[Penang, Malaysia] Breakfast options at Swee Kong Coffeeshop, Pulau Tikus

[klyeoh (Peter)]

Swee Kong Coffeeshop at the corner of Moulmein Close and Burma Road is one of the best-known traditional coffeeshops in Penang, and certainly the best one in Pulau Tikus, which is also famous for its popular morning market and plethora of good eats.

The best-known stall at Swee Kong is the Lean Huat Hokkien prawn noodle stall, but you need to come here well before 8.30am to be assured of a bowl of their steaming hot noodles. Permanent crowd there, so jostle in and shout your order. The amount of soup given is notoriously paltry compared to other Hokkien noodle stalls around town, but that merely adds to Lean Huat’s infamous reputation. Penangites refer to it as “the Hokkien mee opposite the police station”.

One other stall worth checking out there is the one making Indian sweet appams (crepes) using claypots. Here, Neelamegan Rajagopal aka Ravi prepares his rich, eggy sweet Indian apoms using the decades-old earthenware claypots inherited from his father.

Other breakfast options at Swee Kong include Penang “char mee suah”, a variant on the “char koay teow”, using very thin rice noodles (mee suah) instead of flat rice noodles (koay teow). “Char mee suah” is also traditionally served with a dollop of sambal belacan on the side, which this stall faithfully adhered to.

The Indian mee goreng/mee rebus stall is fairly new - perhaps half a year old - run by Mohammed Nazir bin Rawther, who used to be the assistant to Mahboob Zakaria, who runs the legendary 80-plus years-old Bangkok Lane Mee Goreng stall just across the road. I guess the master and the apprentice parted ways. We tried the mee rebus here.

The “sar hor fun” stall churns out a respectable version of the dish - the "hor fun noodles have a deliciously-smoky wok-seared aroma, but the accompanying meat-seafood gravy was blander than expected.

Address
Kedai Kopi Swee Kong
Corner of Jalan Burma & Solok Moulmein
Pulau Tikus, 10450 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
Operating hours: 6am to 8pm daily, except Thursday (most popular stalls only operate till lunch)

[klyeoh (Peter)]

Whilst one is in Pulau Tikus, one also shouldn’t miss Penang-Nyonya dishes from Mdm Khaw’s stall in front of the market, where she purveys perhaps the best-tasting local Nyonya dishes in George Town. You can only do take-aways though, but her rendition knocks those from well-established Nyonya restaurants for dead with their home-cooked flavours.

Kerabu beehoon (left) and Nasi ulam (right).

Perut ikan.

Nyonya chicken curry.

[klyeoh (Peter)]

Back at Swee Kong to try the Mee Goreng stall by Mohd Nazir.

Mohd Nazir apprenticed under the legendary Mahboob Zakaria of the famous Bangkok Lane Mee Goreng at Seng Lee Coffeeshop (a Penang dining landmark) for17 years, but when the latter retired after a shoulder operation, he’d passed the management of the stall to his son. That was when Mohd Nazir decided to quit and started his own stall at Swee Kong, right across the road from Seng Lee in mid-2018.

We ordered both the mee goreng (fried noodles) and the mee rebus (braised noodles) here. Both were good.

[Nathan_Jones (NJ)]

Will be in the area today and check it out…

[klyeoh (Peter)]

Back to Swee Kong Coffeeshop for breakfast this morning, in bustling Pulau Tikus market which comes alive every morning.

The first stall we came across was run by Mohamed Nazir bin Rawther, who was legendary mee goreng-man, Mahboob Zakaria’s second-in-command for 17 years at Bangkok Lane. Nazir now runs his own stall in Swee Kong Kopitiam. Nazir’s spicy fried noodles closely approximate the one by his mentor, Mahboob. Seeing that Mahboob has pretty much retired, and with his successors at the original Bangkok Lane spot nowhere near Nazir’s experience, perhaps it’s a better idea to come to Swee Kong instead for the “real stuff”.

Mamak Mee Goreng - Swee Kong Coffee Shop - YouTube

One can never come to Swee Kong and not try the Penang Hokkien prawn mee from its anchor store, Lean Huat Hokkien Mee - perhaps the best on the island.

Chai tow kway: steamed rice cakes which are then pan-fried - the ones here were amazingly tasty! I’d come back here just for these.

Lastly, we were at the stall selling Indian sweet appams (crepes) using claypots. Neelamegan Rajagopal aka Ravi prepares his rich, eggy sweet Indian apoms using decades-old earthenware claypots. The business was founded more than a century ago by Ravi’s grandfather. Ravis’ son, the articulate Balasivam now runs the stall when his father is not around.

Pulau Tikus is one of Penang’s earliest neighborhoods, and people started settling here as early as 1786, when Captain Francis Light first designated Penang as a British trading post.
Pulau Tikus is where Penang’s Straits-born Chinese Baba-Nyonya community first interacted with the early Siamese and Burmese communities, who also came here in the late-18th and early-19th centuries.

This is also perhaps the birthplace of the Penang “asam laksa”, which appears to incorporate influences from both Thai “khanom jeen nam ya” and Burmese “mohinga”, all using rice noodles in a sour-spicy fish-based soup, accented by lemongrass, galangal and tamarind, festooned with a bouquet of fresh herbs.

[naf]

Those rice cakes!!

[klyeoh (Peter)]

These ones were divine! Like little polenta cakes (which I also like) but tastier than any others I’d ever come across.

[Nathan_Jones (NJ)]

So funny, I had this Hokkien Mee yesterday morning! Swee Kong is one of the few kopitiams open when I take my 6:30 am walks.

Was quite nice. Less shrimpy than some of the others I’ve had here!

Still need to try to mee goreng.

[klyeoh (Peter)]

The ever-busy Swee Kong just got busier - 53-year-old Winnie Ong, the exuberant, friendly woman who runs a char koay teow stall there just won the 2𝙣𝙙 𝙋𝙚𝙣𝙖𝙣𝙜 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙧 𝙆𝙤𝙖𝙮 𝙏𝙚𝙤𝙬 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙝𝙞𝙥, organized by the local city authorities last Sunday. She really does fry-up a mean version of the dish!

Winnie’s been extra-busy nowadays as a flood of curious new customers have been swarming Swee Kong ever since her win.

Winnie’s char koay teow has the standard large shrimps, Chinese sausages, beansprouts, chives and eggs. No cockle, though.

Very, very good textures here, and the perfect balance of flavors.

We are hardcore supporters of the Indian sweet appam-man, Neelamegan Rajagopal, so will never miss getting a stack of the pillowy-soft sweet appams, called apom manis in Penang, from him. Neelamegan, better known by his nickname “Ravi”, deftly juggles the various earthenware claypots which he uses to cook his delicate apom manis. That man really has got asbestos hands, as he tosses and switches the hot claypots over the row of charcoal braziers to ensure each and every one is perfectly cooked.

First founded in 1920 by Ravi’s father Rajagopal, the stall is now ably managed by Ravis’ son, Balasivam, who’s proving to be every bit as adept as his father.

Another stall we never fail to order from is Lean Huat Hokkien Mee, which serves out Fujianese prawn noodles in a spicy, chili paste-fired pork-prawn soup.

[PedroPero]

Oh my, everything looks so delicious

[klyeoh (Peter)]

Showed visiting Norwegian friend, Vegard, more of Penang’s best street foods this morning - this time in Pulau Tikus, a rich, bustling suburb with a colorful, historic 240-year-old Burmese, Thai and Baba-Nyonya heritage:

These days, Swee Kong coffeeshop boasts of having one of the best 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳 𝘬𝘰𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘦𝘰𝘸 in Penang, courtesy of Winnie Ong of 𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿 𝗞𝗼𝗮𝘆 𝗧𝗲𝗼𝘄. Winnie won the 𝙋𝙚𝙣𝙖𝙣𝙜 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙧 𝙆𝙤𝙖𝙮 𝙏𝙚𝙤𝙬 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙚𝙩𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 2025 held on 1 June 2025, at the 𝗧𝗼𝗶 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗡𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘆𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝘂𝗶 𝗞𝘄𝗼𝗻 𝗧𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲 on King Street. She beat 30 other competitors to win the competition which was jointly organised by the 𝗠𝗣𝗞𝗞 𝗼𝗳 𝗣𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗞𝗼𝘁𝗮 & 𝗝𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗲𝗿/𝗝𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝗔𝗿𝗴𝘆𝗹𝗹, the 𝗧𝗼𝗶 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗡𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘆𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, and the 𝗞𝘄𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗰𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗔𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗴.

Penang’s best 𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴 (Indian sweet appams) from Michelin Bib Gourmand-listed 𝗥𝗮𝘃𝗶’𝘀 𝗙𝗮𝗺𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗔𝗽𝗼𝗺 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀, also at 𝗞𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗛𝗼𝗲 kopitiam. Here, Neelamegan Rajagopal aka Ravi prepares his rich, eggy Indian sweet appams using the decades-old earthenware claypots inherited from his father.

Watching Ravi skillfully juggling the hot claypots around on the furnace-like temperatures atop charcoal-fired braziers is awe-inspiring. Each 𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘮 takes literally seconds to cook, and he makes sure each of them is spongey-soft, perfectly golden-brown and utterly aromatic.

Penang-style 𝘏𝘰𝘬𝘬𝘪𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘦 (known as prawn noodles soup in Singapore, KL and elsewhere) from the popular 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝗛𝘂𝗮𝘁 𝗛𝗼𝗸𝗸𝗶𝗲𝗻 𝗠𝗲𝗲 stall. One of the very best in town, IMO.

Our last food stop was for the umami-laden, coconut milk-enriched 𝘭𝘢𝘬𝘴𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘬 from 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗻𝘆 𝗤 𝗟𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗸 𝗟𝗮𝗸𝘀𝗮 at 𝗦𝗶𝗻 𝗬𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗮𝗵 kopitiam, ably managed by Heng Kok Hoe. Best 𝘭𝘢𝘬𝘴𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘬 in Penang by a mile. Kok Hoe’s sister, Esther Heng, now operates 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗻𝘆 𝗤 𝗟𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗸 𝗟𝗮𝗸𝘀𝗮’s KL branch at 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝟴, 𝗖𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗬𝗮𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗦𝟮.

We finished off with coffee and bakes at 𝗠𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗲, which was covered by our mutual friend, Norwegian food writer Benjamin Sand in his 𝙎𝙥𝙧𝙪𝙙𝙜𝙚 𝙂𝙪𝙞𝙙𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝘾𝙤𝙛𝙛𝙚𝙚 series’ feature on Penang. It’s located in a back lane, 5 minutes’ walk from Swee Kong. One of the best brews in George Town.

The Sprudge Guide To Coffee In George Town, Penang | Sprudge Coffee

Can’t believe we actually ate this much in one morning!