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Popular Chinese
dishes at street stalls and hawker
centres
Bak kut teh
Pork ribs and other pork parts marinated
and cooked in rich chinese herbal soup, eaten with plain steam rice or special
yam rice. This dish is served with fresh chopped garlic in thick dark soya
sauce and red slice chilli. Do not forget to order eu char koay, fried
puff bread sticks which goes well as a side dish. Bak kut teh is popular
for breakfast and for supper. Priced around RM12.00 per pot for two
persons.
For the best bak
kut teh in town (in no particular order): Carnation coffee shop, Gurney
Drive for breakfast and lunch; coffee shops along Dato Keramat Roadin the
evenings; and street stall in Rangoon Road beside Lai Lai Supermarket in
the evenings.
 Bak chang
Steamed glutinous rice with soya sauce wrapped
in bamboo leaves and stuffed with pork, mushroom, dried prawns, salted egg
yolk or just white beans. Oily and high cholesterol delight which is a specialty
during the Bak Chang festival (fifth moon of the chinese calendar).
Available all year round at roadside stall in Swatow Lane in the afternoons.
Prices range from RM1.50 to RM2.50 per chang.
For the Nyonyas they
have their own version of chang – pua kiam tea. Still
made of glutinous rice but the stuffing differs from that of the traditional
bak chang. No soya sauce is being used leaving the chang white.
 Dim sum
Translated literally means
“to touch your heart”. Many beautiful variations of small steamed
dumplings made with pork or pork ribs, and dough with meat and prawn fillings.
Try also chee cheong fun, broad sheet rice noodles rolled and steamed
with prawns, served with light soy sauce. This breakfast fare, it is now
available in the evenings as well. Price differs from restaurant to street
stalls, depending on the number of variations consumed.
 For the best dim sum in town (in
no particular order): Shangri-La Hotel’s Chinese Restaurant in Georgetown
(pricey but first-rate); Tho Yuen at 92, Campbell Street; and coffee shops
along Chulia Street, Kimberly Street, Gottlieb Road and Golden Thai at Gurney
Drive.
Evening dim sum:
Coffee shop in Kampung Malabar off Penang Road and Chulia Street.
Dumplings or pau
Dumplings with meat – the chinese version
of the American burger. Other variations include sweet paste instead of meat.
Best eaten when warm. Available at most coffee shops.
 Char koay teow
Flat rice
noodles fried with beansprouts, egg, prawns, chinese sausage, cockles and
chilli. A popular Penang specialty about RM1.50 to RM5.50 per plate. Some
add duck eggs rather than chicken eggs to give the dish more aroma. Remember
to insist on extra prawns! This is what makes good char koay teow
a real eating experience.
For the best char
koay teow in town (in no particular order): "Sisters' char koay
teow" in Macalister Road from morning to noon time; coffee shops at Kimberley
Streetin the evenings; hawker centres in New Lane, Gurney Drive and Lorong
Selamat.
Chee cheong fun
Broad sheet
rice noodles rolled and steamed. Eaten with sweet sauce and sesame seeds.
Super cheap snack for RM1.20 to RM2.00 per plate.
There ia a stall at
the New Lane hawker centre which serves chee chong fun with curry
and cockles in the evenings. Taste good and different.
 Curry mee
Wheat base
mee in spicy coconut curry soup, garnished with beansprouts, prawn, cuttlefish,
cockles, beancurd and mint. Price per bowl: RM1.50 to RM2.50 .
For the best curry
mee in town (in no particular order): Corner coffee shop in Lorong Seratus
Tahun off Macalister Road in the mornings; hawker center opposite of the
Ayer Itam market in the marnings; hawker centres at New Lane, Bangkok Lane
and Gurney Drive.
Fried
oyster
Oyster
omelette with spring onions and mixed sauce. High cholesterol goodie for
the brave hearted glutton. There is only one stall in Penang that stands
tall when compared with others here in Penang. Situated in Carnarvon Street,
he sells only in the afternoon and you must taste it to believe it. Also
available at most hawker centres.
Hokkien
char
Fried wheat
base mee with dark soy sauce and strips of meat, prawns, liver and vegetables.
Goes very well with sambal belacan.
 Hokkien
mee
Wheat base
mee in a special prawns and pork bones enriched soup garnished with beansprouts,
kang kong, prawns, egg and pork. Another popular dish for RM1.50 to
RM2.50 per bowl.
For the best hokkien mee in town
(in no particular order): Coffee shop along the Ayer Itam bus terminal in
the mornings; hawker centres at Gurney Drive and New Lane.
Jawa mee
Blanched
noodles served with tomato based gravy, garnished with beansprouts, potato,
beancurd, egg, prawns, deep fried flour paste and sprinkled with groundnuts.
The fried version is also availble on request at most places.For extra kick
squeeze in a little lime juice. Price per bowl is about RM1.50 to RM3.00
.
 Joo hoo eng
chye
Steamed
cuttlefish served with hei tay (jellyfish), kang kong, sesame seeds,
groundnuts and sweet sauce. About RM5.00 to RM8.00 per plate for two persons.
Available at most hawker centres.
Koay
chap
Special
rice noodles (different from koay teow) is sed in this soup based dish which
is served with duck meat, beansprout and egg.
Koay teow th'ng
Rice noodles
in savoury soup with beansprouts, fish balls and slices of chicken. Another
popular dish for RM1.50 to RM2.50 per bowl.
For the best koay
teow th’ng in town (in no particular order): Opposite of the Ayer
Itam Police Station in the mornings served with slices of pork, mince pork,
liver and fish balls; most hawker centers and New Lane hawker centre served
with duck meat.
 Lok
lok
Lok lok
means "dip dip", a hawker version of a steamboat dinner. A wide selection
of fresh uncook food such as seafoos ranging from cuttlefish to crabsticks,
meat and vegetables are dipped into a central pot of boiling soup to cook.
The cooked bits of food is eaten off the skewer after dipping into a nut
based sauce and the cost is calculated according to the number of colour
coded skewers used.
Sar hor
fun
Rice base
noodles cut thicker (koay tiau) mixed with bee hoon, fried with garlic
and dark soya sauce topped with thick gravy and strips of meat, prawns, liver
and vegetables.
Prices for both dishes
range from RM1.50 to RM2.50 per plate.
Wan tan mee
Cantonese
egg noodle served with soup or “dry”. Garnished with pork or wan
tan – shrimp balls wrapped in thin dough, vegetables and char
siew, strips of sweet grilled pork meat. Try the green preserved chilli.
It goes well with the noodles. About RM1.50 to RM2.50 per serving.
For the best wan
tan mee in town (in no particular order): Corner coffee shop in Pulau
Tikus opposite Church of the Immaculate Conception in the mornings and hawker
centres at New Lane and Gurney Drive.
Chinese gourmet
cuisine at fine dining reataurant
 Chinese gourmet cuisine is widely regarded
as one of the world's finest and the fine dining establishments in Penang
mostly serves this cuisine in its authentic form with recipes handed down
from their Chinese ancestors. In general, there are four main influences
in Chinese gourmet cuisine originating from the different regions of China
– Hakka, Cantonese, Hokkien and Teochew.
 With its roots in the imperial palace and
filtered down to the private homes of the rich and powerful and to the
restaurants where the privileged entertained, Chinese gourmet dining tends
to be lavish and opulent affairs with 8-course and 10-course menus. Shark's
fin soup, Peking duck, Beggar's chicken as well as abalone, scallops and
fish maw inspired dishes are some of the more popular choices among the locals.
Chinese fine dining
restaurants in Penang are popular for banquet functions such as weddings
and anniversary celebrations or business lunches or dinners where deals are
clinched and favours curried.
But for the occasional
diner who just wants to have a treat, Chinese gourmet cuisine is still very
much affordable with a la carte choices or set menus.
List of restaurants
serving Chinese cuisine (in no particular order): Golden Phoenix at
Hotel Equatorial; House of Four Seasons at Mutiara Beach Resort; Maple Gold
at Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah; May Garden at Penang Road; Starview at Burmah
Road; and Shang Court at Shangri-La's Rasa Sayang Resort.
Two photographs
above are courtesy of Shang Court, Shangri-La's Rasa Sayang
Resort.
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For the
first time ever, the Shang Palace has opened its kitchen doors to unveil
the secret of handmade mooncakes – courtesy of Masterchef Chong Kei
who is the virtuoso behind every sumptuous mooncake creation on sale.
Click here for full story
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