached our shores with other branches located in Korea, Hong Kong, China and Singapore. It seems many have flocked to the cafe to have a closer look and take tonnes of pictures with the well-loved Snoopy, Woodstock, Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus and the rest of the gang.

Since it was Baby Lee's birthday two days ago, we decided to pay Charlie Brown and friends a visit as we were sure that Baby Lee will love it there!

Approaching the entrance of the Charlie Brown Cafe

The whole cafe is adorned from floor to ceiling with all the characters from Peanuts!

This way!

No one can resist a picture with Snoopy and Charlie Brown!

Tables

Ceiling

One section of the Charlie Brown Cafe

Souvenir Shop

On display but unfortunately not for sale! Ishh...

The cafe is huge and divided into different sections with different layouts - sofa seats, private rooms, casual rattan chairs... Overall spacious enough to maneuver buggies and for kids to run amok. Baby Lee made herself at home by lying and climbing all over the empty sofas!

All was well till we came to the food bit.. The ordering system was chaotic to begin with. We had to order from the counter with no proper menus for us to look at before our turn to order so there was a long queue as everyone waits for their turn to view the menus, consider what to order, make the order and pay. It would be better for them to have a big lighted up menu signage like those in McDonald's or Kentucky Fried Chicken if they want to consider this system so that people in queue can decide on what they want to order while waiting.

Be warned that the menu is not extensive and definitely overpriced! For three mains, two drinks and a dessert, our total bill came up to a shocking RM85.15!! Well, to be honest, for its novelty and since it's a birthday celebration, we didn't mind paying but to pay that much for sub-standard food is unacceptable.

To start off with is the Mini Chicken Burger we ordered for Baby Lee. It is also the most expensive item we ordered. It is served with salted fries and some carrot shreds on a slice of lettuce. The two Mini Burgers are tiny. For RM16.80, the burger is not even a real burger patty but just half a slice of chicken ham fried in a teaspoon of egg resulting in some hard-textured 'patty'. Sandwiched between two buttered halves of wholemeal bun are the ham, a slice of lettuce, a slice of tomato and two half slices of cucumber in a little mayonnaise. I kept thinking that Baby Lee could have made the burger herself! The only thing I would give credit for is for them using wholemeal buns instead of processed white buns. Even then, the buns felt kind of stale.

Mini chicken/beef burger RM16.80

Two quarters of hard ham, a slice of tomato, lettuce and cucumber

Next is Papa Lee's Jumbo Chicken Hotdog again served with quite salty fries and carrot shreds on a slice of lettuce. Papa Lee said the sausage simply doused with tomato sauce and mayonnaise tasted as though it just came out from the freezer. The wholemeal bread was hard as rock though I must again give them credit for using wholemeal.

Jumbo chicken/beef hotdog RM15.80

 My Drumstick Chicken with Coconut Rice was probably the most value for money. A good whole thigh served with green (pandan???) coconut rice along with half a hard-boiled egg, deep-fried anchovies and peanuts, papadum and sambal. We decided to let Baby Lee have the coconut rice and chicken together with her slices of tomatoes, cucumber and lettuces instead.

Drumstick Chicken with Coconut Rice RM12.80

 Although serving size is good, they skimped on the sambal. Half-way through my meal and there was no sambal left. The chicken, though almost charcoaled on the outside, is surprisingly still red inside. Another disappointment. 

Still bloody inside though almost burnt outside!

We also paid RM10.00 for each drink. The Mango Juice is actually just mango syrup. Papa Lee's Apple Mint comes with some green liquid which presumable is the mint flavour. We ordered a cheese cake as an additional little birthday cake. The Lucy Lavender Cheese cake is probably the only good thing that we ordered. Rich in cheese and with sprinkles of real lavender decorated with a pretty purple ribbon and an image of Lucy on white chocolate. Would have preferred it to be a little lighter but it does taste pretty good.

Lucy Lavender Cheese RM12.00 and Mango Juice RM10.00

Coloured mint flavour in Apple Mint drink RM10.00

We actually brought our 'concerns' up to the manager and hope that they took our 'complains' constructively. We honestly have our reservations to go there again for meals. Maybe desserts and drinks or if someone is willing to buy us dinner! Sorry Charlie Brown. We still love you!