Penang is known for its hawker food. So I tried to eat almost every meal at a hawker stand or coffee shop. I think I succeeded! :-)
I am no connoisseur of hawker food, since I have been away for so long.
But I do have certain standards, and these places did not make the cut.
Under no circumstance should one, unless desperate, visit the Gurney Street hawker center. The place is full of hawker stalls, all of which look rather dismal. Our first night in Penang was on Vesak Day, and either places had been closed for the evening, or were not open that day itself, or were closed for the holiday - who knows. But refusing to eat ang moh food, off to Gurney Street we went. The top two photos - char koay teow and popiah, were just... inedible. Lingonberry didn't mind that, but he is generally less fussy when hungry and eats really anything, even when really bad. I just could not. Plus, we did not want any drinks, and if you sit at certain tables they pester you to buy a drink and we had to change table a couple of times because of both cockroaches and the lack of desire to purchase a drink from the drink stalls. Check your table to see what it is labeled, and if you don't want a drink just sit at the table belonging to the stall you bought food from, if you do visit this unfortunate place. I heard the rojak here is good, and I did see people buying a mountainous plate of rojak, but it's not my favourite food so I passed on that.
The bottom photos are of Toh Soon Cafe in Georgetown on Campbell Street. I had kaya toast and Lingonberry had an iced coffee (RM4.10). His iced coffee was actually not bad, but my kaya toast was met with a resounding meh. While many articles I have read about this place highly commended the bread, I thought it was too thick for the amount of kaya given, and I could not taste any salted butter which I am used to for kaya toast. Maybe just not my style.
Now onto the yummy.
These hawker stalls were on Lebuh Chulia (Chulia Street) and between the intersections of Lebuh Carnavon and Lorong Seckchuan in George Town. They are not open in the early part of the day, and the area is full of stalls selling toys, clothes, etc. In the late afternoon/evening/night time, it becomes really crowded with people who want yummy food, like me! The won ton noodles (RM3.30) and curry mee stalls are right outside this Regent Furnishing shop (left hand side photos). You can order from the stall and tell them where you are sitting and wait for your food. The won ton noodles were very nice and firm, and the sauce was some thicker black sauce, not unlike what we have in Singapore. I thought there were fried won tons earlier in the day and maybe they ran out, but I went back another day to check it out and did not see them. The curry mee (RM3.00) was quite good, but I didn't think anything special. Nice soft noodles, curry was tasty, liked the tofu thing, but not the squid thing. I think if you order a more expensive bowl, it comes with different ingredients, like maybe prawns?
I also tried the hor fun, which was SHOCKINGLY good. I don't know why it was so shocking, maybe because I did not expect to eat hor fun in Penang and also I don't normally love hor fun. But this was possibly my favourite meal in Penang. The stall is just to the right of the won ton noodles and curry mee stalls (when you are facing them) right across from Rainforest bakery, from this stall right outside this coffee shop in the bottom right picture. I read an article about it, and there was nothing else that was recommended that was closeby, so I "settled" for that. The hor fun auntie took quite a while, seemed at least 5 minutes, maybe 10 minutes, to fry my hor fun (RM5) but we got to sit inside the coffeeshop where there were fans so it was not too bad. When it arrived, there was kway teow as well as the thin stringy mee, fried to perfection with so much wok hei. The prawns were nice and crunchy, and the rest of the ingredients were not bad too, but really I was super impressed by the noodle frying skills. Highly recommend.
Next, on to possibly my favourite hawker dish - char kway teow. These two places were recommended to me by multiple Singaporeans, so I thought I had to try both. The first one was Ah Leng Char Koay Teow (top two photos). For RM12 (the most expensive plate), you get 4 mantis shrimp and 4 regular shrimp. This was my first time trying mantis shrimp, and it's a bit mushu and has this taste that reminds me of crab/fish egg. Sadly I can't quite describe it that well, but I quite liked it. The prawns were not bad too. I liked the taste of the noodles. Overall I was happy with it. Apparently there's a second branch at Air Itam, but that's an adventure for another Penang trip.
Unverified information from another blog:
Jalan Datuk Keramat
8am-2.30pm (closed on Thursdays)
Ah Leng 張君霖 Tel:012-4983962
The second was Heng Huat char koay teow. You walk in and can order from the stall and tell them where you are sitting, and they will bring your plate to you. When we walked in, the auntie with the red hat was frying the noodles furiously in the wok with charcoal. Some of the sparks flew towards me and scared me for no good reason. We ordered the RM11 plate, waited for about 15 minutes (weekday), and lo and behold our food arrived! It comes with 4 large shrimp, which I thought were excellent. They were plump and juicy, much better than the ones at Ah Leng. However the noodles had a bit of that charcoal burntness, which some people liked, but not to my tastes. Still a great plate of noodles though, especially if you like the charcoal burnt taste.
Unverified information from another blog:
82, Lorong Selamat
11am-6pm (closed on Tuesdays)
Mr Dueh Leng Guan Tel: 016-4994646
If it was possible, I would choose the shrimp from Heng Huat and noodles from Ah Leng, but I don't think you could go wrong with either.
We took a bus ride to Air Itam to see the Kek Lok Si temple, and of course try the famous Penang laksa (RM4). I have not had much Penang laksa in my life, but I thought this was really good. The shrimp paste was very flavourful and I really liked the fresh vegetables that were very crunch and light. Definitely very different from the regular laksa. Lingonberry says he now prefers this to the regular laksa because it's lighter. I can't choose, I love both, but I absolutely agree it is lighter because of the soupier broth and the fresh vegetables.
Air Itam market - note Google Maps has 2 laksa places mapped in that vicinity. The right one is the "Pasar Air Item Laksa" closer to the temple.
11.15am-7.30pm daily
Joo Hooi Cafe in George Town was also recommended by multiple people for Penang laksa, char kway teow and chendol (in the stalls immediately outside the cafe). We tried the Penang laksa the day after the Air Itam one, and it definitely was not as fragrant and yummy as at Air Itam. 'Nuff said about Penang laksa. Since Lingonberry was char kway teowed out, we got a Penang laksa (RM4.50). Like I mentioned above, I do not normally eat Penang laksa, but I could taste immediately that this one was inferior. Still good, but not as fragrant. I guess if you don't want to travel all the way to Air Itam, this will do. I'm glad I still have not had the misfortune of trying bad Penang Laksa.
While inside the cafe, I tried to order a chendol. The line for the Teochew chendol was longer than the regular chendol, so I tried to make sure I was ordering the right one. Sadly they gave me the regular non-Teochew one (RM2.50) across the street (top 2 pictures). It was actually pretty good, but I needed to satisfy my curiosity and went outside to order the Teochew chendol (RM2.30) from the stall with the long line. I thought the green jelly was more soft and nice, and they put more gula Melaka which made it sweeter too, so I preferred this one.
Joo Hooi Cafe
475 Jalan Penang
11.30am-5pm
Lastly, I went to the Pulau Tikus food market for chee cheong fun (RM2) breakfast. This stall closes at 11am. I almost didn't make it there, but the friend who recommended it to me said it was really amazing and he didn't know how such a simple food could taste so good, and really sold me on it, so I went. I walked there from our hotel which took me 45 minutes, and actually could not find the place, but this kindly lady walked me to the market, and I had to ask around for the ccf stall and got pointed there. I then ordered my food and waited for it. The ccf was really nice and soft, and the prawn paste gave it amazing flavour, and of course the chili added a good kick to the dish. I wouldn't say it was so good that I would walk there in the sun for 45 mins, but I did really enjoy it, and the prawn paste black sauce was different from the Singapore version which I enjoyed. The auntie sat down and ate her bee hoon with me and gave me some to try, and we had a little chat. She told me they had been there for 40+ years!
My last snack food is this butterfly cake on the left side of the cart. At last that's what my family calls it whenever my dad buys it back from the market. I believe it is called hum chin peng which is fried doughnut, but that might also be the one on the right which is circular and has a filling. At RM0.80, it was freshly fried and super tasty. I was pleased! :-) Nice random find at the market next to our hotel.
I think this concludes my Penang hawker food post!
