Penang is known as the food heaven of Malaysia. If you want to eat really good food, most will point you to Penang. I remember when we visited Penang when I was Primary four, our family friend said this: “Eat as much as you can, but don’t forget to bring tummy medicine.”
Penang is a little bit odd compared to the rest of Malaysia. The roads seem tinier, the drivers a whole lot more aggressive and the same food is called different names. Take for example the ever popular Har Mee (Prawn noodles). The rest of Malaysia calls it Har Mee, but Penang insists on calling it Hokkien Mee. But for the rest of Malaysia, Hokkien Mee is thick noodles stir-fried in dark soy sauce! Oh, that. Penang calls that Hokkien Char. What.
Confusing names aside, Penang has some pretty unique food. I wish Johor could say the same. What exactly is there in Johor? Not very much. Feh.
On this particular day, I was out with the lovely Glow. She had driven into Penang to meetup with me! I was excited! Oh and of course, the boy came along too. It was a bit of a funny feeling really, because the boy had just became the boy once again the night before, and when Glow asked me “Is he your boyfriend?”, saying yes felt so odd. So. Very. Odd.
Glow is incredibly sweet, did I mention? She came by to pick me and the boy up and whisked us away to start our eating and shopping tour of Penang! The first place we went to was the ever famous Penang Road Cendol.
Oh hey, look! Even PCK has been. This cendol store is hard to miss. It is in a small alley but there is no mistaking the queue. Be mindful though, it’s not exactly the world’s best queue system and you will find that if you are overly polite, you will never get that bowl of cendol. Right opposite is another cendol stall. They aren’t very friendly, and if you stick around their stall with a bowl of cendol from their competitor, they will yell at you.
I have to admit. This cendol was sublime. Unlike many other cendols I have come across, this one was just the right amount of sweetness (from palm sugar) and had a really generous helping of the green jelly and red bean for extra texture. And in that hot and humid weather, the icy cold dessert went down a treat.
Now, much like other Malaysian dessert, cendol doesn’t look like much. In fact, to some, the above photo might be down right unappetizing. But if you are ever in Malaysia, you need to try cendol. If you are ever in Penang, you need to try this cendol. So good.
We also had Chee Cheong Fun (above) and Assam Laksa (below). Or in Penang, Assam Laksa is just known as Laksa. Ah, stupidly confusing! Especially because then they also like to separate it into curry laksa and lemak laksa… As for that Chee Cheong Fun, it was just not good. Tasted incredibly fishy and I wasn’t a fan. Give me back the Chee Cheong Fun we get in SG please!
**If you are confused as to what these dishes are, I have linked their wiki pages**
After that we went shopping, in which Glow made me spend monies by pointing out a really pretty lacy scarf that had music notes all over it. Doom.
All too soon, the day was over and Glow had to go home. Sadface. We did take some photos in the car though!! These were taken with the Popbooth app, so the quality’s not that great but it does take some pretty funny photos. Enjoy!
I’ll be in Penang in a month or so, and cendol and Assam Laksa are definately on the hit list. Along with char kway teoh, and afternoon teas at the Blue Mansion and E&O
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