Gurney Drive is one of Penang's famous waterfront promenades, the other being the Esplanade at Padang Kota Lama ("Old City Green"). Named after Sir Henry Gurney, the British High Commissioner to Malaya from 1948 to 1951, who was tragically assassinated by the communists during the Malayan Emergency on the road to Fraser's Hill in Pahang, Gurney Drive is nearly 2km long from end to end.
At the northern Bagan Jermal end of the Drive is the Gurney Roundabout. Adjacent to the roundabout is the famed Gurney Drive Hawker Centre. Open only in the late evening and up to about 10pm at night, the Hawker Centre is a motley collection of hawker stalls in an open air setting. Sitting on plastic chairs and tables you order the penang specialties on show at the adjacent stalls and tuck in.
Penang-ites are known to be proud of their food and some locals may scorn Gurney Drive as being too touristy with better cheaper fare able to be found elsewhere; but the fact remains that the Hawker Centre is packed every night and most of those eating there are locals.
Among some of the penang street food on offer include Assam Laksa, Char Kueh Teow, Lok-Lok, Sotong Kangkung, Satay, Prawn Mee and much much more.
For us, a visit to Gurney Drive is not complete without trying the Penang Rojak, which is a fruit salad of pineapples, cucumber, bean sprouts, puffy deep fried tofu, rose apples (jambu air), young green mangoes and other ingredients covered in a spicy sweet black sauce made of shrimp paste (belacan), sugar, chilli, lime juice and tamarind; and dusted in ground/chopped peanuts.
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| Tan Swee Hoe's version of Rojak. |
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| Ah Chye's version of Rojak |
Many other Penang delicacies are to be found here in Gurney Drive, and no matter what the locals say, it is still a good place to visit, touristy or no.