Padang Brown Hawker Centre has been around as long as I could remember as a child in the early sixties. It is shaped like a circular crest with an internal grassed courtyard with trees and a monument, and on either sides of the circle is a half-shaped concave open sheltered structure with over 40 food stalls.
Padang Brown Hawker Centre is also known as “Medan Selera Padang Brown” to the Malays. “Padang” is a Malay word meaning field. This is a historical football field where Penang’s greatest football players once trained. The field was donated by a wealthy Scotsman, David Brown, in the early 19th century.
There is a memorial erected in the honour of David Brown for his contribution and development of the island. He lived in Penang for twenty-five years, married locally and passed away in 1825 at the age of 49.
David Brown Memorial
Today Padang Brown has been restored by the state government. It is a cleaner and greener padang. The popularity of this padang is the hawker centre selling both Chinese and Malay food. A great place for a casual, social gathering with friends from 1 PM onwards.
The hawker centre is divided into 2 sections – the west side nearest to Perak Road are local Chinese food stalls trading in the afternoon from 1 pm to 6 pm. On the opposite side are the Malay stalls trading from 4 pm until late night.
You will need a transport to get to Padang Brown hawker centre. It is not within the heritage tourist precincts of George Town. At Padang Brown, you will find a good selection of Penang most famous street food – popiah, nyonya kuih, hokkien mee, lor mee, lok-lok, char koay teow, pasembur, penang style pancake, kangkong cuttlefish, otak-otak, curry mee, leong tau foo, satay, nasi melayu, mee goreng and many more.
The hawker centre at Padang Brown is authentic, taste delicious and better than most other hawker centres in the city. With a layback feel and relaxing ambiance, vast open space, green lawns and canopy-type trees making this an ideal place for a community feed with families and friends.
Explore with Uniquely Penang, formerly called Penang Insights.
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