Char Kway Teow
Fried Kway Teow is probably the most ubiquitous hawker food you will come across Penang. Even that there are many different versions of Fried Kway Teow in Malaysia and Singapore, the Penang version is known as the best among food lovers. In the basis contains noodles, minced garlic, bean sprouts, fresh prawns, cockles, chives, eggs and a dash of soy sauce and chilli paste. There exist at least as many variations as places that serve the dish, which means a lot! Expect a price of RM3.50-5 per dish.

Mee Goreng
Mee Goreng can be seen as Indian Muslim heritage food. It can only be found in Malaysia, and even within the country there exist different versions. Mee Goreng served in Penang is special because of its secret sauce each vendor uses in stir-frying the noodles. It is cooked with yellow egg noodles and is an explosion of spicy, sweet, sour and tangy flavours. There is a interesting contrast between the spiciness of the chilli paste and the sweetness from the cuttlefish. Aside of noodles, the dish contains potatoes, onions, lettuce, soybean curd and bean sprouts. Expect a price of RM3.50-5 per dish.

Nasi Kandar
Nasi Kandar, which literally means “rice carried on shoulder with stick” is only found in Indian-Muslim stalls or restaurants and is a national favourite of Malaysians. It was served during the British colonial period to hungry immigrant workers at the port who were looking for a quick, affordable, and hunger sating meal. The basic ingredients are rice and curried dishes on top of it. Some dishes contain tiger prawns, beef in thick soy sauce, marinated quail, crab, fish head, squid, chicken, lamb. Just try the unbelievable variety of this dish. One of the best is served at Line Clear Nasi Kandar at Jalang Penang in the centre of George Town. Price range between RM5-10, depending on your choice of seafood and meat.

Assam Laksa
Assam Laksa is a spicy noodle soup, considered as Penang’s signature dish of Peranakan or Straits Chinese heritage. It is available throughout Malaysia, but only the Penang version takes on a spicy and sour flavour. Spicy and tangy fish broth made from poached and deboned mackerel is flavoured with tamarind, lemongrass, chillies and shrimp paste. Rice noodles and vegetables such as cucumber, mint leaves, torch ginger, red onion, chillies, chopped pineapple, and lettuce serve as a basis for this soup. One bowl of Assam Laksa is as cheap as approximately RM2.50.

Curry Mee
Like almost every food, curry mee noodles differ from what you would find in other parts of Malaysia. The soup is generally less rich than the region’s coconut milk based curries. This dish is of Chinese heritage and you will be hard pressed to find a halal version of this food. Each stall offers a different version of curry mee, there is uncountable variety of distinction between curry broth and chilli paste as well as other ingredients. Generally you will find your choice of noodle, bean sprouts, long beans, soy bean puffs, shelled prawns, cockles, cubed coagulated pig’s blood and cuttlefish. Expect a price of RM2.50-4 per dish.

Char Kway Kak
Char Kway Kak is Hokkien for stir-fried white radish cake. It is made from white radish and rice flour and stir-fried with lard for an intensely flavourful aroma. Other ingredients are bean sprouts, diced “chye por”, a preserved vegetable, which is combined with black soy sauce and chilli paste. The taste depends on the skills of the cook to get the balance of smokiness, and flavour and dampness of the dish just right. Expect a price of RM2.50-4 per dish.

Rojak
Rojak is a famous fruit salad, which contains of bite sized pieces of crunchy cucumber, pineapple, green mango, Java Apple, turnip, bean sprouts, soybean puffs and fried dough fritters.  It is dressed with an exotic mix of sugar, chilli, limejuice and prawn paste. On the top, it is sprinkled with crushed peanuts. All in all, it is a composition of sweet, spicy, tangy, savoury and piquant at all once. It is often eaten as an appetizer to a hawker meal. Prices vary from RM3-10.