Genting in the suburbs of Penang? Genting Cafe at Island Glades Penang

Penang is famous for food especially the Hawker food..What are the hawker food? Well the usuals are Char Koay Teow, Penang Assam Laksa, Penang Chee Cheong Fun, Curry mee, Loh Bak and I can go on and on....Well, during my most recent trip back to Penang, I took the opportunity to go to a famous local cafe, the Genting Cafe in Island Glades, Penang. 

So there's another Genting in Penang? It may be confusing, but yeah, there is this cafe called Genting Cafe in Island Glades, Penang. Genting Cafe has been around for more than 4 decades and has been a well known cafe for food among the local Penangites. Started initially as a restaurant serving the residents of this higher upper class area of Island Glades, it has boomed into a well known cafe now. It is mostly full during lunch hours and many have to stand and wait for empty seats and tables. 

There are many stalls selling the normal hawker food inside this cafe, the usuals as I have mentioned above. But here, I would like to highlight some special authentic dishes which Penangites can relate to.

 Kee Nya Kueh

Genting Cafe is a corner restaurant and there are many stalls around it selling various types of traditional cakes ('kueh' as locals call it). Here first I am particularly interested in this Kee Nya Kueh. It has been a long time since I has eaten this Kee Nya Kueh. It is alkaline rice cake, eaten with sweet palm sugar syrup. Made from rice flour with a little bit of alkaline water added to make it springy and a bit chewy. It is bubbly, soft and normally pandan juice is added for the green colour and fragrance. This type of Kee Nya Kueh is seldom sold in other parts of Malaysia. Nowadays it has become somewhat of an old traditional cake where younger generations have not heard of it. In fact, my daughter also has not heard of it and does not like the taste of it either. 

Pasembor or Jea Hu 

This is another traditional famous popular dish among the locals in Penang. It is Pasembor, a dish made up of freshly shredded cucumber, turnips, boiled potatoes, fried bean curd, fried octopus, prawn fritters, served with sweet nutty spicy sauce. Penangites call it Jea Hu, and is a must eat salad/snack plate whenever Penangites are at hawker stalls. It is actually some what like the Indian Rojak but this is Chinese style and less spicy. 

 Muar Chee

Muar Chee is also another local snack made up of cooked glutinous rice flour and sprinkled with roasted coarsely chopped peanuts. The seller will only cut the cooked glutinous rice flour into small pieces when you order. Some stall will add crispy fried shallots. 

I found long queue at this stall in Genting Cafe! An extremely famous dish in Bangkok is Pork Leg Rice and I did try it during my last trip in Bangkok too. So, there is a famous stall at Genting Cafe here. 

Pork Leg Kueh Chap

 Yes! My favourite Kueh Chap is sold here too. Kueh Chap is a bowl of thin flat rice noodles with stewed pork innards. But here of course there is no innards, its just the meat from pork leg. It is indeed outstanding, and a complete meal by itself with meat, a half boiled egg, vegetable and also tau pok. The soup is of right consistency, not too thick nor thin. Yummy!

Pork Leg Rice

My friend ate the Pork Leg rice which is tasty as it was sold in Bangkok. No wonder there are long queues at this stall. The meat from the pork leg is soft and tender too. 

 There are other snacks and kuehs sold at the stalls around the area here. I have been writing a lot about the food sold at Genting Highlands, Pahang, but this is another Genting, it's Genting Cafe, in Penang! This is one cafe worth trying out when you are in Penang, especially for those who are not into the roadside hawker stalls. I have a friend who prefers to eat in restaurants and not at roadside stalls, so I will definitely bring her to this cafe on my next visit to Penang.  

Addrress: 

Genting Cafe

Lorong Delima 3, Taman Island Glades,

 11700 Jelutong, Pulau Pinang

Please read other blogpost on Penang food

1. Super Tanker Hawker Food Centre  

2. Century old Kek Seng Cafe at Penang Road

Penang Hotel Review: Lost Paradise Hotel