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In a word, Penang food is both famous and fabulous. When people mention Penang food, they are more often than not referring to hawker food and coffee shop dining. It's true that some of the hype is overblown but it cannot be denied that Penang is home to many uniquely delicious chow. Ironically, hawkers in other states or towns have been known to pull the crowd by simply advertising their food as hailing from Penang, regardless of its authenticity or quality.

In short, an infinite variety of dishes are yours to savor ' all you need do is pick and choose. Thanks to early Chinese migrants, Chinese cuisine ranges from Cantonese to Teochew to Hokkien to Hainanese to Szechuan cooking. There's also Penang Nyonya food, which is a combination of Chinese, Malay and some Thai. The Penang variety of Nyonya food, apparently, is different from the Malaccan or even Singaporean versions. For a touch of luxury, try a five or ten-course Chinese meal at one of the restaurants or hotels in town.

Definition of Penang Laksa: A rice noodle dish in a spicy fish mackerel broth soup . Unlike the ghastly rich coconut version that you can find in Singapore ( Katong Laksa ), this dish is almost plebian in comparison as the main ingredient in the broth is mackeral (ikan kembung) and "asam" or sour tamarind. Besides these two, there are ingredients that give Penang laksa its distinctive scent and they include herbs like the lemongrass, ginger flower (bunga kantang), blue ginger (lengkuas) .

Typical garnishes include mint, pineapple slices, thinly sliced onion and a dollop of hai-ko, a thick sweet prawn ketchup. This dish is iconic to Penang and is well-loved by the locals who eat it at all times of the day!

Nasi kandar is famously popular with Penangites, and many restaurants selling it are well known not only to those on the island but those in other states as well. It is quite common to find people from other states detouring to Penang just to stop for a meal of nasi kandar before proceeding on their journey elsewhere...

With fishing being a major economic activity on the island, Penang is naturally a haven for sea food, and a handful of restaurants have already achieved legendary status among locals and foreigners.