Penang Food: 26 Must Eat Dishes to Start your Food Hunt

Penang food is world famous, but with all there is on offer, are you sure you know what to eat when in Penang? Come to grips with these 26 famous Penang foods (and 80 good places where to eat them) and you'll get started on your Penang food hunt in no time.

penang food street art
Penang food is such an important aspect of life in Penang, that even mural artists pay homage to it (image credit: Bertrand Linet)

There are many exciting things to do in Penang, but what about eating in Penang? Praised as one of the best places to eat in Asia, Penang food is rich and varied thanks to the multi-ethnic history of Penang island. With Malay, Indian and Chinese settlers, the island offers the best of three world cuisines (plus a lot more Western Food choices, cafe food, and delicious Penang breakfast) and has an incredible variety of dishes. Food hunting in Penang is a fun and endless discovery of new tastes — and you can try even more driving an hour south to foodie heaven Taiping.

Besides winning accolades for Penang Street Art, in 2014 Lonely Planet even declared Penang as the Best Foodie Destination of the year, thus sanctioning the quality of the famous street food in Penang and its best hawker dishes to the world. Since then, more and more tourists have come to the island (check out our suggestions for the best budget hotels in Penang and George Town) not only to see George Town’s street art and enjoy Penang nightlife and many exciting bars and 20 best Penang beaches, but especially to enjoy a Penang food trip, gorging on Penang’s famous food, and trying some of the best Penang restaurants. From upmarket tourists to backpackers, everyone thinks that eating in Penang is a crucial aspect of any trip to the island. Eating in Penang is also one of the best things to do with kids in Penang. There are more Penang local dishes than what you can sample on a single trip.

Penang Travel Essentials

  • Use Klook to get discounts and great deals for a lot of activities around Penang. I use it myself all the time.
  • If you are looking to rent an apartment in Penang, start by reading my article on the best Penang Airbnbs (I earn a small commission if you book via any of my links).
  • Penang has some great 5-star hotels and inexpensive boutique hotels for a special stay. But you can also find some great Penang Budget Hotels that are a great bang for your buck
  • If you are a backpacker on a budget, I have a complete guide to backpacking in Penang
  • If you are short on time, consider taking this half-day tour or this heritage tour.
  • If you want a private car to take you around, check out this link
  • There is much to learn about Penang food with some great cooking classes and food tours, like this and this street food jaunt
  • If you are coming to Penang from Kuala Lumpur, check out this guide to know all the best ways to travel to Penang.
  • If you are looking for a greener, offbeat Penang experience, check out our Balik Pulau guide.

But what is the best food in Penang, and the famous eating places in Penang? And what are some of the unmissable things to eat in Penang, or the best hawker food in Penang you must try when going to George Town for the first time? To tell you the truth, with so many choices, it’s hard for first-timers to know where to start chewing.

So what’s the stuff of dreams, the Penang traditional food that one must really try when in George Town, besides visiting its best shopping malls, and before going from Penang to Langkawi, or catching a bus from Penang to KL?

READ OUR FREE PENANG ITINERARIES
 An Amazing Penang 3 Day Itinerary 
– The Best of Penang in 48 Hours

The following list contains 26 Penang famous foods (and 80 places where to eat them in Penang) as chosen by us. Forgive any omission, for this task is so subjective and difficult that it would be close to impossible to come up with a perfect list of things to eat in Penang. Regardless, in our humble opinion these are some of the best food in Penang – absolutely NOT in order of preference – and more than enough information to get you started on your Penang food hunt. Watch the waistline, as it WILL GROW !!!


Ultimate Penang Food Guide

First of all, a word of expert advice: eating in Penang is an informal experience, and the best food in Penang is not necessarily found in posh restaurants. You must understand, in fact, that Penang traditional food has always been prepared on the street by hawker sellers in ways that may not be considered very hygienic according to Western cooking standards.
But you have to believe us: Penang street food is delicious, and some of the best places to eat in Penang are indeed rickety street carts.

READ MOREThe best restaurants in Penang.

Penang Food Tours

Yes, you may rightly think that finding the best street food around the island is tricky for first-timers. Where to go eat the best char koay teow in George Town? What is the best time to beat the crowds at a particular Penang night market? I hear you.

That’s why, if you are short on time, you may want to consider a local Penang Food Tour to maximise your food hunt with the help of a guide. We recommend signing up for a tour with Klook, a popular online booking site used in Malaysia.

penang_food_tour
In Penang, good food is literally everywhere. Signing up for a guided Penang food tour may be a good idea if you just a few days in George Town (image by Bertrand Linet)

You could sign up for a Penang Street Food Tour with a local guide that will take you to some of the best shops and street stalls, stopping to admire the famous Penang street art and some of George Town’s most interesting temples. Heritage on a Plate Food Tour is a three-hour long food hunt at four different locations. You can choose between lunch or dinner, and you’ll have a private guide ready to explain the nitty-gritty of Penang life and culture. George Town Night Food Tour mixes food hunt with an exploration of the Chinese Clan Jetties, and ends with drinks in one of Penang’s most exciting bars.

And if you have children with you, why not taking them at the Wonderfood Museum, which features giant replicas of Malaysia’s most famous dishes? It’s a great, fun way to get started on your Penang food hunt and bring home some fun pictures. You can buy your tickets here.

26 Must-Try Famous Penang Foods for First-Timers

Whether you decide to take a guided Penang Food Tour or explore on your own, this list of what we consider Penang’s top food will prepare you to start your food hunt hitting the ground running. We have also included links to 80 best street stalls and restaurants, with maps of their locations around George Town and Penang. Are you ready to put on some kilos? Here we go:

1Nasi Lemak

(contributed by Nylonpink.tv)
Nasi Lemak won’t be hard to find when you visit Malaysia or Kuala Lumpur. But what is it exactly, and why should you try it?

Nasi Lemak is a fragrant dish with creamy rice cooked in coconut milk. It’s usually eaten for breakfast and is a hearty meal to start your day with. Many variations exist across Malaysia, India, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, and Southern Thailand.
In the most traditional Malaysian version, the rice comes paired with sambal (a spicy sauce), anchovies, peanuts, and a boiled egg. However, many street food stalls serve it with fried chicken or fish, fried egg, cockles, or chicken or beef rendang (spicy meat dish).

There are several good places to try this dish in Penang, but a few are a cut above the rest, constantly praised and well-loved by local foodies.

GOOD PLACES TO EAT NASI LEMAK IN PENANG
– Ali Nasi Lemak Daun Pisang at Sri Weld Food Court, Beach Street
Nasi Lemak Liverpool
Projek Nasi Lemak

Ali Nasi Lemak seems to steadily hold the top place, and it’s easy to see why: the family-run business has mastered the fine art of making this dish, and you will get to see them prepare it in front of you. The final product is simply delicious and will keep you coming back for more.

2Nasi Kandar

(contributed by live-less-ordinary.com)
One of the cheapest and most common options for eating in Penang is the canteen style buffets, which are found at almost every food court in Malaysia. And they remind a bit of the school lunches, or the work canteens in any western culture, serving a variety of pre-cooked local dishes, only in Malaysia they are a lot different to the meat and two vegs of back home. So in Malaysian food, they typically have Nasi Campur, which means “mixed rice”, as one can throw all sorts of curries and veg dishes on top.

When ordering, just pick a plate, throw on some rice, and then point to what looks good. Prices do vary depending on the choice of meats but are all still ridiculously cheap if compared to restaurant food. The tourist favorite in Penang tends to be Nasi Kandar Line Clear (Chulia Street, Georgetown), however, there are many other choices: read our complete guide to the best Nasi Kandar in Penang.

GOOD PLACES TO EAT NASI KANDAR IN PENANG
Nasi Kandar Line Clear
Restoran Kassim Mustafa Nasi Dalcha
Restoran Mohammed Raffee 

3Penang Hokkien Mee

(contributed by theroamingfork.com)
Hokkien mee is sold in many of Penang night markets. The Penang variety is served with tangy broth with prawns, which is different from the black sauce noodles found elsewhere in Malaysia, and is a serious bowl of noodle soup.

The first thing you notice when the dish arrives at the table is the deep red color. It oozes flavor and intensity. The broth base is made using a combination of prawn heads and shells, dried shrimp, as well as pork bones. Added to the broth are two types of noodles, rice noodles, and yellow egg noodles, as well as prawns and nice chunks of roasted pork with crunchy crackling.

Additional ingredients to round out the soup include egg slices, bean sprouts, morning glory, fried shallots, and lard. And if that wasn’t enough, the dish is served with a sizeable dollop of chili on the side.

GOOD PLACES TO EAT HOKKIEN MEE IN PENANG
– 888 Hokkien Mee
– Green House Prawn Mee Corner
– One Corner Cafe

4
Rojak

(contributed by asocialnomad.com)
One of the best things you can do in Penang is trying its most unusual foods. Rojak is one of those, a type of Malaysian salad with cucumber, pineapple, mango, jambu, jicama, bean sprouts, taupok, cuttlefish and youtiao…unlike any other salad you ever had before. Some of the ingredients may be familiar to you, and some not: taupok is a puffed soya bean cake, youtiao is a fried dough fritter and jicama would be familiar to some as turnip, while jambu is water with apple or rose apple.
To make rojak, all the fruits are cut into bite-sized pieces and tossed into a bowl with the dressing made from sugar, chili, lime juice and a dark prawn paste (Hae Ko) which smells strong. The salad is dressed with crushed peanuts and you can also get extra cuttlefish on top if you like it.

GOOD PLACES TO EAT ROJAK IN PENANG
Hock Seng Rojak
Kareem
– Rojak Ho Wei Jeng

5Tandoori Chicken

Red like fire, juicy and saucy, this amazing chicken — originally from Northern India and imported to Penang by the early Indian migrants — is one of our favorite Indian staple dishes, and one of Penang Litte India‘s must-try food.
Chicken marinated in yogurt and spices is cooked for hours in a traditional hollow tandoor oven, it is usually served over a fragrant naan (flat and fragrant bread, which is rolled with water and dough, and then also cooked inside of the tandoor).
Tandoori chicken usually comes in different set variants based on the diverse quality of naan. A “plain naan set”, for example, will get you a slab of red chicken over a simple piece of flatbread. “Cheese naan set”, on the contrary, will have bread smeared with what passes for cheese here in Penang (don’t expect a French experience, that is) and so on.

Some of the best places to have tandoori chicken in George Town are in super central Chulia street and cost in the RM10/12 price range. The cheapest meat feast you’ll get around Southeast Asia.

GOOD PLACES TO EAT TANDOORI CHICKEN IN PENANG
– Restoran Kapitan Chulia Street
– Restoran Kassim Mustafa Nasi Dalcha
Hameediyah Restaurant

6Masala Dosai

This Southern Indian delicacy is very much ingrained in Penang’s — and Malaysia’s — social tissue, but it’s often dismissed and forgotten. BIG MISTAKE! Masala Dosai is one of the best Indian food in George Town! It’s a tender crepe filled with “masala” — which means “mixed” in Tamil — and indicates a blend of mashed potatoes, cumin, ginger, and other spices, all crushed together to perfection. Usually served for breakfast, it can be consumed all day long at most of the many mamak (Indian Muslim) restaurants and stalls all over the island.
Watching expert Indian cooks smatter the semolina dough over a hot plate, leveling it down with a metallic tool, and then turn it over to cook on the other side is very photogenic.
Remember that by simply saying “dosai” you will only get a semolina pancake without any filling.

GOOD PLACES TO EAT MASALA DOSAI IN PENANG
– Woodlands Vegetarian Restaurant
– Krsna Restaurant
– Veloo Villas

7Roti Canai

The pancake that binds a nation, roti canai is the Malaysian equivalent of an Indian paratha — thick fried bread, that is. It’s often served straight off the hot plate and a side of orange curry, but it also comes in many varieties to satisfy both sweet and salty tooth.
We personally love roti kaya for breakfast: a thin roti filled with the quintessential kaya, Malaysia’s coconut jam. Another interesting one is roti tissue, rolled ultra-thin, and often served folded like a little pyramid. A very scenic way to start the day, that’s for sure.

One of the best places to have roti canai in town is Transfer Road Roti Canai, a real piece of Penang heritage, that’s been dishing up this quintessential Malaysian food from this very same roadside stall for the best part of 80 years.

GOOD PLACES TO EAT ROTI CANAI IN PENANG
Transfer Road Roti Canai
Roti Canai Gemas Road
Roti Canai Argyll Road

8Satay

The closest Malaysian cuisine goes to barbecue. Simply put, Satay is charcoal-grilled meat served in mini-skewers that are consumed dipped in a very tasty ground peanut and curry sauce. Chicken and beef are the most common choices — remember that pork is haram in Islam. Satay is sold everywhere there is a food court, and the Penang variety, I’m afraid, often uses smaller meat chunks compared to other Malaysian cities and towns. Still, it’s as good as it gets, especially if washed down with a cold beer.

GOOD PLACES TO EAT SATAY IN PENANG
Hamid Satay
Red Garden Satay & Chicken Wings
– Satay Wak Man 

9Kway Chiap (Duck Soup)

(courtesy of Flickr)

A real Chinese delicacy, this soup mixes duck meat and intestines with flat, large cuts of rice noodles, and aromatic broth. One of Penang’s most famous is sold from a street cart in Kimberley Street. It was so successful that it opened its own shop behind the stall.

GOOD PLACES TO EAT KWAY CHIAP IN PENANG
Kimberly Street Koay Chiap 
Jelutong Market
113 Lebuh Melayu

10Cendol

Another of Penang’s best desserts, cendol is a bowl of shaved ice with chewy green rice flour jelly, kidney beans, coconut milk, and gula Melaka (brown sugar). Yes, the concoction sounds strange, but the taste is great and unique, and so refreshing on any hot Penang day.

11Pasembur

This Malaysian-Indian salad mixes cucumber, fried octopus, potatoes, bean-curd, bean sprouts, turnips, prawn fritters, fried crab, all mixed together in a spicy red sauce. The taste is not for everyone, as it’s sweet-sour and very pungent, but it’s certainly worth trying as it’s a unique dish to Malaysia and Singapore.

GOOD PLACES TO EAT PASEMBUR IN PENANG
Kareem Pasembur
Gani Famous Pasembur
Pasembur at Lebuh Cecil Market

12Penang Laksa

Love it or loathe it, Laksa is another quintessential Penang (and Malaysian) dish: a tangy hot soup of piquant fragrance, filled with fat white noodles that remember Japanese udon. It’s usually garnished with fresh limes and greens, sometimes with tiny chunks of tuna thrown in for good measure, and has a sweet-sour taste that is definitely not for everyone. But when in Penang, you should absolutely try it at least once to decide for yourself if you love it (like us) or loathe it. To get started, read our article on the best Penang laksa joints you should absolutely visit.

GOOD PLACES TO EAT LAKSA IN PENANG
Air Itam Market Laksa
Cafe Ko Cha Bi Balik Pulau (both Assam and Siam Laksa varieties available)
Penang Road Famous Laksa

13Chee Cheong Fun

A long roll of Chinese rice noodles, wrapped up and cut into little blocks, and served with different kinds of sauce. In Penang, it’s most common to eat Chee Cheong Fun with red chili sauce, but in other towns like Ipoh, this dish is served with curry or mushroom sauce.

GOOD PLACES TO EAT CHEE CHEONG FUN IN PENANG
Chee Cheong Fun at Sungai Pinang
Seow Fong Lye Cafe
Genting Cafe

14Roti Bakar

Meaning burnt bread, this is probably the best dessert in Penang: simple slices of toast, smeared with coconut jam and butter and served with a soft boiled egg. A legacy of the British empire, roti bakar goes down extremely well with coffee and is a popular hawker food in Penang. It’s indeed best when it gets toasted over charcoals.

GOOD PLACES TO EAT ROTI BAKAR IN PENANG
5 best places for roti bakar in Penang

15Wan Tan Mee

One of the best street food in Penang is this quintessential, simple Chinese noodle dish that can be ordered dry or served with soup. The dry version is our favourite: the noodles are soaked in black soy sauce, garnished with herbs, slices of barbecued pork, fresh cut green chillies and wan tan — meat dumplings wrapped in rice flour. In general, the juiciest the noodles, the best the dish, but it depends on the cook.

GOOD PLACES TO EAT WAN TAN MEE IN PENANG
Chulia Street Night Hawker Stalls
Hong Kee Bamboo Noodles
Wan Tan Mee Lebuh Melayu

16Char Hor Fun

Another Chinese noodle delicacy, this plate is a mix of vermicelli and flat rice noodles cooked in juicy egg gravy and garnished with fresh prawns, pieces of chicken or beef, and chunks of choy sum — a green leafy vegetable. The egg gravy keeps the noodles silky and juicy, and it’s unique to this popular dish that’s also known as wat tan hor — silky egg noodles.

GOOD PLACES TO EAT CHAR HOR FUN IN PENANG
Char Hor Fun @ Beach Street
Woh Kee Restaurant
Medan Selera Taman Free School Food Court

17Economy Rice

(image credit: Marco Ferrarese)

Sold by Chinese hawkers in most Penang food courts, economy rice is, as the name implies, a cheap lunch option in Penang. It works akin to a buffet: customers choose among many different dishes kept into metal trays and scoop their favorites over a base of rice. Differently from nasi campur, it’s possible to find pork at most economy rice stalls. But meat it’s not the only choice available: vegetables, tofu, eggs, anything, really, can be found and eaten here.

18Banana Leaf Rice

Daun Pisang is a South Indian staple thali, served attractively over a rectangular cut from a banana tree leaf. In general, banana leaf rice is vegetarian: white rice is scooped out of metal containers and served with daal — yellow lentil soup — and a variety of vegetables. But it can be served with meat, generally chicken.

Some of our preferred places to have it are Top One Restaurant, Veloo Villas, Sri Ananda Bhawan.

GOOD PLACES TO EAT BANANA LEAF RICE IN PENANG
Veloo Villas
– Passions of Kerala
Ali Nasi Lemak Daun Pisang

19Curry Mee

Tangy and spicy, curry mee is another quintessential noodle dish in Penang. They mix a broth of curry paste and coconut milk with yellow noodles and are served with an additional spoonful of chilly sauce. Do not mix if you can’t take spicy food, as it can get pretty hot. Some hawker sellers serve curry mee with fresh herbs and cubes of pig blood, and sometimes, small prawns. To us, this is definitely one of Penang’s best noodle choices.

READ MORE Best Places to Eat Curry Mee in Penang

GOOD PLACES TO EAT CURRY MEE IN PENANG
Hot Bowl White Curry Mee
Lorong Seratus Tahun Curry Mee
Sister Curry Mee

20Char Koay Teow

Koay Teow is large flat rice noodles, which are “charred” and fried together with egg, bean sprouts, and fat prawns, creating a very famous Penang Chinese noodle dish that people come from all over the country to try. The Malays also have their own version, Koay Teow Goreng, which differs slightly in preparation and ingredients and can be considered as a very different dish.

GOOD PLACES TO EAT CHAR KOAY TEOW IN PENANG
Ah Leng Char Koay Teow
Kafe Ping Hooi Tiger Char Koay Teow
Sister’s Char Koay Teow

21Curry Fish Head

Fish heads are not very much liked in most of the world, but in Penang, they are deliciously cooked in curry, and make up for a very tasty Chinese seafood dish. The meat becomes tender and juicy, and the curry is enriched with vegetables such as tomatoes and ladies fingers.

22Bak-Kut-Teh

Bak-Kut-Teh is a pork rib dish popular in Malaysia and Singapore, and widely available in Penang, where there is a large Chinese Hokkien and Teochew community. The name translates directly into “meat bone tea”, and consist of a broth of spices (including star anise, cloves, cinnamon, garlic, and fennel) where pork ribs are strewed and cooked until they are soft. Additional ingredients may include cubes of tofu, mushrooms and other herbs. The broth is also spiked with dark soy sauce, which not only gives this dish a particular tangy taste but also its dark color.

GOOD PLACES TO EAT BAK KUT TEH IN PENANG
Green House Bak Kut Teh
Zealand Bak Kut Teh
Kedai Kopi Classic, Jalan Perak

23Nasi Campur

If the Chinese have economy rice, the Malays have nasi campur, which means “mixed rice”, and consists of a base of rice upon which customers add different dishes of their choice. It’s very similar to nasi kandar, but it’s not necessarily cooked by Indian Muslims and has a direct lineage with Indonesian rice dishes.
It can be found pretty much anywhere in Penang, where the different choices of food are kept into metallic trays that customers select and douse over their rice.
Be mindful that this dish is sold by item, meaning that you will pay based on how many choices of food you take, not their quantity.

GOOD PLACES TO EAT NASI CAMPUR IN PENANG
Nasi Melayu Lidiana
Nasi Melayu Kak Ema
Fatimah Nasi Melayu, Air Hitam

24Apong, or Chinese Pancake

Another of Penang best desserts, this crunchy pancake is made over a fire, filling some small circular metal trays with dough and other ingredients that are cooked until the base becomes crunchy. At its simplest, the Chinese Pancake is filled with crushed peanuts, or peanuts and corn, but it can come in many other varieties of ingredients, such as bananas, chocolate, and many more.

25Chicken Feet

Love it or hate it, chicken feet are a staple Chinese dish in Penang. The little legs are stewed and cooked in a thick, dark soy sauce for hours on end until they become so soft they can melt in your mouth. They are served over small trays and eaten with chopsticks: grab one, stuff it in your mouth, and suck the meat off the bone. You can spit the bone in the plate or on the table — don’t worry, for waiters at most food courts are well used to clean up after yourself.

26Ikan Bakar

Malay’s barbecued fish is pretty widespread in an island like Penang. This fish is cooked for a long time over fire or charcoals until it becomes very dry and crunchy. For this reason, not everyone likes it, for the meat loses its tenderness, and becomes crispy. Its best enjoyed with a bit of rice, grilled vegetables and spicy sauces.

GOOD PLACES TO EAT IKAN BAKAR IN PENANG
Idrus Ikan Bakar @ Bayan Lepas
Song River Seafood
Lan’s Corner

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