This is the third part of my series on comparison of food prices in Penang. Me and my husband have lived in the US and Canada for number of years. Recently we decided to spend some time in Penang to see if we could actually call it a home in the future.
Based on my short time observation it seems that food prices tend to be on a certain range based on the location of the establishment. I divided the establishments into malls/restaurants, food courts and economy rice. I have voiced my opinion on the first two categories in my previous postings part 1 and part 2. On this part 3 I would talk about economy rice.
Economy Rice
Economy rice is not as bad as it sounds. It's just a more affordable way of having rice with a few dishes without actually ordering a full size dish. If you have a few people/co-workers to share dishes with you then it's wonderful. But if want to have rice with dishes without breaking the bank then economy rice is perfect.
The first few times visiting Penang I have always passed this economy rice. Because I only have a few days to actually try out all the "must have" food of Penang like assam laksa, chendul, char koay teow. I don't have time for just rice with dishes. That's what I thought. But now that we're staying longer in Penang I love economy rice.
The malay stalls offer similar concept which they may call nasi campur (mixed rice). Some places allow you to scoop your own rice and take your own choices of dish. Some places scoop up the rice for you. You then point to the dish you want and they dish it out for you. At the end of line, they do the price calculation and you pay and enjoy the food.
On the picture above, we had our first economy rice near our Airbnb close to Queensbay Mall. Those two plates cost RM 17 (USD 3.85). Hubby's plate got rice (he took that amount himself), eggplant dish, stir fry spinach, mushroom cooked with cabbage. My plate had rice, caramelized tempeh, fried fish and a few pieces of sweet sour chicken. In our case, it works out well since there were two of us. From my experience, it seems they charge the same price even if I asked for less rice. So I sometimes I took the rice and gave it to hubby if he was hungry. 😁
This picture above was from Home Cooked Nyonya food economy rice located at Medan Selera Tesco Seri Tanjung Pinang. It's a food court within compound of Tesco. This rice at this economy rice was scooped by the employees and then we just let them know which dishes we wanted. Our plates had fried fish, candied tempeh with some curry broth. The other plate had a beef dish and okra and eggplant. These two plates cost RM 17 (USD 3.85).
This economy rice gives plain soup (chicken soup?) and a bean sago coconut milk dessert with every purchase. The dessert is not bad. Simple and filled the spot.
This picture above was economy rice at a Malay place Rozie Cafe in Sungai Pinang area. They have varieties of dishes. Customers scooped up their share of rice and picked up whatever dishes they desire. We got two plates with stir fry bokchoy, some liver cooked in spices, fish cooked in spicy sauce, stir fry mushroom with veggies and tempeh dishes. Total bill for those two plates RM 22 (USD 4.98).
So far me and hubby feel that economy rice is probably the most economical way to dine. We actually save a bit more by cooking our own rice and just buy the dishes. Another option is to buy some vegetables yourself and either steam or eat raw as salad to add more fiber to your meals.
On my next posting I'll include a special category where I include items like snacks.
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