Eating My Way Through KL & Penang (Part 2b: Everything Else)

Penang’s a Chinese-ified city with lots of Chinesey food that I can get in Singapore. As with regional differences, dishes with the same name might not be cooked in the same way – like Char Kway Teow or Lor Mee.

Regardless, food is food. When in Penang (or anywhere else), eat like siao*.

Nasi Kandar

The Indian version of the Nasi Padang, Nasi Campur or Economic Rice. Pick from whatever meats and vegetables – sometimes stir-fried, often curried or sizzled – and chuck them onto your plate of rice. Douse with slaps of mutton curry, licks of beef something, drizzles of some dark gravy with mussels in it. That’s Nasi Kandar.

Sounds better than it tastes. But I find it too heavy for my liking

Nasi Kandar Line Clear
177 Jalan Penang

Bak Chang (Meat Rice Dumpling)

Apparently these stuffed rice dumplings are da bomb in Penang. They serve Hokkien, Cantonese and some “Golden” rice dumpling that suspiciously resembles a Hokkien dumpling on steroids. Soft, savoury, not too oily, and the accompanying sweet dark sauce was surprisingly apt for this dumpling. Not my kind of dumplings but I much prefer the Cantonese versions.

Cintra Food Corner
Lebuh Cintra

Char Kway Teow

Penang’s pride and joy. Flat rice noodles fried with lots of bean sprouts, cockles, oil and wrapped in an egg. Salty, not sweet. Not enough wok hei (smoky taste), but worth a wolf-down snack.

Some Coffeeshop that also sells solid Penang Coffee
Lebuh Kimberly

Beef Satay

This is good. Facing the sea, pieces of charcoal-fired beef and drippy which I dip into peanut sauce. Best.

Food Court Facing the Sea
Jalan Tun Syed Sheh Barakah

Grilled Fish with Sambal

When facing the sea, must eat something from it, Like fish, or mermaids. Tangy, powerful chilli slathered on grilled fish. Very much like the seafood stuff that comes out from Newton Circus, but much cheaper.

Food Court Facing the Sea
Jalan Tun Syed Sheh Barakah

Everything Else Verdict

I think I went to all the wrong places in Penang. Regardless, that’s a snapshot of Penang food. The only real difference between that and Singapore lies in a few tweaks here and there.

Next time, I’m heading up along the East Coast of Malaysia.

* siao = mad