Advice required for Malacca, Penang and Langkawi

[RickBehl]

Hi All,

Just a quick request for any recommendations for particular restaurants, hawker stalls, etc in Malaysia in either Malacca, Penang or Langkawi.

We are fairly adventurous and can tolerate quite spicy food so don't hold back with those suggestions !

Thanks in advance,
Rick

[KLfoodie]

Penang has fantastic street food and generally, inexpensive. My favourite char kuey teow stalls are: 1) Sisters at 185 Mcalister road and Lorong Selamat (despite the heat, the lady chef wears a red beret and goggles!) but be prepared for a long wait (can be 40mins) at both places. For a spicy meal of curry with rice, Line Clear on Penang St has a huge array.
The gorgeous Datai hotel in Langkawi has a restaurant set in the rainforest called Gulai House, go for dinner, very good Indian and Malay cuisine, great tandoori lamb and curries. Excellent food but pricey for local standards (once spent US$60 per person for dinner without wine). Another favourite is Bon Ton near the airport, also a lovely natural setting, nice for lunch & dinner, serves Asian and western dishes, good desserts. Like the rock lobster satay. Prices also high here.

[RickBehl]

Thanks KLfoodie. Actually last time we went to Penang we had a fantastic Char Kway Teow. It was from one of the recommended sites on the internet somewhere. I think it may have been on one of the roads you mention above. There actually was a man doing the cooking but he was wearing diving goggles while cooking ! Anyway is was probably the best version of the dish I have tried... I heard of Line Clear but we never had a chance to try it last time. Will try to make it there this time. Also, thanks for the tips for Langkawi. We are in a group which includes a 6 month old baby and a pregnant woman so some of our meals will have to be in nice clean safe surroundings.

[KLfoodie]

The lady at Lorong Selamat has moved a few doors up the road from the coffee shop where there's a man wearing goggles. Her shop looks newer and only serves drinks aside from her CKT. The lady chef is the original Lrg Selamat CKT but the man's version looks rather similar. I wanted to compare the two on my last visit so I ordered a plate from the lady, left my friends to guard the table, then, hurried across to the other stall and asked the man for a plate of CKT but he said it would be a 30-40min wait, so i gave up.

[penang_rojak]

I agree with KLfoodie, the two sisters fried koay teow at MacAlister Road is perhaps the best in Penang - it's less greasy than the Lorong Selamat one. Plus, the 2 sisters sprinkle crabmeat on top of their koay teow before serving it up.

A good place to try various Penang foods is to venture out to the hawker centres where you can pick and choose from various hawker stalls in one place. Some good hawker centres are:

- Northam Cafe - good sar hor fun, fried koay teow, oyster omelette (oh-chian), loh bak, etc. Also has an interesting Filipino stall offering inihaw (grilled foods);
- the famous Gurney Drive (Persiaran Gurney) hawker center, near Sunrise Tower. Good rojak fruit salad (oh yum!!), joo-hoo eng-chye (cuttlefish salad), etc,
- a 15 minute walk down Gurney Drive (past Gurney Plaza, G Hotel, etc) bring you to a smallish food centre where you can find the famous Edgecumbe Pasembor - DELICIOUS Indian-style fried fritters bathed in a rich, spicy tomato-sweet potato gravy, the like which you'd not has anywhere else before:

http://www.malaysiabest.net/2006/07/23/pasembor-edgecumbe-gurney-drive/

The stall next to Edgecumbe pasembor belongs to the stallholder's sibling, and is called the Edgecumbe Mee Goreng. It's one of the best spicy Indian fried noodle stall in Penang, and one of the oldest.

- The only other fried noodle shop which is as good as Edgecumbe fried noodle is Hameed's at the 18th-century Fort Cornwallis:

http://eatingasia.typepad.com/eatinga...

- Morning breakfasts can be had at Kuching Lane coffeeshop or Bee Hooi coffeeshop in Pulau Tikus. There, you can choose from a huge variety of breakfast noodles (wantan mee, ark-tui mee sua, koay teow th'ng, koay chiap, curry mee);

- some folks go to the Ayer Item Market, near Kek Lok Si (the Temple of 10,000 Buddhas) for the famous koay chiap (flat rice noodles in soup, with duckmeat, gizzards, offal, duckblood) - best thing you'd have ever tasted in your life; and the sourish Penang laksa (noodles in tamarind-fish soup) drizzled with enough hae-koh (pungent prawn paste) to blow your socks off;

- Also check out Swatow Lane/New World Park Centre hawker centre for its famous fried koay teow, Hainanese chicken rice, ice-kachang & chendol desserts, and lots of other goodies.

Whilst in Penang, you should also explore its unique Penang Nyonya food - some good nyonya restaurants (an amalgam of 400 years of Chinese & Malay fusion cooking) which I like are:
- Nyonya Secrets, Service Road
- Mama's, Abu Siti Lane;
- Hot Wok, Burmah Road (near Penang Plaza
)- Nyonya Cafe, at New World Park;
- Rumah Perut, Kelawei Road - this one is really good! Located in a turn of the century house.

Try the spicy curries - Kari Kapitan or Nyonya Chicken Curry; crispy delicous kueh pie-tee pastry cups filled with shredded jicama/shrimps/carrots; inche kabin (marinated, spiced chicken, deep-fried), perut ikan (spicy-sour fish stew with shredded herbs), otak-otak (spicy fish mousse like Thai hor-mok, but MORE delicious by far), joo-hoo char (fried shredded turnips with cuttlefish shreds) - my childhood comfort food. And many other dishes to explore.

Let me know if you have any specific foods you are looking for.

[KLfoodie]

Oh yes, the Penang laksa near kek lok si is superb! Penang_rojak, is there any other penang laksa that you would recommend that's closer to town? Usually fly in and don't have a car in Penang. Also, would be interested to know if you have any favourite prawn mee stall? Woke up early once to try the corner kopi tiam in pulau tikus (which also has awesome apam) oppo the police station but it didn't seem particularly special.
For Nyona, have only tried Mama's in Abu Siti Lane and it was a great meal, tasted like home cooking!

[penang_rojak]

Hi KLfoodie, unfortunately, you'll need to drive around in order to find the many well-known laksa or Hokkien mee stalls in Penang, e.g. the Hokkien mee stall which only operates in the morning in front of the Penang Buddhist Association (opposite Padang Brown). The Pulau Tikus one opposite the police station is indeed one of the most popular ones (they sell out by mid-morning, right?) - maybe you should try it again & see if its elusive taste gets you this time around.

For laksa, you can try the New World Park one, which is relatively near Penang Plaza/Burmah Road, or Lorong Selamat. Or go to Gurney Drive in the evenings, most laksa stalls there are very good as they are close to each other & pretty competitive.

[KLfoodie]

Thanks penang_rojak, will be sure to try the hokkien mee stall that you suggested. I've been to padang brown once before, went for the famous crab meat popiah.
Yeah, that pulau tikus hokkien mee stall sells out by 9plus in the morning!
BTW, the row of restaurants in beautiful restored nyonya(?) houses near New World Park look nice, have you eaten in any of them?

[penang_rojak]

Only the Nyonya restaurant. There's no satisfying nyonas/babas in Penang when it comes to eating out, but I thought the food is quite good there - and I'm 5th-generation true-blue Penang baba :-)

[RickBehl]

Great reply penang_rojak ! Another vote for the sisters CKT makes it something we will try and search out. The Edgecumbe pasembor and mee goreng sound great. I haven't tried pasembot before so that will be interesting. You mention Hameed's. I think we went to a Hameed's last time for Murtabak. Is that the same place ? The murtabak was great... I've heard the Bee Hooi coffeshop mentioned somewhere else so will take a look at that. Is that the place that does the good laksa too ?

We had the famous Assam Laksa at Ayer Itam market last time we were in Penang. It as definitely one of the culinary highlights of the trip. Fantastically Spicy and Sour which was much better than any version I've had before. Also the Chendol at the same stall was actually pretty good too ! Do you have any suggestions for the best Chendol in either Penang or Malacca ? I heard there were some good ones in Malacca somewhere...

We also did Swatow Lane hawker centre last time. Looks like they had just refurbished the whole market into a clean covered facility which was nice as we didn't have too worry too much about hygiene issues...

As for the Nonya food we tried Mama's last time... the food was good but nothing amazing on that visit... maybe we will try a different one this time...

Do you have any other recommendations for the other types of laksa available ? or is it best to stick the Assam type in Penang ? I heard there are at least 3 other versions (Katong, Johor, etc)...

Thanks again,
Rick

[penang_rojak]

The Hameed of mee goreng fame is different from the Hameed of Campbell Street, which has been selling murtabaks & other Indian-Muslim goodies for more than 100 years in the same location :-)

The best Chendol, not just in Penang, but IN THE WORLD is Teochew Chendol stall at Lebuh Keng Kwee, off Penang Road. It's the stall outside Joo Hooi Restaurant (with the small crowd standing around eating their little bowls of chendol).

Penang laksa is very unique, and comparing it to Katong Laksa is almost akin to having to choose between pasta aglio olio vs carbonara! You must try all of them, and see which are your favourites, ditto Johore Laksa, which uses (surprise) spaghetti in place of Oriental noodles.

Whilst in Penang, try the famous Siamese laksa (richer, milkier with use of coconut milk) at Lorong Selamat. There is also a famous Penang laksa place in Balik Pulau (the other side of the island) which offers both Penang laksa and Siamese laksa. Their Siamese laksa includes the addition of pea eggplants which you find in Thai green curries.

[penang_rojak]

Map & photos in this weblink for Teochew chendol stall:

http://food.malaysiamostwanted.com/ve...