It was boiling hot today.  After visiting Penang Street Arts, we felt exhausted and thirsty so we looked for an air-conditioned tea house. On the way back to our hotel, we saw this tea house which looked nice. Therefore, we entered and had a seat. Immersed ourselves in the nicely-decorated tea house and the soft music, we felt relaxed and forgot the hot weather outside. We ordered a cup of hot orange tea and a cup of iced oolong tea. The hot orange tea  which was filled with the pleasant odour of dried mandarin peels made me refreshed. Less sugar would be much healthy. The iced oolong tea was less sweet than the orange tea and could quench our thirst. In addition, we ordered a set of fried chicken sandwich. The cabbage made the fried chicken  less oily. Together with the pan-fried egg, the sandwich tasted more delicious. We enjoyed a wonderful afternoon tea in this tea house!

My vote for Penang's best Indian/Pakistani food goes to this amazing spot. Crawling likes an ants nest from 11am onwards, you need to be here before midday to get their spectacular Mutton Curry before it runs out. Ask for the spicy version (not the korma) with biryani rice and prepare your tastebuds for full frontal assault.

Speaking of spices, the potato stems with prawns at Tek Sen don't hold back. The waiter asked me twice if I was sure, but his fears were baseless. It had a hit to it, but nothing that a proper Thai dish won't stoke up. Everything I tasted on the menu here was excellent, but come early unless you want to sit in a plastic chair waiting room for what can be an hour. It's really THAT popular.

Not the biggest fan of waiting in lines in 35 degree heat/humidity, I already gave up once at this place when I stood for more than 30 minutes and moved all of 2 meters closer to the stall. Today I managed to get a plate of steaming hot koay teow in under 45 minutes. Was it worth it? Yes. 
The other versions of this dish I tried in Georgetown don't compare. This had the kiss of the charcoal wok, the plump prawns, was spicy and not as sweet as many others. Do yourself a favour and avoid the lunch rush, and pray you don't get stood behind someone ordering 10 portions to-go, like I did. You start visualizing death.

With vegan alternatives like this who the heck needs meat? Sublime aubergine kung pao with smokey dried chilli's, chunks of fresh ginger and some green pepper. The service was friendly and the location was awesome right opposite a small alleyway with some bars.

Stunning! Seriously! Stunning!

Having spent the best part of a month feasting on every place I could find raved about in Georgetown, I had delayed visiting Mews Cafe just out of sheer stubborness. I had walked past a few times and seen the fanny-pack tourists sitting there lost in idle conversation and decided it wasn't my kind of restaurants. One scorchingly hot afternoon I took shelter beneath a shady leaf and ordered their famous Laksa since it was so highly praised online. 
It was stunning. Truly one of the best curry laksa you'll find in Georgetown. Whatever their family recipe is, they should guard it fiercely because this is a winner.

"We need the funk, we gotta have the funk".

Never have those words rung truer. Old Grandma is still standing, ordering everyone about and overseeing the quality control. The tables are full of tourists and locals slurping noodles and pieces of flaky mackerel. The soup, although pungeant and insanely fishy, gets more and more addictive the more you dare to eat of it. This is NOT for the faint-hearted, this food is an acquired taste and will send some people running to the hills at the first whiff.

One of Penang's main allures is the infestation of sublime Indian restaurants. The workers were herded onto boats in Madras and sent across the ocean to level the forests two centuries ago, and they made their mark on this land by way of their kitchen.

​Kapitan serves some of the tastiest tandoori chicken you'll find anywhere. My favourite part about it is it's fiery kick, something that's generally lacking from this dish elsewhere.

Furiously curious if anything resembling a bowl-broth-noodles-stuff is involved? Hop over here and grab their signature "White Curry Mee", which isn't very white after you've plonked a big spoon of their lush chili sauce on top. The chicken here is also really tasty so order a side-plate of that.  The service is not the greatest, but pay no attention to that when the food is this good. THAT CHILLI SAUCE YA'LL !!!

Penang's best beef rendang, customisable with a myriad of pickles, sambals, egg salads, chillis etc. Lagenda Cafe has been bringing in the crowds since it's inception, and I can bloody see why.  The service was altogether friendly and accomodating, and the presentation of the food was spectacular. One for a date-night.

Suckerpunched by a bowl of soup? Today I was. 
Penang has Laksa and Curry Mee spots galore, but what I found severely lacking was a solid bowl of Ramen. I tried a couple places with no luck, and was on the verge of giving up when the fight to live returned. I commandeered a cab, hurtled north, walked around the block a few times waiting for it to open, was told by the waitress "It's salty so if you want it less salty order with extra broth". I reassured her it was ok. I was right. This was top notch ramen. Everything, except perhaps the slightly dry-chewy pork, was on point.

You could easily find worse ramen than this in Tokyo, or anywhere in Japan for that matter. This is well made, and well balanced and bloody delicious.

Not just another replica restaurant on the long drag of insufferable choices, this place actually delivers quietly. Entranced slightly behind the street level, braveness ensuing walk in boldy, grab a table, order a Masala Dosa and expect to be transported to Chennai. The sambar and chutney are outstanding, and the dosa is just right even tho on first inspection I had my doubts. Stay away from the ice coffee, it's like reduced coca-cola with sugar and milk in it, and extra sugar and then some extra caster sugar.

Anthony Bourdain made me do it!

When people mention local, it doesn't get much more local than this. Wrapped around the corner of Air Itam market, with a few tables clinging to the walls, a drinks stall and the laksa stall out in the open with the penetrating sun blinded by a few hanging plastic tarps. Sink your teeth into this ultra-fishy concoction only if you are a brave person. It's not for the faint-hearted, put it that way. I struggled to eat it at first, but it did grow on me. 
WARNING! ONLY FOR THE BRAVE

If there was an award for the sweetest owner/host in Penang, it would surely go to the lady here. Everyone is welcomed in a really kind, considerate way, her manner is so gentle and friendly, and luckily enough for us the food is also really good.

They do a couple of different Laksa, I only managed to try the Lemak Laksa because of other obligations, but it was delicious and slightly different to the Asam Bowls i've eaten in town. The prawn crisp was dynamite!!

The promise of Malaysian-ramen wafted through the computer screen. Pan Mee? With bacon? And egg? Sign me up. I followed the grab driver all the way to this small shopfront, walked in, people turned and looked at me in that odd "what the heck is he doing here" way, ordered, sat down and sipped on my ice-coffee. 
Of all the bowls of late this wasn't the best, or the worst. The broth was decent, but definitely encouraged greater respect after dumping some chilli paste in. The noodles were pretty standard, the "bacon" was a salty addition and the egg held a deep Chinese spice marinade which was quite delicious.

Overall not a meal that you should smash down the doors to enjoy, but definitely worth trying if you have the time and stomach space.