Penang Eats

** WARNING ** If you don't enjoy reading about food, this blog entry will be 5 minutes of your life you don't get back.

We are now winging our way to Borneo after 3 days on Penang Island in Malaysia. My good friend Andy joked (or at least I think it was a joke) after my Hong Kong writeup that I might need a seatbelt extender for the flight home. Well, Penang definitely did its part to make that dream a reality. Penang is considered the foodie destination in Malaysia, and we took full advantage.

We spent 2 evenings in the local hawker centre, which is basically 50 or 60 vendors in small stalls cooking food. I put my sanitation concerns aside (first child syndrome, mom washed my hands too much), and we dove in – it was awesome and a great insight into local life here. Highlights were fried koay teow (fried noodles, minced garlic, fresh prawns, soy, bean sprouts, egg), wan tan mee (pork and prawn dumpling, sliced BBQ pork, shredded chicken, done in a soy broth with noodles), and fried oyster (egg omelette made with tapioca flour to make gooey, then oysters fried in chili paste are added). Each dish costs between 3 and 6 Malaysian Ringgits – 90 cents to $1.80 USD.

Assam laksa is the signature dish of Penang, and after scanning endless food blogs, we settled on a place in the old town called Kek Seng. I had to check the address twice when we arrived. There was an older man and woman (the owners), both sweating profusely, which only made me sweat profusely. There was a cart with various unknown ingredients laying out in the sun. There was a single worthless fan circulating hot air, the walls were peeling, and there were just a couple of plastic stools to sit on. But the dish was nothing short of incredible – assam laksa is made by poaching whole mackerel, then deboning it, then added back into the broth with fresh chillies, lemongrass, and heaps of tamarind. Rice noodles are put in the bowl first, then Chinese lettuce, shredded cucumber, onions, pineapple, ginger, and heaps of mint leaves. The soup is then poured over it, and then shrimp paste is swirled in (incredibly strong, but the taste dissipates in your mouth quickly). The variety of flavors is amazing – spicy, sweet, sour, and each bite is different. A large bowl of what many believe to be the best assam laksa in Malaysia costs 3 Malaysian Ringgits (90 cents).

The higher end of the dining scene is worthwhile too. Last night we went to Bali Hai, a local seafood institution. Everything is swimming in the tanks when you arrive, you basically point to what you want and then talk with the resident expert on how you want it prepared. We did a whole black grouper steamed in soy and green onion, clams barbequed in local spices, baby octopus grilled with smoky peppers, plus a big pot of seafood noodles. It was about as extravagant as you can go on this island, and even with beer it set us back barely $50 USD.

And I now believe in food comas. At 6:45am on Tuesday morning there was a 7.8 earthquake on the island of Sumatra, which shook Penang and apparently sent residents out of their homes. This was followed by a tsunami warning for the very waterfront our hotel faced, which was in effect until 9am. We both woke up at 10am, none the wiser and having missed the whole thing.

We did spend some time exploring the old town, and there are some nice temples and some interesting old streets lined with Chinese shophouses. But mostly this was 3 days of good old fashioned island life – we stayed at a wonderful hotel on the waterfront and just lounged by the pool, made happy hour our only daily commitment, and above all, ate our way through Penang.