Romantic Getaway in Penang: Vivi’s Art and Food Date

After Ian planned a romantic getaway in Penang for me, it was my turn to arrange a date for him. His day had set a fairly high standard, and I took our unspoken competition seriously. Luckily, I knew a few things that would keep him happy: good coffee, something to photograph and a meal worth stopping for. George Town in Penang gave me plenty to work with.

First, I had to get him out of the Eastern & Oriental Hotel. Coffee by the pool could easily have occupied us for the rest of the day, so I needed a persuasive alternative. Dan Café did the job. Its plants and little glass gardens gave Ian something to photograph before we had even finished our coffee and sweets. I had chosen a place that appealed to his camera as much as his appetite, which seemed a promising start.

A Street Art Walk Through George Town

A walk through George Town’s street art was the main part of my plan. Ian likes finding art out in the streets, where there is no gallery door to step through and no need to follow a particular order. At first, he took his camera out of its bag every few minutes. After two streets, he simply kept it in his hands. I took that as a good sign.

I don’t pretend to know much about the street art scene, and I didn’t need to for this to work. The pieces we came across gave us reasons to stop, look and talk about what we were seeing. We wandered for almost two hours, with the artwork setting our pace. If photography is part of your idea of a good date, our George Town street art feature shows more of what caught Ian’s attention.

Tandoori Chicken at Kassim Mustafa

Lunch brought us to Kassim Mustafa for tandoori chicken, one of Ian’s favorites. By then, our walk had taken us around Little India and our appetites were beginning to compete with our interest in the walls. We had previously tried the much-discussed tandoori chicken at Restoran Kapitan and left disappointed. The version we ate at Kassim Mustafa suited us much better: well seasoned, crisp on the outside and tender and moist inside.

Ian thought lunch was the end of the date. I still had one more stop planned, and Sunday was the reason I had saved it for that day: the pop-up market at Hin Bus Depot.

Hin Bus Depot’s Sunday Market

The Sunday pop-up market at Hin Bus Depot brought crafts, art, food and drinks together for the last part of our date. I had already let Ian think that the street art was the day’s highlight, so arriving at a market full of things to browse was a satisfying little surprise. The stalls had their own character, and the goods went beyond the usual souvenir selection.

There was live music, too. I behaved as though I had arranged that part with equal care, although it was as much a surprise to me as it was to him. We spent nearly another two hours there before sitting down with fizzy kefir drinks. The music, stalls and drinks describe the Sunday we experienced; the program and vendors can change.

As we sipped our drinks, Ian gave my plan an excellent rating. “You know me so well,” he said. That mattered more to me than winning our unofficial competition. I had built a day around things he enjoyed, and we had enough time to enjoy them together. For us, that made a romantic date out of coffee, a long walk, chicken and a market.

Planning a Romantic Getaway in Penang Today

Use our day as a loose plan for a date in George Town: choose a café, leave time to explore the street art, stop for lunch and finish at Hin Bus Depot. Dan is now listed as permanently closed, so pick an operating venue from our Penang café guide and check its hours before setting out. The pleasure of this date was having time to stop whenever something interested us.

Keep most of the day free if you want a similarly relaxed pace. Our art walk and market visit each took close to two hours, with coffee and lunch in addition. Comfortable shoes, water and room for breaks are more useful than an ambitious checklist. If the Sunday market is your final stop, work backward from its closing time.

FAQ: An Art and Food Date in George Town

Sources and Current Information

You Might Also Like

• For the other half of our Penang date challenge, read Ian’s romantic day planned for Vivi.
• For another outing with an art connection, see our account of high tea at Arteastiq in Singapore.