When I met up with a few friends recently, we were reminiscing about Penang Hawkers’ food. One of them posed an interesting question – Why would people want to venture out to eat in the open air for a meal? Wouldn’t it be nicer to have your meal in an air-conditioned restaurant, where it is cleaner, more quiet, and more comfortable?

Ok, this is a valid question and very interesting. And I do sometimes question why I would queue for food (in Australia) being served on a paper plate and pay almost a similar price compared to the restaurant.

Is it the ambience? Is it to join the fun or the crowd?

Let’s ponder a bit….

Back to the question of why would people sit at the roadside or open-air hawker centre to eat hawker food in Penang?

In my previous post, I wrote about how Penang is very well known for its street food, and for its diversity of flavours and authenticity.

If I were back in Penang, and if I wanted to eat this iconic dish – char koay teow, for example, I would definitely go for the street food – hands down.

Why?

Longevity of skills

The majority of the Penang Street food vendors/stalls have been serving this one particular dish for many years, few even for generations. They honed the skill of cooking this dish every day for years, and withstood the test of time to master this particular dish, cooking to perfection. Wouldn’t that be a good reason to sample this master dish when you are eating, savouring from the best of the best?

Ambience

For any street food scene, you can’t ignore the ambience. There is nothing like sitting in front of the stall, watching the vendors preparing your food right in front of you. Listening to the sizzling sound of the wok, and seeing the action of stir frying the noodles.

Also there is the aroma from the cooking, the liveliness and vibrancy of the street scene, the chatting of the vendors and the customers. And for anyone who knows a good char koay teow stall’s aroma – it will beckon you from streets away!

On top of that, they are so easily accessible, efficient, affordable and with so many varieties and flavours of food choices to choose from.

Authenticity

Remember the food culture of Penang is a culmination of a melting pot of Indian, Malay, Chinese and Eurasian styles… so when you visit the hawker centres, you will have so many varieties of good and flavourful food to choose from, and they are relatively affordable.

The best thing is the vendors are mainly locals. They know our local dialect and flavours; they know our likes and dislikes. The food vendors know how to use our fresh local ingredients to create our local delights through their authentic heritage and culture.

For example, we have our distinctive Penang Assam Laksa, Penang White Curry Mee, Penang Hokkien Mee, Penang Char Koay Teow and more. These dishes are unique and authentic to the Flavours of Penang, truely based on our local ingredients, culture and heritage.

So, why would one go anywhere else for their street food other than to the best of the best – the Penang Hawkers?