Penang Food...

Penang...the Pearl of the Orient, is also one of the famous food haven in Malaysia and I heard some say globally as well (courtesy of Mr Penang:)
Came across a page which listed down all the famous Penang eating places and also the food made famous in Penang....not sure whether this is reliable but I have heard of a few of those places. To me, most of them are now tourist-prone places and not as good as it claimed - rather commercialized if I may say so.

Anyway, you can feel free to go to these few Penang food blogs which will list all those famous food and their locations if you want to explore your taste buds to experience the local Penang delicacies which Penangites so often boast of:P
Penang Food

Penang Food Haven

Penang Food Lovers Guide

Penang have their few renowned delicacies such as the following; let me do a quick roundup of the Penang food as well and my comments *winks*

**Disclaimer: The pics posted here are taken from Tourism Penang website and also from a forwarded email from a collague. I apologize if the pics were taken from your website and was in the forwarded email.Please let me know if you wish for me to remove it immediately. Thank you.

1. Hokkien Mee - which we see this as prawn mee in KL and received numerous complaints and criticsms from the Penangites who claimed that prawn mee is not Hokkien Mee....yayaya....Penangites (need to learn to adapt to the different food and styles lar....sighhh)

A significant thing is they do not mix the gravy and the soup unless you request it specifically...

In Hokkien: Lor+Teng (Gravy/broth to be mixed in the soup)

You can also ask for extra chilli sauce (sambal-like) to spice up your bowl :p

I think you can basically find this everywhere; in any coffee shop or hawker food stalls you go on the island.

(Pic taken from Tourism Penang website)

2. Char Koay Teow- fried flat rice vermicelli with prawns and cockles and some bean sprouts (taugeh) with the garnishing of fried eggs.

You can have the spicy or non-spicy one...

There's a couple of famous ones for this;

a. Lorong Selamat - which I heard charges an outrageous price for their burnt koay teow...about RM6 per plate. I know the locals do not go there to get their dose of Char Koay Teow. Furthermore, loads of reviews I read mentioned that their service is also not good.
b. Sisters Char Koay Teow at Burmah Road - also similar to Lorong Selamat; used to be famous but then they raised to exorbitant prices and too commercialized....locals do not recommend:p

c. Ah Leng Char Koay Teow at Dato Keramat Road - this is an old stall..mum used to tell me about it

d. Another place to try is the coffee shop next to the famous cendol alley - that place serves pretty decent char koay teow which mum and dad liked and with big prawns as well :)

3. Koay Teow Th'ng - Flat rice vermicelli/koay teow in clear soup with sliced chicken strips and fishballs.

4. Char Koay Kak - Fried rice cake with pickled vegetables and bean sprouts....a favourite among the locals for breakfast.

5. Asam Laksa - the rounded vermicelli with the fish anchovy paste like essence in the soup with parsley to add to the aroma. I find it okay; but it does have a strong fishy smell which foreigners may not like. I know my mentor really disliked it....she pushed it away at the first taste:p

Famous one is the one in Air Itam..I hate that place...too dirty for me.

No offense meant; but it is popular haunt for Laksa...every Penangite or tourist will definitely go there for the laksa.

Another one I heard was in Balik Pulau...not too sure about that...let me do more research before sharing this with you:D

6.Chee Cheong Fun - Aha...this is another pride of the islanders; it is indeed different from those in other states. Actually, it is nothing special compared to Hong Kong Chee Cheong Fun (which comes wrapped in roasted pork or prawns) or the KL Yong Tau Foo styled Chee Cheong Fun.
This is just plain flat rice vermicelli in either the prawn paste sauce (Heh ko - same one used for laksa) or the sweet sauce and then sprinkled with some fried onions.

7. Oh Chien - Oyster omelette; okay, this one is pretty famous in Penang and I must say it is also nicer here on the island compared to the others I have tried so far. (in West Malaysia lar...)

8. Poh piah - spring rolls with vegetables and crab meat. Sometimes they even have the wet poh piah which comes in soup.

You can try the one at the Padang Brown....

9. Lok Lok - you see this everywhere; a miniature and rather individual type of steamboat style. In Melaka, they call this celup.

Again, Padang Brown

10. Ais Kacang - okay, now Picky Gal also agree that Penang's ais kacang is better than KL! The ice kacang here uses the syrup based and not coconut milk as in KL....don't really like that. But then again, that's a matter of preference. Another thing is; most of the ice kacang in Penang comes with an abundance of red beans (I like that!!:), cendol, grass jelly and sweet corn and also attap chee (rarity in KL). They also top the ice kacang with ice cream most of the time.

Famous ones are:

Kek Seng coffee shop in town - an old one which is famous for this

Swatow Lane - ice kacang with fruits!

Gurney Plaza food court (Ground floor) - this is my personal recommendation; his stall is tucked in the far left end corner after the drinks counter....also with fruits...not bad and reasonably priced:)

11. Cendol - the green slimy cendol in coconut milk syrup with red beans and ice...

Famous: Penang road lor; the Teochew Penang Road Chendol...they even have their own website....need I say more?

12. Lor Bak - marinated and minced pork meat wrapped in fried beancurd sheet.

Famous: Kek Seng

13. Rojak - Malaysian style of salad....with the Heh Kor (prawn paste) with green mango, cucumber, mengkuang, pineapple, papaya, prawn fritters....

I don't like this at all:P

14. Cheh Hoo - another type of rojak/salad with the sauce

Recommendation: Batu Lanchang market; within the food court - in the late afternoon.

15. Hokkien Char - now this is the yellow mee fried with vermicelli (mee hoon) with prawns and slices of pork meat+vegetables

This is different from the KL version of Hokkien style fried mee...if you are in KL, do not order Hokkien Char or else you will get the other version with the thicker mee (tai lok mee).

Hmmmmm...that's all I have at the moment of Penang Food; let me find the time to post these pics once I get hold of them.