Foods in Penang Island

Penang, Malaysia is an excitingly diverse city, crammed with the juxtaposition of locals, expats and travellers, who are usually coming through from Thailand and Singapore. It’s a bit of a teeming metropolis of cultural hybrids, really. Penang is literally the bustling rougher cousin of the Kuala Lumpur which is a little more serious and ‘business’. Slightly less developed and considerably cleaner, Penang is, to be a bit cliché, a diamond in the rough.

Strangely though, and what I find particularly interesting, Penang has a strange development story, which seems to give it even more charm. Founded, as a trading post by Captain Francis Light of the East India Company in 1786, Penang accidentally became quite important to British colonialism, which helped develop it as the diverse jungle of culture that you find yourself travelling around today, especially in regards to its delectable delicacies. Let’s rewind a little before taking you on a tasty treat tour of palatable Penang. Captain Light was actually sent by his bosses to take Thailand as a trading port. However, after a romantic little love affair, he eloped to Penang to settle with his love interest, turning that into the trading port instead. This led to the fusion of cultural delights now available from top hotels all the way down to lowly street food hawkers. Basically, if Captain Light had done what he was told, I wouldn’t be able to bring you this beautifully long list of exotic eateries in Penang!

                                                                              Assam Laksa

Assam Laksa is an extremely famous Penang dish. In fact, it might be the best well known; it’s certainly one that most locals will recommend so I’m definitely adding it to this list. It’s a spicy noodley soup with tastebud-tickling sour undertones. So, the traditional dish is kind of a thick broth whereas the Penang version is thinner. It’s poached mackerel that stews in the broth with tamarind, lemongrass, chillies and shrimp paste. This is topped with a big dollop of rice vermicelli. It’s been ranked 7th of the best 100 foods in the world so it’s definitely unmissable. As I said, it’s super famous so you can find it lurking on pretty much any street in Penang. However, Ayer Itam Pasar is said to serve the best Assam Laksa in the whole world. That’s a pretty big claim so it’s worth testing it out.

                                                                         Char Kway Teow

Ok, another noodle delight for you. This one is usually served with prawns so it’s a little more of a seafood delight. Its literal translation is ‘stir-fried rice-cake strips’ and that refers to the big fat, flat noodles that it comes with. Although recipes vary from street vendor to street vendor, the general consensus is that this more sloppy noodle dish contains prawns, cockles, beansprouts, Chinese chives, flat rice noodles, egg, soy sauce, chilli, belachan, all fried up in pork lard. This is a bit of a comfort food dish and is high in fat, pretty much due to the pork lard. However, its unhealthiness is mostly weighed out by how tasty it is! If you’re looking for a real tasty version of this dish, try Ah Leng Char Kuay Teow at Kafe Khoon Hiang. The stall only opens at night but it’s worth the visit as they use duck eggs, which give a creamier flavour.

                                                                        Chee Cheong Fun

Now, Chee Cheong Fun has a direct Cantonese translation which can be slightly off-putting for the weaker stomachs. It means: ‘pig intestine noodles’. However, no pig intestines are actually found in the dish. Phew! It’s called this because it’s made from rolled up flat rice noodles that resemble pig intestines. I would probably have found a more enticing name if I invented this concoction! Although that may sound a little bland, the flavour comes from the combo of three sauces blended on top of the noodles: prawn paste, chilli sauce, and a dark red sweet sauce. Honestly, the amalgamation of these three flavours is an explosion of taste in your mouth. If you want to try this dish, it’s more of a light snack. You need to head over to Seow Fong Lye Cafe where you’ll find a stall outside. Usually it’s an accompaniment, so if you’re hungry, try a few other dishes too.

                                                                        Hokkien Hae Mee

Another delight from under the sea, Hokkien Hae Mee, is a fried noodley prawn dish which is simply delicious. This is one of those street food specials you’ll hear backpackers and locals raving about and you’ll find it recommended on travel blogs all over the worldwide web. And there is good reason. It kind of a soup-based noodle dish that combines prawns, slices of chicken, squid and fish cake, and water spinach. It was actually brought over the Malaysia from Fujian, China. This dish is really common so you’ll be able to find it everywhere. It’s pretty uniform so it’s hard to get it wrong, which means it’s delicious wherever you can get your mouth round it. 888 Hokkien Mee at Presgrave Street Hawker Centre is a locally-recommended stall to try this delectable food.

                                                                               Pasembur

It may seem strange to begin with a salad but that’s the first dish I’m going to highly recommend to you. Pasembur is a Malaysian-Indian salad that’s basically a mess of cucumber, beancurd, potatoes, fried octopus, fried crab, turnip, bean sprouts and prawn fritters, dressed in a nutty-spicy sauce. A combo of under-the-sea delights and fresh crisp vegetables, this dish is not only a healthy, scrumptious sweet/sour delight. Where can you get it? The best and most well known place is probably Gurney Drive Hawker Centre, which is located next to Gurney Plaza and offers a drove of street food stalls that truly represent the cultural menagerie of food offered in Penang. Street food stalls include Indian, Malay, Mamak, and Chinese cuisine, which gives you the opportunity to sample some of the best cooks without having to traipse aimlessly around the city. With all the choice they offer, definitely don’t forget to get your lips around some pasembur!

The conclusion is that nothing a can be able to stand with Malaysian food because they are simplly tasty and awesome . 

Credits: Google Image