9 Must-Try Penang Street Food That Only The Locals Know

Published December 30, 2021
 

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Penang’s colonial charm and rich heritage have been attracting locals and foreign tourists for years, but these days the island is slowly gaining international recognition as a leading Asian culinary destination. In the past few years, Penang’s eclectic street food scene has been named one of the top street food destinations by CNN Travel and the top global foodie destination by Lonely Planet. 
 

Dubbed the “Culinary Capital of Malaysia”, Penang is a food paradise featuring a melting pot of different cultures, reflected in local cuisine that incorporates Malay, Chinese, Indian and Peranakan cooking (derived from a blend of Chinese, Malay, Thai Indonesian, Indian and European influences). Amidst capital city George Town’s historic shophouse and colonial architecture, steaming plates of nasi lemak and fragrant bowls of curry laksa are served up at local Penang hawker food stalls.
 

   
 

This al fresco culinary culture resonates amongst Malaysians as there’s many reasons to love Penang street/hawker food. Not only is Penang hawker food quick, tasty and cheap, it also makes for an exciting outdoor culinary experience for you to enjoy with your family and friends. As you walk down the streets, you will be bombarded with the pungent and spicy aromas from the braziers and grills wafting through the air. There’s also some theatre involved, with Penang hawker food stall staff calling out to passersby to come and eat, and rituals like the frying of woks to elaborate jug to cup transfer of teh tarik (pulled tea with sweetened condensed milk). 

   
 

Penang street food is as excitingly diverse as the island is. Skewered in sticks, served in a bowl or presented in a plate, you will definitely find Penang street food reflecting the hodge-podge of different ethnicities, cultures and religions. Forget about the comforts of air conditioning and be prepared to scour every nook and cranny of Penang streets for the following must try food in Penang.

 

1. Char Kway Teow

 

 

A national favourite, char kway teow has origins from China since the 19th century, specifically in the Guangdong and Fujian provinces. From a simple noodle dish with pork, fish sauce and soy sauce which began in China’s south-eastern provinces, char kway teow quickly transformed into a seafood delight once it reached Penang’s shores. 

Initially, a labourer’s staple sold at night by fishermen and cockle gatherers, char kway teow - a dish of flat rice noodles stir-fried with soy sauce, prawns, cockles, eggs, chinese sausages, bean sprouts and crispy pork fat -  is well-loved by Malaysians. 

 

   

 

Head to Siam Road Charcoal Char Kway Teow, which is arguably the best char kway teow on the island, helmed by the “Humble King of Noodles” and one of the oldest char kway teow legends in Malaysia, 79-year old Tan Chooi Hong. Uncle Tan, as he’s most commonly known, has been cooking this single dish from a wok-cart attached to a bicycle on the side of Siam Road, for over 60 years and still fires the wok on his own each day for two hours, starting from noon before passing the wok spatula to his son at 3 pm.

 

   

 

Locals will brave the long queues at this Penang hawker food stall, sometimes for several hours, to taste what many call the most delicious, flavoursome char kway teow in Malaysia. Some people say that charcoal is the secret to Uncle Tan’s success. While many Penang street food  stalls use gas stoves, Uncle Tan cooks on charcoal, frying one order at a time for maximum flavour and wok hei, which translates to “breath of the wok” - the ‘essence’ that the wok imparts during the stir-frying. It’s a complex, smoky depth of flavour that’s enhanced by the use of charcoal and sweetness of the soy sauce, and is expertly created by cooking the right portion over the right temperature.

Address: Siam Road Charcoal Char Kway Teow, 82, Jalan Siam, Georgetown, 10400 Georgetown, Penang Island
Operating Hours: Tuesdays to Saturdays: 12.00 pm to 6.00 pm (Closed on Sundays and Mondays)

 

 

2. Penang Asam Laksa

 

 

One must-try food in Penang that visitors should definitely not miss is Asam Laksa. Ranked #7 on CNN’s the world’s 50 best foods, Asam Laksa is a highly-addictive spicy-sour fish broth, served with thick, white noodles. This local Penang street food dish get its tangy and fishy flavour from stewing poached shredded mackerel with tamarind juice, and added with prawn paste for sourness, as well as an assortment of herbs and spices, including chili, mint, lemongrass, pineapples, onions, bunga kantan and cucumbers, for a slightly sweet aftertaste. 

 

   

 

Penangites often flock to this Penang hawker food stall in  Ayer Itam Market called Penang Air Itam Laksa located close to the Kek Lok Si temple. This famous Penang hawker food stall is said to serve the best Assam Laksa in the whole world and also received a seal of approval from the late chef and travel television host Anthony Bourdain, who visited the stall in 2012 for his show, No Reservations. 

 

   

 

Opened since 1955, the Assam Laksa at Penang Air Itam Laksa is so popular that locals who head there for a first bowl before exploring the Kek Lok Si temple, return for a second round after they are done with their visit.  

Address: Penang Air Itam Laksa, Jalan Pasar, Paya Terubong, 11500 George Town, Penang Island
Operating Hours: 11 am to 5 pm on Weekends

 

 

3. Penang Rojak

 

 

One of the best things you can do in Penang is to try out its most unusual foods. Rojak is one of those - a Malaysian fruit and vegetable salad consisting of bite-sized fruits such as pineapples, jambu air, guava, raw mangoes, green apples; cut vegetables including cucumbers, turnip and fresh jicama; along with cuttlefish, squid pancakes, taupok, and fried dough fritters, tossed in a thick prawn paste and sprinkled with crushed peanuts. 

 

   

 

If you are looking for the best rojak in Penang, your best bet is Hock Seng Rojak, the “Rojak King” at Macallum Street. This humble Penang hawker food stall has been a neighbourhood favourite for over 40 years. The key to their four decades of success is their secret-homemade thick sticky sauce topped with toasted peanuts and dried shrimp, which perfectly balances the flavours of the rojak.

 

   

 

Don’t let this unassuming Penang street food stall fool you as its rojak is very popular among locals, with long queues often spotted right beside the stall and with their rojak being sold out by 5 pm. Their rojak is available in 3 sizes: small (RM 7), medium (RM10) and large (RM14). If you are a rojak fan, then Hock Seng Rojak has to be at the top of your list! 

Address: Hock Seng Rojak, Gat Lebuh Cecil, 10300 George Town, Penang Island
Operating Hours: Wednesdays to Sundays: 3 pm to 8  pm (Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays)

 

 

4. Lor Bak

 

 

Lor Bak needs no introduction in the food capital of Malaysia, where it is a common item in the Penang street food scene. Also known as five-spice pork rolls, Lor Bak consists of pork marinated in Chinese five-spice powder, mixed with various ingredients such as water chestnuts, jicama, carrot and onions, rolled up with a sheet of bean curd and fried till crispy. They are typically sold alongside other deep-fried items such as sausages, fish cakes and prawn fritters. 

 

   

 

While Penang boasts a good number of Penang hawker food stalls serving Lor Bak, one of the popular places to have this special treat is Kheng Pin Cafe along Penang Road. For more than 40 years, fried food lovers make a beeline at this almost-half-a-century-old cafe for the scrumptious deep-fried Lor Bak, prawn fritters, spring rolls, tofus, fish cakes and century eggs. 

 

   

 

The Lor Bak at this cafe is famous island-wide as it is crispy on the outside and packed-full with flavours from five-spice seasoning. Paired with slices of cucumber, homemade chili sauce and sweet sauce, and a refreshing drink, it is simply satisfying and makes the perfect appetiser to kick off your meals.

Address: Kheng Pin Cafe, 80, Penang Road, 10000 George Town, Penang Island 
Operating Hours: Wednesdays to Sundays: 7.30 am to 2 pm (Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays)

 

 

5. Penang Teochew Chendol

 

 

Walking around in 30°C humid weather? A refreshing bowl of chendol is what you’ll need. Finely shaved ice, green strips of dough which are naturally dyed from pandan leaves juice, fresh coconut milk, stewed red beans, brown sugar and palm sugar come together in a delicious concoction that will guarantee to cool you off even in the most sweltering of heat. 
 

 

   

 

If you are looking to quench your thirst under the hot weather, head to Penang island’s most popular chendol stall, Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul. This famous Penang street food vendor offers a delectable chendol served till the brim in a blue bowl filled with a combination of generous toppings including worm-like pandan-flavoured rice-flour jelly strips, red beans, coconut milk and shaved iced, combined with palm sugar and sweet syrup, with the just right amount of sweetness. 

 

   

 

This Penang hawker food stall started as a labour of love from a humble father who wanted to support his family. The founder, Mr Tan Teik Fuang started his business in 1936, during the colonization and Japanese occupation period, with a simple pushcart at a small alley near Penang Road, selling chendol. This local dessert in Penang was handmade by Mr Tan, who took pride in the quality of his chendol, while maintaining his humility and friendliness with those who patronized his stall. His philosophy and legacy is continued by his son, Mr Tan Chong Kim, today and has flourished into a major household name with a growing number of outlets in the country. 

 

   

 

Although Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul has extended its reach throughout Malaysia, the original stall at Lebuh Keng Kwee is still the most bustling spot. Even during weekdays, throngs of locals and tourists can be seen crowding around the stall. 

 

   

 

Visitors return to this Penang street food stall time and time again due to its consistent quality. What makes Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul so special is their quality ingredients: 100% pandan juice, natural coconut milk, high-quality red beans which are stewed in sugar for six hours and al dente chendol strips. Together, this mixture of different textures - creamy, crunchy and chewy, coupled with its sweet flavour, creates a refreshing, satisfying local dessert in Penang.

Address: Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul, 27 & 29 Lebuh Keng Kwee, 10100 Georgetown, Penang
Operating Hours: Mondays to Fridays: 10.30 am to 7.00 pm / Saturdays and Sundays: 10.00 am to 7.30 pm
Contact: +604-261 8002 

 

 

6. Nasi Kandar

 

 

Penang’s Little India is the country’s largest and most vibrant. Settlers from the subcontinent - southern India and the Punjab, began arriving in the 1700s, sent by the British as convict labour. Their contribution to Penang gastronomy is evident in the popular Penang hawker food dish, nasi kandar - rice served with various meat and vegetable curries, a holdover from the days when strong men carried kandar, or shoulder poles, with baskets of rice and curry suspended from either end. 

 

   

 

At George Town, Hameediyah Restaurant, located in Lebuh Campbell, Malaysia’s oldest Nasi Kandar restaurant carries on the more than century-old tradition, serving rice with flavorful curries, made with family recipes handed down from its founder, M. Mohamed Thamby Rawther, a spice trader from Tamil Nadu, India.

 

   

 

Mohamed Thamby arrived in Penang in the 1900s with his three sons and first began setting up a shop selling spices from India, in a rented house. Although he was not a chef, he was good at observing the cooking skills of his grandfather, a well-known wedding cook in his village, and used those skills, when he started selling nasi kandar in front of their shop, during the British colonial period. 

 

   

 

The Hameediyah family wanted to show how customers could use spices in their cooking and share with them their culinary skills. With their knowledge of spices and tips from family members, they came up with their own masala recipe, using a mix of fennel, cumin, white pepper, almond and cashew nuts, along with other Indian spices including chili powder, cinnamon and cloves,  which is still used as the base of all their signature curries to this day. 

 

   

 

Today, this famous Penang street food restaurant continues to command a loyal following among locals and foreign visitors, wishing to sample one of the must-try food in Penang. The secret to the family restaurant’s long-standing success is its use of fresh spices and ghee imported from India, Turkey, Pakistan and Spain, to make their curry and masala. They don’t use processed spices or ready-packed varieties and stick to the age old method based on a formula that has been passed down for generations - by grinding and mixing the fresh spices in precise proportions to ensure consistent taste before cooking them according to family recipes. The spices are used for the restaurant’s signature dishes - beef rendang, chicken kapitan, chicken curry, ayam ros and briyani rice - and the chefs treat each pot of curry with great care, by sampling it at least 20 times before serving it to customers.

Address: Hameediyah Restaurant, 164 A, Lebuh Campbell, Georgetown, 10100 Georgetown, Penang
Operating Hours: Mondays to Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays: 10.00 am to 10.00 pm, Fridays: 10.00 am to 1 pm; 3 pm to 10 pm
Contact: +6012-594 0479 / hameediyah1907@gmail.com 
 

 

 

7. Penang Hokkien Mee

 

 

Craving for the perfect late night pick me up? Look no further than Penang Hokkien Mee, one of Penang’s most famous food at night - a popular Chinese prawn-based broth noodle dish with origins from China’s Fujian province. 

 

   

 

A popular Penang hawker food delicacy, Penang Hokkien Mee comprises a slurp-worthy full-bodied broth of simmered prawn heads, shells, tails and pork bones with onions and garlic, tinged orange from chili paste. The broth is ladled over blanched yellow noodles or rice vermicelli, and topped with succulent peeled prawns, dried shrimps, a hard-boiled egg, sliced pork, pork ribs, a handful of kangkung (local water spinach), fried shallots, beansprouts, fishballs, braised pork intestines, crispy pork skin or chicken feet, and a spoonful of sambal. 

   

 

Ask anyone about prawn mee in Penang and chances are the prawn mee stall at Restoran Old Green House will be at the top of their list. Penangites love flocking to this popular Penang street food stall for dinner, supper or when they crave for a piping bowl of hot noodles  after partying late in the night. 
 

   

 

Aside from being scrumptious, another reason that this Penang hawker food stall which offers one of Penang’s most famous food at night is popular because you can request for additional toppings including roast pork, meat balls, braised egg, Chinese sausage, chicken feet, shrimps, pork intestines, pork skin or more. Diners also have the option to choose their noodles from yellow noodles, bee hoon (rice vermicelli), Cintan Mee or La Mian (hand-pulled wheat flour noodles).
 

Today, this famous Penang street food restaurant continues to command a loyal following among locals and foreign visitors, wishing to sample one of the must-try food in Penang. The secret to the family restaurant’s long-standing success is its use of fresh spices and ghee imported from India, Turkey, Pakistan and Spain, to make their curry and masala. They don’t use processed spices or ready-packed varieties and stick to the age old method based on a formula that has been passed down for generations - by grinding and mixing the fresh spices in precise proportions to ensure consistent taste before cooking them according to family recipes. The spices are used for the restaurant’s signature dishes - beef rendang, chicken kapitan, chicken curry, ayam ros and briyani rice - and the chefs treat each pot of curry with great care, by sampling it at least 20 times before serving it to customers.

Address: Old Green House Restaurant, 223, Jalan Burma, 10050 Georgetown, Penang
Operating Hours: Mondays to Saturdays: 3.00 pm to 10.30 pm  (Closed on Sundays)
 

 

 

8. Duck Kway Chap (Duck Soup Noodles)

 

 

Penangites would be familiar with Kimberley Street, a mecca for some of the best Penang street food and home to the ‘Four Heavenly Kings’ - four famous pushcart Penang hawker food stalls just a stone’s throw away from one another. 
 

   

 

The most popular amongst them sells Duck Kway Chap, a Teochew dish comprising a rich, herbal broth using spices like star anise, cloves, ginger, cinnamon and five-spice powder, and filled with an assortment of ingredients including tender braised duck and pork meat, offal, innards, beancurd, preserved salted vegetables and braised hard-boiled eggs served with translucent flat rice noodles.

 

   

 

The Kway Chap at Restoran Kimberly in Kimberley Street is one of the rare places that uses duck as their starring meat - straying away from the standard bowl of noodles where only pork is used. Locals continuously brave the long queues just to enjoy a bowl of this Penang famous food at night and love the consistent flavour and taste at Restoran Kimberly, who has been serving the duck kway chap for over three decades.

 

   

 

Their flat rice noodles are still made in-house by hand from scratch, using family recipes and every component in this famous Penang hawker food dish - from the kway chap and the stewed duck to the braised eggs and chili sauce - uses local ingredients and is prepared by the owner, Mr Por.

 

   

 

You can expect a flavourful duck kway chap at Restoran Kimberly that is filled with a generous amount of toppings of your choice - from braised pork, duck, fishcakes, vegetables, duck necks, duck wings and pig ears to innards including offals, gizzards, intestines and livers, congealed blood and a stewed hard-boiled egg. 

Address: Restoran Kimberly, 137, Kimberley Street, 10100 Georgetown, Penang
Operating Hours: 5.30 pm to 10.30 pm daily (Closed on Thursdays)
 

 

 

9. Wan Tan Mee

 

 

Wan Tan Mee is a popular and common Penang hawker food that is simple in its preparation but is big on flavours. This Cantonese dish is believed to have originated from Guangzhou, China and is famously known as Tok Tok Mee in Penang - a nickname it earned from the old days when local hawkers selling it used long bamboo sticks to make the “tok tok” sound in the streets, to draw attention to their Penang street food stall.

 

   

 

For an authentic taste of this must-try food in Penang, pay a visit to Tok Tok Mee Bamboo Noodle at Campbell Street - the only traditional bamboo noodle house in Penang. This ever-bustling Penang street food restaurant still produces its fresh supply of egg noodles using the age-old “big bamboo pole” press, a traditional method once widely practiced in Hong Kong and Southern China. Its preparation sees the noodle-maker sitting astride a long bamboo pole and seasawing up and down, turning the dough made from flour and a combination of both chicken and duck eggs, into a smooth thin sheet, before being flattened through a machine and cut into fine shreds.

 

   

 

The fresh noodles are usually sold out each day, with locals praising Tok Tok Mee Bamboo Noodle’s fine-textured noodles that includes slivers of char siew (red-tinged, caramelised Chinese BBQ pork), leafy green vegetables and tasty large wantan dumplings that are generously filled with minced pork and shrimp, which are then tossed in an appetizing dark soy sauce mixture and served alongside pickled green chillies and a homemade broth. Complement your wantan mee meal with side dishes, including braised chicken feet and steamed chicken to pork trotter and chicken wings with shrimp paste.

Address: Tok Tok Mee Bamboo Noodle, 37, Campbell Street, 10100 Georgetown, Penang
Operating Hours: 9.00 am to 9.30 pm daily (Closed on Thursdays)
Contact: +6014-368 0720 / 04-261 9875.

 

So, what are you waiting for? Take the opportunity to savour some of the best Penang hawker food and Penang street food now. You can also enjoy some of these must-try food in Penang including Penang Hokkien Mee, Penang Char Kway Teow and Penang Rojak at Roselle Coffee House in Lexis Suites Penang during your next stay in Penang. So don’t miss out and book your stay now!