Tek Sen
Tek Sen has run its Carnarvon Street dining room since 1965 and holds a 2026 Bib Gourmand, Penang's benchmark for wok-fried Chinese home cooking.
40 mid-range places in Penang, editor-picked. The comfortable everyday-good restaurants in Penang, with real cooking and no surprise on the bill. All Penang food.
The mid-range list
40 places
Ivy's Nyonya Cuisine
- ★ 4.5
- Peranakan
- $$
- Pulau Tikus
Ivy's Nyonya Cuisine in Penang is a husband-and-wife Peranakan room with a 2026 Bib Gourmand; Ivy cooks while her husband runs the small floor.
Ome by Spacebar Coffee
Drink Hand-brewed drip with Malaysian Liberica
Ome by Spacebar Coffee hand-brews drip coffee in a spare Penang shophouse and placed 56th on the 2025 World's 100 Best Coffee Shops ranking.
Book food experiences in Penang
Guided tour · 4 hours
Penang: Morning Food Tour with 15+ Tastings in George Town
Discover the favorite local brunch foods on a guided tour of the George Town district.
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Guided tour · 4 hours
Penang: 4-Hour Penang Plates Food Tour with 15+ Tastings
Take a deep dive into Penang's rich food culture and history. Meet the people behind the food, salivate over 15+ tastings, and discover what makes up this island's vib...
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4 hours
Penang: Spice Garden Tour with Hands-On Cooking Class
Explore a tropical spice garden and learn to cook South East Asian dishes in a fully hands-on cooking class. Enjoy a personalized experience with individual stations a...
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Sifu Nyonya Cuisine
Sifu Nyonya Cuisine on Rope Walk earned a 2026 Bib Gourmand for Penang Peranakan cooking, its septuagenarian chef running forty-odd a la carte dishes.
Jaloux
Jaloux hides Chef Hong's hand-rolled pasta behind greenery on King Street; four opening days keep this Penang Italian room permanently full.
Norm Micro Roastery
Drink House-roast filter coffee
Norm Micro Roastery roasts in an industrial-chic heritage shell on Church Street Ghaut, the Penang cafe where brunch plates match the coffee program.
Bibik's Kitchen
Bibik's Kitchen serves heirloom Nyonya recipes under classic Peranakan motifs on Jalan Sri Bahari, a Penang Bib Gourmand pick in the 2026 guide.
Winn's Cafe
- ★ 4.3
- Peranakan
- $$
- Pulau Tikus
Winn's Cafe fills a two-storey Pulau Tikus house with local art and Bib Gourmand Nyonya plates, a husband-and-wife act on Penang's Jalan Cantonment.
Thara
Thara brings a Thai chef's seafood-first cooking to a lofty Lorong Prangin shophouse, one of two Thai kitchens holding a Penang Bib Gourmand.
Il Bacaro
Il Bacaro pairs an Italian couple's handmade pastas with Venetian cicchetti inside the Campbell House hotel, Penang's most personal Italian room.
Where to stay in Penang
A sample of Penang hotels from our booking partner, who list 278 here. Live prices and availability open on their site.
Grand Inn Penang Road
A stay at Grand Inn Penang Road places you in the heart of George Town, within a 5-minute walk of Georgetow...
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OYO 89540 B Hotel Penang
With a stay at OYO 89540 B Hotel Penang in George Town (Gelugor), you'll be within a 5-minute drive of RECS...
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Moustachz Hauze
With a stay at Moustachz Hauze in George Town (Downtown George Town), you'll be within a 5-minute walk of P...
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Tune Hotel Georgetown Penang
A stay at Tune Hotel Georgetown Penang places you in the heart of George Town, within a 5-minute drive of W...
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B Street Hotel
Located in George Town (Downtown George Town), B Street Hotel is within a 5-minute walk of Children on Bicy...
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Summer Tree Hotel Penang
A stay at Summer Tree Hotel Penang places you in the heart of George Town, within a 5-minute walk of New Wo...
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OYO 993 88 Mario's
Located in George Town (Bayan Lepas), OYO 993 88 Mario's is within a 5-minute drive of RECSAM and Institute...
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Friendship Motel
With a stay at Friendship Motel in George Town (Downtown George Town), you'll be steps from House of Yeap C...
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M Qube Hotel
Located in George Town (Gelugor), M Qube Hotel is within a 5-minute drive of RECSAM and Institute Pendidika...
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Silver Shine Guesthouse
With a stay at Silver Shine Guesthouse in George Town (Downtown George Town), you'll be steps from St. Geor...
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Gurney Inn
With a stay at Gurney Inn in George Town, you'll be within a 15-minute walk of Ibox Museum of Glass Penang ...
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GoodHope Hotel, Kelawei-Penang
With a stay at GoodHope Hotel, Kelawei-Penang in George Town (Downtown George Town), you'll be a 4-minute w...
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Also compare: Zen Hotels in Penang from USD 23/night · LateRooms in Penang from 10/night · Booking.com in Penang
Stays are listed by our booking partners, not editor picks. We earn a commission if you book, at no cost to you.
Le Petit Four Pâtisserie
Order Croissants with crackling layers
Le Petit Four Pâtisserie laminates Penang's flakiest croissants on Beach Street, led by a patissier trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and it shows.
Constant Gardener Coffee
Drink Single-origin chocolate drinks
Constant Gardener Coffee pours espresso and single-origin drinking chocolate inside the Penang Chinese Chamber of Commerce building on Light Street.
Good Friends Club
Drink Penang Laksa Negroni
Good Friends Club pours kopitiam-inspired cocktails behind teal doors on Jalan Gurdwara, the Penang bar that turns laksa into a working Negroni.
Jawi House
Jawi House on Armenian Street is Penang's standard-bearer for Jawi Peranakan cooking, blending Malay and Indian spice work in a cafe-gallery.
Richard Rivalee Nyonya Cuisine
Fashion designer Richard Rivalee cooks his grandmother's pork-free Nyonya recipes in an antique-filled Macalister Lane shophouse in central Penang.
Du-An
Du-An plates traditional Malaysian cooking with cafe polish on Beach Street in Penang; the skin-on mutton curry is the 2026 Michelin guide's pick.
Sardaarji - Flavours of Punjab
- ★ 4.2
- Indian
- $$
- Little India
Sardaarji cooks Punjabi tandoor food under colourful drapes at the edge of Little India, the Bib Gourmand answer to Penang's South Indian majority.
Bao Teck Tea House
Bao Teck Tea House steams dim sum in a tiled heritage house with an indoor moss garden, Penang's prettiest room for a slow Cantonese yum cha.
ChinaHouse
Order Non-alcoholic tiramisu
ChinaHouse bakes about 30 cakes a day for the long counter running through its three heritage buildings, comfortably Penang's largest dessert spread.
Black Kettle
Order Sourdough loaves
Black Kettle runs a bakery counter, cafe and bistro through a high-ceilinged Beach Street building, Penang's roomiest all-day bread-and-brunch room.
Ceki Nyonya Restaurant
Ceki Nyonya Restaurant dresses its Sri Bahari shophouse in antiques and card-game nostalgia, serving home-style Peranakan plates in central Penang.
Nyonya Willow
Nyonya Willow hides in a Bayan Lepas commercial row far from tourist Penang, feeding local families northern Nyonya cooking worth the drive south.
Christoph's
- ★ 4.1
- Austrian
- $$
- George Town Heritage Core
Christoph's serves Wiener schnitzel and Austrian comfort plates in a Stewart Lane living-room of a restaurant, Penang's odd and excellent outlier.
The Maker
Order Seasonal fruit tarts
The Maker composes patisserie like plated desserts in a roomy Beach Street cafe, the studied, architectural end of Penang's French pastry wave.
Yin's Sourdough Bakery & Cafe
- ★ 4.1
- Bakery
- $$
- Gurney Drive
Order Blistered sourdough pizza
Yin's Sourdough ferments every loaf naturally across three Penang branches, and its blistered sourdough pizzas convert the doubters at dinner.
Urban Daybreak
Drink Flat white with fried chicken waffles
Urban Daybreak opens at 07:30 with Australian-style brunch on Lebuh Bishop, the earliest proper flat white and waffle service in central Penang.
Lunabar Coffee
- ★ 4.1
- Coffee roaster
- $$
- Pulau Tikus
Lunabar Coffee roasts under its own Tongue Mission label in the back room of a plant-filled Clove Hall house, Penang's quietest roastery-cafe.
Manchu Bar
Drink Elixir Of Youth served in a teapot
Manchu Bar dresses its Rope Walk speakeasy in red lanterns and Qing-dynasty props, pouring Penang cocktails from porcelain teapots until 03:00.
Bali Hai Seafood Market
- ★ 4.0
- Seafood
- $$
- Gurney Drive
Bali Hai Seafood Market lets you pick your dinner from live tanks on Gurney Drive, then cooks it to order; Penang's classic seafood theatre.
Sambal
Sambal reworks Malaysian favourites with European technique at 300 Beach Street, a halal-friendly modern dining room in Penang's banking quarter.
Bite N Eat Dindigul Biriyani
- ★ 4.0
- South Indian
- $$
- Little India
Bite N Eat has cooked Dindigul-style biriyani on Lebuh Penang since 2014, the Tamil Nadu specialist among Penang's Little India dining rooms.
La Vie en Rose Pâtisserie
Order Customisable madeleine towers
La Vie en Rose Pâtisserie bakes madeleines behind a pink shopfront on Lebuh Melayu, Penang's specialist counter for the little French shell cakes.
Le Dux Patisserie
Order Glazed entremets
Le Dux Patisserie plates Parisian-salon pastry a few doors from its Beach Street rivals, rounding out Penang's unlikely little French dessert quarter.
Kraffmen
- ★ 4.0
- Brunch
- $$
- Pulau Tikus
Drink Long black with Melbourne-style brunch plates
Kraffmen plates Melbourne-inspired brunch, pastas and pork ribs in a spare modern room off Burma Road, Penang's most reliable all-day western kitchen.
Wells Cafe
Drink Japanese and Nordic style roasts
Wells Cafe brews its own Japanese and Nordic style roasts at the Hin Bus Depot art yard, the natural Penang coffee stop before an Au Jardin dinner.
Forest Cloud Coffee Roasters
- ★ 4.0
- Coffee roaster
- $$
- George Town Heritage Core
Forest Cloud Coffee Roasters runs a roomy Jalan Penang roastery-cafe with in-house roasting and a serious matcha sideline for Penang regulars.
Archipelago
Drink Regional spirit cocktails
Archipelago pours from the back door of an Armenian Street shophouse into a plant-lined courtyard, Penang's earliest-opening serious cocktail stop.
Whisk
- ★ 3.9
- Bakery
- $$
- Little India
Order Floral celebration cakes
Whisk drapes its Queen Street bakery in greenery and builds flower-strewn custom celebration cakes, easily Penang's prettiest counter for an order.
Chapel Street Café
- ★ 3.9
- Brunch
- $$
- Gurney Drive
Drink White coffee with custom breakfast plates
Chapel Street Café hides on Medan Lim Cheng Teik with build-your-own breakfasts and generous fusion plates, the quietest morning room in Penang.
The Founders
- ★ 3.9
- Brunch
- $$
- Pulau Tikus
Drink Iced long black with filled bagels
The Founders runs a Bali-styled garden room on Hutton Lane with ten-plus bagel flavours and quesadillas, Penang brunch that stretches to 23:00.
Nothing matches.