George Town is where plenty of Malaysians go just to eat, and our Penang food tour is a three-hour walk through its old streets with a licensed local guide. You’ll try 12 tastings, from breakfast through nasi kandar to Nyonya sweets, with stops at an old George Town market, a legendary nasi kandar restaurant and a Nyonya kitchen.
Tours run every day, with morning starts at 9am, 10am and 11am and afternoon starts at 3pm, 4pm and 5pm. George Town’s old centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and between stops you’ll walk through its shophouse streets while your guide explains how Malay, Chinese, Indian and Nyonya cooking grew up side by side here.
What to expect on our Penang food tour
It’s a shared tour, so you’ll be eating with other travellers as well as your guide. Your guide orders at each stop, tells you what’s on the plate and where it comes from, and keeps the pace easy, with a short walk between stops to make room for the next one.
Come hungry. There’s breakfast, a plate of nasi kandar and a bowl of noodles before you even get to dessert.
What you’ll eat in George Town
We start with the food Penang eats for breakfast:
- Lontong: compressed rice cakes in a coconut and vegetable gravy.
- Roti bakar with butter and kaya: toast spread with butter and kaya, a sweet coconut and egg jam.
- Kopi O: strong black coffee with sugar, the way many locals start the day.
Next is one of George Town’s old markets, for kacang tumbuk: crushed peanuts and sugar rolled up in a thin popiah skin. Along the way you’ll also try some local fruit and traditional biscuits.
Then we sit down at a legendary restaurant that has been serving nasi kandar to Penang families for generations. Nasi kandar is rice with your choice of curries and sides, with the gravies poured over the top, and it’s one of the dishes Penang is best known for. It comes with a glass of chai.
After that it’s wantan noodles: thin egg noodles with dumplings, a hawker favourite all over Penang.
We finish at a Nyonya restaurant with three dishes Penang’s Peranakan cooks are known for:
- Bubur cha cha: sweet potato, yam and sago in sweet coconut milk.
- Pai tee: crisp little pastry cups filled with shredded jicama and vegetables.
- Kuih nyonya: small, colourful cakes made with coconut, glutinous rice, pandan and palm sugar.
To read up before you go, our guide to the best street food in Malaysia covers what to eat in Penang as well as KL and Melaka.
Tour times and meeting point
- Every day at 9am, 10am, 11am, 3pm, 4pm or 5pm
- About 3 hours
- Starts in George Town, with the exact meeting point sent after booking
- 12 tastings
- Shared tour, guided in English by a MOTAC-registered local guide
- From RM250 per person
This walk isn’t planned as a halal-only route. If you eat halal only, our custom food tour can be arranged in Penang with halal stops only, and our halal food tour page explains how it works.
Why book with Malaysia Taste
Malaysia Taste is run by ZFB Travel Sdn Bhd, a travel agency licensed by the Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC licence KPL/LN 12070). Our guides are MOTAC-registered locals, and they lead every tour in English.
Spending a few days in Kuala Lumpur as well? Our Jalan Alor food tour and Petaling Street food tour are two good ways to eat your way around the city.
