Teochew Cendol, Penang

Now Cendol is one of my all time favourite desserts. Made from a combination of coconut milk (santan), a worm-like jelly made from rice flour with green food colouring (usually derived from the pandan leaf), shaved ice and palm sugar (gula melaka); cendol is perfect for that hot sweltering day.

In Penang, if you ask the locals where to get the best cendol, you would be inevitably be told that the best cendol is sold from a push-cart located on a side lane called Lebuh Keng Kwee, off Penang Road.

Apparently its been around since 1945 and it has become quite an institution in Penang. Every one knows of the Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul.

The pushcart is pretty easy to find. As you walk down Penang Road from the large Penang Police Headquarters towards the KOMTAR building, you will come across a small side lane to your left. The side lane is of course called Lebuh Keng Kwee.

You will see two Cendol stalls opposite each other. One will have a queue of people milling around the stall, the other less people. No prizes for guessing which one is the famous cendol one.

Make your order, pay your cash, grab the bowl of cendol and stand in the middle of the road as you slurp down the cendol. You can't really beat the atmosphere of eating cendol standing in the middle of a grimy street; really the experience cannot be replicated sitting down in a modern clean soul-less kopitiam. Personally, there isn't anything too spectacular about the cendol itself, but the authenticity cannot be denied.

Its no wonder that despite the fact that the owners have branched out and opened proper modern kopitiams bearing the "Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul" name (one just round the corner at the KOMTAR intersection), they still chose to maintain this humble pushcart in a sidelane where it all began.

Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul   

Address: Lebuh Keng Kwee, Off Penang Road 
Opening Hours : Mon – Fri 10:30 am - 7:00 pm
                         Sat – Sun 10:00 am - 7:30 pm