Cafes in Penang: Our George Town Coffee and Cake Guide

The cafes in Penang gave us plenty of reasons to pause between meals in George Town. Ian and I found carefully made espresso, matcha desserts, a cake table that made choosing difficult, and old buildings where the surroundings were as interesting as the order. Of the places in this guide, Ome by Spacebar Coffee stood out for the coffee itself, ChinaHouse for its cakes and rooms to explore, and Bricklin Cafe & Bar for a satisfying coffee-and-cake break near Hin Bus Depot.

Our original article brought together five cafes and an ice cream bonus from the same trip. Some have since closed or changed their business, so this refresh keeps the personal account and makes those changes visible. It is a guide to places we actually tried, with current planning information where we could verify it, rather than a claim to have sampled every coffee shop on the island.

Cafes in Penang at a Glance

How We Rate These Penang Cafes

Coffee quality, the desserts we tasted, service and the room itself shaped our opinions. Those are personal observations from the visits behind the 2018 article, without a formal scoring system or identical orders at every cafe. The three cafes to consider for a current visit appear first, followed by a separate archive of places that have closed or changed their original cafe format. The numbers identify the entries; they are not a formal ranking from strongest to weakest.

1. Ome by Spacebar Coffee: Our Pick for the Coffee

Ome was the place in this group where the coffee gave us the strongest reason to order again. We found it along a quieter George Town lane, drawn toward the entrance by a large climbing plant. Inside, exposed brick, narrow spaces and artwork gave the old building character without distracting from what was happening at the coffee bar.

The owners took time to talk with us about their coffee and homemade goods. Our visit coincided with a medium-roasted blend of equal parts Ethiopian and Guatemalan beans. The espresso balanced bitterness and acidity with chocolate notes, while its aroma reminded us of hazelnuts and leather. Ian and I also enjoyed the flat white, whose chocolate-and-hazelnut character came with carefully poured latte art.

That led us to nitro coffee, a gentler, lightly bubbling drink with fruit notes that brought apples and peaches to mind. Our communal table had air plants tucked into a crack in the wood, a detail I liked almost as much as the coffee. The dessert choice was limited, so the drinks were the main reason to come here.

Planning a visit now: Ome’s official site gives its address as No. 1, Lorong Toh Aka and lists the hours shown above. Friday is a shorter, coffee-only service. Its current offering includes rotating coffees and house-made cakes, so the old blend, nitro order and limited dessert selection are historical details.

2. ChinaHouse: Cake, Coffee and Rooms to Explore

ChinaHouse was our choice when cake mattered as much as coffee. Its long run of rooms led from one street toward the next, turning a cafe stop into a small exploration of the building. Three heritage buildings are linked by an open-air courtyard, with space for eating, art and a pause away from the street.

The smell from the kitchen reached the narrow hallway, and the cake display made it difficult to choose. We enjoyed the cakes we tried, without pretending to have worked our way through the whole selection. The cafe was busy, and several rooms were quite dark, so choosing where to sit made a difference to the visit.

We liked being able to step away from the busiest area into the library, and our favorite spot was the open space in the middle, with its wall paintings and better light. Our morning coffee was pleasantly nutty. ChinaHouse gave us the broadest cake choice of these visits, along with enough variety in its rooms to spend some time looking around after the cups were empty.

Current details: ChinaHouse’s official location page lists 153 and 155 Beach Street, with access from 183B Victoria Street. Its published hours are Sunday to Thursday, 9:00 AM to midnight, and Friday to Saturday, 9:00 AM to 1:00 AM. The cake selection changes, so let the display guide the order.

3. Bricklin Cafe & Bar: Coffee and Pecan Cake at Hin Bus Depot

Bricklin worked well as a stop around the Hin Bus Depot market. Its industrial style had a comfortable side, and the coffee made us happy to sit down. Ian’s espresso was rich, with balanced acidity, nutty notes and green apple toward the finish; my flat white was equally enjoyable, with neat latte art.

The salted caramel pecan cake was the best part of the pairing. Creamy glaze, crunchy pecans and a firm cake base gave each mouthful a satisfying mix of textures, with the caramel tying them together. The detail we would change was the disposable plastic fork. A good slice of cake deserved proper cutlery, and it was an unnecessary piece of waste.

Hin Bus Depot currently lists the cafe as Bricklin Cafe Bar by Rasta Brew Co at 31A, Jalan Gurdwara. Its official outlet directory publishes 9:00 AM to 7:00 PM, with Tuesday closed. The depot also runs weekend markets, so check its current program if you want to combine coffee with browsing the stalls.

Closed and Former Penang Cafes: Our Archived Visits

The following entries preserve our original visits to Dan Cafe, Awesome Canteen and Merry Me. They are included for their place in our Penang story, with the changes to each business explained below.

Dan Cafe: Matcha and Miniature Gardens, Now Reported Closed

Current status: Dan Cafe is listed as permanently closed, so this entry remains an account of the earlier cafe near the Eastern & Oriental Hotel.

Greenery surrounded the entrance and continued indoors, where potted plants and bottle gardens made the cafe resemble a small exhibition. Outside, tables sat among plants and concrete; inside, I kept finding another terrarium worth a closer look. It was an easy place to linger, and one of the visits behind our wider interest in garden cafes.

Matcha followed the greenery onto the table. I chose the matcha lava cake, with a clear tea flavor, while Ian went for the matcha affogato. Hot matcha sauce ran over vanilla ice cream and formed green-and-white swirls as it melted. Both desserts were satisfying, and the affogato made a particularly good case for giving the espresso a brief rest.

We still ordered coffee on the side. The medium-roasted Ethiopian beans produced a complex, fruity cup, with notes we associated with roasted coconut and nuts. The green mugs suited the surroundings, and the combination of thoughtful coffee, desserts and plants made this a memorable stop. Those tasting notes describe our original order; they should not be read as a menu available today.

Awesome Canteen at Sekeping Victoria: An Archived Industrial Cafe

Current status: The Penang Awesome Canteen at Sekeping Victoria is reported closed in updated travel listings, including Trip101’s Penang food guide. We found no current operator confirmation of a reopening. This entry concerns the former George Town venue, not another Awesome Canteen business elsewhere in Malaysia.

Its industrial interior was the main attraction for us: polished concrete, plants and natural light fitted together well. The room also had a loud kitchen ventilator, which made it less suitable for a quiet coffee break. Of the drinks we ordered, the Black Tonic was the better choice, refreshing and lightly sweetened while retaining the coffee’s acidity.

The espresso was sharply sour, to the point that we struggled to drink it. After we explained the problem, the bartender made another, which improved on the first without becoming a cup we wanted to sip slowly. Bright acidity can be part of an Ethiopian coffee’s character; our objection was to how completely it dominated the drink.

The Small Service Detail We Missed

We also asked for water and did not receive it. Taken together, the noise, espresso and that unanswered request left the visit less convincing than the room’s appearance suggested. Our account covers the drinks, service and interior; it does not assess the food.

Merry Me, the Dessert Cafe Behind Merry Ice Cream

What changed: Merry Me moved away from its original dessert-cafe model and became Merry Ice Cream. A 2021 Malay Mail report describes the end of its earlier retail business and the rebrand in late 2020. The brand’s current retail-point directory is the place to look for its ice cream today; the plated desserts below belong to our old visit.

We came in on a hot day intending to cool down with ice cream, and the air-conditioning managed the job before our order arrived. It was colder than we found comfortable. Even so, Gula Melaka ice cream was enough to keep our attention on the menu, and the desserts gave us a useful reminder that the most elaborate order is not always the most rewarding.

I chose the Very Berry croffle with Gula Melaka and passion fruit ice cream. Fruit and chocolate crumble finished the plate, and the smooth ice cream worked well with the crunchy croffle. The palm sugar flavor was a highlight, especially for anyone interested in Gula Melaka and its use in Malaysian desserts.

What Is a Croffle?

A croffle is a croissant pressed and cooked in a waffle iron, giving the pastry a waffle shape and a crisp surface. Ian chose the Premium Fusion Ice, a more theatrical dessert with vapor rising around it. His matcha ice cream was good; the accompanying macaron was too hard, and the osmanthus jelly contributed very little flavor. A simpler order of ice cream would have suited him better.

For drinks, I had a refreshing pink grapefruit and yuzu mocktail, while the lemon-and-rose drink had a pronounced rose flavor. We left with a clear preference for the croffle and the ice cream themselves. The original cafe provided some fun photographs, though the simpler combinations gave us more pleasure than the hard macaron or nearly flavorless jelly.

Which Penang Cafe Would We Choose?

For a coffee-focused stop, we would begin with Ome and plan around its early closing time. ChinaHouse makes more sense when the cake display and the building are part of the afternoon, while Bricklin fits a visit to Hin Bus Depot. Dan’s terrariums and matcha desserts remain a fond part of the original trip, and keeping them here matters to us, as long as the article is clear about what a reader can visit now.

These cafes showed us several ways to take a break in George Town, from concentrating on the cup to exploring a long house with cake in hand. If your Malaysian trip also includes the capital, our Kuala Lumpur cafe guide continues the coffee search. For a different kind of afternoon, see our comparison of afternoon tea in Penang, which is a separate experience from the casual cafe visits here.

Frequently Asked Questions About Cafes in Penang