Eating Through George Town: A Culinary Tour of Penang

Food isn’t just sustenance but also a reflection of a country’s diverse cultural tapestry—yeah, we’ve heard that a lot. Sure, the idea maybe trite, but few places embody this as heartily as Malaysia. Penang in particular is famous as a culinary capital, where Malay, Chinese, Indian, and Peranakan traditions converge to create memorable flavors. Streets brim with hawker stalls, kopitiams (coffee shops), and family-run eateries that not only serve dishes, but also tell the story of the people who brought them. Penang’s cuisine is celebrated as much for its taste as it is for its history and innovation.

A Chef’s Tour guide Grace sets the stage for our culinary journey, sharing the history of Baba-Nyonya culture and how it shaped George Town’s unique flavors.

For a first-time visitor, joining a food tour is an ideal way to experience this rich culinary landscape. It provides guidance through a sometimes-overwhelming maze of streets, markets, and hawker centers, ensuring that travelers don’t miss popular local dishes beyond char kway teow and asam laksa. More than the food itself, tours offer insights into the cultural significance and anecdotes behind each dish, turning meals into a deeper understanding of Penang’s heritage and daily life.

It is with this in mind that I join A Chef’s Tour, a curated culinary experience that will take us through some of the best of George Town’s dining scene. Our guide, Grace, greets the eight of us at the Peranakan Mansion, a fitting starting point for a tour that will explore the city’s multicultural heart… or stomach.

Starting Point: Nonya Palazzo & Peranakan Sweets

Our first taste of Penang’s flavors is traditional sweets and savory bites, reflecting Chinese Malaysian culinary customs where sweets are served first.

Our journey begins just across from the Peranakan Mansion at Nonya Palazzo, where Grace introduces us to Baba-Nyonya culture. “Baba-Nyonya refers to the descendants of Chinese immigrants who settled in the Malay Archipelago starting from the 15th–17th centuries,” she explains. “Over time, these Chinese immigrants intermarried with local Malays, creating a unique hybrid culture that blends Chinese and Malay traditions, including language, clothing, religion, and especially food.”

Grace herself, a daughter of a Chinese father and an Indian mother, in a way embodies this multiethnicity. Her ethnicity reflects the broader spirit of peranakan, a word that in Malay simply means “locally born of mixed heritage,” reflecting the region’s long history of cultural blending.

True to local custom, our first taste of George Town’s flavors comes in the form of sweets rather than savory dishes. A tray of colorful kuih talam—soft, layered rice cakes named for the trays they are served on—awaits us, alongside another tray brimming with radish cake mixed with dried shrimp.

Little India: Banana Leaf Meal, Pani Puri, Samosa, and Indian High Tea

A classic South Indian banana leaf meal consists of rice and various side dishes.

Crisp, roti tishu is laced with fragrant rose syrup, a beloved dessert in Penang’s Indian Muslim cuisine.

Our first main course takes us to Shusi Banana Leaf Restaurant in the heart of Little India, where South Indian flavors await on banana leaves. It’s actually a common way in the Philippines as well. So why banana leaf, though? “Serving food on banana leaves isn’t just tradition,” Grace explains. “It actually releases enzymes that make the dishes taste better.” I’m not sure how that works exactly; at any rate, the aroma the leaf imparts does make the food taste even more special.

Rice is spread across the leaf and accompanied by colorful sides: potato, bitter gourd, cucumber, and small bowls of lentil soup, fish curry, and chicken curry. It’s a tactile and sensory way to enjoy a meal steeped in cultural significance.

Once we finish, Grace tells us about a subtle etiquette. “When you fold the leaf toward you, it means you enjoyed the meal and hope to return,” she says, showing us the proper way to signal approval. “On the other hand, folding it away conveys the opposite.”

For dessert, we try roti tishu, a beloved Indian Muslim sweet composed of thin, crisp flatbread prepared like an inverted cone and drizzled with rose syrup. It rounds off our meal with fragrant, sugary notes, though I only take a small piece to save room in my stomach.

A taste of North India in George Town comes in the form of tangy pani puri.

A humble stall in George Town delivering exceptional chicken samosas proves that Michelin quality doesn’t always mean fine dining.

Indian high tea in George Town means spiced masala chai served with local sweet treats in a beloved community kedai.

We continue our food tour deeper in Little India, where we’re greeted with the scent of spices and Indian songs blaring from stores’ outdoor speakers. Our next stop is TCR Pani Puri Kitchen & Cafe, a stall serving the beloved North Indian street snack of crisp hollow puris filled with spiced water, chickpeas, and tamarind. I’d first tried pani puri in Pokhara, Nepal, and it’s fascinating to see how Penang has made it its own.

We then head to Penang Famous Samosa, a small stall that earned Michelin recognition in 2024. I opt for the chicken samosa, skeptical at first (Michelin awards for street food can sometimes feel like hype), but one bite convinces me otherwise. Flaky, perfectly spiced, and utterly satisfying, it’s a snack that turns casual curiosity into devoted fandom.

To conclude our Little India tour, we stop by Tea Kedai HQ—“kedai” meaning shop in Malay—which, according to Grace, is a popular spot among locals. We are served Indian High Tea, essentially masala chai accompanied by Indian snacks. The spiced tea, infused with ginger, cinnamon, and star anise, comes with chocolate pani puri, a Little India twist on the classic snack.

Penang Chinese Cuisine and Local Fruits: Kedai Makan Fok Kee and Carnarvon Street

Since 1982, the husband-and-wife team of Kedai Makan Fok Kee has been keeping Penang’s Hakka-style culinary traditions alive.

A spread of authentic Penang Chinese dishes, each recipe passed down through generations, reflects the city’s rich culinary heritage.

As dinner time rolls around, we head to Kedai Makan Fok Kee, a beloved spot specializing in Penang Chinese cuisine. Operated by a husband-and-wife team since 1982, the restaurant has earned a loyal following for its hearty, home-style dishes. We try their signature Guinness Stout Chicken, Hakka-Style Fried Pork, and Deep-Fried Fish in Three Sour Sauce, alongside salted fish eggplant. Grace notes that the Hakka-style pork recipe comes straight from the husband’s grandmother, preserving a culinary heritage that has been passed down through generations.

Fresh local fruits provide a sweet interlude in George Town’s savory culinary journey.

For some palate cleansing after that stop that’s heavy on the stomach, we wander along Carnarvon Street, where KC Ooi Fruity Fruity Enterprise offers slices of fresh local fruits: mango, guava, starfruit, dragonfruit, and rambutan. Most of these are familiar to me, except for the dragonfruit, with its striking pink skin and speckled interior.

Starfruit, or balimbing in Tagalog, feels unexpectedly foreign despite its common metaphorical use in Filipino politics—admittedly, I haven’t tasted one until today. It tastes… unique, actually. It’s crisp with a mix of sweet and tangy. Kind of like a love child of an apple and a grape. Anyway.

Fruits play a central role in Penang’s—and Malaysia’s—culinary identity, not just as fresh snacks but as key ingredients woven into savory and sweet dishes alike. Their presence highlights the region’s abundance and the way Malaysian cuisine thrives on balancing its bold-flavored dishes with light refreshing notes.

Chinatown Noodles and Snacks

George Town’s Chinatown underlines the city’s multicultural heartbeat and centuries of trade and migration.

A local favorite away from tourist hype, Gou Lou Hong Kee Chao Sar Hor Fun & Noodles serves noodles beloved by George Town residents for decades.

Still reeling from that Kedai Makan Fok Kee stop, we nevertheless head next to Gou Lou Hong Kee Chao Sar Hor Fun & Noodles in Chinatown, a favorite among locals for its dry char hor fun, tai lok mee (fatty noodles), and Singapore bihun (rice noodles).

Grace points out that another restaurant we passed by has a long line of customers, most of whom are drawn by TikTok and a popular Chinese social media site. “But notice that all people dining there are tourists,” she notes. “No locals.”

On the other hand, this noodle place in Chinatown, she says, is where the locals come. The most authentic flavors are often found off the beaten path, where reputation is built over generations rather than online hype.

Traditional treats at a stall has been a fixture of George Town’s street food scene for half a century.

Speaking of reputation being built over generations, a heritage stall in Cintra Street has been serving traditional fare for over 50 years. We head here next to taste its sesame balls (filled with coconut and peanut) and hum chim peng (Chinese-style donuts). Crispy on the outside, chewy and fragrant inside, these street snacks show how decades of traditions can be conveyed by even the simplest of fares.

Kimberley Street comes alive at night with sizzling wok-fried noodles and the aroma of Penang’s legendary street food.

Taiwanese Aiyu jelly—fig-seed jelly paired with longan and lemon—acts as a refreshing finale to our food tour.

Finally, as the last rays of the day’s sunlight give way to night, we head to the famed Kimberley Street. The street comes alive with neon lights, sizzling woks, and the chatter of locals and tourists weaving between hawker stalls. For this tour, however, our stop isn’t a particular hawker, much to the delight of our overstretched stomachs. Instead, we visit Chill Night Restaurant for a refreshing serving of Taiwanese Aiyu jelly—fig-seed jelly served with longan and a slice of lemon.

The jelly’s coolness is a relief against the humid, smoke-filled evening from the nearby hawker stalls. The sweet, juicy longan and the bright hint of lemon cut through the richness of everything we’ve eaten.

After this sweet finale, Grace bids us farewell, and the group members part ways. As for me, I stay a while longer on Kimberley Street just to soak in the energy and the pulsating life of George Town at night. The food in the stalls are tempting, but my stomach can no longer handle another serving.

I walk back toward my hotel later in the night. My stomach is on the verge of indigestion, but my senses are still abuzz. It’s clear that the tour was about more than just eating, but also getting a taste of George Town’s multicultural flavors. Chinese, Malay, and Indian influences blend together with a living street culture.

It doesn’t matter whether a dish is created using a family recipe handed down through generations or a street-side innovation that has become a local classic—that dish has etched itself into George Town’s story.

The Tourist Gaze