9 Penang Delicacies | Penang Island Epicurean Tour

Penang Island is truly a food paradise. Our 48 hours epicurean tour in Penang Island had definitely not enough to cover all the gems in this food paradise island. In conjunction with our sight-seeing and epicurean tour towards the North Peninsular starting from Perak, we had continued the mission of taming our taste buds with Penang's famous delicacies and meeting our buddy; Wei Lin.This post covered the Penang delicacies that we had through out the trip in Penang Island.

1.   Asam Laksa at Pasar Air Itam ( on the way to Kek Lok Si)

The stall which is famous for its authentic asam laksa is situated next to Air Itam market.Each bowl of the asam laksa was packed with big portion of rice noodles, flavourful spicy mackerel based soup, shrimp paste, polygonum leaves, lemongrass, mint leaves and onions. A mouthful of shredded fish and the refreshing mints matched with the pungent shrimp paste were the great breakfast on the day we arrived in Penang. Also, the stall has fresh sugar cane beverages to quench our thirsts after eating asam laksa.

2.   Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendol @ Lebuh Keng Kwee

There are two stalls selling cendols at Lebuh Keng Kwee however most people queued up for Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul which had opened for more than 40 years. Each bowl of chendol only costs RM2 and it's rich with gula melaka and fragrant coconut milk. 

Other food you could order at the same stall:  asam laksa and rojak !

Asam Laksa

Penang Rojak

Sliced fruits like mango and pineapples mixed together with crunchy turnip, cuttlefish, beansprouts and dough fritters in dark, sweet and sticky shrimp paste and topped with roasted peanuts and sesame.

3.   Char Koay Teow @ Lorong Selamat

If you have read most foodie blog regarding the top famous foods in Penang, then you must be familiar of the char koay teow stall which is located at Kafe Heng Huat, owned by a fierce lady who often wears a red hat.The fragrant, garlicky and rich Penang Char Koay Teow holds a special place in the hearts of foodies all over the world. Wok hei, a smoky quality that appears throughout Penang's char koay teow had been embedded in tourists' minds.

The flat rice noodles are fried in iron cast wok with oil, minced garlic and soy sauce, then topped with three big and fresh prawns, bean sprouts, egg and cockles. The big plate of mouth-watering char koay teow is ranged from RM7.50 to RM9. I personally think that the char koay teow of Lorong Selamat is overpriced as the portion is rather small as shown in the photo below. My aunt told that Siam Road's char koay teow tasted better.

4.   Penang Hokkien Mee @ 虾面之家 at Lorong Selamat

The most favorite Penang delicacy of mine would be the dish of yellow noodles mixed with vermicelli drenched in spicy broth made of pork and prawn; topped with crunchy bean sprouts, slices of lean pork, boiled eggs and shredded prawns. A spoonful of fried chili paste is served along with it. 

By the way, the stall is famous of claypot hokkien mee instead of the normal bowls. Yet, each of us had satisfied our stomachs with char koay teow, hence we just ordered the normal bowls. 

My aunt told me that Bayan Baru 888 stall has the decent hokkien noodles which is comparable with the famous Super Hokkien Mee in One Corner Cafe, perhaps I shall try when I go back to Penang again.

5.   Duck Meat Koay Teow Th'ng @ Lebuh Melayu, Georgetown

The signature Komtar building

Duck Meat Koay Teow Th'ng was the another great breakfast that tamed our taste buds during the next day in Penang. Similar to the famous hor fun in Perak, this is different as flat, silky noodles are topped with slices of tender duck meat and homemade fish balls.

Penang curry noodles here is totally different compared to other states as it's served with coagulated pig blood cubes, bean-pok(dried tofu), cockles, cuttlefish, bean sprouts and etc. This stall had used char siew which I guessed it made this penang curry noodles slightly inauthentic. Anyway, Penang curry noodles is still much better than the one I has eaten in KL. Note: The Air Itam's curry noodles is still in the waiting list of food-to-try-in-Penang.

6.   Mee Rebus /Mee Goreng @ Gerai Makanan Batu Lancang

I have always craved for indian mee goreng in Penang. Most have said that the best indian mee goreng is at Bangkok Lane. To satisfy our taste buds, we have tried the indian mee goreng in Gerai Makanan Batu Lancang. The sweetness of mashed potatoes is perfectly matched with the spiciness of the fried noodles.

Mee Rebus

7.   Chee Cheong Fun @ Gerai Makanan Batu Lancang

We had ordered chee cheong fun at Gerai Makanan Batu Lancang since this dish is different compared to the ones we could have in other states. Penang's chee cheong fun is a simple yet scrumptious dish with prawn paste dazzling over the rice rolls after pouring a dash of sesame oil and chili sauce. I still prefer the one I have eaten in Macallister Lane.

8.   Seafood Popiah @ Gerai Padang Brown

Seafood Popiah at Gerai Padang Brown has been highly recommended by Wei Lin. I had done some research after having the seafood popiah and this stall has opened for more than 50 years. I was reluctant to try when I see a plate of popiah in wet gravy. However, the first bite of crab meat in the popiah with shredded omelette and fried shallots had us kept having more and more bites of this scrumptious popiah.

The popiah which is juicy with chunks of crab meats.

9.  Pasembur @ Padang 

Pasembur looks like rojak for me. The ingredients of pasembur are bean sprouts, prawn fritters and crunchy, fried dough fritters which are topped with sweet and slightly spicy sauce.The entire food court is shaped like a semi-circle in which one side is selling halal food and the other side is selling other non-halal food.  The pasembur we have tried is from Chinese stall. 

Summary of places that we had Penang delicacies:

1.   Asam Laksa at Pasar Air Itam ( on the way to Kek Lok Si)

2.   Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendol, Penang Rojak, Asam Laksa @ Lebuh Keng Kwee

3.   Char Koay Teow @ Lorong Selamat

4.   Penang Hokkien Mee @ 虾面之家 at Lorong Selamat

5.   Duck Meat Koay Teow Th'ng @ Lebuh Melayu, Georgetown

6.   Mee Rebus /Mee Goreng @ Gerai Makanan Batu Lancang

7.   Chee Cheong Fun @ Gerai Makanan Batu Lancang

8.   Seafood Popiah @ Gerai Padang Brown

9.   Pasembur @ Gerai Padang Brown

Sight-seeing and Epicurean Tour in Peninsular Malaysia- Fresh Fruit Tea Expert(鲜茶工坊) and Nine Emperor Gods Temple北海斗母宫 @ Penang

We were supposed to directly drive to Penang Island to meet Wei Lin, yet we had changed our plan to meet another friend who's also a Penang-born. Hence, we dropped by Butterworth for our dinner and reunite with Soon Le. 

So, Fresh Fruit Tea Expert(鲜茶工坊) was the first stop to fill up our stomach.

I guessed the trip in Pantai Remis had our stomach capacity growing bigger as I kept feeling hungry.

Passion CoCo Yogurt GT (RM4.00), 

Soon Le mentioned that this signature drink was often ordered by his gf, hence we had a try as well.

I like this sour-sweet, refreshing drink.

Okonomiyaki Japanese pancake with squids,pork and cabbages as fillings and wrapped by egg, topped with Japanese sweet sauce, mayonnaise and dried bonito flakes.

The Okonomiyaki Japanese pancake had five of us finishing up within few minutes.

Spaghetti which was ordered by Hui En. I had forgotten if I had some bites of it.

The Butterworth Tow Boo Kong (北海斗母宫) which is also named as Butterworth Nine Emperor Gods Temple, or Rumah Berhala Tow Boo Kong Butterworth. This is one of the biggest temples in Butterworth which has made us gaped " WOW!" when we drove passed. We were informed that it was night market day hence we could shop after visiting the temple.The interior design and the altar were intricately spectacular and with gold paint.

The impressive roof details which looked more elegant and nice at night.

The roof with the paintings showed the stories.

I was amazed by the roof details, well, could you spot how many dragons on the roofs of Butterworth Nine Emperor Gods Temple?

The red lanterns

The famous 100 children was illustrated in the big painting, signifying that the continuity of generation. Each of the kid was with different expressions and actions.

Apart from the great painting of 100 children, the another attraction of Nine Emperor Gods Temple was the huge stone-carved dragons spewing water into a pond with a big fountain (three levels) in the middle. Many tourists including us made a wish and threw coins into the fountain. Erm, well, there are nine dragons and Soon Le said that luck will be appeared if we managed to throw the coins into the big dragon's mouth or the fountains.

After having a short shopping spree at night market in Nine Emperor Gods Temple, we had our supper (dinner) at Restoran Ju Heng. Ju Heng Tom Yam noodles. I was surprised that the restaurant was very crowded and we had to wait for the seats. According to Soon Le, most people dined after midnight hence the current condition was considered good.

The step of ordering food here was very different compared to the stall foods I had.
First, choose a bowl of noodles (either bihun or noodles).
Secondly, pick the ingredients (fish/chicken/beef slices, squids, crab meat, sausages, taufu, vegetables and the signature deep fried fish.
Lastly, hand the bowl of your chosen ingredients and noodles to the hawker and wait to be served.

Reunion talk.

I would be missing the moments we have had, hoping to meet each other again.

My noodles and beverage : Longan drink :)

I only recalled that the locals called ji ling drink, and finally I realized that it was longan drink.

Note: Restoran Ju Heng has renowned with Tom Yam Porridge too. However, I just couldn't imagine how porridge could be matched with Tom Yam soup. Perhaps I shall sample it when I come to visit Butterworth in future.