10 Toddler Foods In Penang

We swanned off to Penang without much planning.

It was perhaps a bit of Asian expat arrogance. Twenty-month-old Miss M is an old Vietnam and Singapore hand and we, her food providers, didn’t really think about what she’d eat during our Penang holiday.

Thankfully, we were staying with “proper” parents, who have been feeding their kids in Penang for months.

Relying heavily on their parental knowledge and our eye for street food, we found the following 10 toddler foods in Penang:

1. Chicken rice
Roasted chicken with rice cooked in chicken stock. Comes with gravy and slices of cucumber. The gravy can be a little salty so it’s best to tempt the little one with plain chicken first.

A "package" of chicken rice. This is what you get when you ask for take-away or take-out.

2. Frog porridge
This is Darling Man’s idea of toddler-friendly food and Miss M loved it. (No one else tried it though). Frog is thought to be a cooling dish, so it’s perfect for tropical weather.

Frog porridge

But if frog doesn’t appeal, don’t worry, there’s chicken and fish porridge as well. This chicken porridge was a tasty breakfast that Miss M and I shared one morning.

Chicken porridge

3. Roti jalan
A crazy scribble pancake, slightly sweet. Usually served with a curry sauce or a dish of chicken curry. Obviously the curry is for the parents but the roti is a great filler for a toddler that’s feeling a bit fussy.

Roti jalan

4. Egg tosai (dosai)
An Indian pancake with an egg cooked inside. The one we ordered came with a serve of non-spicy dahl.

5. Tofu claypot
Non-spicy plain tasting food. The tofu and some sauce mixed with fried rice was very welcome toddler fare.

Tofu claypot

6. Grilled fish
Another item ordered by Darling Man. It doesn’t look too appealing but little flakes of fish mixed into fried rice made a pretty nutritious toddler meal.

Grilled fish

7. Stir-fried vegetables
Only some of the vegetables were deemed acceptable by Miss M, but at least she ate some vegetables!

8. Fried rice
The travel toddler standby. Specify non-spicy and you’re bound to get something with a few vegetables, a bit of egg for protein and some rice for carbohydrate.

Penang fried rice

9. Supermarket items
Penang has plenty of minimarkets, 7-11s and supermarkets where you can stock up on milk, cheese, yoghurt, bread, cold meat and crackers. If you want to venture further along the junk food scale, there’s also cup noodles, biscuits, chips/crisps and lollies/sweets/candy. (There’s also beer for the toddler’s parents, who may need it after a hot day with an active toddler.)

Penang supermarket items for toddlers

10. Coconut
A great alternative to bottled water, there’s something about drinking coconut that just screams “tropical holiday”. Young coconut juice is delicious and healthy. It’s usually served with a straw and a spoon. After you finish the juice, you can use the spoon to scoop up some of the slimy young coconut flesh, which tastes completely different to hard “old” coconut flesh.

One of the greatest things about Penang’s food scene is that it’s so cheap it won’t break the bank if you order a selection of dishes to tempt your tiny prince or princess.

Most restaurant staff and food vendors we dealt with understood we were ordering for a toddler. They told us (in excellent English) which foods were spicy or otherwise unsuitable for the baby.

Luscious tropical fruit such as watermelon, pineapple, rambutan, longan, mango and dragonfruit are also widely available. As is not-so-tropical apples and oranges. Fresh fruit juice and chendol, a local ice-based dessert, could be used to tempt an especially fussy toddler.

We gave Miss M bottled water or boiled filtered tap water to drink, as well as store-bought cow’s milk. At hawker centres and restaurants, she was served water with ice a few times and it didn’t cause any stomach problems.

The standard of English in Penang is also very high, so it’s easy to ask other diners what they’re eating or ask a food vendor what they could make for a baby.

Don’t let a fussy toddler stop you from traveling. If you want to go, go. The toddler won’t starve. Take it from me. Ours is still going… and going and going and going.

By: Barbara

A career girl who dropped out, traveled, found love, and never got around to going home again. Now wrangling a cross-cultural relationship and two third culture kids.