Recommendations for Malacca, Penang & Langkawi

[RickBehl]

Hi All,

Just a quick request for any recommendations for particular restaurants, hawker stalls, etc in Malaysia in either Malacca, Penang or Langkawi.

We are fairly adventurous and can tolerate quite spicy food so don't hold back with those suggestions !

Thanks in advance,

Rick

[prasantrin]

Will you have a car in Malacca? It makes a difference. . .

[RickBehl]

Will you have a car in Malacca?  It makes a difference. . .

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We won't have our own car but we don't mind hiring a car & driver or even taking taxis...

[prasantrin]

When in Malacca, taxis are relatively expensive. We paid MR35 per hour. A local told us that in Malacca, taxis are mostly for the tourists and there aren't so many of them (although they seemed to be plentiful at the bus station), so they can charge whatever they want.

From the bus station, we got our taxi to take us straight to Tung Fang Food Court to get some laksa and cheung fan. Unfortunately, they were out of laksa when we arrived (around 10:30 am! Or maybe 9:30. . .I can't remember now), so I just had char siu cheung fan. It was amazing--the best I've ever had. They make it fresh in front of you.

In terms of food, that's pretty much all we had time for within our two-hour taxi ride. If we had gotten a car and driver from KL, we would have gone to get some kuih keria, too. There was no way we could make it there with our limited time there. If you're interested, you can read about it at Eating Asia. Eating Asia is also where I found out about Tung Fang Food Court, and they have other eating advice for Malacca (and other areas), as well.

[yunnermeier]

Mmmmmmm

In Melaka, you'll find :

amazing satay (the one I go to moved but I'll get dad to give you the new address if you're interested!)

chicken ball rice (dirty place oppposite a bank- I think OCBC? in the center)

Nyonya food (no recommendations because I eat this at home)

Lok Lok (Chinese style fondue). I don't really like this so can't tell you where to go. I know there's a street with a whole row of shops.

Penang

Asam Laksa (Ayer Itam)

Char Kuey Teow

Nasi Kandar

You can find any kind of hawker food in Penang

I'm drooling, just thinking about it!

Edited February 9, 2009 by yunnermeier (log)

[Pan]

Back in the day (1970s), there used to be a great dim sum eating hall in Penang called Halaman. If I were going there today, I'd want to know where today's great dim sum palaces are, as well as where to get great hawker food. Which eating halls do you folks like?

[RickBehl]

Back in the day (1970s), there used to be a great dim sum eating hall in Penang called Halaman. If I were going there today, I'd want to know where today's great dim sum palaces are, as well as where to get great hawker food. Which eating halls do you folks like?

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We're actually living in Hong Kong at the moment and so have our fair share of Dim Sum here... probably will try and stick to dishes we can't get here...

[Tepee]

Lots of makan for you here and here. Last I went to Penang in '07, I had good hainanese meals at Sin Kheang Aun @ Chulia Street, and at Nanyang Chinese Cuisine @ Armenian Street. Other than cendol, you must try a very refreshing drink, ambra (buah kedondong in malay) with sour plum. Here are some pix from that trip.

Cendol and Ais Kacang

Lor Bak

Prawn Noodles

Oyster Omelette

Shrimp Kerabu

Asam Fish

Char Kuay Teow

Not too familiar with Malacca, last time I went was 3 years ago, but the cendol and food at Restoran Peranakan was outstanding.

Have a great time makan-ing!

[Pan]

Back in the day (1970s), there used to be a great dim sum eating hall in Penang called Halaman. If I were going there today, I'd want to know where today's great dim sum palaces are, as well as where to get great hawker food. Which eating halls do you folks like?

←

We're actually living in Hong Kong at the moment and so have our fair share of Dim Sum here... probably will try and stick to dishes we can't get here...

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Yeah, Hong Kong has wonderful dim sum. It's possible that there are more Malay-and-Indian-influenced curried pao and dumplings in Malaysian dim sum palaces, but I don't know that, and it makes perfect sense to me that you'd want to concentrate on stuff you can't easily get at home.

[Saraaa]

Laksa!

Popiah!

[nikkib]

Ok so a week long trip to Langkawi saw plenty of great food which i will try to upload here. We stayed at The Danna Hotel, a new hotel on the west coast of the island. Dinner on the first day was at Orkid ria a seafood restaurant in Pantai Cenang which was recommended to us by the barteder. Predominantly Chinese, this restaurant was packed full everytime we went past it which is often (although not always) a good sign.

We started with crispy squid to share, crunchy, un greasy and very good indeed. Then we shared a small grilled pomfret, Chilli prawns, sizzling chicken, bee hoon noodles and some sambal belacan kang kong

Whilst pantai Cenang is a typical tourist strip without much to commend it, our meal at Orkid Ria was very good indeed and i would recommend it to anyone in Langkawi

[nikkib]

Not far from the Danna is a cable car that takes you right up to the very top of the highland, high above the tree canopy for some simply outstanding views. At teh bottom of this is what i believe was called the Oriental village, a small tourist site with shops, a foot spa and a small hawker centre. I told my Dda to have a look around and see what he liked teh look of and was not surprised when he picked an Indian stall (Indian food is far more familialr to us than Malay) and as i wasnt particularly hungry, not really in the mood for noodels or rice thsi suited perfectly. I was tasked with the ordering so chose (for 3 as a light snack) an "Arabic Salad" Some Onion pakoras, samosas and chana poori (chickpea curry with indian bread) It actually seemed like the chef was making quite a lot of it to order (samosas from scratch) and we were very satisfied with our choice which i think came to about $10 including 3 soft drinks and a large bottle of water.

[nikkib]

Breakfast at the hotel - there was a buffet with a selection of fruit, yoghurts, cheese, braeds and cereals and tehn you ordered a hot dish from the menu. There was a mix of local (congee/roti prata etc) and international (waffles/pancakes/eggs etc) As i have plenty of local food i opted for mostly western breakfasts (had my first scrambled eggs since i was in lebanon!) Here is the daily "eye opener" juice which is the green glass with lime, yoghurt and apple and also an orange with ginger and banana. Then a small plate of fruits and mackerel on toast. Obligatory bucks fizz (mimosa) with the addition of some mango juice too.

[nikkib]

WE took a fantatsic tour into the mangrove forests in the Kilim nature reserve - really unbelievable. The Asian Tsunami had such a minor impact on the island despite the terrible havoc it caused elsewhere mostly due to the natural protection of these mangrove forests and the loacl community is keen to educate people on this. It really was a truly educational and fascinating tour - we saw vipers hanging from tree branches, monkeys and eagles which was amazing! Lunch was at this little floating restaurant in the reserve and was included in the tour. We had been given an option of prawns or chicken - i opted for prawns. A delicious and flavourful tom yum soup followed by fried rice with succulent juicy prawns was a huge success.

[nikkib]

A slightly fancier dinner at the Bon ton resort, a boutique hotel where you stay in beautiful thatched huts. Nam, the restaurant has fusion food leading towards the local with additons such as chermoula, dukkah, sosoties etc. I wasnt too hungry so had 2 starters, a mezze plate with hummus, dukkah and chermoula and tehn a prawn appetizer platter with prawn fish cakes, bbq slipper lobsters and sugar cane prawns which was very tasty, especially the slipper lobster which up until now i have found rather overrated. For dessert i had a dessert platter with black burned rice pudding (excellent and nutty) a gulu melaka creme caramel (palm sugar) banana, mango and coconut ice cream. This meal probably cost us the same amount as 3 or 4 other dinners combined (helped by a nice australian riesling) but was definitely worth it. The owner rescues stray cats - we literally saw 100 or so, they all seem to have their own spots around the resort, one even sat on the lap of the lady next to me for the duration of her meal!

[nikkib]

From the tourist maps of the island (big on "sights" not so big on street names im afraid) there is a daily night market in differing locations. We opted to go on a Monday night, the market seems to be in a more rural, location on this night than others. We were heading out for dinner so regrettably couldnt persuade my folks to try some of the dishes we saw, but it was an interesting expereince all the same

Edited March 7, 2012 by nikkib (log)

[nikkib]

Near the hotel danna, on the harbour front is a collection of restaurants, including a Malay restaurant called Privalege - billed as "Trip advisors no1 restaurant in Langkawi" This was again, recommended to us by the hotel staff and i was keen for some Malay food so we gave it a shot. WOW. This was not what i was expecting, a crisp modern interior, friendly, profossional and attentive staff not out of place in any of the big city eateries, a large but not overwhelming menu and a great wine/cocktail list to boot. Langkawi is a duty free island so a G&T or cocktail in our hotel was around $4 btw! To start i had the Nyona platter of otak otak (spiced mackerel in banana leaf) Kueh pie tees (pastry cups with stewed sweet turnip and shrimp) and a slipper lobster wonton. All were delicious, especially the wonton and i was happy i had chosen this. For mains i went for a shrimp sambal dish which i was warned was very spicy (something my parents agreed with but to my palate it was great) and for dessert an ice cream selection of gulu melaka, chai (spiced tea) and smoked banana. Also pictured is the spiced duck and bok choy my father had (and didnt want to share it was so good!) and my mothers malay platter with aforementioned spiced duck, some of the shrimp i had, beef rendang (cooked beautifully) as well as a vegetable pie, a fish & coconut curry and a lamb samosa. Not one dish was a dud - i would have happily eaten anything on the plate.... Complimentary amuse bouche of a mint/rice dish, a middle palate cleanser of a herb based sorbet and a post dinner sot of "cello" a herb based liqueur added to the almost "fine dining" feel of this restaurant. I was so pleasantly surprised with this restaurant and the high quality of staff, service and food made this a real treat - an unmissable restaurant if visiting Langkawi in my opinion and i hope they continue to thrive.