The Two Must-Eat Penang Food

16 Comments
Every single time I visit Penang, the island of awesome food, I must, must have multiple servings of the following two dishes: Cendol and Char Kuey Tiaw. 

Cendol is from South East Asia but I am not entirely sure if it is from Malaysia. Nonetheless, this is a super popular sweet desert among the locals, and a treat to have especially walking around under scorching Malaysian sun. The dessert's basic ingredients are coconut milk, jelly noodles made from rice flour with green food coloring (usually derived from the pandan leaf), shaved ice and palm sugar. 



Char Kuey Tiaw, while readily available throughout the country, everywhere ranging from high class restaurants to roadside hawkers, somehow Penang got this dish right, and once you have tasted the Penang's Char Kuey Tiaw, you will think of other versions a little lesser. Char Kuey Tiaw literally translates to "stir-fried ricecake strips",


Cendol, high in sugar content, and the Char Kuey Tiaw, full of saturated fat content, are my two favourite dishes in Peninsular Malaysia. 

I have said this many times, I LIVE TO EAT!


16 comments:

  1. I follow a pro photog who does excellent and creative portraiture. Top class. He's been showing some of his food shots. They are technically studio lit and set up perfect but I don't feel tempted to eat at all - either the visual size of the food on the image is too big (thus the food is not seen in its natural perspective or scale) or something else. Your char koey tiaw is quite the opposite, I know how that looks like in reality and this photo just makes me dribble saliva. Bring some over lah

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    1. Ananda, thanks for the kind words. Well, here is the thing. When a hot plate of freshly fried Char Kuey tIaw arrived on the table, and you were so hungry your hands were already shaking while holding the camera steady, you can only get away with a few shots before the camera went into the camera bag and started chomping down the plateful of awesomeness! No time to think so much.

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  2. You forgot Penang Assam Laksa broh...

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    1. You forgot I came from Sarawak brah. Sarawak Laksa rocks

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  3. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cendol ... A little info of Cendol ...

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  4. Skip the desserts! Everything I've seen over the years, I could gain 5 kg in a weekend in a visit to Penang.

    Food photography can be fun, especially with the right angle, decent light, and good food. The Char Kuey Tiaw looks great!

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    1. Nooooo how can deserts be skipped!! I will have all my cendols that I want.

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  6. I LIVE TO EAT!
    You and me both live by the same motto Robin.

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  7. In Indonesia, cendol is usually served with sweet jackfruit. Super yummy!

    Wira (http://wiranurmansyah.com)

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  8. I do love SE Asian food and have all the best memories of my time in KL - but any recommendation with a "Must" in it makes me wince.

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  9. You are not helping my diet Robin, the cendol looks very tempting, sign of great photography. BTW just found out google is offering the full nik software for free download from today (https://www.google.com/nikcollection/ ) , great freebee, they are obviously not further developing but as it stands it's great software. cheers

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  10. Absolutely brilliant photo of Char Kway Teow! Takes me back to a visit to Malaysia 25 years ago, and buying that dish from hawkers in the streets of Penang while staying at the E&O.
    PS: Funny coincidence but I used to work with Ananda Sim at Monash University. Hi Ananda!

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  11. Wicked entry Robin, makes me pine for Cendol again. I am from mixed Indonesian/Dutch descent and we serve Cendol in big glasses. I've been living in the UK now for some time and haven't had it for a long time now! Time to go make some soon! :-)

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  12. شركة بسمة الرياض تمثل لك احد افضل البدائل المتاحة امامك فى مجال شركات التنظيف. نحن نمتلك مجموعة من الخبراء والمتخصصين فى شركة تنظيف بالرياض ونحن نستطيع التعامل مع كافة المساحات المختلفة فلا يهم ان كنت تمتلك منزل او فيلا فأن لدينا خبرات كبيرة تمكنا من تقديم خدماتنا على اكمل وجه ولدينا عمال وفنيين محترفين ولهم خبرات مختلفة نقدم ايضآ تنظيف لواجهات الشركات والفنادق.

    عملية تنظيف الشقة ليست من العمليات السهل القيام بها كما يظن البعض انما تحتاج عناية خاصة حتى تتأكد من أن جميع الاشياء التي تحتاج لتنظيف قد تم حصرها ولذلك اذا كنت تبحث عن شركة تنظيف شقق بالرياض فنحن يسعدنا ان نكون فى خدمتك بتقديم مستوى جودة موثوق ومشهود له باراء الكثيرين. شركة بسمة الرياض قامت بتحضير وتدريب مجموعة من العمال المهرة الذين سوف يتشرفون بمساعدتكم وتقديم كل خبراتهم فى التفاصيل الدقيقة الخاصة بالتنظيف.

    شركة بسمة الرياض سوف توفر لك ما تريد بأفضل الطرق المتاحة حيث اننا نمتلك مجموعة من المتخصصين فى مجال تنظيف البيوت التابعين للقسم الخاص فى شركة تنظيف بيوت بالرياض. فنحن نحرص على تنظيف نموذجي لبيتك يجعلك تشعر بالفخر امام ضيوفك وزائرك فجميعنا يعلم ما قدر الاحراج الذي قد يتعرض له صاحب البيت فى حالة وجد الضيف فى بيته صراصير على سبيل المثال لكن معنا لا داعي للقلق فحصولك على بيت نظيف هو أول واهم الخطوات للحصول علي مكان خالي تمامآ من الحشرات لأنها لا تنتمي للاماكن المنظمة والنظيفة.

    هل تبحث عن شركة تقوم بتنظيف منزلك بشكل كامل بالداخل والخارج؟ شركة تنظيف منازل بالرياض هي تمامآ ما تبحث عنه فنحن نقوم بتنظيم شامل لمنزلك بشكلآ كامل حيث نقوم بالتنظيف الداخل لجميع غرف المنزل آي كان حجمها وجميع المشتملات الآخري كالحمام والمطبخ والممرات وغيرها وبالطبع مع مراعاة جودة خدمة عالية بالاضافة فى حالة رغبت فى الحصول على واجهة منزل راقية تعبر عنك وعن أسرتك شركة تنظيف قصور بالرياض.

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