Stay for the food
With a location that’s within walking distance to some of the best places to eat, one hotel becomes Syida Lizta Amirul Ihsan’s weekend base in Penang
IT is not my first trip to Penang but it is as if I see the island for the first time — the quaint shops, the independent bookstores, the little cendol stalls and the hipster cafes all co-existing in the amalgamation of cultures and time zones that is Penang.
Where I stay plays a huge role in what I see, and the Royale Chulan Penang provides an excellent gateway to this side of the island.
Located at Weld Quay, overlooking the sea, the hotel is within walking distance to dessert mothership China House with its excellent cakes - the tiramisu is delectable, so is the baklava.
Walk further up to Lebuh Victoria and you will find Merry Me, a highly-rated dessert place, this time selling ice creams and other cold concoctions to bring the temperature down on sweltering afternoons the island is famous for.
A stone’s throw away from the hotel is Auntie Gaik Lean’s Old School Eatery. Thanks to Instagram and TripAdvisor, this place is famous for its Peranakan food but one only has so much stomach space and Penang has so much to offer so I give this a miss.
What I cannot let go is the Hameed Pata Mi Sotong at Esplanade Park, five minutes away on foot from the hotel.
There’s a queue at 11.30am on a weekday and that should give you an inkling of how popular this stall is. I pack two RM5 noodles, Kuala Lumpur-bound because lunch at Tajuddin Hussain in Little India can keep me full for a few hours.
LOCATION IS EVERYTHING
It is true for real estate as it is for holidays — that location is everything. And if good service is attached, one would have a memorable holiday in the making.
Our deluxe room comes with a delightful surprise — a pair of prayer mats, a kain pelikat and telekung for prayers.
I have only had this kind of pre-emptive hospitality in two hotels — The Fairmont and Raffles, both in Singapore and coincidentally owned by the same Group. That small touch is priceless because now I know I don’t have to bring a set of telekung if I stay here. It’s two articles out of my suitcase.
The baby cot is ready when we arrive and the Sri Tanjung staff, where hotel guests have breakfast daily are more than helpful to attend to my baby’s needs. The kitchen helps prepare his porridge with chicken, and all I have to do is add on some ground anchovies and butternut squash puree and his food is ready.
On level two of the hotel, The Spice Restaurant serves Western dishes and the grilled salmon is awesome, done perfectly with crispy skin without the flesh being overcooked. My best friend’s grilled lamb is delicious too.
Each set comes with appetiser, soup, main dish and dessert, and at RM42, it is very much a steal by Kuala Lumpur standard.
BOOKED IN PENANG
About 1km away (or RM5 by Grab) from the hotel is the Gerak Budaya bookstore, a small space filled with shelves of literature books that elicit joy in a book nerd like me.
The space reminds me of Paris’s Shakespeare & Co. and I’m convinced that these little bookstores reflect the culture of the city they live in.
Gerak Budaya is a treasure trove by my standard. There are pantun books by Muhammad Salleh, a biography of poet laureate Usman Awang and books by Indonesian laureate Pramoedya Ananta
Toer. I could spend hours there, if not for my baby who gets restless in quiet places.
From there, we walk to Areca Books, at the end of the road on Lebuh Acheh where a selection of architecture and design books and Penang history books reside.
Areca carries a wider range of children’s books, and I bought one for Murshid, a Hans Christian Andersen book with illustration by a Malaysian.
The store reminds me of Silverfish Books, but ever since it is relocated to Bangsar Village II, I feel the store has lost the old-school quality I associate with an independent bookstore.
Our hotel, however, did not lose its quality. It’s a restored heritage building built in 1892 that makes the area feels more European than Southeast Asian. In fact, some other buildings in the area emanate the same old world feel.
Best of all, I think with a room price of around RM250 for a Superior Room (prices fluctuate depending on occupancy), given the old school charm and accessibility to cool cafes and old style stalls, this one’s a really good base for a relaxing time in Penang.