Restaurants in Georgetown
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Padang Brown Food Court
Everyone in town knows that this is the spot for delectable popiah (spring rolls) although the won ton mee (egg vermicelli served with pork dumplings or sliced roast pork) and bubur caca (it's pronounced cha cha - don't be so childish - and it's a delicious dessert porridge made with coconut milk and banana) is another good reason to try the food in this area. In the afternoons try the yong tau foo (clear Chinese soup with fish balls, lettuce, crab sticks, cuttlefish and more).
reviewed
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Gurney Drive
Penang's most famous food area was once known as North Beach but was later named for Sir Henry Gurney, a British High Commissioner who was assassinated by Malayan communist guerrillas in 1951. Today it's a mish-mash of the city's most modern high-rises and some of the grandest colonial mansions on the island. It's posh for a hawker area so the food is a bit more pricey here than elsewhere but it's worth that few extra ringgit to have a table facing the sea.
You'll find absolutely everything from Malay to Western food, and it's known for its laksa stalls and good people-watching. For the best rojak try the Penang-famous Aye Chye stall. The area around is also home to the G…
reviewed
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Teik Sen
At first glance this open cafe looks like any other popular Chinatown establishment. On closer look you'll notice that patrons are dressed up - button shirts and high heels. Once you try the food you'll understand. This is a step up from the everyday delicacies of Chinatown - just when you thought it couldn't get better, it did.
There's a menu translated into English but chances are you'll be the only one among the tightly packed throngs who needs it. Try the curry prawns, crispy chicken with plum sauce or fried eggplant with bean paste. The adventurous can try other specialities like the braised sea cucumber and fish maws. Arrive early for either lunch or dinner, unless …
reviewed
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East Xiamen Delicacies
With tables made from antique sewing-machine stands, ageing tile floors, overhead fans and scrolls for menus, this quaint little café is one of Penang's most atmospheric. The food is equally interesting with tasty homestyle recipes such as teochew lor ark (stewed duck) eaten with rice or congee, mangkuang (vegetarian dumplings stuffed with shredded yam-bean and chives, also known as kuchai kueh) and kuang cheang Teluk Anson (yam blended with groundnuts, wrapped in soya bean skin and deep fried).
reviewed
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Red Garden Food Paradise & Night Market
Groove to '80s hits in this red-themed courtyard - the chairs and tables are red and the walls are white and red. This place has yet to win over the locals, but it has an excellent location in the heart of Chinatown and has a wide selection of food including most local specialities, dim sum (for breakfast), pizza and even sushi.
Green Hut has an outlet here, selling its outrageous Australian desserts. It's not a bad choice for families looking for something low-key, and is one of the few hawker centres with plenty of parking.
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Sky Hotel
It’s incredible that this gem sits in the middle of the greatest concetration of travellers in Georgetown, yet is somehow almost exclusively patronised (in huge, enthusiastic numbers) by locals. People – what’s happening? Sigh. It is incumbent on you to try the char siew (barbecued pork), siew bak (pork belly), siew cheong (honey-sweetened pork) and roast duck. Order your pork pun fei sau (half fat, half lean) to get that proper combination of slightly wet and firm roasted goodness.
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Kheng Pin
This hawker stand has a few specialities locals swear by, most famously lorbak (spiced ground pork wrapped in bean curd dipped in black gravy) and Hainan chicken-rice, one of the great fast foods of East Asia. The latter is deceptively simple – steamed chicken and rice cooked in chicken broth – easy to muck up and so good when executed right, as it is here. The state government sends Kheng Pin’s owner to Adelaide in Australia every year to promote Penang cuisine, so you know he’s doing something right.
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Spice & Rice
Southern Indian food is served with class on crisp white table clothes laden with wine glasses and candles. There's an OK (but good for Penang) wine list, cocktails are on offer and the service is excellent. Goanese fish curry, chicken tikka and, ahem, goat-brain masala are just some of the menu items. There's live jazz on Thursday and Friday nights; otherwise you'll have to suffer through the pseudo-soft rock and country and western music that's pumped through the stereo.
reviewed
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Tho Yuen Restaurant
Our favourite place in town for dim sum. It's packed with newspaper-reading loners and chattering groups of locals all morning long, but you can usually squeeze in somewhere. Servers speak minimal English but do their best to explain the contents of their carts to the clueless round-eye. Do try the steamed sticky rice with mushrooms but remember not to take too much from the first cart that comes by, although you'll be tempted - save room because there's more to come.
reviewed
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Sarkies Corner
Sarkies offers different themed dinner buffets every day of the week; the focus shifts from Asian to Western to fusion to the kitchen sink, and its uniformly good stuff (you’ll want to dress up). The lunch buffet is gorgeous – it plucks menu items from across the globe, and if you can’t find something you want, you’re a very picky eater. Finally, for the nascent colonialist deep in your soul, high tea (RM46) is served in the garden from noon to 3pm every Sunday.
reviewed
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Green Hut
Any homesick Westerner should head straight here where the Australian expat owners do a great stand-in for mum and dad, as well as offering heaps of travel advice and comfort foods like shepherds pie. Coffees, pizzas, quiches and sandwiches are good but the desserts, such as the now Penang-renowned sticky date pudding, are what makes the place tick. The hut also has a small outlet selling only desserts at the Red Garden Food Paradise & Night Market.
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New World Park
If you’re nervous about eating street food, this is the place to come. The famous hawker stalls of Swatow Lane have been moved into this flash pavilion, where gems of the Malaysian street are prepped in a sanitized, almost mall-like atmosphere. Laughing families and friends all line up (seriously line up) for curry mee (noodles in a curry-like soup), fishball soup and other specialties, served under indisputably clean and safe conditions.
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Esplanade Food Centre
You can't beat the seaside setting of this food centre that's nestled right in the heart of Penang's colonial district. One side is called 'Islam' and serves halal Malay food and the other is called 'Cina' and serves Chinese and Malay specialities including delicious rojak (a fruit-and-vegetable salad) and fresh fruit-juices. If you're sitting on the heathen's side you can also enjoy some of the cheapest beer in town.
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Jit Seng Duck Rice
This hawker stall on Lebuh Carnarvon (Jln Cheong Fatt Tze) has an enviable reputation as one of the best providers of duck-rice in town. For the record, duck-rice is exactly what it sounds like: lovingly seasoned and roasted duck with a crisp, sweet skin, concealing firm, juicy flesh below, served with rice softened by a rich gravy and, often enough, a clean, clear soup. The roast pork is great too. Located by the Star Hotel.
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New World Park Food Court
Every stall serves something different (as opposed to the centre having a particular speciality) at this ultramodern, covered food court with mist-blowing fans and shiny industrial décor. It's new, spotlessly clean and garnering a good reputation among Penangites. The ais kacang (shaved-ice dessert with syrup, jellies, beans and, sometimes, even corn on top) here gets particularly good reviews.
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Hsiang Yang Fast Food
Chinatown is full of coffee shops and this is one of the most popular with an inexpensive Chinese buffet serving seafood, meat and vegetarian dishes in stainless-steel trays. There are also a collection minivendors peddling noodles, satay and popiah (rice-paper rolls). It's best to arrive around noon for the buffet, when the food is still fresh.
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Thirty Two
Some of the finest dining in the city occurs at this genteel restaurant located in an elegant seaside mansion. The menu is upscale haute French with a touch of Asian fusion (mainly in the form of local ingredients); it’s all very good stuff. It offers a cocktail bar and live jazz on Friday and Saturday evenings, but don’t forget to dress smart casual.
reviewed
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Revolving Restaurant
Get your city bearings while filling your belly at this restaurant-cum-tourist attraction. It takes an hour for the disc to make a complete rotation during which you can fill your plate as often as you like from the well-spread buffet of Western dishes (such as roast lamb) to Malay and even Japanese specialities. There's live music in the evenings.
reviewed
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Yi Garden Coffee Shop
There’s all kinds of hawker stalls here that serve, according to locals, some of the best pan mee (flat, sour noodles) and oyster omelettes in town. Very much a Georgetowner hangout, this is the kind of street food that attracts lots of mothers with children – in case you were worried about catching any kind of bug off the road.
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Kuala Kangsar Market
Here you'll find vendors dexterously folding and stuffing slippery chee cheong fun (broad rice noodles filled with prawns or meat); watching the creation of the dish is much easier than wrestling the noodles into your mouth (good luck). Wander through the lush veggie-and-fish market to snack on fruit and Chinese baked goods.
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Ecco Cafe
We’d normally be wary of a place selling pizza in the heart of backpacker land, but Ecco shows up our prejudice for the small-mindedness it is. Equally popular with hip locals and travellers, there is some damn fine thin-crust European-style pizza on offer in a cosy space that’s as contemporary as it is intimate.
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Kaliammans
Smart, air-con restaurant serving North and South Indian cuisine, as well as Western food such as pizza. It's regarded as one of the better Indian budget places in town. The best value is the tasty banana-leaf set meals, but the garlic naan with palak paneer (spinach and cottage cheese) is to die for.
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Opera
Cool jazz murmuring in the background, Oriental artworks and crisp linen tablecloths provide a chic atmosphere for some interesting Western and Asian dishes, including ‘hazelnut fish and chips’ and stir-fried ostrich. The space also doubles as a lifestyle/design store, in case the ostrich wasn’t posh enough.
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Restoran Sup Hameed
With sprawling tables well beyond the actual restaurant like a trail of busy, dining ants down the sidewalk this ultrapopular smorgasbord at the north end of Jln Penang has everything from spicy sup (soup!) and nasi kandar to roti canai. Curried squid is the house speciality.
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Nyonya Secrets
This tiny place hidden down a nondescript side street offers a menu of spicy Nonya favourites such as otak-otak (fish wrapped in banana leaves) and sweet-and-spicy kerabu (flavoured with lemongrass, chillies and coconut) prawns. It does excellent-value set lunches.
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