Penang Malaysian Cuisine, Bethesda MD

We were going to BD Mongolian BBQ in Bethesda last Saturday.  Unfortunately despite the call-ahead seating system they had, we were told another hour wait after we arrived.  So we ventured over to downtown Bethesda and got a table right away at Penang Malaysian Cuisine.

The restaurant is nicely decorated with tropical theme and had plenty of seating and tables.  We've been to the place numerous times but this time, we got a parking spot right up front!  Usually parking is a hassle because there were only a handful of spots in front of the restaurant, so I considered ourselves lucky!

entrance to restaurant

bar overlooking the eating area

I always order the roti canai for appetizer, it is  Malaysian crispy Indian-style pancake served with curry chicken as dipping sauce.  It's always piping hot and delicious!

roti canai

Then we proceeded to order Penang Udang Mee Soup. The dish is basically noodles served in chef's special shrimp broth with shrimp, pork and bean sprouts. It tasted just okay though, I don't think we'd order it again...

Penang Udang Mee Soup

We also ordered two dishes. One was the Sarang Burong House Special for $13.95. It's a very unique dish, the fried taro was shaped into a bird nest and stuffed with shrimp, chicken, corn, snow peas and black mushrooms. Plus it was topped with cashew nuts.  This has always been one of my favorites since my girl friend introduced me to it at a girls night out venue.

Sarang Burong House Special

The second dish I wanted was the Kang Kung Belacan 馬來空心菜, but unfortunately they were sold out of Kang Kung for the night.  So I ordered the lady fingers Belacan instead.  It was just as good with the same spicy Malaysian shrimp paste sauce.

lady fingers Belacan

We ended up with a bill around 40+ which was not bad considering how much leftover we took home. We sort of made 2 meals out of it. The dishes were all prepared properly and had good flavors. I'd definitely pay Penang another visit in the future!

FoodiePop's rating on Malaysian food: 4/5

Penang Malaysian Cuisine

4933 Bethesda Ave
Bethesda, MD 20814