Friday Flashback: Our Favourite Penang Food Part 3
Hey, guys! Another Friday, another food flashback here. I hope your week has been going very well, and that you're going to be getting some much needed rest for the weekend (or some much needed excitement?) When I was going through pictures for this week's FF, I came across some really delicious rice dishes that I haven't had in a while. I'm putting them up so you can go find them if you're in Penang for the weekend. But I'm also putting them up as a reminder for me to go eat them again soon :P
Penang Nasi Campur
In Penang, we're big on rice especially during lunch time. The nasi campur or "mixed rice" concept is flexible, affordable and nutritious. It's like a buffet of dishes and you can choose the ones you fancy to go with your serving of white rice (sometimes cooked with ginger, or with butterfly pea flower.)
One of my favourite nasi campur places in the afternoon is Pak Yusof Nasi Melayu at the Traders Cafe on Jalan Macalister. The picture below is from 2017, and you could say this was a pretty light meal compared to my usual visits. I took some fried fish with sambal (chili paste and lime) sauce, tauhu sumbat (stuffed fragrant tofu), bean sprouts and egg. But they have easily 20-30 different dishes out for the weekday work crowd.
Behold the seductive glow of carbohydrates
Penang Pork Rice
Nestles in one unassuming corner of Lebuh Chulia is probably one of the most popular pork rice shops on the island. Wai Kee Char Siew sells pork rice every afternoon and the place is filled to the brim with hungry, expectant fans. You'll have to come early, around 11.30am, just to get a spot. Once the crowd starts going, there's an average 15 minute wait before you get a table.
Just a note about this (very overexposed) picture. I was still fiddling around with camera settings and trying to figure out how to take semi-decent food pics at the time. So, it's not really my best work. But I figured it was... informative?
Kailan Pork Rice
Ok, stay with me here. I know it looks err humble. But this here is one of my all time comfort foods. It's made in a little stall at the KOMTAR building on Jalan Magazine, by a husband and wife couple. Chopped and steamed kailan, with salted fish and roasted pork belly, served with piping hot white rice and a sour-spicy Thai chili sauce on the side. It's crunchy, salty, so pork-fatty good. When I'm having a bad day, this and a cup of iced Kopi makes it all better.
Ok, that's it for this week! I'll be back again next week with some more food pics rummaged from the depths of my memory as well as my SD card. Eat well!
There's a lot of good food in Penang. The Friday Flashback series will help recap some of our recommendations and help you decide which delicious dishes to have on your trip to Penang. For more food favourites, read Part 2 of our Friday Flashback series.