little penang

i have now visited the legendary little penang on a number of occasions, and am yet to be let down by this fine establishment.

within my humble family lil' penang has a wondrous reputation, and is acclaimed just as highly as the 1997 cult classic australian comedy 'the castle. 

as a relative newcomer to the empire of penang i was worried that the lofty expectations created by my peers would lead to inevitable disappointment at a mediocre inner city malaysian joint. however, just as if witnessing the fulfillment of a great prophecy my heart was warmed as i accepted the embrace of a mystical place no longer foreign to me - and i knew that what had been whispered was true.

it just seems to have the balance of everything i look for in a restaurant, a diverse and authentic menu full of interesting flavours; a warm and lively atmosphere; very reasonable prices and grand serving sizes; and above all, that feelgoodx-factor which is so hard to pin down.

if anything, the only thing it could be missing is the one absolute knock out dish but there are many which come close. my personal favourite would have to be the sumptuous otak otak, as i am a sucker for the freshness and vibrancy of coconut and fish.

please, do yourself a favour and visit this sacred spot.

was in wellington for business, and went to another place which had no tables free so decided to try little penang.
a slight mix up with my order as didn't get my entree order till almost finished main. but they gave me it free to take back to hotel for later .had the char keow teow which was definataley the best i have had in new zealand. and probably asgoodas the ones i have had in penang. plenty of sausage. prawns. etc

went back next night had had hokien char which wasgoodtoo
sadly my last night in wellington or else i would go tomorrow also :)

will be back.
nice friendly staff

ordered the clay pot rice, char kuey teow and pasembur. tastegoodoverall but slightly salty. also, the rice is missing the crisp you normally get from clay pot chicken rice.

really had a high expectations with their foods but unfortunately 👎.. had ordered assam laksa.. it taste horrible. weirdly enough it tasted so bitter & so sweet at the same time. lack of taste and sourness/assam/masam. the char keow teow tastedgood with the ‘wok hei’ taste. i can recommend that.

i had also ordered nasi tok ma on my previous visit, not sure what the chef is trying to achieve with the ‘slow braised beef with heaps of herb’ ..it was tasteless! maybe should only stick with ordering the stir fry menu item, i guess. 🤷‍♀️

overall i’m quite happy with the front house service, portion , price & the ambience.

we had lunch just now .goodtaste ,goodprice ,goodenvironment!

the rice for the nasi lemak was too moist and sticky. the curry kapitan and nyonya is good. overallgoodfood. can consider coming back. lobak is delicious though looks a bit burnt. slightly over-rated at 4.8. but still definitely 4 and above stars.

a cozy place to eat on a rainy friday night. at first glance the place looks small and packed but we were seated quickly. despite the chaoticness of the end of the week, bad weather and mass amount of people waiting, the staff never failed to provide such friendly service with patience.

the food came out promptly, fresh and hot.
the nasi lemak can be ordered as a "quick meal combo" that came with your choice of a side. we chose the mango salad for one set and the vegetable fritter for the other (i think the vegetable fritter might not be available as an option for a side now but hopefully it will be again).

the nasi lemak served here is distinctive and not like what you'd normally see at other malaysian restaurants. usually to be half a hard boiled egg instead a piece of fried egg is served. the sambal sauce here looked and tasted more like some sort of chutney (though i could be wrong). the rice was a bit too rich for my liking and contained too much obvious solidified coconut cream chunks in it.
the sides of mango salad and vegetable fritter was absolutely delicious! and rarely seen on malaysian restraurant menus. the salad was light and fresh and the vegetable fritter was crunchy and crispy without being oily. the curry puffs and teh tarik is always agoodcompanion to go with any mains. the teh tarik came out hot, just what was needed on a wet night and smooth and creamy without being too sweet.

overall, little penang was a fantastic experience to try a different version of nasi lemak. the restaurant is a comfy place that really makes you feel at home.

love this restaurant, it’s malaysian authentic food, big portions atgoodprice, delicious! definitely will come back again next time when visiting welly again!

best malaysian in wellington by far. i'm from auckland and come down here a few times a year. second time i've visited this place and i'm not dissapointed at all.

good price,goodquality, friendly service.

i had the char kuay teow. i usually go for hokkien mee or wat tan hor in any malaysian place but they didn't have this so kuay teow it was. decent amount of chicken and prawns. full of chinese pork sausage just the way i like it. when i asked for sambal the lady went and grabbed a lot of it. you never get that anywhere in nz, it's always just a small portion.

they even have kuih.

keep up the hard work, i will be back for sure. hopefully with more people and i will be recommending you.

we give them 3.5 star.
after reading many reviews, we came with a very high expectation. the food was nice andgoodvalue for money but they didn't wow us. our usual malaysian restaurant in auckland still top them. however, we will definitely come back if we visit wellington again.

have been here twice in the last month, and quite regularly over the past year. truly amazing malaysian food, delicious authentic flavours, and very consistent. honestly pretty much everything isgoodon the menu, though i keep going back for the new goreng. the service, while occasionally a little abrupt, is extremely efficient. the terrace outlet is also excellent.

this malaysian restaurant reminds me of home. the menu is unique, so unique that you can even find these in auckland.

the dishes taste very very similar to what i have back home in penang. for the price and the portion it can never go wrong.

tried pretty much half of the menu and there aren’t any dishes that you wouldn’t like.

i would recommend the claypot rice, mee goreng, mee siam and the pasembur salad were sogoodthat you wish there were more.

this place is constantly busy so i would suggest go in when it’s not peak hour. do expect a long wait at lunch or dinner time.

great service! reallygoodfood! they forgot one of my dishes and although they didn’t charge me for it, so it turned out ok. make sure you don’t get too much food thought because the meals are very big.

*****standard has dropped. extra work for customers****normally this place is good. its cheap and nice flavors. unfortunately, like a lot of places in wellington that go well for a while, they get lazy and the standard drops.tonight i ordered (from their menu) the nasi goreng with shrimp and lemon chicken wing. they served our food and said the wing would be their in a couple of minutes. half an hour later we finished our meal and no chicken wing. just fried rice. we asked 4 times for the chicken and they said it would be there in a minute. as i was paying they still hadn't served the food i ordered.i said i would have ordered another dish. the door guy said he would take the price of the wing off only. i said that's not the point. i wasn't served the meal i ordered. he said the lunch menu didn't include the wing (it was 7pm) i showed him his menu. he said other customers didn't mind (which means they normally get away with it) boring meal. the bottom-line is they don't care about your meal. they make you the problem when they stuff up, and saying its not available other times of the day. excuses, excuses. weakthis is a drag. i use to like the place and now i wont go because i have to check that i will be served everything they have on the menu when i order.i hate it when somewhere that use to begoodgoes complacent, irresponsible, and rude. wish i could give it a zero

i had been to this place twice.for the first time i really impress it.i ordered nasi lemak with masak-merah curry.the taste is absolutely sogoodand i love it so much.the spiciness is on point.i would recommend this dish!

for my second time i got roti with chicken curry(mid spicy).i think it is too oily for me.the roti is a little oily which is still okay.the curry is very oily .so i am not really happy with my second meal.