Placing Orders at Penang Coffee Shops

Stalls at a hawker centre (1 September 2013)


On this page, we learn how to place our order at Penang coffee shops. There is also a separate page on ordering drinks at Penang coffee shops.

In most coffee shops in Penang, you are expected to visit the individual stalls to place for food order. You do this after you have occupied your table - the local parlance for calling dibs on a table is to "jom3" the table. The bigger coffee shops and hawker centres will have numbered tables, so you can tell the hawker where to bring your order by the table number. In most cases, the food will be brought to your table once ready, along with the cutlery and accompanying condiment. You are expected to pay upon being served. The standard practise at shopping mall food courts is that you pay upfront and then wait for your order to be handed to you at the counter.

A coffee shop in Penang (21 July 2012)


In the case of cooked-to-order meals, called cu1 char4, that you pay after finished eating. These are rice meals where the waiter gather your order of dishes. You are charged for any additional order of rice, and the bill is totalled for you at the end of the meal. But for the hawker dishes, it's pay upon being served.

I personally prefer to pay when the food arrives (unless it is cu1 char4), as I find it a hassle to go over to make payment, and if I forgot to do that, I would be embarrassed to have the hawker running after me for payment.

Most Malay nasi campur places still collect payment after eating. They just write it on a piece of paper and expect you to honour the deal after your meal.

Most air-conditioned food courts in the shopping malls today operate under the self-service format in which case, you wait for your order to be prepared. There would be a stack of trays for you to receive your dish. Somewhere on the counter are also pots of condiments and dips. You are free to take as much as you want.