Penang Nasi Kandar

Penang Nasi Kandar (2 May 2008)


Penang Nasi Kandar a popular rice meal of Indian Muslim origin. It is one of the most famous hawker food of Penang, and is one that all races can enjoy, as it is sold by Muslims.

The nasi kandar got its name from the rod that was once used to shoulder the food from place to place. In the old days, itinerant nasi kandar vendors would carry the rice and various dishes suspended from either ends of a pole to their customers. This portable style of selling nasi kandar has entirely disappeared, and the dish retains nothing from the old days but its name. Today nasi kandar stalls are more likely to be stationed on a permanent site, either in a coffee shop or, in its most recent incarnation, 24-hour Nasi Kandar Shops.

Patrons choose a variety of side dishes that may include curry fish, curry beef, curry chicken, roasted chicked, boiled egg, kacang bendi (lady's fingers/okra), sotong (squid), terong (brinjal/aubergine/egg plant), and fish roe.

Nasi Kandar (15 September 2012)


Although there are many 24-hour Nasi Kandar stalls in Penang, in my opinion, none (not one!) of them is able to capture the authentic nasi kandar taste that Penang is famous for. If you want the traditional nasi kandar, seek out the standalone stall in a coffee shop or against a wall or alcove in George Town or elsewhere in Penang. That is where you can enjoy the genuine taste of Nasi Kandar.


Nasi Kandar is available not only in dedicated nasi kandar restaurants, but also as standalone stalls in Chinese coffee shops, or sold my itinerant hawkers by the roadside. It is however rare and probably no longer available to see nasi kandar sold in the traditional way, which is, carried on a rod from place to place.

In my food map below, I point out all the locations I've discovered nasi kandar stall, and will add to it from time to time.