George Town Restaurants

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Mews cafe is a very pleasant little cafe in Muntri street that serves real nice food.
their menu nis quite varied with both western, indian, malaysian food and a few other things.
The cafe has a really pleasant and relaxed vibe where you can sit both inside and outside.
When i was there, the girls serving the food were very friendly and helpful and i really enjoyed having lunch there.
they also have a quite large dinks menu, so if you feel like popping by only for a drink then this is for sure also doable.
this is a great place to come if you are with a partner and just want to sit and chill out in nice surroundings.

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The red garden is a foodcourt where you have several street vendors selling their food at little stalls and then you have tables in the middle and then you can sit there surrounded by good food and go and chose from the different stalls.
It´s a popular place for the locals to go during weekends and you often have live music that might not always be to the taste of the western ear, but the locals seem to like it and i think this is a real nice place to eat.

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Meena cafe is a wonderful little place that is a local favorite with the indian community in George town, a community that is quite big.
I have eaten there a couple of times and been very satisfied with what i had and even more satisfied with the price.
It´s a basic little place where mostly indian families come to eat and that gives it an authentic amosphere i like.
This is no fancy place at all, buit it´s genuine and the food is fantastic.

Favorite Dish: I generally prefer the vegetarian dishes as i mostly do when i eat indian food.

Penang offers a multi-cultural gastronomic experience for the newcomer since it sits between the old trade routes from the West (Europe) to the East (China). Our cuisine is a fusion of Indo-Sino-Malay-Thai, so distinct you will never find the fare anywhere else. These Pan-Asian variety are the best of course.

Suggestions:
Nasi Padprik (a Thai-Malay meat dish stir-fried with kasturi lime leaves usually served with steamed rice)

Malaysian satay (not the Siamese or Indonesian type-it's our very own, better of course)

The variety of Straits Chinese Nyona desserts which can be found in morning wet markets or from street vendors day and night.

Penang Laksa (Straits Chinese-Thai influenced rice noodle soup; soup base is tamarind juice). We like to add in prawn paste; putrid smelling for the foreign taste buds, but, it will take you on a different trip altogether. The northern states (Perlis, Kedah, Kelantan) and the Thais made theirs in different style, by adding coconut milk into the soup. There are still a few other Thai varieties.

Typical Indian banana leaf rice meal costs between USD$1.00 to USD$3.00 leaving your stomach full. My favorite? Masala Thosai! My British friends love the South Indian food around Market Street.

Chinese street hawkers' food are varied in their styles and tastes. However, hygiene is a factor you might take precaution of. We locals are used to the bacterias. They are relatively safe though.

Food is cheap (unless some unscrupulous hawkers charge you extra) as the Government controls the prices of basic ingredients.

Favorite Dish: To start with our fusion of foods, sample Char Koay Teow - it is fried koay teow or flat rice noodles with chinese sausage, prawns and cockles, garnished with Asian mint leaves (USD$1.00).

Penang Laksa of course, especially cooked by mom.

Wan Ton Mee-local dry-style Hong Kong noodle with barbeque prok, with a little local flavour.

Dim Sum in the mornings starts around 6am to noon. Not exactly like Hong Kong's. I must admit Hong Kong's would be better. The idea is to gather round a few friends and have breakfast, the conversation is prolonged by the art of tea drinking, passing hot tea in small cups... agood way to spend your early Sunday mornings.

Special vegan chinese restaurants offer similar dishes. And cheap and healthy.

South Indian offers rice served with lentil sambhar/curry on banana leaf (USD$1-$3). You may opt to add meat of your choice. For me, mutton cury is the best.

Snacks include Indian Roti Canai (of Madras/Chennai origin)-pan-fried bread served with curry of your choice (60 sen/USD$0.15-unless you add meat and stuff) & various chinese Nyona desserts-Chendol-long green jelly in coconut milk and syrup(USD$0.60), local styled cakes made in a variety of ways (more like a fudge though not all are as sweet as the ones I bought in Chester). Do not associate these with western style cakes, they are different!

Indian-Muslim's Nasi Kandar is typical rice dish (rice being the Asian staple), your choice of spicy meat curry dishes-more expensive (even locals found them so), so be frank with the vendors and asks how much each item of serving cost before you pile 'em up.

What could be better than having a weekly dim sum breakfast with your friends and catch-up with each other. The art is to pick your choice of dim sum one at a time, each them daintily (girls) and slowly (boys) and sip chinese tea (without sugar please) while Sunday morning passes by.

I must admit this is a bit too Hongkee though.

You've been in Asia a while and feel like you can't face another curry dish or bowl of noodles. All you really want is a good cup of coffee, a Western style snack (like a sandwich) and maybe a cake. But you're in Penang, so where do you go? The answer is Gloria Jean's.

Dragon King, the good Nyonya restaurant has moved location. Last time I ate here the owners said this could happen, and it has. I didn't get a chance to try out the new location.

Favorite Dish: Anything cooked in the Nyonya style.

A very good, clean café on busy Lebuh Chulia. The cleanliness was the big plus for me here as I'd eaten at some other dirtyish places in the area that just made me uncomfortable.

Favorite Dish: Good sandwiches and fresh juice drinks.