Penang is such a charming little island. It is known for its Unesco World Heritage Site – Georgetown and also the amazingly quirky street art scattered around the city. But the other thing it is known for is its fascinating street food culture. The streets are super vibrant and alive with street vendors doing their thing and hungry locals and tourists looking for bites to eat. An amazing atmosphere to be in and experience.
The country is a wonderful concoction of cultures and as a result cuisines. It is made up of Indian, Chinese and Malay people, which has resulted into a phenomenal food scene.
The best food in the world is found in Penang, Malaysia. Big claim. Absolutely massive claim, but how true is it? Let’s take a step back and start with Malaysia. The country is a wonderful concoction of cultures and as a result cuisines. It is made up of Indian, Chinese and Malay people. A wonderful and unique mix up, which has resulted into a great… a phenomenal food scene. Then within Malaysia, you will find different food scenes in the different cities, with some being known for certain things over others. Penang being the one that has kind of come to forward line, maybe due to social media and YouTube vloggers exposing the hidden gem that it is. There are some stand out dishes in this island that cannot be found outside of the island let alone the country. And even if it can be found, certainly no where near the same quality. Couple that with the fact that these stand out dishes are some of the best dishes in the world – this makes Penang (in my opinion) the best food city/island in the world.
5 dishes that make Penang the best food city in the world:
1 Assam Laksa
2 Char Kway Teow
3 Cendol
4 Nasi Kandar
5 Transfer Road Roti Canai
Each of these dishes deserve a blog post of its own (and they will get one), but I will briefly describe each dish here. Laksa is a noodle soup dish found all over Malaysia and Singapore. Each city has its own version. Penang is home to the Assam Laksa. It has been acknowledged by CNN as one of the best dishes in the world (no small title). The broth is mackerel based and it has in it mint, pineapple and other wonderful goodies. The result is a flavourful, tangy and spicy dish. One of my all time favourites (read post here)! The Char Kway Teow is a dry charred noodle dish. Simple in its essence, but oh so flavourful. If you are ever in Penang, look for the man who brands himself as the left handed man – he does the best Char Kway Teow. Coincidentally, we had this same dish in Kuala Lumpur and it was something we couldn’t even finish (to put it nicely). Cendol is a dessert – a shaved ice typical South East Asian dessert. It is perfect for the weather. But what makes this for me is the drama. There are two famous stalls selling this treat on Penang Road and legend has it that they have been at “war” for decadessss (read post here). The above three dishes can all be found in their full glory all in one small alley – just search Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul on Google Maps. Nasi Kandar is a concoction of numerous curries on one dish. So, if you like Indian, you’ll love this. Roti Canai also is influenced by Indian food. It is Roti accompanied by a curry. This dish is found all over Malaysia, but none may be as good or legendary as the one on Transfer Road (read post here).
To summarise, in my humble opinion, Penang is the best city in the world for food. I claim this for two main reasons. Firstly, three major food cultures combine to make a wonderful cuisine and then secondly, the dishes that Penang are known for cannot be found, and even if found, are not replicated outside of the city.
