Cliff Cafe Penang Hill,
Opens daily 9.00pm-6.00pm
with extended hours during
special events on the hill.
Authentic hawker fare can be found on the iconic Penang Hill.
PENANGITES are food snobs because we are a spoilt lot – everywhere we go, whether it’s to the narrow, meandering back lanes of George Town, the coastal stretch of Teluk Kumbar or 2,400ft above sea level on Penang Hill, mouth-watering temptations abound.
The locals here (yours truly included), often thumb their noses at so-called “tourist trap” hawker centres where the prices are steep and the food – though great – is not so exceptional as to justify an extra RM3.
Hence, while curious to see the newly completed Cliff Café on the state’s iconic tourist landmark, I have to say that my taste buds were a little hesitant.
The Cliff Café, overlooking the historic coolie lines and lush tropical canopy, is an impressive environment-friendly, steel-and-timber complex that houses a food court, souvenir stalls and an owl museum dedicated to – yes, you guessed it – owl-themed arts and crafts.
Now, surely the 13-odd food and drink stalls housed in a Bali-inspired triple-storey wonder could not be as authentic or cheap as the no-frills, pushcart and kopitiam street food true-blue Penang foodies are addicted to, right?
This hawker food connoisseur stands corrected.
The Char Koay Teow leaves little to be desired and the Ais Kacang – which is sold at every drinks stall – is a thirst quencher like no other.
At the peak: The Cliff Café on Penang Hill houses around 13 food and drink stalls and can accommodate up to 200 patrons at a time.Served on a banana leaf-lined plate, Ngooi Yeon Sim’s piping hot stir-fried flat noodles are worth the calories. She has been doing business on the hill since 1983.
“Back then, the train was nothing like what we have now. It was very slow and infrequent so I had to be up by 3am daily to prepare the ingredients to bring up to the stall.
“With the new funicular train operating now, I get to sleep in and it’s so much more convenient.
“The new hawker centre is also very clean. Even the toilet facilities, tables and chairs are nice. The design is very modern,” the 60-year-old enthuses.
Although there are only seven food stalls here, most of them list at least seven different items on their menus.
Like them, Ngooi is a jack of all trades who claims to have mastered the skill of cooking everything, from Char Koay Teow and Hokkien Char to Koay Teow Th’ng.
“I sell 10 items. Most of us here have to or we won’t be able to survive,” she shares.
The fried rice specialist, Ong Ah Ean, is another veteran on the hill.
The friedricespecialistOng AhEan withherpopularKiam HooChar Pui.Deftly firing up her trusty wok, Ong prepares her signature Kiam Hoo Char Pui (salted fish fried rice). Served with a dollop of homemade sambal belacan, the simple kampung dish brings alive the palate.
“I can do many types of nasi goreng but my salted fish fried rice is the most popular,” she shares.
The 54-year-old still prepares her sambal belacan the traditional way, pounding it with a stone mortar and pestle, but resorts to a blender on busy days.
“My belacan and salted fish are of the best quality; that’s why my customers keep coming back,” she beams proudly.
But perhaps it’s Siti Nurashita Abdul Razak’s Mee Kungfu stall that draws the most curious stares. It is named after her 70-year-old grandmother’s most popular concoction.
“My grandmother, who is from Kelantan, started a stall on the hill after she married my grandfather. She came up with all the noodle dishes we serve here herself.
“The Mee Kungfu is new. It’s adapted from the Chinese Char Hor Fan. Now that she’s retired, I’m carrying on the family business,” says Siti, 29.
Here’s an ironic fact: Penang Hill is literally the coolest place on the island but it probably has the highest concentration of Ais Kacang operators in any hawker centre in the entire state.
Every one of the six drink stalls offers the delicious dessert and all claim to have that “something extra” that will keep you hooked.
Gee Yok Mui, 75, whispers: “My ang tau (red bean) is cooked ‘just right’ – not too mushy, not too hard. That’s why customers have been coming back to me since I started here in 1986. My stall – 888 (an auspicious number for the Chinese) – has even been highlighted by the Taiwanese media,” she says proudly.
Lily Beh’s Ais Kacang starts at RM4.50 per bowl but for just a little more, you can have a selection of fruits ranging from our buah-buahan tempatan to imported kiwi fruit. If you like to be surprised, just ask her to whip up a batch of her mixed fruit juices. Beh grew up on the hill and, though married and having moved to the town below, she still makes her way up every day.
“I can’t imagine hawking anywhere else. My grandmother had a stall here as does my mother,” she says.
Beh’s sugar cane drink is especially popular because she makes it right before your eyes.
“Only when you order will I put the sugar cane into the machine to ensure its freshness. The Middle Eastern tourists love it because the sweetness is natural and refreshing,” she says.
Mainly operated by long-time residents of the hill, Cliff Café can comfortably accommodate over 200 hungry patrons.
All items at the food court are pork-free. Managed by Ferringhi Frontier Sdn Bhd, the food court built by the Penang Municipal Council (MPPP) to replace the Astaka Bukit Bendera is a marked improvement from the dilapidated circular structure that used to house the hawkers.
Ferringhi Frontier director Adrian Soh admits that prices here are “slightly” higher than the hawker centres in town but says it is only between RM1 and RM3 more.
“Taking into account the transportation costs of running a food stall on a hill, I think it is fair.
“For about RM5, you can get a nice plate of authentic Penang hawker fare, including nasi lemak, rojak, laksa and satay kebab, which is very reasonable,” he points out.
The food court will soon have free WiFi and by June, the stage and amphitheatre will be ready in time for the Cliff Cafe’s official opening, slated for the third quarter of the year.