Penang Street Food

Within walking distance of Hotel Jen next to Komtar, the once centre of Penang, is McNair Road and Lebuh Presgrave. Lebuh Presgrave is a street food gourmand paradise, with all the wonderful treats of Penang that you can think of all along the same street.

For 30 years, this small outlet has been serving Hokkien-style noodles in prawn soup. 888 Hokkien Mee was founded by 72-year-old Mdm Goh Poh Kim, who learnt the recipe from her sister-in-law. “Mee” is the Hokkien word for “noodles,” as the dish utilises the classic thick, yellow-hued wheat noodles. Many would add rice vermicelli together with noodles as vermicelli would soak up the soup better.

A long queue forms quickly (and goes quickly) as we wait for the customers to turn the tables. But the ordering process is simple – pick the size you want (large or small), chilli or no chilli, any add-ons like sio bak (roast pork belly), pork ribs, etc, pay and proceed to collect it at the back. The assembly line is swift and efficient, no wasted step or redundant instruction.

I ordered the large standard order with added pig intestines, pork ribs and sio bak. This brought the price from MYR 7 (~SGD 2) to MYR 15. The chilli was separate in the spoon, deep fried shallots sprinkled on top, there’s no option for a dry version like in Singapore. Then I went to the back of the house to find a place to sit and eat.

The ground floor of the colonial-style chophouse is the main dining area. Foldable tables and plastic chairs are placed close to each other, maximising the number of people that can dine in there. The whole idea is to eat and go, so please do not hog the place for too long. And you need to order a drink if you sit here, as the shop does not belong to the noodle store. Many would bring their noodles next door and order the 3888 oyster omelette and drinks there instead.

The soup has a beautiful rich red colour and sweet umami flavour. While this dish is also sold in Singapore, the Penang version is much more intense in flavour, and spicy to boot, as ground red chillies are added to the broth to give it the signature reddish hue. 

While the standard bowl is already a very good eat with slices of pork and little bits of local shrimps called sua lor 沙卢 which was used to make the prawn stock, everyone will add a little textural variety with tasty options such as braised pork ribs or roasted pork – both highly recommended. 

But my favourite addition is the pig intestines. Called fenchang 粉肠, these are the small intestines of the pig and are quite tedious to clean. But if cleaned properly, it has a creamy texture inside the intestine that gourmands sought after.

Lebuh Presgrave is also known as “3rd road” in Hokkien or Mandarin, as it is the 3rd road from Jalan Magazine (where Hotel Jen is), which was considered as the “first road”. This in fact goes down all the way to 7th road, but that sort of details aren’t exactly important.

I did not go for the 3888 Fried Oyster located next to 888 Hokkien Mee as the queue was crazy long. Also, the environment was quite sad. Instead, I gave this stall in the Lebuh Presgrave Hawker Centre a try.

This store was managed by a couple of Malays (or aborigines, I can’t tell), so they did not have lard or offer duck eggs for the omelette. But that’s fine, as it’s oysters I was coming for, and they gave quite a lot of oysters for the smallest portion too.

There’s no seating available so I ordered the omelette to takeaway. It came with a sauce just like Taiwanese orh ah jian 蚝仔煎, except that this sauce was savoury and peppery, while Taiwanese night market version is sweet. Another big difference, this one had more eggs and less starch.

And right across the street from 888 Hokkien Mee is another classic Penang street food, char koay kak 炒粿角. And the pushcart store is managed by a well-built man and his lovely wife, hence the shop is called Muscle Man Char Koay Kak.

char koay kak 炒粿角 is the Penang version of Singapore chai tau kuay 菜头粿, which has been wrongly translated to fried carrot cake in both places. The base is steamed radish cake in both versions. It can be served black (with sweet soy sauce) or white (only fish sauce) in Singapore, but in Penang it’s only available in black and can be upgraded with duck eggs.

Although it is considered a breakfast food in Singapore, it is often eaten as a snack to main course like Hokkien noodles. The carrot cake was laden with wokhei and the duck egg gave the finished char koay kak a gamey taste.

If you are not used to eating street food under such conditions, there’s a new place down the street that offered the same street foods albeit the stores are not famous. Opened only just in Mar 2025, there are many stores that sell a variety of Penang favourites, like Hokkien noodles, Char Koay Teow, lor mee, etc.

This store sells Cantonese style wonton noodle made using the traditional bamboo kneading method 竹升面. “Tok Tok” is an onomatopoeia of the sound made by a chef when kneading noodle dough with a bamboo pole.

I was just craving for some Malaysian-style dry wonton noodles (with its dark sauce) and ordered from this unassuming store.

I was surprised by its bouncy noodles and flavoursome shrimp filled dumplings. But the char siew (BBQ pork) was disappoint, just a piece of pork loin with colouring. I liked the wonton soup that I ordered another portion of the dumplings.

Another of my Penang favourite is the loh mee 卤面. It is a typical Hokkien dish of blanched noodles drowned in thick tapioca starch based soy sauce gravy. I have no idea why in Penang it is always sold together with Hokkien (prawn) noodles, and the ingredients are almost always the same except the gravy.

The Nyonyas have a similar dish known as Lam Mee and it is often cooked during birthdays. The textures of the two are almost identical except that Hokkien loh mee has dark gravy, and the Nyonya Lam Mee has a clear gravy.

Some think the gravy is disgusting but don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. It is often made from the braising liquid for the pork belly and eggs, with added distinct five spice taste. The white speckles in the soup is a beaten egg that is mixed into the boiling gravy.

There are many other stores in this hawker centre. Will return to try some Penang local delicacies soon.

Lebuh Presgrave 888 Hokkien Mee  三條路888福建面
Off Lebuh McNair, corner lot 67-A Lebuh Presgrave, Georgetown, Penang

• Michelin KL and Penang Guide Selected 2024-25

Presgrave Street Hawker Centre
67D, Lebuh Presgrave, 10300 George Town, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Muscle Man Char Koay Kak
Macallum street food, Lebuh Presgrave, 10300 George Town, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

99 McNair Food Hub
99, Lebuh Mcnair, 10300 George Town, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Visited Apr 2025