Trying Lok-Lok in Penang (Malaysia): A Fun Street Food Experience

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This article is part of the Penang Food Trip series. Check out the installments in this series: Auntie Gaik Lean’s Old School Eatery (MICHELIN-Starred Peranakan Restaurant) | Hameediyah Restaurant (Nasi Kandar) | Kafe Ping Hooi and Tiger Char Koay Teow (Traditional Coffee Shop with Popular Char Kway Teow) | Kimberley Street Food Night Market | Moh Teng Pheow Nyonya Koay (Traditional Snacks or Desserts) | Penang Road Famous Laksa and Teochew Chendul | Sister Curry Mee (Curry Noodles) | Toh Soon Cafe (Traditional Breakfast)

Penang is a street food paradise. You’ll find it in stand-alone carts or trucks, hawker centers, kopitiam (traditional coffee shops), and night markets. Your visit to Penang won’t be complete without trying its amazing street food!

One of the interesting (and fun) street food experiences that visitors should try, in my opinion, is Lok-lok. Literally “to dip”, this experience is like hotpot or steamboat except that the items are on skewers. We tried it at Lebuh Carnarvon Lok Lok, and I’ll be sharing our experience.

Skewers include meats, seafood, veggies, and processed food such as fish balls (my favorite!).

Bacon-Wrapped Enoki Mushrooms, Fish Balls, and Quail Eggs

Intermission: Are you planning a Penang trip soon? Can’t decide what activities to do yet? Then check out the activities in Klook!

After choosing our skewers, we dipped it in boiling water for a few seconds.

When our skewers were already cooked, we added sauces on it. There were five sauces available, and my favorites were the sweet and sour and the peanut sauces.

So how was our bill computed? Every stick has a color in one of its end, and every color corresponds to a price. So at the end of our lok-lok meal, the lok-lok staff collected all our sticks and computed its total amount.

Lok-lok is a fun street food experience that you should try in Penang. You should easily find one at roadsides and night markets. The Lebuh Carnarvon Lok Lok is a good spot (although we learned that it’s on the pricier side, as other lok-lok spots are cheaper). I highly recommend that you try lok-lok when you’re in Penang!

Don’t forget to book your activities at Klook!