Fried Oyster Omelette (Oh Chien) in Penang

Fried Oh Chien (fried oyster omelette) is a favorite hawker food in Penang and there are plenty of choices to enjoy this delicacy around town. The more common ones would be the gooey stick base and the other is the crispy base. The ingredients for both versions are basically quite similar, with the difference in the texture and the frying technique.

Fried oyster has the combination of rice flour batter, chives, egg and oysters, fried in a flat griddle over high heat. The key to making a good fried oyster omelette is with the starch solution. It must have just about enough to hold the other ingredients together, while too much of it will create gumminess which I personally find to be a turn-off. Some stalls have their Oh Chien garnished with coriander leaves. In this post I’ll be covering three particular stalls.

Yummy “oh chien” in the midst of preparation…

YI GARDEN COFFEE SHOP

There are two hawker food in Yi Garden coffeeshop along Mccalister Road that I frequently eat, the pan mee and the fried oyster. The lightly charred fried oyster omelette is crispy at the edges and starchy in the middle with the right amount of starch solution to hold the ingredients together. I just love its fluffy eggy omelette and the juicy oysters on top!

Thin runny batter with chives

Starch solution with chive is spread over the griddle followed by eggs…

Big size oysters with eggs and the accompanying chili garlic sauce

Yummylicious oh chien!

Click here for the Map Location. The frontage of the shop faces directly opposite The Guang Ming office and with its side leading inwards to Lorong Selamat.

Business Hour : 6pm – 10.30pm
Close on Sunday
GPS Coordinates : N05 24.980 E100 19.458

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LAM AH COFFEE SHOP

The place for crispy Oh Chien is in Lam Ah Coffeeshop at the intersection of Beach and Chulia Street, opposite the Lebuh Pantai fire station (Bomba). The fried oyster omelette pancake from this stall is always a must for me whenever I drop by the coffee shop for the Beef Koay Teow. It is super crispy and topped off with a generous serving of small oysters. I could do without the chili sauce for this omelette and enjoyed it to the very last bite.

Business Hour : 11pm – 3.30pm
Close on Sunday
GPS Coordinates : N05 24.925 E100 20.363

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SENG THOR COFFEE SHOP

I have been to the stall in Seng Thor coffeeshop with my family and visitors a few times. The owner, Mr Lim has been frying Oh Chien for over fifty years after inheriting from his father. It is widely known as the “famous Carnavon Street Oh Chien”. The omelette is fried using vegetable cooking oil (switched from lard many years ago), and with a generous serving of large oysters.

Although most of the fried oysters are relatively oily, I personally find this a bit over soggy. I noticed that the fried batter is kept on the side of the griddle soaking in oil while waiting to be scoop out and refried with some flour batter and fried oysters when there is an order.