A laminated flatbread flipped paper-thin, folded and griddled to a crisp-soft flake, served with dhal and curry, at its best flooded, banjir, at a roadside stall.
Where to eat it: 1 restaurant across 1 city.
Roti canai arrived with Indian Muslim migrants and became Malaysia's breakfast handshake: dough rested in ghee, spun to translucence, folded and pressed on a flat iron griddle. Penang's most famous version is a stall with no signboard on Transfer Road, at its pans for around half a century, where regulars order the roti drowned in curry before 11:00 or go without. The flip is theatre, but the rest matters more: long rests, generous fat and a griddle at the right heat.
Common allergens: Gluten, Dairy (ghee), Egg
Tip from the editors. The overnight ghee rest does the work the flip only shows off; short-rested dough fights back and never goes translucent.
Roti Canai Transfer Road has flipped flaky flatbread at its roadside stall for around half a century, Penang's definitive curry-flooded breakfast.
Try: Roti canai banjir
Tip: Ask for banjir, flooded with curry, and add a curried egg; go before 11:00 because the gravy pots empty first.
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