Golden City Restaurant is a retro-looking traditional Chinese coffeeshop on Burmah Road, which was founded back in 1969 by Mr Tan It Khai. He’d then passed on the management of the coffeeshop to his sons, Tan Teik Hock and Tan Liew Loke in 1992.
There are 3 anchor stalls which provided the food choices which Golden City Restaurant is known for: mee goreng and mee rebus, lor mee and wantan mee.
(1) The elder brother, Tan Teik Hock had then started the Chinese-style Mee Goreng & Mee Rebus stall at the front of the coffeeshop, which has since garnered a loyal following. His 33-year-old son, Tan Joo Sheng has now taken over the running of the coffeeshop when the elder Tan passed away in January this year.
(2) The coffeeshop is also well-known for its Hainanese lor mee, run by third-generation hawker, 53-year-old Khaw Loke Han, and his wife, Koay Cheng Ngoh. The “lor mee” business was started by Mr Khaw’s granduncle, before Mr Khaw’s father, Khaw Khai In, took over the stall in 1966. It was located in Carnarvon Street then. Mr Khaw Loke Han had taken over the business in 1990, moving it to Lorong Selamat, before finally ending up here in Golden City.
(3) The third mainstay in Golden City is Maria’s wantan mee stall, founded by Mr Chuah Ah Tuck, whose wantan mee stall was located in Kedah Road when he started off in 1955. He’d then passed the business down to his son, Chuah Weng Khoi and his wife, Maria Tan Yuan Ooi, who moved the stall into Golden City in 1973, and had named it “Maria’s Sui Kow” in 1978.
The now 70-year-old Maria Tan still makes an appearance at the coffeeshop every now and then, but these days, it’s mainly her son, 49-year-old Chuah Chun Wah, who does the cooking.
The stalls at Golden City Restaurant operates from 4pm, but the whole place really starts to come alive at dinner-time, around 6pm.
Address
Golden City Restaurant (金城餐室)
104, Jalan Burma (Burmah Road), 10050 George Town, Penang, Malaysia
Tel: +604-226 6857
Operating hours: 4pm to midnight daily, except Monday (closed).
