Top 10 Penang Dishes You Must Try!

** No cats were harmed in the making of this **

I revisited Penang from 30 Aug - 2 Sep 2015.

There's only one thing to do when you're in Penang. That's to basically eat everything awesome that you can find and get to. During the 4 days and 3 nights that I was in Penang, we had like 10 dishes/meals on average. 15 on a good day. I am surprised I didn't suffer from indigestion and puked at the end of every night. Here is a list of my top 10 favourites things that I ate, in no particular order.

1. The Alley Cafe

Located in literally a nice little alley

Address: 5, Lorong Stewart, George Town, 10200 Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Website: https://www.facebook.com/thealleypenang/
Telephone: +604-2613879
Opening Hours: 12pm - 12am

cool wall art

This is a nice cozy little cafe that I heard sold cronuts. YES CRONUTS! A cronut is when a crossiant and a doughnut make love and produce this little round ball of happiness. The cronut will have the layers of flaky, buttery crossiant layers but in the shape of a doughnut. It's genius basically.

This is what they call battery water

They sold take away coffee in this cool bottle and they call this battery water. Hey, they aren't wrong about that! As it was late in the evening, we didn't have coffee because we were afraid we couldn't sleep.

churro and cronut!

Finally, the long awaited churros and cronut has arrived!! We ordered the large serving of the churros (RM9) (no regrets) and one portion of the cronut (RM9) together with a hot chai and a pot of hot fruit tea.

Honestly, the churros is way better than the cronut. The churros is crunchy and crispy on the outside and soft on the outside. It went exceptionally well with the salted caramel and cinnamon sugar.

2. Tuai Pui Curry Mee

Tuai Pui Curry Mee

Address: Address: 23, Lebuh Kimberley, George Town, 10100 Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Opening Hours: 9am to 5.30pm. Closed on Wednesdays.

You have no idea how happy I was to be back. I am not a fan of curry mees or spicy stuff. This curry mee changed my mine. This stall is situated along Lorong Kimberly about 200m from the main road. Once you walk in, you'll see a small push cart type of stall just located outside a shop house. Order the food, and proceed into the shop house to wait for your bowl of goodness.

big bowl of heaven

The curry mee consists of a large serving of yellow noodles, coagulated pork blood (seriously damn delicious), pork intestines, fish cake, taupok, cuttlefish, beansprouts and more! Why this dish is so fantastic is because the gravy is actually drinkable! It's not too thick and flavoured with a complex mixture of curries and broth.

3. Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul

Address: Jalan Penang, 10450 Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Telephone:+60 4-262 6002

Opening Hours:10:30 am – 7:00 pm

CHENDOL!!

Do not be deceived by the long snaking queue to this stall. The queue may be long, but it moves pretty fast as well. We waited roughly 10-15mins before we were next in line. The orders are pretty standard: having here or takeaway & how many bowls. If you're slow to decide or order you might get reprimanded by the stall operator.

waiting in line

Because they're moving the queue so fast, they have to prepare many bowls at once. This results in most of the ice melting into the coconut milk. Other than that minor thing, the bowl is generous for RM2.50, lots of chendol and red bean and decent Gula Melaka to flavour the entire bowl.

big bowl!

Once you've paid and got your own bowl, you have to look for a spot to either stand or sit along the roadside to savour the chendol. We found a nice shady area next to a longkang (drain) and finished the entire bowl within minutes.

so happy me!

4. Seafood Popiah at Gerai Gerai Padang Brown

uncle creating his art

This popiah stall is located towards the end of the food court. You won't miss it as this stall sells only popiah with the longest queue. Thankfully the uncle has a system going. You order, take a queue number and wait.

GLORIOUS POPIAH

I know, you may be thinking why is the popiah drenched in gravy and it will make the popiah skin soggy! It was done intentionally and I must say it was EXTREMELY GOOD. This was the best dish I had during this Penang trip!!!

The radish is cooked in seafood broth and then folded together with fried egg, lettuce and crab meat! The gravy is heavy and laden with prawn/crab/seafood flavour. It was so damn rich, we actually pour all the gravy onto our spoon and drank it. NOT TO WASTE ANY DROP OF THIS AWESOME GRAVY!

5. Three Road 888 Hokkien Prawn Mee

hokkien prawn mee

Address: 67, Lebuh Presgrave, 10300 Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

hokkien prawn mee

Now, when you think of Hokkien Mee (or even fried prawn mee) in Singapore, you think of the plate of white stir-fried yellow noodles & beehoon. In Penang, Hokkien Mee basically is a bowl of pipping hot prawn noodles in soup. Now, for this bowl of Hokkien Prawn Mee, you can choose additional ingredients you want to add such as pork intestines, pork belly or even pork ribs.

6. BEST. CHAR. KUAY. TEOW. @ Siam Road

We just couldn't find the best Char Kuay Teow in Penang during our stay. We've had many plates of Char Kuay Teow, but all of which (even after adding duck egg) felt like it was missing something. I remembered a friend who had visited Penang and claimed that this Char Kuay Teow at Siam Road was the best of all the famous Char Kuay Teow stalls in Penang, even better than the red hat auntie with a feisty attitude. 

Yes, we went three days in a row. First two days were closed and we came back on the third day and it was finally opened!! YES! *rejoice*

This may look like a plate of measly white coloured, stir fried plate of CKT. It is not. It was the most fragrant plate of CKT I ever put in my mouth. The prawns were fresh and juicy, the noodles cooked just right and the whole flavours of CKT just exploded in my mouth. I think what made this plate of CKT so special was that it was cooked over charcoal fire.

I just had to finish the ENTIRE PLATE!

stamp of approval

Trust me, it was that good.

7. Kafe Kheng Pin Lor bak

Address: 20, 16, Jalan Penang, George Town, 10050 Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

So, Kheng Pin Kafe is located about 8 mins from the hotel at this junction. It's certainly quite hard to miss it.

lor bak

Basically, its's just chunks of deep fried meat with tau pok, century egg, prawns and fishball and you dunk it in the special thick sauce.

8. Toh Soon Cafe 

Address: Lebuh Campbell, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Phone:+60 4-261 3754

I would consider Kaya Loti, half-boiled eggs and coffee or tea to be a local breakfast staple for both Singapore and Malaysia. The loti (bread) is so damn soft and they toast it just right so it is really crispy on the outside. Order the Kaya toast as it's much tastier as compared to the butter-sugar counterpart. There is a menu for you to choose your kind of toast such as chocolate bread or even peanut-butter toast. Eggs are boiled to perfection too!

9. Sin Nam Huat Roasted Chicken & Duck Rice

Address: Jalan Macalister, George Town, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

The trick to this restaurant is to go early! We went at around 3.30pm (they close at about 4.30-5pm) and all we had were roasted chicken! No more duck. But since we were there already, we ordered a plate of roasted chicken anyway.

Now, I'm never a fan of roasted chicken. I ALWAYS eat steamed white chicken because it is always juicier. This plate of roasted chicken changed my perception! The chicken were juicy and soft. Being doused in fragrant soy/sesame sauce adds to the flavour of the entire dish! The skin was crisp and partly caramelized as it was roasted. 

The next day, while I was having a spa session, my friends went back and bought the duck drumstick for each of us. Pardon my really greedy face, but it was so damn good. I've never sucked on a bone looking desperately for scraps before.

10. Assam Laksa @ Penang Road

We went back for a second bowl of Cendol and we had cravings for Assam Laksa. As it turns out, this particular stall is famed as well! The broth was not too fishy or sour, unlike the others we've had. The sardines were just right and the onions... yumz!

Even though we visited on a weekday afternoon, the shop was crowded with people having a bowl of cendol or assam laksa or even char kuay teow.

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Click here to find out what else you can do in Penang!

Top 5 Things To Do In Penang, Malaysia

Penang 2014: Eat. Play. Repeat.

Visited Penang from 20-22 June over a weekend. We did many things, but here are my top five favourite things to do in Penang!

1. EAT ALL THE PENANG FOOD!

I think I can write one post just on the food itself! We ate and ate and ate so much, it's not funny! My favourite Penang Dish will have to be the Char Kuay Teow! Penang's Char Kuay Teow is different from the the one we have in Singapore. It is pale and they fry with purely Kuay Teow, unlike Singapore's version with black sauce and mixture of Kuay Teow and Yellow Mee. The best kuay teow we ate would probably be at Gurney Drive and during breakfast at E&O.

**Update**

I've dedicated a seperate post on all the Penang food here!

2. SEA SPORTS!

High up in the sky!

Yes! Penang is actually an island if you do not already know! The Kuta or Patong of Penang is Batu Ferringi - Just not as happening as you imagine either Kuta or Patong to be. Unlike the other famous beaches around South East Asia, Batu Ferringi is actually very quiet with just a few Sea Sport Companies. It is ideal for us, because we can make as much noise as we want and not worry about disturbing other people's peace. 

Banana Boating!

The taxi driver actually drove us straight to this sea sport company who were (in my best guess) trying to "con us" into taking up their sea sports package. Gilbert being the uncle he is, tried to negotiate a suitable price for all seven of us who wanted to play! They quoted us RM150-170 for para-sailing, 15 mins Jet ski & one round of banana boat. They dropped it to RM120 for a big round of para-sailing, 20mins jetski & two rounds of banana boat. 

We walked away.

Jetski!

After a while, some guy offered us RM100 for all three that we wanted. Of course we had the bargaining power! There were seven of us!

3. Cafe Hopping

Cafes are aplenty in Penang! Depending on your interests, there's a Cat Cafe, Art Cafes, Historic Cafes, Coffee Art Cafe, Cafe with everything made from cardboard (I'm Serious.)

We happened to pass by this cafe in the midst of our food hunt. Puurfect Cafe, along Muntri Street is just like your every other cafe, but with CUTE, FUZZY, MEOWS! We went in the early afternoon and there's actually a minimum spending of RM18 per person, we were hesitant initially, as we just eaten heavy breakfast (and other snacks along the way) and were not willing to order a cake and a drink each. The person attending to the cashier was really friendly though, and said that since there's not a lot of people upstairs, he will bend the rules and allow us up provided we ordered a drink each.

Purrfect Cat Cafe

I understand where the owners are coming from. With the space constraints upstairs, where the cats are housed, it will really be ridiculous to have a group of five, order one Latte and just lounge there for the next three hours. But I felt that RM18 each was a little too steep. The cashier said there was aircon upstairs, but it was so HOT. Yes, there are aircon units, but only one unit was on at that time and despite the two or three ceiling fans, we were really sweating it out. Needless to say, the cats too. If you notice, there's a grey cat just lounging by the cooler in the 'cat's room'.

China House

We also visited ChinaHouse at Beach Street/Victoria Street (depending on which entrance you are at), where they combined three shop-houses to form the "Longest Cafe in Penang". It actually comprises of 14 different spaces which houses a cafe, restaurant, bar, art gallery, performance space, etc. The main highlight of ChinaHouse would actually be the long table filled with cakes, puffs and all sorts of pastries on every inch of its surface. Friends tell me that the band is really good at the Bar section in the evening, however we missed it as we went in the afternoon.

Cafe 55!

There's also Cafe 55 at Lebuh Pantai where they specialize in making coffee art to a next level. This is no ordinary flower/leaf/heart nonsense that Tom, Dick or Harry can create. It's a freaking foam lion on top of your coffee! How do you drink that! Sadly, we didn't have time to visit Cafe 55 as we were short on time. We will visit the next time we're back in Penang for sure!

*Update* We just received news that Cafe 55 no longer does 3D Coffee Art! Friends walked all the way there only to be disappointed! 

B&W Cafe

We walked past B&W Coffee House along Jalan Muntri in the midst of makan searching. It was still closed when we went past (yes, we didn't get a chance to go in) and I was totally intrigued by the exterior facade of the cafe. The signage and a little table and stools outside was made entirely of cardboard. I went up to the glass door and peaked in, and to my surprise, the entire interior was made up of cardboard too! The tables, chairs, decorations, you name it. All cardboard! How environmentally friendly! Recycle everything!

4. Mural Findings

Children on Bicycles

If you're an art fanatic, you'd enjoy this walking tour around Georgetown. Everywhere you go, you have to keep your eyes open and peeled out for those art murals on the street walls around Penang. Ernest Zacharevic has been hand painting all those murals around Penang. You can visit the art mural e-brochure here. What I'd do (being a foodie like me), is that I'd plan what I can eat along that route!

5. Heritage/Photography Tours

Rustic Shophouse

Experience the unique charm of the streets of Penang. Explore and see how the Colonial past has shaped how Penang is today, also placing a spot on UNESCO's heritage site listing.

Colonial Building 

You can join a walking tour organized by Penang Heritage Trust to know every tale there is and understand Penang's colourful and rich history. The buildings are so beautiful, the architecture so magnificent, it'd be the focus of every photographer!

Don't you just love Penang?