Penang is a foodies dream. And even if your sole purpose for travelling isn’t eating your way around the world, I promise you’ll be won over by the food of George Town.
We spent only three days here, but ate at least a weeks worth of food during our stay. It was hard to say no to the street food, food court foods and amazing restaurants we came across. The food available in Penang is a real mix, with hundreds of curry houses, the best Dim Sum we have ever eaten, decent Italian, Malaysian classics plus a few specialities that we hadn’t come across anywhere else and quite frankly the jury’s out on whether we would want to, enter Cendol.
Tai Tong Restaurant
If you read our guide to KL food, you’ll know I’m a sucker for Pork Bao and dumplings. Still on a high from KL Chinatown’s, we heard this place was the best in Penang and set out on our first day to find the place. When we arrived, I got that sinking feeling. The door was down, and a sign letting us know they were closed for five days. Only when we worked out, they’d be open in time for our last meal in George Town, did we feel a little better about things.
Tai Tong is a local’s hang out and the night we eventually visited for dinner, we were the only ‘foreign’ faces in the place. It did make for interesting communication given the way you get your food here is by diving onto one of the food trolley’s as the gorgeous old gals push them round, but it also meant it was the genuine thing, traditional Dim Sum like we’d never experienced. Even the vege ones we were told we must try, were damn good. The BBQ pork bao was soft and delicious, the chicken feet were even edible and every dumpling as good as the last.
We ate and ate, til we could eat no more. That much food and it cost us a grand total of RM37. Seriously one of the best meals of our life. I only hope it lives up to the expectations we’ve set if you get the chance to visit and I sure hope you do.
45, Lebuh Cintra, George Town, 10100 George Town, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Bistro Tang @ Reng I Tang Heritage Inn
We came across this place on the first afternoon we were in town and dying for a beverage. I’d been a couple of days without a wine and this place offered it by the glass at a reasonable price. Now that I’ve made myself sound like a slight alky, I can assure you I’m not, I’m just not in love with beer so the cheap alcohol offerings are not always great for me in Asia.
It’s the décor in this place, which truly sets it apart. It’s a beautifully restored building in the heart of George Town, which was one home to a famed Chinese herbalist family. The love and care that has been put into this restoration is clear and the owners now boast both the bistro and the accommodation next door. The owner by the way is lovely and we enjoyed her kids helping out the day we turned up. We can’t vouch for the food unfortunately, but I’d give it a whirl.
Lebuh Penang, George Town, 10200 George Town, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
CF Food Court
I reckon if you’re down by the Clan Jetties, you should stop by here for lunch. It’s a large food court on the corner of the main road, Pengkalen Weld and Gat Lebuh, with heaps of cheap food options. We stopped here for lunch once and came back for dinner the next day to try food from other hawkers who are based here.
I can recommend the Tom Yam Thai Food (yes I ate Thai food in Malaysia) and the Don from Kyo Dai Japanese Restaurant for sure.
The thing I love most about Malaysian food courts is the variety of drinks on offer. If it’s a new concept to you, what happens is one person is generally in charge of serving the drinks to all the customers at the various food stalls. One of the Malaysian specialities is getting your drinks takeaway in a plastic bag. It sounds different, but I had to give it a try. It’s got the novelty factor and works. Try the Asam Boi & Lime if you haven’t already.
10300, 48-58, Gat Lebuh Armenian, Georgetown, 10300 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
New World Park Food Court
Completely unplanned, but we ate here on a couple of occasions during our wandering of George Town. It’s a little out of the way compared to some of the other eateries, but I would recommend stopping off here if you’re checking out some of the street art in the area. It’s a pretty big food court, clean, with a decent amount of selection.
The first time we visited we tried traditional dumplings, which we just ok and some Dim Sum, which was nice, but had nothing on what we’d tried previously.
The best meal we had here was the Penang favourite, Char Kway Teow. We’d be told we must give this a go, and since our first choice of hawker to try this at wasn’t around this day, we gave one at New World Park a go. It was good. It had all the things. Shrimp and Chicken and cheaper than we’d seen elsewhere. It’s a classic Malaysian dish you have to try, kinda like a Pad Thai made with rice noodles, comparable, but some would say better.
Overall I don’t know that you’ll be blown away by the food here, but it’s cheap, cheerful and if you’re hungry I’d stop by here.
29 & 31, Lorong Swatow, George Town, 10050 George Town, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Lebuh Kimberley Street Food
Lebuh Kimberley or Kimberley Street, is pretty famous in Penang for its collection of tasty, good and cheap street food offerings. Both locals and tourists queue up at some of these stalls from early on in the evening to get some of the city’s favourites.
Located at the crossroads where Lebuh Kimberley meets Jalan Sungai Ujong and Lebuh Cintra, the streets comes alive from the late afternoon and the hawkers keep cooking until late into the night. With so many options to choose from, you’ll probably be like us, confused by all the choices and not knowing where to start. I don’t think this is a bad thing.
You’ll see by the queues, which items are at the top of everyone’s list, but we walked past these, the likes of the Duck Kway Chap and the Char Kway Teow, (hunger prevented us from waiting in a line) and still ended up with more than satisfying meals. I can vouch for the pork belly on rice and you can’t go past the grilled satay kebabs, cooked to perfection right in front of you on the street. I don’t think you can leave George Town before eating at least one dinner here. It wouldn’t be right.
Intersection of Lebuh Kimeberley, Jalan Sungai Ujong and Lebuh Cintra
Penang Road Famous Cendol
Cendol. Cendol. Cendol. On arriving in George Town, every blog, every food webpage and every third food hawker is talking about or selling Cendol. It’s hard to know if Cendol is a dessert, snack or a breakfast meal when you try it, and personally it left me wondering why anyone would want to quite frankly. Mike on the other hand was a convert and took to the stuff like a fish to water. It’s obviously an acquired taste and my palate, not sophisticated enough.
While I’ve been told Cendol is a traditional Indonesian dessert, Malaysia’s the only place we’ve come across it. It’s made from rice flour, palm sugar and coconut milk. Sounds ok so far right? Then you add in green food colouring and some red beans and well, you’ve got green jelly worms and beans in a milky mixture. It’s strange and not to everyone’s liking, but manages to be Malaysia’s favourite dessert. I can’t promise you’ll be sold, but I think you have to try it. We got it from ‘Penang Road Famous Cendol’, which sounds like is the best place. The family who sells the cendol is a busy one and they have kept the punters coming since 1936. You’ll find the little road side vendor tucked away just off Penang road.
27 & 29 Lebuh Keng Kwee,10100 Georgetown, Penang.
Via Pre
To be honest, we weren’t expecting to spend our early evening in an Italian joint during our stay, but it was just around the corner from our apartment and well, it had a sign outside advertising Aperitivo – our favourite ‘free’ meal of the day. If you’ve travelled through Italy, like us you may have become accustomed to the pre-dinner snacks available with your drinks and you like us, may also wonder why it hasn’t caught on everywhere else.
We love aperitivo, and Via Pre offered it as good as the best of the Italian restaurants we’ve been too. It’s a great little bar and restaurant nestled on the edge of George Town and they pour a great glass of wine. If you’re looking for a cheap drink, you probably won’t find it here, or anywhere in Malaysia for that matter. This is a classy little place where their tasty pizzas keep it real. We had hoped to make it back for a full dinner one night, but we’ll have to save it for the return trip one day.
20, Lebuh Penang, George Town, 10200 George Town, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Hong Kong Bar
We stopped by the Hong Kong Bar on the way home one night, as we had walked past it a few times in the daytime and liked the look of it. It was quiet when we went, but we quite like that sometimes.
The bar’s got really distinct décor and you’ll start wondering straight away the significance of it. The walls are covered floor to ceiling with plaques, military photographs and mementos and we soon discovered after chatting to one of the owners that the bar has been synonymous with traveling military since it opened way back when by her parents. It was her brother who served us our drinks, and while he was one of the slower barmen we’d come across, due to his age and his agility, it also may have been one of the better rum and coke’s I’ve ever been poured.
We loved the hospitality shown at Hong Kong Bar, loved that we could rifle through their photo albums and share in some of their memories and looove that we were offered board games to play.
371, Chulia Street, 10200, Pulau Pinang, Pulau Pinang, 10200, Malaysia
Bora Bora
We stumbled across Bora Bora on our short visit to the beach at Batu Ferringhi. From the sounds of it, it’s one of the more popular beach bars in the area and I could imagine it would get busy in the Summer months. We were visiting off peak, but still sat and enjoyed a beer and rum on the front. The food is a little pricey and we were underwhelmed by the tortilla chips we ordered, but the drinks were refreshing and the view amaze. The fact they really like Maroon 5 didn’t go unnoticed.
Lot 415, Jalan Batu Ferringhi, 11100, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Black Kettle
Advertising itself as a café, but also a Bistro open until midnight every day, we dropped by this place twice for breakfast during our stay in Georgetown, because once wasn’t enough, mainly because their coffee and pastries were good.
The pastries. Where to start? When you first walk into this place you’ll have the pastries right in front of you. The first day we didn’t get past these to even have a look at the food menu because they looked so darn good. They tasted good too, which is always a bonus when it comes to Danish’s, croissants and the like. We find that sometime they look amazing, but the taste or dryness lets them down. But not here.
The second day Mike resisted the pastries (I couldn’t) and opted for a cooked breakfast with the poached eggs on toast. It looked amazing, but I think he was slightly jealous of my two carb loaded breakfast choices – the cheesy bun and the chocolate Danish, which is not to be confused with a Pain au chocolat, two very different things.
This place isn’t that cheap, prices are more like at home, but if you’re craving a pastry and a good coffee, sit here for a while.
105, Beach Street. George Town 10300
Inch
We’ve got this thing, where a dinner isn’t quite finished until we’ve had either dessert or a drink. Since desserts didn’t really seem to be hugely available in the evening in places, we took to walking home via a glass or two while in George Town.
We came across Inch and really liked the set up and the drink selection they had. The bar is quite big and separated into three distinct areas, with my favourite being the back section, with concrete walls, nice light fittings and metal bar stools. The main bar area keeps it classy with a marble bar and shiny surfaces.
Sadly this place was far from full, and we think it deserved to have a few more punters than it did. The staff were friendly, they had a couple of specials on the wine and were keen to share their other favourite places to drink in Penang, which I liked. This place has potential, and the makings of a good menu, I hope it sticks around.
44, Jalan Muntri, George Town, 10200 George Town, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
While the food and drink establishments we’ve listed out here are worth a visit, no doubt you’ll find equally delicious options at other hawkers and street vendors around town for most of these dishes. But as hard as anyone tries, I don’t think you’ll beat Tai Tong.