itinerary Penang supper crawl: 5 stops on foot
5 stops · 3.0km on foot
George Town eats late, but not as late as visitors assume. This is a five stop supper walk of about 3km through the old grid: wantan mee on Carnarvon, fish head beehoon down at Weld Quay, skewers on Chulia, rojak out at the Esplanade, then banana leaf on Beach Street. Go in that sequence and nothing shuts on you halfway.
1 16:00 to 22:00 · shut Monday
Photo: Antonio Florit via Google Maps Mother And Son Wonton Mee Stall has held the Carnarvon corner for forty years and still pulls the longest wantan mee queue in the quarter, so take it first: the stall stops at 22:00. Noodles come chewy with a clean bite and no alkaline tang, dumplings juicy. Tables are kerbside, beside the traffic.
2 11:30 to 23:30 · 765m from the last stop · shut Monday
Photo: Jun Wei Chan via Google Maps Two soups, and they are not equal. The tomyam bowl at Village Fish Head Beehoon is thicker, sour and spiced in balance, while the clear broth is only alright. Add the loh bak, fried crisp and given its own chilli sauce. Under RM 20 a head, and of everything on this walk it keeps going the longest.
3 15:30 to 23:00 · 754m from the last stop · shut Monday
Photo: David Teo via Google Maps Pay by the skewer at Chulia Street Lok Lok: pick your sticks off the rack, then decide whether they go into the boiling pot or the fryer. The meatballs have a real chew to them. Honest warning about the satay sauce, which is thinner in fragrance than the sticks deserve, so do not judge the stall by it.
4 18:00 to 23:00 · 718m from the last stop · shut Monday, Sunday
Photo: Pei-Pei Yang via Google Maps Rojak Ho Wei Jeng (101 Rojak) makes its sauce differently: sweet and sticky, closer to molasses, cut with tamarind and shrimp paste, then almonds scattered over the coarse peanuts. It only trades in the evening, inside the Esplanade food court. Anyone who takes to it can buy the sauce by the bottle.
5 11:00 to 23:00 · 797m from the last stop
Photo: Shashie Rajantheran via Google Maps Madam Priya's House of Curries @ Beach Street trades the kerb for air conditioning: banana leaf sets in a room regulars rate one of the tidiest going, ending with masala tea and kesari. It asks more than a kopitiam plate does, which is the price of eating the last course of the night sitting down.