We loved our visit to George Town, not only our stay at Old Penang Guesthouse, but also the city itself. Especially the food. We tasted some really good food and want to share our experience about where to eat in George Town with you.
Food stalls are found all around George Town. One we remembered and want to recommend is Monkey Fruit Juice & Coffee Stall, next to Lebuh Chulia, selling delicious lime (and other) juice for only RM2.
The first restaurant we tried was definitely a winner when it came to food, although the service wasn’t that great. In Restoran Kapitan we ordered chicken cheese kebab (kebab apparently means pieces of chicken) with onion naan and a classic: tandoori chicken with garlic naan. Brecht loved the tandoori chicken, while I preferred the chicken cheese kebab. I think it’s a kind of yoghurt sauce they serve with it, which is heavenly! The food is really good and cheap, we only paid RM22 in total. We both liked it so much we returned a couple of days later for the same dishes.
We read about steamboat being a dish you must try when in Asia. So we went to Goh Huat Seng Restaurant, famous for its steamboat and packed with locals. A steamboat (or hotpot or lok lok) is kind of like fondue: preparing pieces of vegetables, fish and meat in chicken or vegetable broth. Noodles and the peanuts you receive while waiting for your steamboat were not included, so we paid a total of RM54. It was not really our cup of tea, but worth a try, even only for the experience.
Update: Goh Huat Seng Restaurant is unfortunately closed now. Thanks for letting us know, Krista Goon!
When you’re looking for breakfast or a light lunch, try The Daily Dose. We tried the grilled chicken salad (RM12) and the mashed potatoes with bacon (RM10). Both were very tasty, but the portions were rather small. Fortunately that meant we had some room for dessert: the waiter recommended the salted caramel macademia cheese cake (RM14) and it was absolutely delicious!
Food courts are fun (lots of choice), but hard (choosing is losing). We visited Red Garden Food Court anyway. It’s a roofed in court, surrounded by different street food stalls. You make your way along the food stalls, order your preferred dish and leave your table number. While waiting for the food to arrive at your table, order some drinks from the waiters walking around and pay upon arrival of the dish. Piece of cake! At least if you can decide what to order, which is always an issue for me. Luckily Brecht has less trouble deciding. We loved the spring rolls, fried prawns and calamari set (something about Obama in the name of the food stall, but he might update that next year) for RM15. The shrimp and spinach dumplings (RM7.7) were OK, but apparently we are not really a fan of dumplings. We also tried the fried chicken with honey mustard sauce (RM10), but I probably should have listened to the suggestion of the owner. The atmosphere was nice, the food OK.
Last but not least, our favourite: Tek Sen Restaurant (Chinese food). We decided we had to try it after watching a YouTube video of our favourite food fanatic Mark Wiens (check out his blogpost about Tek Sen Restaurant). We ordered a couple of things he recommended: double roasted pork and stir fried homemade tofu in claypot, both winners: absolutely delicious! The double roasted pork was sweet and tasty, my favourite; the soft homemade tofu (nothing like tofu in Belgium) was Brecht’s favourite. Too bad there were only the two of us, as the more people, the more dishes you can try. We also had stir fried Brussels sprouts with garlic and prawns and some rice (stir fried and white), making a total of RM50. For drinks: try the lime juice, it is really good (RM3.18). We arrived at Tek Sen Restaurant a little before noon and when we were finishing our heavenly lunch (thank you, Mark Wiens!) people were lining up for a seat. Definitely worth the wait though!
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I am going to Penang in November, some good tips on where to eat, also the map is a great idea. Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome, Deborah! We loved George Town with its street art everywhere and its great food. Definitely try Tek Sen Restaurant, it was really good. If you have time, check out the Upside Down Museum. We had a lot of fun!
Thank you for writing about my hometown. Goh Huat Seng steamboat is no longer there and it was also one of my favourite steamboat places to go to. I tried Tek Sen before but come further south of Penang island, nearer the airport and you will get plenty more Chinese-style cafes like Tek Sen and serving up sheer deliciousness!
Thanks for letting us know Got Huat Song steamboat is no longer there, Krista! Too bad though. Got any other favourite restaurants we should know about?