Penang is THE BEST PLACE. We ended up staying in George Town (the old town center of Penang) for a few weeks because we loved it (and the food) so damn much. Penang, and all of Malaysia really, is fascinating because it’s such a beautiful mix of cultures — Chinese, Malay and Indian are the three major ones. And because of this cultural mix, the food in Malaysia is now one of my very favorite cuisines in the world — it is so perfectly varied and there are an absolute boat load of incredible dishes. It’s also well-known that the best food in Malaysia is in Penang. The city is very very famous for their street food. So as you could assume, most of my notes below are about eating. Because it is dumb as hell to go to Penang and not EAT ALL YOU CAN EAT.

The first item below is a list of the foods you should try while in Malaysia/Penang. Then I have listed the places where I ate while in Penang, followed by all the things to do in Penang that are not food-related (including notes on where to stay).

Malaysian foods to try

Savory dishes:

• Asam Laksa: a tart/sour/sweet noodle soup that includes fish, tamarind, pineapple, chili, mint and more

• Curry Mee (known as curry laksa outside of Penang): a curry noodle soup made with coconut milk, sweet and spicy flavor, typically includes chicken, a few small clams/cockles, bean sprouts and cubes of blood pudding (which can be omitted as requested) — FAVE DISH

• Wan tan mee (famous dish in Penang): super thin egg noodles cooked in soy sauce with char siu pork and wonton dumplings — FAVE DISH

• Hokkien Mee (in Penang, also known as prawn mee): a lovely noodle soup dish with both vermicelli noodles and yellow wheat noodles, also includes shrimp, pork, bean sprouts, a hard boiled egg, etc — FAVE DISH

• Hokkien Mee (in Kuala Lumpur): a dark sauce noodle dish with shrimp, crunchy pork skin and fish cake strips

• Char Koay Teow (a famous dish of Penang): a fried noodle dish with wider noodles, shrimp and bean sprouts that reminded me of pad thai (kinda)

• Koay Teow Th’ng (or koay teow soup): very little relation to char koay teow. This is basically chicken noodle soup featuring a thin fettuccini noodle. 

• Roti Canai: flaky, buttery roti served with dal, eaten for breakfast or as a snack — FAVE DISH

• Satay: barbecued meats on a skewer served with peanut sauce — FAVE DISH

• Loh bak (or lor bak): a multitude of fried veg (like lotus root) and fried meats that you choose and then dip into two different sauces (a sweet sauce and a chili sauce)

• Nasi Kandar: delicious chicken and a variety of curries served with rice (usually you choose all items that you want on your plate, this is a truly Penang-centric dish as it originated here)

• Lok lok (or steamboat): a vast array of skewers are on display and you choose which you want to eat then you sit down with them at a table with a bubbling vat of water in the middle and dip your sticks in before eating them. They count the number of sticks and the color of sticks at the end of the meal to charge you the correct amount.

• Popiah: kind of like a spring roll but the outside is like a thin crepe, sometimes crunchy, sometimes soft

• Yong tau foo: a smattering of bean curd-based items that you choose yourself and then it’s cut up and served to you with either a curry sauce or a gravy

• Otak otak: kind of like a soft fish pate with a nice hint of spice, served inside a banana leaf, we ate it with crackers (the fish, not the leaf), also read it described as fish custard w lime and chili 

Savory + kinda sweet dishes:

• Chee cheong fun: chopped up rice noodle roll topped with a thick sweet brown sauce and sesame seeds — but sometimes topped instead with curry sauce  — FAVE DISH

• Rojak: chopped up crunchy fruits like guava, green mango and pineapple topped with a thick sweet yet (tiny bit) sour sauce

• Pasembur: shredded jicama and cucumber and some other bits like fried tofu and poached jellyfish, all doused in a sweet-ish, lightly spicy red sauce 

• Muar chee (or muah chee): tiny bits of thick rice noodle chopped up into perfect bite sized pieces and covered in sugar, crushed peanut and sesame seeds. similar in texture to mochi. — FAVE DISH

• Kaya Toast: this is a classic breakfast food. It’s two slices of toast with butter and kaya (jam made of coconut milk and eggs) in the middle. Then you dip the toast in a little side dish that includes a soft boiled egg, pepper and soy sauce (which you mix together yourself). — FAVE DISH

• Roti tissue: a thin, tall cone of crunchy roti that is doused in condensed milk (this one is mainly a sweet dish, not so savory)

Sweet dishes:

• Cendol (pronounced chendahl): a shaved ice dish with coconut milk, palm sugar syrup and noodles of green rice flour jelly that is super popular in Malaysia

• Pisang Goreng: fried bananas usually rolled in sugar and sesame seeds — FAVE DISH

• ABC or Ais Kacang (same thing): a shaved ice dessert that typically has things like corn, red bean, some syrups, some jellies and cream on top — FAVE DISH

• Apom balik (in KL) or ban chean koay (in Penang): a thin nicely crunchy pancake folded in half with butter, sugar and crushed peanuts inside, can also add corn. Easy to spot these vendors as they have the folded half-moon pancakes on display in a row in a noticeable spot at their stall/food cart.

• Maltose: this thick honey-like syrup that is wrapped around the top of a stick into a ball shape that is to be sucked like a lollipop — FAVE DISH

• Ice Ball: shaved ice in the shape of a ball covered in one or two colored syrups and it has ice cream in the middle

Drinks:

• Nutmeg juice

• White coffee

• Tea Tarik (delicious milk tea)

• Air Kelapa Sarbat: rose syrup drink that tastes like bubblegum with basil seeds and shreds of coconut

• Other cool drinks include: barley juice, longan juice, ambra juice, sour plum juice, Lo Han Kuo, Pat Poh

Notes about foods:

• Koay and kway are the same thing/word, just different spellings. So sometimes you’ll see the popular Penang dish called Char Kway Teow instead of Char Koay Teow.

• For many of the noodle soup dishes, it is common for more than one type of noodle to be in the dish (egg noodles, vermicelli, etc). Sometimes when ordering, the cook will ask you if you want one noodle or mixed. 

• Kopitiams are the cafes where there can be multiple vendors selling many different dishes. These spots are oftentimes on street corners and typically at least one or two of the walls are just open-air. At most of these establishments, the owner of the kopitiam is the seller of the drinks plus they also collect rent from each of the food vendors — but this is why you pretty much always have to buy at least one drink with your meal from the owner of the kopitiam when you sit down at any of these spots.

Where I ate in Penang

• Chulia Street Night Hawker Stalls (curry mee was insane and the wantan mee by the mother/son duo is also amazing)

• Mugshot Cafe (western food, if you need a bagel or some lovely baked goods and treats)

• Cecil Street Market (lots of good food vendors, I had an apom balik/small folded crispy pancake and a white coffee, then my second time had pasembur and muar chee and lo han ko)

• Ah Leng Char Koay Teow (delicious but a bit out of town, I had a nutmeg juice with it, all was v tasty)

• Kedai Kopi Seng Thor (Ben had a nice wantan mee and I had the sour plum juice which was crazy sweet but fun to try)

• Scoops (good ice cream)

• Ming Xiang Tai Pastry Shop (char siu pork pao was bonkers good, nice little size too)

• Padang Kota Lama Food Court (get ABC at the very back right of the food court)

• CY Choy Road Hokkien Mee (amaaaazing soup noodles and a beaut iced white coffee)

• The Jetty Food Court (used to be called CF food court, Ben had Texas bbq here, lol. But the focus here is all the different Malaysian dishes)

• Chew Jetty (had a stick of maltose from one of the vendors, kinda like more solid-ish honey)

• Jalil Special Ais Cacang (got the coconut shake (so good), the ais cacang (funky and fun to try) and an air kelapa sarbat (rose syrup drink that tastes like bubblegum with basil seeds and shreds of coconut)

• Kassim Mustafa (had tandoori set with garlic naan, sooo gooood, then had roti tissue and roti canai here, also yum)

• Tuai Pui Curry Mee (lovely broth, both thin and thick noodles in the dish, barley juice was great)

• Nasi Kandar Line Clear (nicely spicy Nasi Kandar, tender chicken)

• Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul (sit in the tables inside, we had chee cheong fun, rojak, popiah and some dumpling dish)

• Hong Kee Bamboo Noodle (got wan tan mee soup, or whatever the house special was called)

• Toh Soon Cafe (kaya toast and teh tarik)

• Oo White Coffee Cafe (great wan tan mee and curry mee and ambra juice and beef noodles!)

• Tiger Char Koay Teow (v tasty but can also get wan tan mee and loh bak!)

• Fuku Eatery (has curry chicken katsu and gyoza)

• Genting Cafe (chee cheong fun, curry mee, chicken rice, etc)

• Pisang Goreng roadside stand (if you ever see this fried banana dish at at hawker stall, try it)

• Air Itam Asam Laksa (for the very famous asam laksa, not my thing but fun to try)

• Pulau Tikus Hawker Stalls (we got lok lok)

• Cafe Seow Fong Lye (for chee cheong fun and otak otak)

• Le Petit Four Cafe (the baguettes are perfect)

• Koay Teow Th’ng on Lebuh Melayu (very good)

• Kedai Kopi Kassim (had a delicious mee goreng w chicken at this roadside stall)

• Ais Tingkap (an iced treat vendor, I had the cendol)

• Red Garden (go to the satay vendor at the south end of the courtyard)

Shop

• The Warung (super cute hipstery shop with amazing postcards of Malaysian foods)

• Hikayat book store (amazing selection, go to both locations)

• Heong Giap Paper (incredible local stationary shop for notebooks, pens, etc)

• Mano plus select store (super cool shop w/ a tasty japanese cafe within)

• Warehouse 129 and Sixth Sense (almost next door to each other)

• Mucca (for really cool custom notebooks and planners)

• Sam’s Batik and the few other shops right next door on Jalan Penang  (pricier than I’d like but lots of fun stuff to browse and decent quality it seemed)

• Batek-lah (high quality batik)

• so many cool local shops in little India!

Do

• Kek Lok Si temple (trek up)

• Penang Hill (take cable car)

• Ferringhi Night Walk Bazaar (not worth going to IMO)

• Farlim Market (on wednesdays)

• Jelutong Night Market

• Chowrasta Market (go before noon, vendors on the streets surrounding too)

• Pulau Tikus wet market and hawker stalls 

Stay

• a cute/quiet yet central area to stay is on streets like Lorong Stewart, Jalan Muntri and Lorong Chulia (not Jalan Chulia). Lots of small guesthouses in this area 

• We stayed two Airbnbs. The first was incredible. Located at 312 Beach St.