Do you travel the world in search of mouth-watering cuisine? Then Penang is the perfect food paradise for you! Known for its huge variety of street food, Penang’s culinary scene is heavily influenced by its beautifully diverse Malay, Chinese, Peranakan and Indian cultures.

First time visitors to Penang may be a little overwhelmed by the large variety of food but help is on the way! I will break down what dishes are typically eaten during breakfast, lunch and dinner, and where you can find these dishes. Some of these food establishments are pretty much walking distance to one another but you can easily also hop into a cab to get there. Some cabbies don’t speak English well but if you say the name of the coffee shop or restaurant, they’ll most likely know how to take you there.

BREAKFAST

Congee (rice porridge) is a Chinese dish that’s eaten at breakfast, although you can eat it anytime during the day. It can be served plain with various side dishes (usually pickled vegetables and fried omelette) or you can enjoy congee cooked with meat and/or seafood which makes it even tastier! Penang has numerous kedai kopi (coffee shops) serving breakfast and lunch. They’re not fancy cafes but they serve good and cheap food ranging from congee and noodles to roti canai (Indian savory pancakes served with curry).

The prawn congee pictured below can be found at Kedai Kopi Public Café which specializes in seafood. They also sell other seafood dishes like fish soup with rice noodles and prawn noodles in a spicy broth, but the star of the place is definitely the prawn congee.

The congee is cooked in a light seafood broth with garlic and ginger, and prawns are added to sweeten the dish. You can eat it with stir-fried vegetables and omelette on the side but it’s delicious enough to enjoy on its own! Not many seafood places are open early for breakfast so this is quite a special treat. The coffee shop is situated walking distance to hotels along Gurney Drive so you can have a nice stroll by the seafront before and after your meal.

Kedai Kopi Public Café

Gurney Drive, Georgetown, 10250 George Town

Operating hours aren’t listed but I was there during breakfast and they should be open for lunch as well.

LUNCH

Most Malaysian dishes can be eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner, so it really depends on what time the particular coffee shop, restaurant or street cart opens. Other Asian countries might have its version of fried rice noodles, but Penang’s very own char koay teow has a special je ne sais quoi flavor that is enhanced by “wok hei,” a complex charred aroma from an intensely hot cast iron wok.

This magical dish consists of flat rice noodles stir fried with lap cheong (sweet Chinese sausage), prawns, eggs, bean sprouts and chives. It’s definitely a crowd favorite! At Kedai Kopi Low Eng Hoo, you can find one of the best tasting char koay teow artfully stir fried by a guy wearing black goggles (he’s known as the Goggle Man, like a superhero!).

The coffee shop also has other little stalls selling speciality dishes like assam laksa and ais kacang. Assam laksa consists of rice noodles served in a spicy and sour fish tamarind broth, and topped with pineapple, cucumber and mint. It can be an acquired taste but if you love Thai tom yum soup, you’ll probably love assam laksa! Lastly, to beat the heat, have a bowl of ais kacang for dessert. Kacang means “beans” in Malay and there are red beans, grass jelly and sweet corn hiding underneath the colorful shaved ice and vanilla ice cream. This dessert is not only refreshingly delicious, it is also delightfully Instagrammable!

Kedai Kopi Low Eng Hoo

84, Lorong Selamat, George Town, 10400 George Town

Opening Hours: 12 p.m. – 8 p.m. (closed on Tuesdays)

DINNER

Gurney Drive is an open-air hawker center only opens at night and is home to the largest variety of street food in Penang. There are so many little stalls that it’s hard to recommend specific ones.

The key to finding the best stalls is to look for the longest queues! You can find practically every street food there so it’s best to order a large variety of dishes and share them with your travel buddies. Satay is a popular dinner street food, so is BBQ stingray, prawn noodles, wonton noodles, rojak (Asian “salad” with cucumber, pineapple and mango covered in a gooey sweet and salty shrimp paste sauce, and topped with crushed peanuts), oyster omelette, koay teow soup (rice noodles soup with fish cake and slices of pork), curry noodles, and of course char koay teow. There are too many dishes to list out so it’s best to stroll around the huge area to see what tickles your fancy!

Penang is also home to numerous Chinese restaurants due to its large Chinese population, and one of the best is Maple Palace. Housed in a historical mansion, the restaurant is known for its modern Cantonese cuisine. I didn’t get to try their specialty fish steamboat, but I loved their Peking duck and braised fish in clay pot. The dishes are reasonably priced for a fine-dining restaurant, and the atmosphere is very warm and inviting.

Gurney Drive Hawker Center

172, Solok Gurney 1, Pulau Tikus, 10250 Jelutong

Operating Hours: 4:30 p.m. – 11 p.m. (closed on Fridays)

Maple Palace Restaurant

47, Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah, George Town, 10050 George Town

Operating Hours: 12 – 2:30 p.m., 6 – 10 p.m. daily

Pack your bags, loosen your belts, and fly over to indulge in the feast of all feasts in Penang!

This article has been converted into a GPSmyCity travel app. Click on this link to download the article app for free on your smartphones and subscribe to get an offline map and point-to-point walking directions!