A question worthy of the highest intellectual debate. Every Penangite has an answer, a favourite stall, a hill they will happily die on. Perhaps you have even asked it yourself.
Hi, I'm JV, a solo software developer who grew up in Penang. I was tired of sending my outstation friends my special "best local foods list" Excel file every time they asked me this question (once every 4 months).
So I decided to build something to help them, and that I always wanted to exist myself — an easy way to find great local food, with a Rotten Tomatoes style way to answer the burning enigma — where the best char koay teow in Penang really is.
I used AI to organise the data and to help build a scoring and discovery system based on my own taste and my knowledge of our local hawker sifus. After months of testing, I'm proud to say our system now ranks the top hawkers really well, and it turned out to be a great way to discover hidden gems too.
I would like to think Makan Sifu's standard is even higher than three Michelin stars. Yeah, I said it. Here we look at pure taste to the mouth, not how the cutlery is placed or how the sauce is drizzled on the plate. These are the hidden masters the inspectors have never even heard of, who have dedicated their whole lives to perfecting a single dish. For someone who has never eaten Penang food, you will be amazed, I kid you not.
But, you need a local to show you around. So here you are — do check out the list, carefully curated with over 700 venues across nearly 100 categories, with more sifus added every day.
Even as a local, I was surprised to discover so many wonderful places I never knew of myself, ones I am very much looking forward to trying with my friends and family. Eat well, and we'll see you there!