Restaurants in Peninsular Malaysia – West Coast
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A
Old Town Kopitiam
This more upmarket coffee house facing the padang seems to be forever crowded. Simple chicken rice dishes prevail.
reviewed
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B
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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C
FMS Restaurant
Upstairs from the FMS Bar, though under separate management, this is a popular Chinese restaurant in an old colonial building adorned with antique prints, porcelain, and a large portrait of the young Queen Elizabeth II. Seafood and beancurd dishes are particularly good, but prices are high. Wave away the 'complimentary' peanuts if you don't want them added to your bill. You'll also be charged for your paper napkin.
reviewed
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D
Bonda
Self-styled 'retro' restaurant with a vaguely '60s/'70s décor scheme, including orange plastic chairs and Lonely Planet covers on the walls. Chicken and chips-style dishes are served, alongside the usual rice and noodle options, and there are piles of English magazines to flick through.
reviewed
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E
Medan Selera Dato Tawhil Azar
Better-known as the Children’s Playground, this large food centre has stalls arranged around a small square filled with slides and swings. It’s a popular place for Malay food in the evening, it’s open late and, of course, kids love it.
reviewed
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F
Monde Brasserie
This upmarket Western-style restaurant, with its white linen and fussy waiters, serves reasonably authentic pasta dishes, steaks, fish dishes and so on. It also has a pricey wine list.
reviewed
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G
Old Town White Coffee
This upmarket coffee house facing the padang seems to be forever crowded. Simple chicken rice dishes prevail, and unsurprisingly, the coffee is pretty good.
reviewed
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Tomato
There are some great tomatoes along Cenang beach. This one serves excellent rotis and a standard curry-rice Indian/Malay menu at all hours – take note, nighthawks.
reviewed
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H
Pusat Makanan Majestic
This crowded Chinese food court has a noisy, boisterous atmosphere, and is a good place for a couple of beers.
reviewed
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Fat Mum’s
Fat Mum’s serves up Chinese dishes. It’s cheap, cheerful and can get pretty boisterous come the evening.
reviewed
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Ipoh Parade Shopping Centre
You'll find some smarter restaurants and a food court in the Ipoh Parade Shopping Centre .
reviewed
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Teachew Cuisine
We walked past this place for about a week before we realised there was a restaurant here, and yet it's Melaka's claim to haute cuisine. Duck past mum, who washes the dishes on the sidewalk and spends all day chopping veggies and dismembering chickens. Smile at uncle who runs the rickety soup stall that efficiently covers the restaurant's doorway, and then you're in for a surprise.
The secret interior room is air-conditioned, the tables are set with China's finest and the walls are decorated with an impressive collection of hard liquor bottles and odd landscape paintings. There's no menu but everyone knows that you're supposed to order the soft-shell crab or the prawns. T…
reviewed
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K
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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L
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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Restoran Sek Yow Fook
There's a little of everything at this hodge-podge Chinese place but it's all surprisingly good. English cooked breakfasts are available from 08:00 or there's a little congee (rice porridge) stall for those wanting to start the day local style. For lunch dive into the excellent Chinese buffet, but don't arrive past around 14:30 when the dregs have been sitting out sans refrigeration for hours.
For kids (or fussy grown-ups) there's an 'Elvis Presley' peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich on offer. A bar in the back serves beer.
reviewed
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M
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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N
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.
reviewed
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O
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.
reviewed
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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.
reviewed
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Q
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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R
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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S
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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T
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.
reviewed
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U
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.
reviewed
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Champor-Champor
Serves up imaginative regional cuisine such as pan-fried bamakoise (a local fish) with banana, tofu satay and coconut-crusted calamari. The menu descriptions are particularly intriguing – such as the Thai green curry ‘with an exotic taste that makes you kinky’ – and the tranquil, open-air garden filled with sweet incense and surrounded with plants and native carvings provides a romantic setting to while away a tropical evening.
reviewed
