Penang bills itself as Malaysia’s food capital, a claim that we discovered is taken seriously. Each ethnicity within Malaysia’s diverse population offers their signature fare, and people undertake great quests to come and sample the best of the best. Traveling with a Chinese party of 12 proved to be the best possible way to experience this foodie paradise, as the Tan and Yap families (the official sponsors of this post) demanded nothing but perfection in each and every bite! Were we up for the challenge?
Since most of our time involved eating, we will journal this entry according to meals/snacks. We did somehow manage to take in some Penang attractions, including many temples and the UNESCO World Heritage city of Georgetown, and will describe those later. But first…let the food coma begin!
- Our first Penang meal
It’s about a 4 hour drive along a lush, green Malaysian landscape from Kuala Lumpur to the island of Penang. Before crossing over the Penang bridge from the mainland, we made a stop at a local seafood restaurant famous for its crab porridge. In usual Tan/Yap fashion, we ordered a lot more than just the crab porridge, however! In the center of the above picture is steamed flounder with some sort of cilantro sauce. The fish was so soft and silky and had just the right amount of tangy herb to complement the oily skin. The other dishes, clockwise from the fish, are fried prawns (amazingly crisp and crunchy exterior), bitter melon with stewed pork, broiled squid (with a delicious chili sauce), and spicy clams. The crab porridge was a juicy rice soup brimming with huge pieces of fresh, steamed crab! At this meal, we also had our first taste of durian, the king of Southeast Asian fruits. This thorny skinned fruit has a distinctive putrid sweet smell, while the flesh has a thick custard/creamy brie consistency. We knew we had to sample this famous fruit at some point during our 5 months in Asia, and felt having a trusted local pick some out for us would be our best chance! Suffice it to say, our taste test provided much entertainment for the table. We have to report that while the fruit did not taste as bad as it smells, we have no intention of trying it again soon!
Crab porridge
Mike tries to tempt us with the durian!
Our dinner that first night in Penang was at a local open air food court of sorts (“hawker stands”) called Yi Garden. We sampled dual noodle with egg gravy, wontons, and oyster omelette. This omelette was one of my favorite dishes of the weekend. The fluffy eggs are scrambled with sharp chives and briny clam-sized oysters and served with a chili dipping sauce. We are already scheming how to recreate this dish once we have a home again!
Dinner at Yi Garden: oyster omelette, dual noodle with egg gravy, and wontons.
After dinner, we took a stroll along the beachfront Gurney Drive promenade and watched the waves lap against the stone walkway before heading back to the hawker stands for dessert. We bought sackfuls of kuih (colorful rice flour pastries containing coconut, pandan, peanut, or mung/green bean) and bright sponge cake, along with some roti and curry sauce. Jenny, Mike, and I made short work of these desserts once we got home! The kuih is soft but chewy, depending on the ingredients, and is a great complement to the roti with its sweet and spicy curry. Jenny even showed me how to dip warm roti (spongy, fried, flatbread) into sugar, creating an Asian doughnut of sorts!
Different types of kuih
The dessert table!
Our breakfast the next morning was at Kafe Heng Huat, a place famous for its char kway teow and once visited by none other than Anthony Bourdain. The busy stand opens at 11:00, and that’s when you need to arrive! Luckily, the 12 of us were able to score a table just vacated by another large group, so we didn’t have to wait long to try the Malaysian specialty of flat rice noodles stir-fried over a high heat with prawns, clams, bean sprouts, chives, eggs, and Chinese sausage. This oily, garlic, spicy dish is best countered with another Malaysian delicacy of ice kacang. Made with shave ice, this complex dessert is topped with sweetened red beans, creamed sweet corn, palm fruit, strips of dried nutmeg, colorful jellies, rose syrup, and a scoop of ice cream. Not your average snow-cone! I have to admit that even I was a little overwhelmed with all the tastes and textures in that dish, but, in the end, I enjoyed it and would eat it again!
Char Kway Teow
Ice kacang
From lunch, we toured more of Georgetown (details to follow, we promise!) and enjoyed two more snacks before dinner. Snack #1 was another Malaysian shave iced dessert called cendol or air batu campur (ABC). This particular version includes chewy rice noodles flavored and colored green by the herb pandan. Topped by sweetened red beans, palm sugar syrup, scoops of pandan noodles, and ladles of coconut milk, the shave ice treat definitely exudes a rainbow of colors and flavors. I was unprepared for the slightly earthy, savory notes (maybe from the palm sugar and pandan?), but the sweet tastes soon took over. Snack #2 was a form of the peanut pancake that is popular in Malaysia, which is a fluffy crepe topped with chopped peanuts and sweet corn and served folded in half. This one had sliced bananas instead of peanuts and was rolled into a thin cigar shape. The warm spongy crepe, flavored with coconut milk, provided a nice contrast to the tangy banana and sweet corn. I don’t think I’ve ever seen corn used so frequently in sweets as I have in Malaysia!
Trying cendol at a stand.
After more sightseeing around Penang (more temples, Fort Cornwallis, and the beaches of Batu Feringgi), we went to dinner at a traditional Hokkein cuisine restaurant named Ang Hoay Lor. We ordered the specialties of the house, which included fried oyster mee (creamy noodles with shrimp, oysters, egg, and pork), fried tang hoon (soy sauce covered glass noodles with prawns, oysters, and greens), tofu stir fried with chives, bak kee soup (cornstarch-coated, deep-fried pork in a cabbage soup), prawn fritters, and another version of the oyster omelette. This was all washed down with pots of chrysanthemum tea. We actually had a competition between our split tables of 6 to see who could eat the most in the quickest fashion in order to secure the coveted extra order of oyster omelette. A food coma ensued shortly thereafter, and we all stumbled into our beds as soon as we got home!
Fried hang toon
Shrimp with tofu, oyster omelette, oyster mee, and greens
Ryan in a food coma after our second night in Penang.
Brunch the next day was at One Corner Cafe, another open courtyard of hawker food stalls. This time our target was Hokkien mee, a yellow noodle and rice vermicelli spicy soup made of prawns, pork, water spinach, and bean sprouts. Some versions include boiled eggs and pork skin, but all are served with a healthy spoonful of fried chili paste. Ryan absolutely loved this dish for its spicy, and yet oddly sweet, flavors. We also sampled chee cheong fun (steamed, rolled rice noodle served with a chili-shrimp paste and sprinkled with roasted sesame seeds) and a steamed yam cake topped with crispy fried dried shrimp and shallots. These smooth, steamed treats were a great compliment to the hot and spicy noodle soup.
Hokkien Mee
chee cheong fun (background) and yam cake
After this brunch and a tour of Penang Hill, we had to say goodbye to our amazing and generous hosts; they were headed back to Kuala Lumpur, while we remained behind to catch a ferry to Langkawi the next day. Words can never express our gratitude for their hospitality, taking us in as one of the family, and treating us to all that Penang has to offer. We had a thorough introduction to the Chinese aspects of Malaysian food, and are now ready to tackle other specialties in this fusion cuisine.
Our foodie caravan: the family (minus Mike) at Cafe Heng Huat
