- Check it out.
I'm in the world heritage site of Penang.
I spent the last seven days food hunting.
Searching for the best food and the tastiest meals.
So it's with my great pleasure
I present to you my top five
favorite dishes from Penang, let's check it out.
Penang is a really awesome place to visit.
Taking a walk through here
feels like stepping back in time
with it's well preserved architecture and it's old feel.
But to me, the food in Penang is really what sets it apart.
The quality and the diversity of
Malaysian, Chinese, and Indian cuisine
is enough to make you never want to leave.
Let's start with number five, chendul.
I had to sneak a dessert in the top five.
Especially because this dish is so famous in Penang.
Shaved ice is covered with coconut milk,
palm sugar syrup, red beans,
and green rice flour noodles.
It's definitely worth a try,
especially if you need to beat the heat and cool down.
So sweet.
Mmmmmm, yeah.
That is awesome.
Let's get on to number four.
The famous Penang fried oyster omelet.
This gooey, crispy, smokey,
and spicy creation is truly amazing.
I was lucky enough to find this spot
that my older brother Anthony Bourdain visited.
It all begins with this combination of
starchy rice flour batter and eggs.
Fried in a flat griddle over high heat
leaves a smokey charred flavor.
The real magic happens here,
when these oysters are fried in a chili paste,
a little more rice flour batter and chives.
It's all fried up for a few minutes
to get that nice smokey aroma,
and then the omelet is plated
and the oysters are added on top
making a sticky and gooey protein filled meal
that you just can't beat.
Okay, look at that beauty.
I got an oyster in there,
some egg and some cilantro in one bite.
Okay let's give this a go.
That's amazing.
Crispy, juicy, spicy, cilantro, yeah.
Next up for number three
is a famous stir fried noodle dish
known as the Char Kaoy Teow.
This dish originates in Penang
so I ate it everyday and I couldn't get enough.
Locals often fight about who serves the best Char Kaoy Teow
but for me just a sample of variety was enough.
Flat rice noodles, dark soy sauce,
chilies, shrimp paste, whole prawns,
bean sprouts, chives, egg, and Chinese sausage
are all stir fried over high heat
for a charred flavor.
Served and I couldn't get enough of it.
I've got the Chinese sausage, shrimp,
and some noodles in one bite.
Let's give it a shot.
Some monster shrimp in there.
Noodles have a charcoal flavor.
Smokey flavor because they put that wok
on such high heat, amazing.
This dish is one of the top dishes in Penang.
The shrimp, the Chinese sausage, cilantro, spice,
I could eat this every day.
Now we're getting serious at number two.
I was lucky enough to find the best Indian food
I've ever tasted in Penang.
Making this one restaurant
my number two favorite in Penang.
Simply asking the chef to cook their recommendations
brought me a variety of curries and flavors
which I still long for
at every other Indian restaurant I've visited since.
Most Indian places in Malaysia
offer curries that are already prepared.
They scoop on the rice for you.
But no, not here.
They make it fresh for you,
with the strongest spices and freshest ingredients
right before your eyes.
Check this out.
I've got a shrimp curry right here,
a lamb curry, and beautiful fried fish
in spicy curry sauce.
Also some garlic naan, with mint sauce to dip,
and another curry to dip.
Garlic naan here,
and I'm going to dip it right in that shrimp curry.
Oh, look at that.
That looks amazing, let's give it a go.
That is really good.
- (Chef) Thank you, thank you.
- Amazing.
Spicy, the best.
Thank you, very nice.
You know what's really cool about this Indian restaurant?
This mint sauce, you dip your naan into,
this mint sauce right here,
it perfectly compliments these curries.
These curries are all spicy.
If you eat the mint sauce,
it just cools you down.
It's like the opposite, it works perfect.
The best, very delicious, thank you.
And now for the grand finale at number one
the famous Penang Asam Laksa.
This dish is dangerously addictive,
with it's sour and spicy fish broth.
It has a strong fishy and tamarind flavor.
The place I found it at had spot on flavors,
hot, spicy, sour, pungent, and full of spices.
This dish is so unique that it deserves the number one spot.
You can see I've got some onion, pineapple,
this pink stuff here is a ginger bark,
mint, cucumber, and it's a deep, deep fish curry
with rich flavors, some noodles,
and there's a lot of lettuce in the bottom.
So, this spoon right here is a prawn paste,
and you dip that right in, you dump it in,
and the flavors are going to soak all throughout.
You mix it up nice. So here we go.
That is bold.
A bit spicy, a bit sweet from the pineapple,
a little minty.
Very fishy from that prawn paste
and all the fish meat in there.
Yeah, that's definitely Penang's best dish.
Thank you very much for watching.
Please stay tuned for more fun travel adventures.
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Thanks again.
(soft drum music)