Penang Malaysian and Thai Cuisine — Restaurant in East Hanover

I can’t stand leaving bad reviews for small businesses but I literally bonded with complete strangers (while waiting to be seated) over how poor the service was. There’s a cramped area near the door that has a sign to tell you to wait there to be seated. There’s no host. There’s a desk off to the side near the door thats divided by glass. As a first timer you’d assume that it was a checkout area for pickup orders or to buy snacks that are hanging on the wall or spread out on a table. There’s no one to tell you what to do. They’re very understaffed at this establishment. There was a large table seated with over 30 guests and that’s who was catered to majority of the night. Also, once we realized we had to go to the desk to get a number to be seated then we noticed another problem. An older woman who had a list and was seating people was honestly just yelling numbers and walking ti tables, not even checking if anyone was following her and then crossing those names off the list and then going to the next name. Completely unprofessional. People were being seated with no menus and having to flag servers down to get them. People were standing or holding their arms out just so they could their checks to pay and leave as well. Eventually we decided to just leave since we were seated near a window that had a draft amongst waiting 20 mins for menus without being checked. We were constantly trying to get someone’s attention until my boyfriend got up and asked someone for a menu. Almost 30 minutes went by and no one had came to get our orders or greet us. Thankfully, I went on my phone and found another restaurant nearby called, “Sushi-O” whom I explained that I had a party of 3 and was asking how long the wait would be. They told us to come right away and the service was unmatched. Penang definitely needs more staff and a better sense of communication when it comes to running a family...

UPDATE 1/4/25 When Asian food is dominated by Chinese, Japanese, and Korean, this establishment offers a different, new, and unique addition to the beloved genre.

Located at the Hanover Commons off of Route 10 in East Hanover and named after one of the states in northwest Malaysia, Penang is popular with many locals and one of our favorite places to eat. The reservation was easily made by calling the restaurant.

Greeted by the staff and the owner, Henry, upon entering this cozy yet upscale atmosphere tonight, my partner and I got seated immediately as they were packed for dinner and for good reason. Their menu remained a melting pot of Native Malay, Thai, Chinese, and Indian cuisines, with vegan and vegetarian options.

To begin, our go-to appetizer remains their Roti Canai in a curry sauce, which has been consistently good after all these years. Our main meal consisted of Beef, Ginger and Scallion with brown rice and Pad See-Ew not listed. We even saved room for dessert and got their Sticky Rice with Mango (kao niew mamuang ข้าวเหนียวมะม่วง), the most famous Thai dessert.

One can definitely taste the authenticity and influences in the meal, like home-cooked, which was delicious and well seasoned. Staff were friendly and accommodating, especially our server, Yan. The price and portions were reasonable. It's a must-visit for enthusiasts of Malaysian and Thai flavors, which we continue...

First time trying this place after some apprehension on the number of vegetarian options. Beautiful day outside on a Sunday so we sat outside and our amazing attentive and engaging server, Kunga, took the time to explain all the dishes that can be made vegetarian (it is not just the veg section)!

So off to the races- as we ordered plenty to try:

Roti Canai - the curry we could drink! Wish there was a bigger or more roti but this was fantastic.

Spring rolls - super crispy not greasy and 6 of them! Dipping sauce looked sweet but had a slight horseradish/mustard kick.

Vegetarian Sesame Chicken - generous portion, great flavor and texture. This was a hit.

Thai Basil Drunken Noodle- the lone “would not repeat” dish. Too sweet for our liking and compared to our other dishes, this one didnt pack the punch of flavor. My wife was able to salvage some with the spicy sauces we asked for on the side.

Kari Sayur- Kunga said this one was popular esp amongst vegetarians. Remember that curry we could drink from the Roti Canai app? Well here it was filled with some veggies in a small “bucket”! This one was the star of the day. I only found 3 pieces of tofu and the veggies were mostly cabbage with some green beans- didnt matter - flavor was too intoxicating!

Note get the coconut rice for all dishes instead of plain!

Will definitely be back! Thanks...