Perut Rumah Nyonya Cuisine

17 Jalan Kelawei
Open 11am to 3pm & 6pm to 10pm, daily. Closed on Tuesdyas

Penang, or Northern, Peranakan cuisine is characterised by its sour-spicy flavours with Siamese leanings rather than the santan (coconut milk)-rich dishes in Melaka and Singapore Peranakan cuisine. The restaurant owner, Giannick Lee, wanted to indulge in his passion—cooking and nyonya food—and started this restaurant in this unique bungalow. “The owner is also Peranakan,” he shares. He opened the restaurant in 2008 and uses recipes he learnt from both his paternal and maternal grandmothers. Highlights here include the dry but flavourful jiu hu char (turnip fried with cuttlefish), ikan tumis (sour fish curry), nasi ulam (steamed rice mixed with herbs, dried prawns and salted fish), pork cincaluk (pork slices marinated in fermented shrimp paste) and kiam chai ark (soup of duck with preserved vegetables).

Tai Tong Restoran

45 Lebuh Cintra, 10100 Penang
Tel +604 263 6625
Open 6.30am to 1.30pm and 5.30pm to 9.30pm. Closed on Mondays.

Pushcarts piled high with metal steamers of classics like siew mai (open-topped pork dumpling), har gow (prawn dumpling) and feng zao (braised chicken feet), weave in and out of the tables in this big and airy coffee shop. Tai Tong is the place locals will bring you to if you ask for dim sum in Georgetown, and you don’t leave until you’ve tried their lo mai gai. A small amount of glutinous rice wraps around a ridiculous variety of savoury meats—chicken, roasted pork and Cantonese dried sausage—and everything is coated in a sweet sauce. Each bite is an essay on richness. Besides dim sum, the e-fu noodles (crispy egg noodles drenched in seafood or meat sauce), available after 11.30am, is highly recommended.