3 Best Restaurants in Penang, Malaysia

Inside a fully restored shophouse, My Own Café has a beautifully tiled floor and a mix of traditional dark wood carved furniture and retro coffeehouse seating. The restaurant serves just one dish: laksa in two sizes. It's Penang assam laksa, of course, so the stock is fish-based, with nice springy noodles and sweet and sour finishes. Before you head back into the heat, grab a coconut ice cream, served in a half shell with chunks of coconut. On the walls you'll see creative street art designs, much like what you'll find on neighboring Armenian Street.

What opened in 1965 as a humble rice stall is today a wildly popular shophouse restaurant with bright street art on the back wall. Tek Sen serves an amalgam of four types of Chinese cuisine: Cantonese, Teochew (also known as Chaozhou), Hakka, and Peranakan. The resulting menu of small plates is a most toothsome introduction to the myriad groups of Chinese cultural groups who have so heavily influenced Penang and Malaysia at large. Two people with reasonable appetites could polish off three or four dishes. Balance heavier options like the tender and sweet double-roasted pork with chili padikang with the kong sambal and prawn. In the latter, Chinese water spinach gets a quick fry in the wok before being tossed with sambal (spicy chili sauce made from shrimp paste). Reservations are recommended.