8 Local Eats at Penang’s Chulia Street for a Delightful Evening

Foodies who visit Penang should not miss out on the hawker stalls located along Chulia Street. About a dozen or more hawkers will set up their push-cart stalls, with tables and chairs by the roadside in the evening. You can expect local favourites such as wanton mee, char kway teow, and lor bak, just to name a few. The food items are also affordably priced here. Grab a bigger group of friends or family members to try more dishes. Here are 8 delicious food commonly found in Penang.

Assam Laksa

Tamarind perks up the fish-based stock for this noodle dish, and the garnishes provide a contrast in taste and texture. The balance of sour, sweet and spicy flavours makes this a really appetising dish, which is great to kick-start the palate. The locals like topping their assam laksa with 2 fried spring rolls. You can give it a try too. Each bowl costs 4RM.

Popiah

A savoury filling of stewed julienned yam bean, diced beancurd, and spring onions is enveloped within a paper-thin ‘crepe’. These fresh spring rolls taste similar to the ones we have in Singapore, but local influence can be detected in the use of chilli sauce. Brown bean paste is also used to flavour the spring rolls. Compared to our version, Penang’s popiah (3.40RM for 2 pieces) is more moist.

Char Kway Teow

Don’t expect mantis prawns or crab meat in the char kway teow here. It’s just a simple noodle dish with two small prawns, eggs and cockles. Opt for the duck egg version! We were expecting each plate to be wok-fried individually to ensure that every strand of noodle is coated well with the sauce. However, the hawker wanted to serve the kway teow quickly, and it compromised the standard of it. A plate is priced between 4.50RM and 6.50RM.

Lor Bak

Our attention was drawn to the enticing spread of lor bak ingredients displayed at this push-cart stall. Personally, I like century egg, and the ones in Penang are surprisingly not as dense and creamy as what we have back home. The Lor Bak here is served with two dipping sauces – a thick, starchy dip flavoured with cinnamon and soy sauce, and a chilli sauce. Ingredients are priced from 1RM onwards.

Chee Cheong Fun

This dish totally brought us back to our childhood days. The unique combination of Chinese sweet sauce and Malay shrimp paste makes the steamed rice rolls very tasty. Fragrant shallot crisps and sesame seeds are the only garnishing. They give the dish some fragrance and a slight crunch. Each plate only costs 3RM.

Wanton Mee

There are 2 stalls serving wanton mee here, so we bought from the one with a longer queue. Each plate comes with springy noodles that blends well with the dark-coloured gravy. Topped with dumplings, slices of char siew and vegetables, just give the dish a toss and you’ll get mouthfuls of goodness. The small portion costs 4RM while the big portion costs 5.30RM.

Muah Chee

As we moved down Chulia Street, we came across a push-cart with a huge sign stating “Pandan Muah Chee”. We were skeptical initially but decided to try both the original, and the pandan-flavoured one. The hawker uncle meticulously stretch each rice dough before flattening it and coating it evenly with peanuts and sugar. The soft texture, and finely-ground peanuts took us by surprise. The pandan-flavoured muah chee tasted better than the original version. Each box costs 3RM.

Apom

The aunty is very friendly, and efficient in making apom. If you’re standing in front of her stall, you can watch her systematically pouring the batter in, flipping the ‘crepe’ and rolling it continuously. We paid 50cents RM for 1 apom.

There are other push-cart stalls too. You have to arrive hungry, or you wouldn’t be able to enjoy Penang’s local fare to the fullest!

MissTamChiak.com made anonymous visits and paid its own meals at the stalls featured here.