As you can see from his worn t-shirt, he picks up a whole coconut, holds it to his body and hacks it to serve, finishing off by inserting a straw for you to slurp the fresh juice.

He’s definitely there most afternoons and probably mornings as well.

It’s located at the end of Abu Siti Lane (Lorong Abu Siti), on the Burma Road side.

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Chai boay is a soupy broth that is made from pickled vegetables, meat bones and a whole lot of other leftovers that are thrown together to create a tasty dish.

If you havn’t tried it before – it has a pickly tomyam vs ‘salted cabbage’ soup taste which turns out to be a great appetizer or together with other dishes in a meal.

You can normally find chai-boay at Roast Duck and Chicken Rice type stalls as they use the meat bones from the previous day to make the stock.

Watch out though, this dish is not the most pleasant sight and if you’re nursing a hangover or are feeling quesy in the stomach, it may not be a good idea to look at it.

This one in the photo is from a coffee shop opposite Prima Tanjung in Fettes Park.

There are many types of fried noodles in Penang and the most basic must be the traditional fried bee hoon mee.

This is a no-frills meal which is often vegetarian and contains nothing more than beansprouts and ‘tek-ga-ki’ or ikan billis at some places.

It is most commonly found and eaten at breakfast as a light meal. You can have 3 options – bee hoon on its own, mee on its own or a mix of both (such as in the photo).

One good place to get this dish is at Pulau Tikus market from 8am to 11am daily.

Penang’s Macalister Road just doesn’t look or feel the same without rows of vans and stalls lined up with hanging durians. Unfortunately, the season is over and all we can do is reminisce about this smelly fruit.

It would sure be good to be offered a bit now (like in the photo below which was taken a couple of months ago). These ones don’t look too picture perfect but they are often the most delicious.

For the benefit of visitors to Malaysia who havn’t come across durians before – they are a fruit with a spikey green ‘skin’ and a bunch of ‘seeds’ which are coated with a soft ‘meat’ which is what you eat. It has a texture similar to cream cheese and comes in a sweet and bitterish savoury flavour.

Durians are definitely an acquired taste as they are a unique fruit with a very strong smell. You either love it or don’t but if you havn’t yet, you have to try it.

Walk into any Chinese Seafood restaurant in Penang and you can be sure that the person taking your order will ask you if you would like to eat fish. If they sell lobster, it’ll be fish and/or lobster but fish is generally the main objective.

Steamed fish is a Chinese favourite which is normally served for lavish dinners and when you want to treat yourself. It is tasty, nourishing and healthy but unless you’re quite fortunate, you’re unlikely to have it all the time.

Fish is often one of the most expensive items on a seafood menu which is why the waiter’s primary goal is to get you to order it before settling for lower value dishes such as tofu or vegetables.

Fresh fish can be steamed and served with soya sauce or in a lighter gingery sauce.

The one in this photo is from Bali Hai in Gurney Drive which is a good restaurant even if this particular fish looks like it drowned in an oil spill.

If you’re looking for a good Roast Duck stall at lunchtime in Penang, there’s a good one on Burmah Road in Pulau Tikus, at the Codrington Avenue junction.

Some people know them as ‘The Brothers’ who were located at another place before and recently moved to this new location.

It’s the normal roast duck, roast pork and barbecue pork type stall which has a wide selection of (double-boiled) soups and other dishes.

Parking is a bit of a challenge especially at the peak of lunch time so you may have to park nearby and take a stroll there, unless you drive a Kancil and can squeeze up onto the pavement.

Char Koay Teow (CKT) along with Wantan Mee is one of the most popular Chinese dishes in Penang and it can be found almost everywhere.

If you’re trying to find the best CKT in town, you should head down to Lorong Selamat in the afternoon where there are 2 stalls serving exceptional char koay teow. Both places are always packed (at least when i go) and if you can’t wait, it’s just too bad.

At first, there was only one lady who has a signature look with novel goggles which look quite funny. She is one of the most expensive CKTs in Penang but it was very good, which attracted locals and tourists to flock there.

Then, she moved to a coffee shop down the road from the original place and in her old spot, there’s a new stall with a guy wearing similar goggles. He is just as good (ok, debatable), just as expensive and just as packed.

They are the most expensive CKTs in Penang at RM8 but the prawns are a lot more sizeable than the shrimps you get in a lot of places and the taste is good. If you want to know what CKT should taste like, go try it – it’s the real deal.

Since we featured the

The Mee Goreng stall in the Bangkok Lane has been there for ages. The hokkien speaking Indian guys there are very engaging and entertaining at times, as they whack the heck out of that wok while spinning it round and round.

The food used to be exceptional there but on a recent visit, the mee goreng was quite mushy and far from what it used to be. Perhaps there was a change of chef or maybe it was just a bad day but it was shocking (see the photo).

Some have said that this Indian mee stall gained fame and was featured in Lonely Planet, Discover Channel or some other big name travel media a few years back, which is the root of the problem. On a less speculative and more practical front, if you watch them in action, it seems that they are mass-frying the noodles in huge batches where it’s like an automated operation with one guy stirring the mee and another one lobbing in all the ingredients.

Good Mee Goreng and CKT is normally fried individually or in very small batches so that it can maintain the goreng (fried) element. That’s why you have to wait for some time to savour them (ie. the Lorong Selamat CKT).

The Indian Mee stall in Bangkok Lane used to take a long time (to serve), as the take-awayers caused a traffic jam in the small lane waiting for it. Now, they’re much faster but the quality has suffered greatly. It’s such a pity.

Wantan mee is one of the best dishes of all the Chinese hawker food in Penang.

Amongst all the street food, it’s probably one of the most healthy and it’s a good option for a light meal.

You will find that it is spelt in a number of ways such as Wantan Mee, Wanton Mee, Wan Than Mee and some other variations but they all refer to the same dish.

For visitors who havn’t tried this dish, wantan mee is basically noodles with char siew, wantons (meat dumplings), chinese greens (choy sum) and pickled chillies in a soya and sesame seed oil sauce. It comes in a dry (standard) or soupy version and different vendors may add other ingredients such as shredded mushrooms, chicken and fried wontons.

Wantan mee is a classic dish that is found at many hawker centres and stalls throught Penang. Naturally, some are not as good as the others, so it’s worth knowing where to go.

This a snap of the Wantan mee from Bangkok Lane in Pulau Tikus which is a contender for one of the best in town. (Open daily from late morning till mid afternoon except Mondays.)