One of the main highlights of a trip to Penang is the food. You will be amazed at the sheer variety of Chinese, Malay, Indian and Nyonya cuisine vying for your attention. Don’t miss delicious street food like asam laksa, hokkien mee, chee cheong fun, char koay teow, pasembor and mee goreng. You can also try delicious Peranakan or Nyonya food such as mee siam, otak-otak, kerabu, enche kabin and curry kapitan. Equally delicious is nasi kandar, and Indian Muslim dish. Seafood restaurants offering a wide variety of scrumptious dishes are found in abundance along the coastal areas on the island as well as the mainland.

Authentic local favourites:
Asam Laksa
Asam laksa is one of the most popular street food in Penang. This delicious combination of rice noodles and spicy fish gravy can be sour and sweet or savoury depending on the variety.

Nasi Kandar
Enjoy a meal of rice with a tantalising choice of beef, chicken, mutton, fish, prawn or squid curry, coompanied by side dishes and papadom crackers. Nasi kandar, a speciality of the Indian Muslim community, originates from Penang.

Char Koay Teow
The aromatic char koay teow is made from flat rice noodles stir fried with dark and light soy sauce as well as prawns, cockles, chilli, bean sprouts and Chinese chives. Duck egg and crab meat are usually added for that extra flavour.

Pasembor
Similar to dressed salad, the pasembor is a mix of shredded turnip and cucumber, dough fritters, fried bean curd as well as boiled potatoes topped with a sweet spicy peanut sauce.

Rojak
Rojak comprises of a wide variety of refreshing local fruits, cuttlefish slices and fritters that are stir into a bowl of pungent prawn paste dressing and sprinkled with ground peanuts before it is served.

Hokkien Mee
Unlike its namesake in Kuala Lumpur, the Penang hokkien mee comprises flavoursome prawn soup as well as noddles garnished with prawns, fish cake, vegetable and fried shallots.