Pigging out in Penang! (Malaysia)

Went on a short trip to the famous island of Penang, Malaysia. The last time I was there was over a decade ago. This was a trip filled with delicious local food. Of course we had so much of the local “Char Kuey Teow” that I’ve had enough for an entire year. Don’t think I want to see another plate of it anytime soon. Haha! But there were rarely any hits & misses when it comes to “Char Kuey Teow’s” in Penang. Almost every random stall we tried was better than the ones back home, that I must admit. We do have equally good ones back home, but we must know where to find them. Whereas in Penang, good “Char Kuey Teow” is almost found at every other corner.

Below are snippets of the tummy sating feast we had while we were marooned on the island. I’ve never sat so close to the street or on the street, while enjoying a plate of fried noodles before, and also never had that many meals at hawker stalls over a span of a few days. “Achievement Unlocked!”

This was one of the best “Char Kuey Teow’s” and “Asam Laksa”. Each photo of the dish is followed by the stall it came from.

The ever popular original Penang Teochew Cendol, at its original location (a back alley in the heart of Georgetown), where locals and foreigners both line up, stand under the blistering sun with bowls in hand eating the sweet icy dessert and pay good money to do so. Perfect on hot days on the island, which is almost every day. Other stalls set up nearby also gets some business from the lingering patrons of the cendol stall which is the main attraction of the street.

This was an absolutely scrumptious meal at Bukit Tambun’s Restoran Ee Sheng. We originally planned to go to the Jetty Restaurant, but there were very few customers in their restaurant and it was a bit suspect when right next door, this restaurant was overflowing with people! So we went with our gut, and it was rumbling towards Ee Sheng, and decided to give it a try. You know what they say, go where the people are (when it comes to food). We were not disappointed. Every dish was delish. Every mouthful delectable.

We ordered five seafood dishes with one vegetable dish. We had clams, prawns, mantis prawns, fish, and squid. The squid was especially juicy and succulent, unlike how most restaurants over-fry it and it becomes dry and a tad chewy.

We had a proper non-hawker meal at the seemingly very popular Maple Palace. However, the standard of their food is somewhat “different” from what I remember when they were known as Maple Leaf. The ambiance of course was lovely, they had a face-lift. The service was impeccable, which made up for their slight drop in food quality/standard. Their price was… to be expected at such a place that targets tourists, club members, and business people.

We had double-boiled black-chicken abalone soup, salad prawns, Poh Choy vegetable dish, Mui Choy pork dish, and almond pork ribs.

My hubby was raving on about the Penang White Curry and how sweat-inspiring it was. So we must give it a try! Indeed we did and indeed the legend is true, the chilli that you can add to it will most definitely make you sweat bullets. Super spicy. Not for one with low tolerance to spicy food. Even a smidge of the stuff is enough to make you order an extra Teh Ais! But very very yummy-licous. Both the white curry noodles and the white chicken we ordered on the side.