Penang Char Koay Teow

BY CK LAM

Penang Char Koay Teow has been selected as the No.1 Must Eat hawker food through an online poll on the VisitPenang website in 2009.

There are plenty of Char Koay Teow stall in Penang with each stall having their specialty sauce and ingredients. One of my regular places would be at Taman Emas coffee shop located directly opposite the Penang Chinese Girl’s High School on the busy Gottlieb Road.

The Char Koay Teow from this stall cost RM3 and comes with slices of Chinese Sausages, chives and a few medium size prawns. Fried till just right, not too oily, it tasted prefect with few drops of soy sauce.

The  Char Koay Teow from the stall in Johor Road cost RM3.50. You can find this particular stall at the road side hawker food court at Johor Road, just off the Datuk Kramat Road (Padang) junction. The nice attraction of this Char Koay Teow is that the noodle is served on a plate laid with banana leaf. Indeed a very good addition, as the noodles tends to taste better, with additional aroma from the leaf.

The next Char Koay Teow stall is at Kafe Heng Huat in Lorong Selamat. The lady owner can be recognized easily as she wears a huge goggle. She shifted to this new coffee shop, from the old premise which is a few doors down the road.
The plate of Char Koay Teow cost RM9.00 and has the strong frying aroma from the wok (wok hei). A plate comes complete with large prawns and cockles.

Char Koay Teow with large prawns are relatively commonly found in many places around Penang, however there is only place that I have come across that has mantis prawns too. This famous stall is located in Kafe Khoon Hiang with its frontage facing Dato Kramat road and its side to Dunlop Road.

The mixture of soy sauce and a bit of oyster sauce balanced perfectly, giving the noodles a very savory taste. Ah Leng also made it a point to throw in plenty of chives. Furthermore, the cockles were done just right…medium cooked and still a bit juicy. This CKT was very well done, the ingredients complimenting the noodles perfectly.

Prices at this stall ranges from the regular plate that goes for RM5 to those that cost RM9.50 with big prawns, mantis prawns and cockles fried with duck egg.

Written by CK Lam, food blogger and editor of http://www.what2seeonline.com ; featuring the Best of Penang Food. She constantly combs Penang for the best gastronomical delights and loves promoting Penang Cuisines, Culture and Heritage.