Line Clear Nasi Kandar @ Chulia Street, Penang.

A few months ago the three of us (hubby, myself and our son) went to Penang for hubby's work-related course. Aside from its various tourist attractions Penang is really noted for some of its more "famous" nasi kandar, some of which have been around pretty much since forever.

One of the places we went was called the Line Clear nasi kandar shop, located at the junction between Chulia Road and Penang Road. The first time we went was on a Thursday night, and much to our dismay it was closed! We were rather disappointed because we were of the impression that the place was opened 24/7 -- turned out that for every 2 weeks the shop would always close on a Thursday so it was just bad timing on our part. We went back there the next day, and true to its reputation the place was filled with people and finding a place to sit was a task in itself.

To be honest I was expecting a real "dump" i.e a totally unhygienic place with rats running all over the place. I mean, most of the good food in Malaysia are usually located in such places. To my (pleasant) surprise the place was not so bad -- it was located by the side of a busy road, yes, and the actual place is really an alley between two buildings, but maybe because it was at night or maybe because the place was actually quite well-lit, but it did not look too shabby. I did not see any rats running around, although I did note the drains running through the place (we were in an alley after all) so perhaps Salmonella isn't really that far away. But of course, I have eaten in far worse places so I did not make a big fuss with this one.


The place is at the intersection between Lebuh Chulia and Penang Road.



It was nice as far as nasi kandar went, but I guess because I have been raised with the likes of Devi and Kayu restaurant, my tastes with Indian curry is somewhat skewed towards to more Northern kind. It was delicious, but nowhere near as gastronomically splendid as some people might describe. My husband loved it though, so I could be the weird one, I guess.

Our overall verdict with regards to :

The Food : 7.5/10. Like I said, it was good, but I have tasted better nasi kandar. The portion is just nice though which for some reason affects my rating because my impression of nasi kandar anywhere has always been for it to be of extreme portions which always ends up with leftovers. Weird, huh>

The Ambience : 5/10. The kind of ambiance you get here is of the roadside and drainpipes. Nothing fancy at all. Well at least it is (somewhat) clean.

The Location : 5.5/10. Because it is by one of the busier roads in Penang. And also because you can only park your car some distance away. It isn't difficult to find so long as you keep your eye open for a stall in an alley in Lebuh Chulia. If you were using a GPS the stall shows up in the list, so it isn't difficult to find at all.

The Pricing : For a plate of rice with 2+1 dish, I think the price comes up to at most RM10. Which isn't too shabby. I think mine cost somewhere about RM6.

Baby-friendly? : They have baby chairs which is a huge plus. Other than that it isn't exactly a place where you can let a baby loose on its hands and feet.

P/S By the way, the name Line Clear actually has a story behind it. Apparently long ago the road used to (maybe it still is, I'm not sure) be the route where this one particular GARBAGE TRUCK always takes early in the morning. When it does, people basically stay out of its way because, I don't know, the smell I guess. Once the truck is out of sight people would come out and (perhaps jokingly) exclaim to one another, "OK! Lori sampah sudah takda! LINE CLEAR!".

I kid you not. About the story, I mean. Whether or not it is accurate is another thing altogether.