Penang is well known for being Malaysia's Culinary Capital. It is the most visited place for domestic tourists and is most well-known for its food. Penang street 'hawker food' is touted as one of the best in South East Asia and Asia. In fact, I grew up being spoiled for choice and being so used to the standard of Penang food that i never understood why Malaysians from other states always praised Penang street food, as i had grown up on this kind type of food and it was normal for me. Nothing particularly 'fantastic' about it. Of Course, now having visited other places in Malaysia such as KL and Melaka, I must say although the food is very good in KL and Melaka as well ( i love Melaka Nyonya Laksa!!) but Penang definitely has much more variety and choices of dishes and culinary delicacies compared to KL or Melaka. So although they each have their own unique dishes as well, Penang simply has more and in much more variety and choices.:-)
Anyways, my favourite Penang hawker food is Penang Curry Mee, Penang Hokkien Mee, Penang Assam Laksa, Mamak Stall Curry Sotong with Rice and other dishes, Char Koay Kak, Fried Beancurd adorned with Chilli sauce, and Chilled Soybean Milk with brown sugar syrup. Hhhmmmm....almost all of this gotten from Penang's most famous hawker centre, Gurney Drive hawker centre and also surrounding areas such as Pulau Tikus Market area and Tanjung Tokong/Bungah Area...I live 5 mins walk to Gurney Drive actually ...hehe..so its actually very convenient for me to eat all the delicious food at the Malaysia-famous Gurney Drive hawker street..hehe....
A food program on Penang 'Street Food'; check it out!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Rga7Gx5H2E
Almost feel like going home right now..*salivating*, i really can't get used to the food options in Australia sometimes despite living here for so many yrs actually..i dun know why, maybe i am very biased but i feel Sydney and Melbourne both lack good Asian food and more importantly, good authentic Malaysian food..there's actually plenty of authentic asian food nowadays, just not malaysian, and definitely NOT cheap malaysian food, everything here is soooo freakin expensive when converted bck into ringgit, i mean, how can you even enjoy a meal even if its good when thinking about how not worth it for the price..that applies for everything here actually, everything is not cheap , thus i always do my shopping (most of the time i try to) bck in Asia, cos there's more variety for a cheaper price and of the exact same quality as bck in Australia! Damn, i hate expensive and limited dining choices in Sydney....can't wait to head bck to Asia again..haha..
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Seeing that you count both Penang and Taipei as your hometowns -- here's asking: which has the better street food in your opinion? ;b
Hello! Thanks for dropping by my blog. Have to disagree with you on two counts - one, KL's food not really great and VERY expensive...Penang's much cheaper and a lot nicer BUT I don't like Gurney Drive. Went once, never again - overrated!
As for Malacca, I don't seem to have any fond memories of the food I had there - maybe the nyonya specialties and the cendol at Mako Restaurant!
YTSL:Hmmm...good question, given that Taiwanese streetfood and Penang streetfood are equally famous...well, i think both are equally great in terms of diversity and taste...it simply depends on one's preference...Taiwanese streetfood tends to change more and there's much more 'new and creative inventions' and also more variety becos there's alot of new kinds of streetfood being created all the time whereas malaysian streetfood tends to stay the same or evolve more slowly (it does change, just slower) but malaysian streetfood has much more variety in terms of cuisine choices, there is indian, malay, and chinese as well as nyonya snacks whereas in taiwan, its really all just chinese/taiwanese style so after awhile you can get really bored and bland as you start craving for something really different e.g. indian mamak and not more varieties of basically the same type of cuisine..
suituapui: Well, when i said KL food i really meant the restaurant variety which is really nice and much more variety to choose from (though very expensive,hehehe) and I like Melaka gula melaka dessert as well as their nyonya laksa...as for Gurney Drive, I love it, i grew up on the food there and 'bee hooi kopitiam' in pulau tikus so i think its great..
well... actually every big city has its own face =p and of course food... just i think the authority wanna make penang as the culinary city... as far as i know KL has many other stuff to eat which couldnt be found in penang, likewise, perak too has many nice food... but afterall, penang is small, easy to go here and there for food... and automatically it looks like so packed with different kind of food on that island XD
fufu: Yea, true, true,all places have their own local specialities and nice food places,and so one can't say which is better:-)
Great post for when I eventually go! I watched a good Rick Stein series (Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey) and he went to Penang and was shown around by Cathy from Gastronomy. I can't wait!
Helen: Yea! Penang food is great. Be sure to head over there soon!:-)
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