TacoCat’s Travels #205 (Penang): Eggciting Brunch at Le Cafe ☕

May 2023 · 7 min read · George Town

Hey Hive!

After 2 weeks, I'm back! Sorry for the delay but we were actually on another trip that I'll probably post about in a few months or so. Anyway, back to our regularly schedule!

If you missed the last few posts, I started sharing about our short getaway to Penang Island, Malaysia, back in July 2022! It was our first trip post-covid and we decided to go on a short 3 day getaway there! It had been at least a decade since either of us have visited Penang so this was a semi-new experience for both of us.

Last time, we ended our first full (technically second) day getting snacks while mall crawling before getting dinner at a huge hawker center with live music!

Anyway, on to more adventures!

26 July 2022. Tuesday.

This was our last full day in Penang and we didn't really have any big plans on where to go tbh the temple was the biggest thing to explore here. So we decided to take it easy today and see where the wind takes us.

I found this nice little cafe not too far from our hotel on Google and we went to get some brunch over there.

It was located among these very unassuming shophouses and I didn't even identify it at first until Sean pointed it out.

The place is called Le Cafeand here's what it looks like up close. The heat was pretty harsh so I couldn't get a better angle of the shopfront.

But here's one I found online. Seems like they had a little arcade machine which looks cute too!

The place seems very aesthetic and a place where insta-foodies would flock too but I did read the reviews and many of them complemented the food too so it seemed promising.

Next door to the cafe was this bakery called Le Le Bakery which I think is also theirs.

We were kinda afraid that the place would be crowded since this seemed like a popular cafe for breakfast/brunch but thankfully it looked pretty empty when we arrived.

Right next to the entrance was actually this small kitchen area where you could see many egg trays and the staff preparing the food.

Beside that was the counter where they prepared the drinks like coffee and such.

This was the menu. They specialised in sandwiches of course, and they had quite a variety of flavours from classic Peanut Butter to heavier stuff like Tempura Fish Curry or Shrimp Katsu. They also had a number of coffee and non-coffee options.

For these prices it seemed pretty cheap considering it was in MYR. If we were back in Singapore, the prices would be the same but in SGD and it would be a lot less worth it.

Anyway, we chose a sandwich each and a drink to share and while waiting for our order to be ready, I went to take a look around.

They had some ready made buns, loafs and some jars of their own homemade kaya and peanut butter for sale as well.

There was also some seating in the back past the drink counter but it was outdoors; I guess for those people who enjoyed alfresco dining. But it was a little confusing since the air-conditioning was there. I guess so the patrons who sat there wouldn't feel warm but since it's outside it kinda defeats the purpose doesn't it?

It seemed a little messy back here with some crates and stuff lying around, so we chose to sit near the entrance.

What we didn't realise was there was actually a staircase with more seating upstairs! I thought the stairs were for staff only.

But it's a lot cosier up here, with more chairs some plants and even a comfy-looking couch! It was only slightly more cooling up here though so I guess it wasn't a total loss.

We were served our hot chocolate first, which was a little too hot especially given the weather. It was also served in this coconut-looking cup which was thankfully not too difficult to hold but I was scared it would slip out of my hands.

We tried not to drink too much before our sandwiches arrived which thankfully didn't take too long!

I ordered the Toast Bacon sandwich which includes pork bacon, chicken ham, scrambled eggs with cheese and corn, tomato and lettuce.

Sean chose the Cheesy Potato sandwich which included Hash brown, scrambled eggs with cheese and corn, cheese sauce, tomato and lettuce.

We were pretty hungry by then so after a few quick pics we tucked in and they were so good! I was a little skeptical of the scrambled egg with corn which was a combination I don't think I've seen before, but it was actually really nice and fluffy and worked pretty well! I actually couldn't taste much of the corn which was what I preferred.

The bacon wasn't crispy like I thought but overall the bacon ham sandwich was still really delicious! And the hashbrown was nice and crispy and complemented well with the fluffy eggs. The bread was also nicely toasted so all in all, really good!

We're not really sandwich people but I do enjoy the occasional toast for breakfast and this cafe definitely impressed me with their sandwiches. The overall vibe of the place is quite welcoming too; I'd definitely recommend this place.

After brunch we figured we'd go visit some of the touristy museums in the area since that was the only other thing we haven't done yet. But while waiting for our ride there we came across this exhibition space in an abandoned depot.

It was a pretty curious area, with an open-air stage that I assume is used for local performances sometimes.

We got kinda lost and thought we got scammed for a little bit until we found the actual exhibition. It was quite a strange looking exhibition area too, with quite dilapidated walls but nicely tiled floors. Regardless, there were indeed actual art pieces here.

Some of the pieces actually looked pretty cool too, although I'm not sure if it was all by the same artist or if this was a collaboration of sorts.

Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to appreciate the art though since we had booked our ride before leaving the cafe and were just on our way to the pickup point when we stumbled onto this exhibition space. So after a quick look around we sadly had to leave.

Since it was ridiculously warm out we decided to go somewhere indoors and partake in one of the touristy museums here in Georgetown. The most popular one was definitely the Wonder Food Museum!

Apparently this place is known for their larger-than-life super realistic recreations of famous Southeast Asian food! And being the foodies that we are we just had to come check it out! They even had a huge sunny side up egg display in the lobby.

There were also some smaller bowls of food framed up along the wall, all showcasing famous dishes from Penang!

There was also a photo booth if you wanted to have more professional photos taken in the museum, as well as a popcorn machine if you got hungry while looking at all the food I guess?

Apparently this museum has won many awards as well, like Best Tourism Museum and Top Museum in Penang! Not too surprising since Penang is a hot destination for foodies.

Once we got our tickets we were all set to enter just past the red curtains and there was a photo spot right there with props and everything!

The props had some anti-gravity noodles to make it look like you were stir-frying them in a wok which I thought was really cool.

But I think we'll explore the museum next time! Sorry for the cliffhanger but I don't want this post to be too long. Stay tuned for the Wonder Food Museum next week!

Thanks for reading!