Georgetown Penang – Rick Stein was right: if you enjoy food from the Asian region, this is the place to give it a go. It’s a crossroads of flavours and a diverse cuisine - Thai, Indian, Chinese, Malaysian and Nonya food.
We were blown away by some of the meals we had:
Starting each day with a Breakfast that was made up of fried dried fish, squid, noodles, rice, green eggs and other Malaysian delights.
Other meals included:
Ginger duck at the Tai Tong local restaurant;
Self-cooked ‘Golden barbecue and steam boat’(we chose from a range of fresh seafood, chicken and vegetables and cooked our own)
Kerala curry served on a banana leaf;
Ice Kacang desert (black beans, jelly, sweet corn, fruit, ice-cream all in a big moosh)
Rojak – a sweet and sour vegetable/fruit salad;
Flower blossom laksa;
Cheong Chee Fun – dumplings from turnips, taro slice and a kind of fish tofu.
To finish the day, we had some of the best coffee north of Melbourne at the Sitigun café.
Most meals were under $5.00 and fresh, cheap and tasty.
Other highlights: unseasonal tropical downpours – thunder / lightning and flooding; a hot /humid walk in Penang National Park; Feng Shui at the Chong Fatt Tze Blue mansion; beautiful examples of colonial and local architecture.
There is a perception that as Malaysia is thought of as authoritarian and Muslim, why would anyone want to visit. We in fact found that people are very diverse – Chinese, Indian, Malay mix freely – some girls and women in head scarves but certainly not the majority. The people struck us as liberated and friendly. All people we encountered were helpful and we always felt safe and secure. We felt we could walk anywhere any time.
