Nan Yang Chinese Cuisine Restaurant, Penang

***The restaurant has since closed down.

Nan Yang Chinese Cuisine Restaurant is located right at the centre of Georgetown. It is just opposite Yap Temple; sitting at the junction of Jalan Masjid Kapitan Keling/Armenien Street.

This place has been around for quite a number of years but surprisingly not many bloggers have reviewed about it. The minute you step into this place, you will feel like you are back in the old Chinese houses where grandma used to stay in. The place is big and spacious with high ceilings and timber flooring for the upper floor. Chinese lanterns and kerosene lamps hang from the ceiling decorating its entrance.

There are many dishes offered in the menu with appetisers, noodles, seafood, meat and vegetables. A list of their signature dishes is posted up on the wall.

We were introduced to their poh piah which is done with a little twist. The difference lies in its ingredients and it is a dry version. It uses many colourful types of vegetables, meat and other ingredients. All these are wrapped up firmly with a piece of seaweed and the poh piah skin. The combination of its ingredients gives a very good flavour. Each roll is cut into two pieces which is quite a big portion. This dish makes a delightful light lunch even by itself.

Taukua fried with suan na (leeks) and prawns….they uses beancurd with five spice powder.

Mee suah cooked with chicken pieces in a rich soup with slices of salted vegetable (kiam chye)….. the taste is good but would be much better if they didn’t add in the sesame oil.


The unusual stir fried potato starch sheet. This is our first time having it and it turns out to be good. The noodles are fried in black sauce with generous amount of ingredients.

Ak Or – pieces of duck and yam simmered until soft and served in a claypot. The gravy has all the flavours of the yam.

Fried oh chien…. the oysters were big and fresh.

After the meal, we were given a complementary plate of dessert – tee nya kuih. This soft and smooth kuih is taken with palm sugar syrup. We frequently buy this from a roadside stall in Swatow Lane which sells the yellow and green version. I wonder if the stall is still around since most of them have shifted into the New World Park.

We were happy with the meal which cost a mere RM 62.00 and the clean environment of this old building. There are so many more dishes that we haven’t try out and we are sure of coming back again.