Penang Food Adventures - Hawker Food

It's been awhile since my trip back home to Penang and I have been meaning to post about all the wonderful food I indulged in during that time but I admit I have a bit of slacker with my updates no thanks to my busy home life. Yes my busy home life :) So I have decided to make amends and do all the food posts in one weekend.

Lots of pictures coming up with short comments on where to find these delectable yummies.


This is 'Koay Chiap' - A steaming bowl of flat rice pieces served in a fragrant broth (duck stock) topped with lovely chopped pieces of duck meat, a hard boiled egg (cooked in simmering soy sauce), chopped chives and sometimes coriander. I have returned time and time again to this same stall and this is the only place where I have Koay Chiap. The stall that serves this dish is located at Kimberley Street. Its a small unassuming stall by the roadside with a very quick stream of customers coming and going - only available late evening ~8pm.

This is 'Char Koay Teow' - Flat rice noodles fried up in a hot wok, tossed in the searing heat with fresh, crisp bean sprouts, fried pork fat bits and finished off with an egg. This is also on Kimberley St.

This is 'Yong Tau Foo' - This dish is clear soup dish of Hakka origin containing a variety of vegetables, fish balls, tofu, chili stuffed with fish paste and etc. This particular stall on Kimberley St is like no other Yong Tau Foo stall in Penang. This vendor sells his very satisfying fare from the back of his motorcycle where customers choose the ingredients they want and it is served hot to your table sans the broth. The Yong Tau Foo pieces is topped with fragrant lightly fried garlic oil, sweet sauce and chilli sauce on the side. If you want some of the broth, make a request for it and it will come separately in a smaller bowl.

Part of my food list also included a trip to Balik Pulau to have the infamous Laksa. The name of the coffeeshop is Nan Guang and its right across the street from a T junction, next to the Balik Pulau Market. I can't provide further details as it is located in a remote area of Penang.

The two ladies operating the laksa stall - open for lunch only up to 3pm.

Alex and I enjoying our food. And pardon the KFC on the table :) Mace and Pin had to stop off at KFC first for Alex because he can't have anything spicy so it was just me that enjoyed the laksa.

The hot bowl of 'Laksa' (the picture is of the Assam version) - A fish based soup rice noodle dish with lots of fish bits in the soup made with touches of tamarind, lemongrass and galangal. The noodles are usually garnished with sliced cucumber, pineapple, mint, onions and a dash of prawn paste. This dish has a very distinctive flavour and its not possible to describe it unless you've had it before.

This is 'Mee Goreng' - A spicy Malay noodle fried dish - yellow noodles (sometimes with koay teow) tossed over wok heat with tomato paste, chili, egg and topped with tofu pieces, sliced vegetable, potatoes and cuttlefish.

This is 'Claypot Chicken Rice' - Rice cooked in a claypot over charcoal fire, giving the dish a rustic, barbeque-like, distinctive flavour. Chicken pieces, salted fish, shittake mushrooms and chinese sausage is added to the rice while cooking and an egg is cracked atop the rice at the end stage of cooking. Chives are added as a garnish. This dish is often served with chopped up chillies in soy sauce on the side and in some places with dark soy sauce. This one here is located in a corner lot coffee shop in Pulau Tikus diagonally across the open space car park near the Pulau Tikus market. The owner of the coffee shop has lots of pictures and newspaper clippings hanging on the wall of his son who was a multi win badminton player. I can't remember the name of the shop. Anybody can?

I can't help posting another picture of the claypot chicken rice. Doesn't it look absolutely tempting?

This is 'Char Koay Teow' again except this is my favourite version of it. Mace and I call this the wet Char Koay Teow/ chinese carbonara :) It is creamy, spicy and an altogether different spin on Char Koay Teow. Though wet, this place lacks not in terms of wok heat. The secret of a good Char Koay Teow is in what we call 'wok hei' in other words the heat of the wok. This particular stall is located in Kampung Jawa, Bayan Lepas. It is the first shoplot in a row of shops. Open daily for breakfast and lunch.


On to my favourite beef noodle stall in Penang.

I often come here for my beef noodle soup. Its a husband and wife team that prepares the noodles. There is an option for rice instead of noodles to be had with the beef soup. They have so many orders going that often it is a wait of 20 minutes before you receive your order. This stall is located in a corner lot coffee shop called 2828 Cafe, on Perak Road right across the street from Salvation Army.


The Beef Soup with Rice. Beef balls, thinly sliced beef and tripe topped with parsley (you can request for no tripe) I prefer it with rice rather than the noodles.

There is a small unassuming coffee shop on Chulia Street that is very well known to have the best 'Siew Bak' - roasted pork belly and 'Char Siew Bak' - sweet barbequed pork in Penang. The stall also serves roast duck and 'cheong' - chinese mixed sausage but the pork is clearly the winner in the pack. The coffee shop is located on the ground floor of Sky Hotel, although called a hotel its more a motel and is diagonally across the street from a Fujifilm green signboard of another shop. This place opens for business at 11am and is well sold out by 1.30pm. That is the best kind of business to have. So be early if you want some of this delicious pork.

It is a family run business and here is a picture of the father holding a cleaver, masterfully chopping up servings of pork for the long list of customers.


Take a closer look at the goodies on offer... imagine all of that being sold in just 2.5 hours!


Each order of meat with rice comes with a simple vegetable and lean pork meat soup. This is lightly salted and very appetizing. It is the beginning of better things to come.



I was so excited when the meat arrived. Roasted Pork Belly on the left and Chinese Mixed Sausage on the right. It was simply presented, no garnishes, no artistic flair in the layout but hey ho... put a piece of that in your mouth and its ooohhh... transported to pork heaven.


This is the Sweet Barbequed Pork. Also tremendously good. The lightly black charred bits add an extra dimension to the taste of the pork. I must say though that after having all that pork, the oil content did get a little to me. However it was nothing that a good ice cold glass of lemon juice couldn't fix!

I'm glad we are going back to Penang for a holiday in 2 months. Penangites are very lucky to have so much good food available just at their doorstep. Now that I'm far away I truly appreciate the convenience of it all. With such great fare in so many locations its no wonder that Penang is often called a food haven.

More food talk coming up...




cheryl