Penang may be my birthplace, but I feel like I have not earned the right to call myself a Penangite. In many ways, because we moved away from Penang when I was just nine, I have more of an affinity to my current hometown than to Penang. Despite that, some memories remain.
Like catching tadpoles in puddles of water at the nearby construction site behind Penang Free School until my mum would yell for me to come back home for dinner. Picking up pretty mosaic tiles when the workers were not looking, and gazing at the colourful reflective pieces for hours after. Walking with my mum to the wet market, and afterwards treating ourselves to a bowl of kuay teow th’ng, perching ourselves on battered steel stools and ravishing the noodles with wide smiles on our faces.
My life at nine through rose-tinted glasses, perhaps. As a child, it never occurred to me that we were different from others. My brother used to say, “Appa is black, Amma is white, and I am brown”. We weren’t blind to colour, but we were colour blind.
(all photos above taken on location in various parts of Penang)
******************************************************
1. Pulau Tikus at night
We arrived at Penang at about 10.00pm and before even checking into our hotel, we drove straight to the Pulau Tikus market for Round One of Penang street food.
Five of us shared one plate of Penang chee cheong fun – flat rice noodles with a dark sauce containing the primary ingredient – prawn paste.
2. Pulau Tikus in the morning
Chee Cheong Fun
Kway Teow Th’ng
Kway Chap
Chai Tow Kway
One can never go hungry at the Pulau Tikus market in the morning. There is an amazing selection of freshly cooked food – from currypuffs to pancakes, chai tow kway (fried carrot cake) to mamak mee. The market bustles with activity and loud voices compete as customers haggle for the best prices.
3. Swee Kong Coffee Shop
One of the bestsellers at this coffee shop is the apom stall manned by an Indian man. The apom (crispy “pancake”) is sweet, eggy and coconutty – I can’t believe it costs only 50 sen a piece.
The hokkien mee (or prawn mee in this part of the world) is another fast selling item. Thanks to Boo’s persistence, the owner scraped the remnants to make up this last bowl of noodles for the day.
Wantan mee with fried wantans is another popular dish here. It is served with a little bit of thick gravy, quite unlike anything I’ve ever tried before.
Swee Kong Coffee Shop
Burmah Road
4. Seng Lee Coffee Shop
At the corner of Burmah Road and Bangkok Lane (across from Swee Kong and a short walk up) is Seng Lee, another institution, famous for hokkien mee, pasembor and mamak mee.
The pasembor (mamak rojak) containing fritters, hard boiled eggs, bean curd and boiled potatoes in a spicy peanut sauce is highly addictive.
5. Pork satay
Take a short work down Bangkok Lane in search of the elusive pork satay man with his pushcart.
Pork satay
Instead of ketupat (rice cakes), this satay is served with toasted bread.
******************************************************
~ Those who have much are often greedy, those who have little always share. ~
Oscar Wilde
I guess we must be paupers.
******************************************************
Also check out:
hey, in Kelantan, they serve satay with toasts as well.
those thick, Benggali bread. to wipe all the peanut gravy, i supposed.
cool post, all in one. 🙂
I am shocked! there is pork satay else where besides melaka! hahaha! Ok, i never knew that. I know what to look for in penang besides my usual stuff 🙂
Seng Lee’s like my fave breakfast spot in Penang. Love the mee mamak. Love how you can order anything on Bangkok lane and have them delivered to your table in this Kopitiam, at no charges. So muhibbah. Everybody’s welcome.
Speaking of Muhibbah, tales from your childhood put a smile on my face. Something about the spirit of yesteryear that’s missing these days. Or is it just in KL?
Another one of your drooling post 🙂 Bravo!
oh man, just looking at your pictures makes me miss PG food so much!
I like your first and third photo very very much! the colours look so retro-ish, got the “feel”. heh you are making us hungry with so much street food from Penang!
if colour blind, how to drive wor? hehe. joking only lah. your metaphor is lovely.
you’ve summarized the trip really well. perhaps enlightenment is indeed penang. just embedded in street food that the lucky us had a taste of.
Must really go hunt for that pork satay and pasembor this weekend! Bangkok Lane, did u say?!
wow! You’ve got all those good food in just one post. That’s so great!
J2Kfm: Thanks for the information, J! I didn’t know about the Kelantan satay.
neko-hime: I thought pork satay is more widely available these days?
A Lil Fat Monkey: You’ve got a good point – the “muhibbah” spirit seems to be more prevalent in Penang than here in KL. There were smiles pasted on everyone’s faces. Or maybe it’s because I was holding a camera. hehe.
Kiran: Thank you!
sc: I miss PG food too!
ladyironchef: Ain’t nothing like street food. I have hunger pangs looking at the pictures too!
Nic: Idiot. 😛 Btw, there’s more to come (I hope). Thanks for being a part of these memories.
Pureglutton: Oooh, you’re going to PG! Lucky girl! Yes, Bangkok Lane. Just head towards Pulau Tikus in the morning and there’s loads to eat there.
allie: I decided to make this the Pulau Tikus post. We ate all this food in just 12 hours.
this is so torturing to read, *garrrrrrrrr*
reminds me its been a month since we went to penang..
i miss the chee cheong fun… wail!!!!
all yumylicious penang food. can see but cannot eat. sobzzz
Initially I was excited to read about your food tour… but the more I read, the hungrier I became 🙁
It has been a few years since I went to Penang…
@LL: LOL i only tahu Melaka. Katak bawah tempurung hahaha.
the kids pics were fantastic!
the CCF pic is very very torturous 🙁
u actually took down address? amazing, I would have been too busy eating! LOL so attentive. I remembered our trip to Penang is to eat all day long!
KY: It’s torturous to write this post too. Makes me hungry!
Joe: Has it been a month already? Time certainly flies.
ai wei: awwww. I know how it feels too. 🙁
thule aka leo: hehe. I can imagine what Penang food does to ppl!
neko-hime: LOL. Spread your wings, little bird!
babe_kl: Thank you! Yeah, I can’t bear to look at the CCF pic too.
daphne: Hehe…yeah, I was taking down notes too. 😛 I think that’s the best part about visiting Penang…eating all day long!
Gorgeous gorgeous!! You made even the grotty P.Tikus market look sexay! I’ve not been back for about 2 months now… and from the looks of what I’m missing, TOO damn long!!
Oh…u make me miss all the lovely Penang food…makes my mouth waters. Such a haven for food! Keep writing.
lovely post! it’s good to be back madam!
Although I have been eating all those hawker food in Pulau Tikus almost every now and then but your post and beautiful photos brings another totally new approach to this place.
Man, you guys really hit the highlights! Awesome shots.
550ml jar of faith: Thanks! Yeah, one should never stay way from P. Tikus for that long!
MaryMoh: I love PG food too. 🙂 I hope you can replicate some of these at home.
cumidanciki: welcome back, ma’am!
ck lam: Thanks…means a lot to get such a compliment. 🙂 I hope to be able to meet up with you the next time I visit.
Nate: Hehe..yes we did! (Welcome back!)