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"Arguably the most popular social centre for both locals and visitors in Pulau Pinang, Gurney Drive offers great food and charming atmosphere, leaving you sated from your visit here."
Introduction
If you have only a very short time in Penang, then you'd probably be pleased with your trip if only you visited the seaside leisure area in Gurney Drive, located on the northern side of George Town, towards Tanjung Bungah. There is a seafront promenade that spans the length of Gurney Drive, where locals take their early morning walks or jog, enjoying the sea breeze.
The Gurney Drive foodstalls area is a collection of stalls selling all the specialities of Penang. The action at Gurney Drive begins in the late afternoon, at around 6pm. This is when the hawkers begin setting up their stalls, preparing ingredients for their dishes and lining up their tables and chairs to catch the first trickle of customers hankering for their late tea, early dinner, or just a snack after a couple of hours walking up and down the seafront promenade.
But Gurney Drive is not just an area for hawker stalls, recent years have seen stylish and elegant cafes, bars and restaurants springing up around the area. So its not unusual to find people having their late supper at three in the morning at the Gurney Drive hawker area. Business at the hawker area runs late into the wee hours of the morning before finally closing at about five in the morning on weekends, or roughly three in the morning on weekdays.
Just a short walk from Gurney Drive is the Wat Chaiyamangkalaram, one of the most famous Buddhist temples in Penang. And if you are mobile, just a 15 minute drive up Jalan Gottlieb and into Jalan Kebun Bunga, you will arrive at the Nattukkotai Chettiar Temple, the Penang Botanical Garden and the Craft Batik centre.
People
Gurney Drive isn't just a favourite of the locals. On any given day, you can always find tourists milling around the hawker stalls curiously eyeballing the different dishes being prepared and taking their time to decide on which they'd like to try. Some of the stall owners at Gurney Drive a quite interesting characters, many having been there selling their speciality dishes for decades. The stall owners are always happy at work and incredibly efficient at it. Even at its peak hours, a table at Gurney Drive would be served within 5 minutes. And the easy to prepare foods served here would usually arrive at one's table in a matter of minutes.
Food
The hawker stalls at Gurney Drive is where you'll find local favourites including the savoury pasembor, mouth-watering asam laksa Penang, chee cheong fun and char kuey teow. These dishes are simple and very affordable, ranging anywhere between RM3.00 to RM4.50 a plate. And you must not forget to try the various sweets and desserts available here, such as leng chee kang – a sweet dessert drink with an assortment of condiments including red dates, jelly, beans, peanuts, hard-boiled quail's egg and sea coconut, served hot or cold – or air batu campur, shaved ice topped with a variety of ingredients including rose syrup, sweet corn, palm sugar, crunchy peanuts, red beans and jelly.
Travel Advice
When ordering any savoury dishes from the hawker stalls at Gurney Drive, be sure to specify if you'd rather have the dish mild rather than spicy. The locals here, like most in Malaysia, love their food extra hot and spicy. The stall owners will be more than happy to oblige!
For more information, please contact:
Penang Tourism Action Council
56th Floor, KOMTAR
10000 Penang
Tel : +604-262 0202
Fax : +604-2631020
Email : enquiry@tourismpenang.gov.my
Last viewed - October 08, 2008
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