Being in Penang during Chinese New Year’s is a bit of a bummer, because basically everything is closed. There is, however, a pretty huge Indian population here; if you want to eat out, your two choices are Indian or a chain restaurant.
Hameediya Tandoori House is actually one of the more well-regarded restaurants in George Town, so it’s an easy enough choice.
It’s an interesting layout — you line up and then pick out your food cafeteria-style in one location, then you go outside and walk your plate a couple of stores down to the dining room.
They have a few different options to pick from, but most people seemed to be ordering one specific chicken dish, so that’s what I went with.
What was it, you ask? Yes, that would be good information for me to provide here. No, I have no idea.
Honestly, it seems like the type of place where you can’t go wrong with whatever you pick.
I wanted a vegetable, so I ordered the okra as well. The only other choice to make was plain or biryani rice, and I went with the latter.
The guy behind the counter scooped a generous amount of rice on the plate, topped it with with a drumstick and a thigh, the okra, a couple of potatoes from a different pot, a whole bunch of sauce, and some sliced cucumber. It came up to 14.85 MYR, which is a bit pricey by Penang standards — but it’s a huge amount of food. Plus, it works out to about $4.76 Canadian, so it’s not exactly going to break the bank.
It was quite good — it was vibrant and spicy, and absolutely crammed with flavour. The chicken didn’t have a ton of meat on it, and nothing stood out as being a huge improvement over the better Indian food I’ve had back home, but everything on the plate was quite tasty. If you don’t mind braving the crowds, it’s an easy place to recommend.
Location: Lebuh Campbell, George Town, 10100 George Town, Pulau Pinang
How to find it: It’s not difficult to find, just make sure you go to the right one — you can’t order food in the dining room.