A Smile and a Full Belly

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So from Thailand we busted over the border with our sneaky bananas to Malaysia. Right away all our memories came flooding back and, despite a few changes, the place looked pretty much the same. We quickly found ourselves a bed and set out in search of the food Penang is so famous for.

We didn't have to look far. In fact the only way to avoid the fantastic food of Penang was to stay in our room, and that wasn't something we were up for so there was a lot of eating fitted into our few precious hours in town. We started with the classic Hainese Chicken Rice, and our plate was deemed by Corb to be the best he'd tasted. Hard to beat such a strong first meal, we had some mighty fine curry mee, hokkein mee and a steaming pork bun that evening, our tummies rumbling at the possibilities for the coming day.

Day two started strong with a wee bit of decadence - milo for breakfast!! I don't think I can remember having had it since we left home and it was delicious 😊 We checked out the excellent Penang Museum to help build our hunger then crawled the alleys of Little India to seek out a tiny place we had heard was fantastic. It did not disappoint and we had an Indian feast like no other. The food tasted just like what we had had in India, the sounds of Bollywood blaring in the street outside and the smells of curry and incense almost transporting back there. It wasn't able to bring us the makhaniya lassi (our fave from India) though it pulled off a close second with an ice cold blackcurrant lassi that was the perfect accompaniment to our meal. MMmmmmm delicious.

Dinner that night was a little later, our bellies still full from lunchtime's delight, but we found room to squeeze in some wonton mee, some yellow bean cake and some calamansi ice tea. (It's hard work eating this well, really)

Our final meal was the greatest surprise though. Finding our happy milo man closed as we breakfasted early before our bus ride, we wandered round the corner in search of something else. What we found was a Penang Legend: De Tai Tong Dim Sun hot, steaming and packed to the brim with early morning feasters. We found ourselves a table and no sooner had we sat than Chinese Tea and all number of delicacies were placed in front of us. Knowing that our eyes would most definitely be larger than our bellies we only chose a few dishes, the highlight being the Chee Cheong Fun (filled noodles) in a chilli sauce which were fantastic. Then the lady with the egg tarts came by. I've never been able to resist them at home and here was no different, and so we finished our meal with a delicious tart and some more tea before we bade farewell to Penang.

This was our third visit to the tiny Island, but certainly won't be our last. It seems every time it becomes more familiar but each time you discover something new to come back again for. Next time we'll devote more time (and perhaps starve ourselves beforehand) and try and really get to the bottom of this intoxicating place.

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