Seafood Tomyam Mee is one of the more overlooked food in Penang by outsiders. Maybe they are too busy chomping down on char koay teow, curry mee, assam laksa etc that they do not have time for something that appears to be Thai food. Well, you might be surprised to know this but we eat tomyam noodle quite often, mostly for dinner or supper.
But of course there is a unique appeal to this unassuming noodle that gets us hooked to it, and that’s customization. A myriad of toppings that include both natural and processed food items are laid out buffet-style for your picking.
In Raja Uda alone you can find close to a dozen of stalls and even a few restaurants that specialize in seafood tomyam mee. There aren’t as many choices in my hometown, Bukit Mertajam but you won’t have a difficult time looking for it either.
The selection of toppings varies from stall to stall but you can always expect to see seafood, pork, fish balls and other ingredients you usually see in steamboat.
Despite the fact that this is tomyam, don’t expect the flavor to be similar to the regular Thai tomyam. Instead, it’s Penang-style tomyam in which the soup has a rich consistency, mainly spicy and sweet with a hint of sourness. Also, it’s always served with Maggi/Cintan instant noodle. The toppings that I always pick are fried fish fillets, prawn, sui gao, pork slices and a couple pieces of seafood tofu and crab stick.
Just to be clear, I am not recommending this particular stall. This post is just a general introduction to one of the food which I feel deserves more attention in Penang. Don’t get me wrong though, the noodle was alright but I had better ones on the island side.
Guan Zheng Kopitiam 源成饮食中心
1 & 3 Jalan Teratai
Jalan Raja Uda, 13000 Butterworth
