Penang Local Dishes

Penang Local Dishes provides a dazzling array of ever so delicious dishes! They have found their way into kitchens and restaurants all over the world. As the people of Penang settle outside their tiny little island home, they bring with them recipes that were handed down from grandmothers to mothers to daughters - and often to sons as well - secret recipes to dishes that make Penang a shining star in the culinary world map.

Jiu3 Hu3 Char4
© Timothy Tye

The origin of local dishes goes back deep into the fog of time, before even Penang was established, when the early Hokkien settlers arrived on the northern coast of the Malay peninsula to form estuaries settlements. Cut off from their China homeland, they incorporated the local way of cooking as well as adopted local ingredients to create various fusion dishes that are today collectively known as local dishes.

Most of the local dishes that we know today originated in the second half of the 19th century, from 1850's to 1910, especially in the 1860's, when the decades of prosperity provided the Straits Chinese family the opportunity to get creative with dishes. Those were the years of the tin boom. While the men were busy with their merchant trades - the mines in Larut were often financed by Straits Chinese in Penang - the womenfolk, often screened from public contact except when they leave the kitchen for the market, would be busy experimenting with food.

The very term "Nyonya", which means "maiden" in Malay, is a name given by the local vendors speaking the Malay patois to these womenfolk of a genteel class. Nyonyas do consider themselves as belonging to a class above the common market people. Although they are often uneducated, they come from rich families. Their husbands and sons are not illiterate - sons are sent to English schools to gain a western education and often spoke impeccable English. Learning to read and write are skills deemed unnecessary for womenfolk; the skills acquired in the kitchen are far more important for them to gain a good - and rich - husband. The Nyonyas mix local ingredients with cooking styles from their home country (mostly Fujian province). The result is fusion food that is now called local dishes.

The Straits Chinese womenfolk are the only Chinese women in mid 19th century Penang. Among the newcomers from China, almost all are men. Called Sinkheh (new guests), they were brought in to be coolies and labourers for the mines and harbour. These menfolk have no contact with the Nyonya ladies - the only women accessible to them would probably be the prostitutes in places like Campbell Street and Cintra Street. For these coolies, a whole range of Penang cooking developed, now just as famous, called the Penang Street Food. Street food such as Char Koay Teow and Hokkien Mee were created to fill hungry stomach, provide nourishment, and is affordable to the working class.

On this page, Penang Travel Tips celebrates the skills of the Nyonya by presenting to you this list of local dishes. The street foods are presented on a different page. Many of these local dishes are prepared by my wife, a wonderful cook who loves to try out local dishes, many learned from her mother. I am of course the happy recipient of the resulting kitchen adventures. I hope you'd enjoy my explanation of these dishes (though I assure you, they taste even better than they look).

To join in the discussion on Penang local dishes, go to the Masa Masak Facebook Group!

Private Guided Tours of Penang

If you are seeking private guided tours of Penang, message Penang Tour Guides at penangtourguides@gmail.com and enquire with them.

 Buy, rent or sell properties in Penang

Do you have a property for sale or to rent out? Are you looking to buy or rent a property? Get in touch with me. WhatsApp me (Timothy Tye) at 012 429 9844, and I will assign one of my property agents to serve you. I will choose the agent for you, according to your property needs. So when you message me, provide me some details of what you need, whether to sell, to buy, to rent or to rent out, and what type of property, is it condo, apartment, house, shop, office or land.

Adakah anda mempunyai hartanah untuk dijual atau disewakan? Adakah anda ingin membeli atau menyewa hartanah? Hubungi saya. WhatsApp saya (Timothy Tye) di 012 429 9844, dan saya akan menugaskan salah seorang ejen hartanah saya untuk berkhidmat kepada anda. Saya akan pilih ejen untuk anda, mengikut keperluan hartanah anda. Oleh itu, apabila anda menghantar mesej kepada saya, berikan saya beberapa butiran tentang apa yang anda perlukan, sama ada untuk menjual, untuk membeli, untuk disewakan atau untuk disewakan, dan jenis hartanah apakah itu kondo, pangsapuri, rumah, kedai, pejabat atau tanah.

您有待出售或出租的房产吗？ 您想购买或租赁房产吗？ 与我联系。 WhatsApp 我 (Timothy Tye) 012 429 9844，我将指派一名房地产经纪人为您服务。 我会根据您的房产需求，为您选择代理。 因此，当您给我发消息时，请向我提供一些您需要的详细信息，无论是出售、购买、出租还是出租，以及房产类型，是公寓、公寓、房屋、商店、办公室还是土地。

 New Properties in Penang

Looking to buy property in Penang? Get the e-brochures right here without having to visit or contact individual developers.

 Latest updates on Penang Travel Tips

 Share your travels and/or ask a travel-related question

Join the Penang Travel Tips Facebook Group to share photos, tips and anything related to your travels, or ask travel-related questions.

Map of Roads in Penang

Looking for information on Penang? Use this Map of Roads in Penang to zoom in on information about Penang, brought to you road by road.

Discover with Timothy

Let me take you to explore and discover Penang through my series of walking tours on YouTube. You may use these videos as your virtual tour guide. At the beginning of each video, I provide the starting point coordinates which you may key into your GPS, Google Maps or Waze, to be navigated to where I start the walk, and use the video as your virtual tour guide.

Disclaimer

Please use the information on this page as guidance only. The author endeavours to update the information on this page from time to time, but regrets any inaccuracies if there be any.

Songs about Penang

About this website

Hello and thanks for reading this page. My name is Timothy and my hobby is in describing places so that I can share the information with the general public. My website has become the go to site for a lot of people including students, teachers, journalists, etc. whenever they seek information on places, particularly those in Malaysia and Singapore. I have been doing this since 5 January 2003, for over twenty years already. You can read about me at Discover Timothy. By now I have compiled information on thousands of places, mostly in Peninsular Malaysia and Singapore, and I continue to add more almost every day. My goal is to describe every street in every town in Malaysia and Singapore.