First of all, I have to thank Ah Bok for reminding me of this place via his instagram feed.
For those who may not be too familiar with this slightly less popular Penang hawker delight, the popiah in Penang is served a little different from those you find in Klang Valley, and personally, this version at Shang Wu hawker stalls at Ayer Itam hits the spot for me.
popiah stall at Shang Wu hawker center
The Shang Wu hawker area is just a handful of hawker stalls operating by the street that Shang Wu school is located. As a teenager, I often stopped by here with my bicycle for a spot of lunch. After all, cycling from Ayer Itam to Tanjung Tokong with an old beat-up bicycle does require some caloric intake.
This particular pohpiah stall has been in operation for over 20 years, which to be fair, may be a different operator from the one I had back in the 90s. However, the dish still tastes as good as I remembered.
The popiah is always prepared fresh and comes with their prawn paste, boiled turnip, eggs, mustard green, and some crab meat, all wrapped in soft popiah skin and then drenched with some of those sweet turnip soup. You can also have it slightly spicier with their chili paste added in as well.
Penang style crab meat popiah
The result is a soft and savory snack fit as a shared side dish, or even as a main dish itself. It’s not crispy at all, but give it a try and let me know if you’ll still be satisfied with the KL version after. RM 2 per piece here in 2023.
Shang Wu Hawker Stalls
Jalan Sekolah La Salle
Taman Lumba Kuda,
11400 George Town, Pulau Pinang
GPS: 5.40829, 100.299496
Hours: 10am to 4pm
so wet, no need to order drinks
kekeke: drinks is always optional.
popiah how much in 90s? RM2 each must be recent price hike
kekeke: never track probably RM 0.60. haha
Still cheap, expect to pay RM20 each for a Chinese burrito in Sydney keke #whhattt
kekeke: that’s why I stay in Malaysia!
Oooo…I love popiah! No good ones here so we would have to make our own…and there is the problem of getting good popiah skin. No problem in Kuching, they have some really nice ones there.
suituapui: Ah yah, good popiah skin is hard to come by, and making them yourself will be too much work.
The price is attractive but wet popiah is not my cup of tea as I’ll be mad seeing my popiah with broken popiah skin. >_<
Choi Yen: gotta try first baru tau. haha
so wet, yet still skin intact, fuiyoh this is skill from old school sifu chef
kekeke: most impressive!
So, what’s the difference between Penang popiah with KL’s version? They don’t put those crispy bits ontop? Isn’t all popiah drenched in some sweet turnip soup? The one I have from my area’s pasar malam is like that…the cooked turnip is always left simmering in a pot and when they ladle it onto a popiah, some of the gravy will come along with it.
eatwhateatwhere: penang’s not crispy at all, and KL one’s usually no soup. That’ll be the main difff I think.
this 1 is classic. heard that the wan tan mee is good too
taufulou: next time I should try.