Penang Weekend Trip: Kedai Kopi Ho Ping, Georgetown
After the two hours delay + the commuting time from Penang International Airport to Merchant Hotel + check in at the hotel, our adventure in Penang has officially started at uhh... 2PM in the afternoon. If it's not because of the breakfast that we had at McDonald's back at Changi International Airport in Singapore, we would have fainted by now. But anyway, it's good to explore Georgetown on an empty stomach because Georgetown is a food heaven.
There are so many food to eat in Penang but certain food stalls close pretty early (as early as 1PM) on Saturday afternoon. For example, we initially wanted to have a go at Nasi Kandar, a popular rice based dish in Penang, but most stalls for these popular dish have closed by the time we started our adventure. Oh well, it's okay, there are other food to try. And that's when we stumbled upon Kedai Kopi Ho Ping.
Our eyes have gotten way bigger when we saw one of the push carts uncle's frying char kway teow. It is definitely a sin not to eat char kway teow when one is visiting Penang. There is char kway teow back in Singapore too but the original char kway teow was borne in Penang. What's the difference between Penang and Singapore's version of char kway teow? Hmm, for a start, Penang's char kway teow taste lighter somehow and the portion given was not so big in terms of the size. However, look at the size of the prawns given on top of the char kway teow, they are pretty big indeed. Another main difference is definitely the price. This plate of char kway teow only costs SGD 2 in Penang while it can cost double or triple back in Singapore. There's nothing you can do about it though since Singapore imports basically every food ingredients from other countries. So yeah, don't miss this food when you are in Penang!
The weather in Penang was so hot, as hot as Singapore. So it is kinda impossible to go on without having some refreshments. At Kedai Kopi Ho Ping, you can get your usual kopi/ teh fix like the one you probably often have in Singapore (remember the kopi-O/C or teh-O/C?). The iced lemon tea that I ordered seems to have more lemon than usual but I did not really mind it because it taste good and refreshing at the price of less than SGD 1. Oh gosh, I love Penang already.
One of the trademarks of the buildings in Georgetown area is that you may spot a lot of street art and wall mural on these buildings, just like the one we spotted on the 2nd level's wall of another coffee shop. Quite fun to hunt, these street art.
Oh right, I forgot to mention. If you are looking for other food, there are other food carts opening under Kedai Kopi Ho Ping as well. These food carts selling another famous food in Penang called Loh Bak but unfortunately we did not really have much time to try other things. Next time, I guess.
Kedai Kopi Ho Ping is located at Jalan Penang and it opens from 9AM until the food is finished (uh oh, better come fast then).