Lone Pine Hotel, Penang

Lone Pine Hotel, Penang pictures (1 of 18)

One is sure to be spoilt of choices when looking for a perfect getaway in the beautiful island of Penang, my homeland. With its enrapturing tropical charm, its rich historical heritage, and its dizzying array of local gastronomy, Lone Pine Hotel which prides itself as the first and only boutique hotel on the famous Batu Feringghi beach is just the right place to be for a quiet yet never lonely retreat. Established since 1948, Lone Pine has gracefully withstood the test of time and after more than 60 years, it is still standing tall among other hotels along the coastline. Originally a 10-room premium hotel, Lone Pine has been groomed to bloom into the new exclusive boutique hotel with 50 sea-facing guest rooms that are tastefully designed for those who have a special quest for classic charm and contemporary comfort.

Lone Pine appeals to me for a few reasons. The first being that my first ever hotel visit experience belongs to Lone Pine. When I was a little girl, my sister took me there for a stay and I was totally in awe of and in love with its casual elegance and luxury. I was so glad to see that all these were not lost in transition but have merely been artfully translated into a harmonious blend of old and new, classic and contemporary in various parts of its new 3-storey building. The humble yet elegant wrought iron archway bearing the name “Lone Pine” brought back flood of memories of me as an exciting little girl, eager for her first hotel stay. It is this overwhelming feeling of nostalgia and the emotional intimacy that binds Lone Pine very closely to my heart. And I believe this is so for many who have stayed there before.

As someone who finds showy and fanciful grandeur a great put-off, Lone Pine appeases my visual and sensual demands for simplicity, practicality and elegance. What I like most about the entire atmosphere in Lone Pine is the perfect balance of old and new, classic and contemporary; how they juxtapose and complement each other in the architecture and décor of the hotel, fulfilling my quest for the old Penang charm in the comfort of modern setting.

My room comes with all the facilities and amenities that I needed for a fuss-free stay, from chic toiletries to complimentary soft drinks replenished daily by the efficient and attentive housekeeping staff. I could really spend the whole day lazing in the comfort of my room surfing the channels, if not being constantly lured by the call of the balmy sea breeze and the stunning view of lofty casuarinas dotted the sandy beach readily available at the open balcony. Hence, my favorite in-room activities were reading my book or magazines on the ultra comfy day bed at the balcony, while keeping an eye on the very happy Baby G having his own splashing good time in the bathtub just right in front of me. No kidding, a bathtub at the balcony with a panoramic seaview! How could you not love Lone Pine? I’m now thankful for the free WiFi services which I was initially rather frustrated with. I wouldn’t have had all the time to fully enjoy all that the room with a great view had offered me if the WiFi were to be a little speedier to allow me to hook on to my lappie during the stay. What a blessing!

Another great thing about Lone Pine is that you don’t need to look very far to satisfy the foodie in you. You have a choice of relaxing tapas-and-cocktail time at Batu Bar or a stupendous serve of sake and sashimi at Matsu. The food-hunter in me however just couldn’t get enough of the gastronomic Hainanese fare served in The Bungalow, the signature restaurant of Lone Pine that is highly popular among locals and visitors for its authentic Hainanese specialities. The aroma and taste of the nourishing soup Kiam Chai Ark, the spicy Chicken Kapitan, the delectable Gulai Tumis, the flavorful Joo Hoo Char, and the crispy Choon Piah collectively conjured up the fond memories of my childhood and my late grandma’s cooking and our home kitchen.

Strategically located on the street where the night bazaar draws hordes of tourists every evening, you can enjoy quite a bit of retail therapy and local shopping experience. You can just stroll along the street having yourself amused by the haggling and peddling between the local vendors and foreign visitors, or you may even want to grab some local handicraft for souvenirs. With my little one with me, I had to give this part of entertainment a miss and instead maximized my relaxing and private moments at the balcony, soaking in the beautiful sounds of the lapping waves, the cool sea breeze and the soft chattering of diners from a distance.

You can be alone at the lovely Lone Pine but you won’t ever be lonely.

LONE PINE HOTEL
97, Batu Ferringhi
11100, Penang, Malaysia
Tel: +604 886 8686
Fax: +604 886 8600
Email: style@lonepinehotel.com
Website: www.lonepinehotel.com

The Bungalow
Location: Ground Floor, by the Pool
Opening Hours (Daily):
11:00am – 11:00pm for all day dining
Reservation: +604 886 8566

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Penang with Bee and CK

If you follow Asian cooking websites, you’re most likely already familiar with Rasa Malaysia, maintained by native of Penang, Bee Yinn Low. In fact, Bee and I started our respective blogs around the same time, and early on, she used to write me with questions about basic camera skills and Photoshop technique. Today, her website gets a bazillion hits a day and she’s even written and photographed a best-selling book. This obsession with food appears to be a family thing, as her brother, CK, although he hasn’t got into the blogging game, conducts food-based tours of Penang. With the kind help of these two more-than-capable guides, I was escorted around the restaurants, stalls, hakwer centres, factories, shops and farms of George Town and Penang. It was a virtual crash-course in Malaysian food, and as we ate at more places than I have space to go into here, I thought I’d share some of the highlights.

On our first morning we met at the busy morning market at Pulau Tikus, just east of George Town. There, we tried a whole lot of tasty stuff, but perhaps the most interesting to me were the dishes prepared by two friendly vendors selling Nyonya food:

Nyonya is a blend of Chinese and Southeast Asian cooking styles and ingredients and is a cuisine I’d read about, but hadn’t yet tried myself. At one stall I tasted the famous curry kapitan (a rich chicken curry using coconut milk), a seriously tasty nasi ulam (a rice ‘salad’ similar to the southern Thai khao yam) and perut ikan (a thick soup using salted fish kidney — tai plaa in Thai) — dishes which seemed to vary in flavour between rich/salty and tart/herbal. I particularly liked one vendor’s gulai kiam hu kut, a rich curry that gets its salty flavour from fish bone.

After tasting dishes at a few more stalls, we grabbed a table and Bee snagged a couple packets of rempah udang, an amazing Nyonya snack of grilled sticky rice surrounding a savoury, spicy (think pepper and coriander) and shrimpy centre:

Moments later, a bowl of curry mee arrived:

Like  other versions, the bowl held both rice and egg noodles, soft tofu, blood, cockles and shrimp, but this vendor’s version was among the spiciest dishes I’d encountered on Penang. CK explained that the shop’s broth is actually relatively bland, and the dish gets its spice and smoke from a generous dollop of chili paste, added at the last minute:

Every good breakfast needs a dessert, so naturally we spent the remainder of our time at the market eating sweet stuff, including apom, a type of sweet pancake, from this cheeky vendor:

Pulau Tikus Market
Jalan Burma, Georgetown, Penang

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In fact, I was pleasantly surprised by nearly all of the sweets I encountered on Penang, as they weren’t nearly as sugary as their Thai counterparts. In particular, George Town seemed to have a variety of slightly sweet pancake-like dishes such as apom balik, a soft, eggy, a slightly sweet Nyonya pancake filled with sliced banana or corn:

Apom Chooi
Jalan Burma (near Union School), Georgetown, Penang
1.30-8pm Mon-Sat

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and ban chean kuih, a light, crispy pancake filled with ground peanuts and sugar, giving it a flavour and texture that reminded me of the Thai sweet, khanom tup tap.

But it was really the savoury stuff I enjoyed the most. CK took me to Thin Seng Sauce Factory, a 100 year-old soy sauce factory in the middle of Georgetown:

We were offered a taste directly from the vats, and far from being just salty, the soy sauce was virtually meaty, with just a touch of sweet:

Thin Seng Sauce Factory
18, Kampung Malabar, George Town, Penang, Malaysia

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This was followed by a bowl of koay teow th’ng, rice noodles and fish balls in a clear broth (pictured at the top of this post), at Pitt Street Koay Teow Th’ng. A bowl here combines tender and delicious fish dumplings made on-site by hand, a rich duck-based broth, and to bring it all together, a splash of pork fat and crispy garlic. Quite possibly one of the standout bowls of noodles I’ve encountered in Southeast Asia.

Pitt Street Koay Teow Th’ng
Lebuh Carnarvon, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia
Breakfast & lunch

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And the lard didn’t stop there; virtually across the street is Kedai Kopi Seng Thor, where the crispy and delicious oyster omelet:

like many old-school Chinese dishes in Georgetown, is fried in lard. Such rich lard, in fact, that the dish had an almost bacon-like flavour:

Kedai Kopi Seng Thor
Cnr Lebuh Kimberley & Lebuh Carnarvon, Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia

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If you find yourself in Penang, consider doing one of CK’s food-based tours of the island. Alternatively, if you want to recreate the dishes of Penang in your own home, check out this page at Rasa Malaysia.

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Penang Heritage Food

On the one hand, wrapping my head around Penang’s food has been easy: it’s ubiquitous and delicious. On the other hand, the disparate blend of cuisines that have come to define the island’s food — Hokkien, Cantonese, Hainanese, Teo Chew, Indian, Malaysian, English, Peranakan — is somewhat more complicated. Luckily, there’s a great resource. Pointed in the right direction by Robyn, I picked up a copy of Penang Heritage Food, written by a native of Penang, Ong Jin Teong.

Teong lives in Singapore, but was in Penang during my visit, and I got the chance to meet him and talk about the food of Penang and about his book. I mentioned the fact that his book seemed very personal, and he told me that most of the recipes came from his mother. He explained that she used to give cooking demonstrations, and in doing so, recorded many of her recipes. It’s these dishes, via a great deal of trial and error, that eventually became his book. Adding to the personal feel are the family photos, and amazingly, even a few old photos of the food vendors and hawkers his family used to be fond of, interspersed with the recipes.

We also had a couple meals together, but as mentioned previously, had bad luck with restaurants and hawkers being unexpectedly closed. Luckily, the delicious Hokkien mee vendor in Pulau Tikus was open, and I was able to score one of their last bowls — this at about 9AM:

Otherwise, we were forced to try a few new places (or at least places new to us), not many of which were so great. But some were interesting.

At a Hainanese restaurant in Georgetown’s Little India, we sat down to a lunch of chicken chop (pictured at the top of this post). Teong explained that in the past, Chinese who emigrated from the island of Hainan were the cooks of choice for wealthy colonial families. Later, they took their experience in the food industry and worked as professional restaurant cooks and opened restaurants. In doing so, they continued to make many of the quasi-Anglo dishes – chicken chop, curry puff, min chee, macaroni pie, chicken pie — they had cooked previously. These dishes can still be found at a handful of Hainanese restaurants in Georgetown, many of them served with Worcestershire sauce as a condiment.

Compared to Hokkien mee, I can’t say that the chicken chop could compete in flavour, but the fact that both of these disparate dishes have been available here for decades, and are considered part of  Penang’s cuisine, is fascinating.

For recipes for Hokkien mee and Hainanese/English dishes, and more detailed background about the influences and ingredients that make up the food of Penang, refer to Penang Heritage Food.

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Penang Char Kuey Teow

Met my long time blog friend Austin Bush of Real Thai this afternoon, who came to Malaysia on an assignment for the Lonely Planet guidebook. We had Char Kuey Teow.

Quoting Austin’s blog, my Char Kuey Teow was better than yours.

When it comes to hawker food (street food), real foodies know that Malaysia owns it. And when it comes to really good hawker food, Penang owns it. Enough said.

My Char Kuey Teow recipe is here.

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Penang Apong (Apom) Balik

Penang Apong Balik pictures (1 of 5)

Every time I come back to Penang, there are a few hawker food (street food) that I never miss out eating. As I was born and raised in Penang, I seek out to those foods and places that carry sentimental values to me—my favorite dishes and treats I grew up eating, neighborhood restaurants, hawker centers or coffee shops (kopitiam) that my family frequents, or particular hawkers that have known me since I was little. These places are mostly unknown to the tourists as they are not covered by guide books, but to me, they are some of the best foods found in Penang…they are the tastes of my childhood.

One of the treats that I absolutely love is Penang Apong Balik, or Apom Balik, solid by this 70-year old hawker Chooi, along Burmah Road (before Union Primary School). Penang Apong Balik is a Nyonya sweet treat with sliced bananas, some corns, all folded up in a sweet, eggy, aromatic, soft and fluffy pancake, speckled with shredded coconut. The taste, texture and recipe are completely different from the original Indian apom (which is another favorite of mine).

Each piece of this heavenly apong balik is merely RM0.40 (or US$0.15) but trust me on this, it’s probably one of the best pancakes ever created. Each apong balik is made by hand by Uncle Chooi, and sold/served immediately to the customers. I can easily gobble up ten (10) of these hot-off-the-pan apong balik as my afternoon snack…they are absolutely delightful and tasty!

With many hawkers in Penang nearing or exceeding retirement age, I am sometimes saddened by the fact that I probably will not have my favorite apong balik in the years ahead. As I mentioned, Chooi is 70 years old and his three children are professionals and will not inherit his humble business. A truly legendary concoction and recipe might be lost forever in the near future. But for now, I will savor every piece of these heavenly apong balik whenever I drive by Chooi’s stall.

Apom Chooi ???
Burmah Road, Penang
Hours: 1.30pm to 8pm (Closed on Sundays)

Note:

To local Penangites, this stall is the less-popular stall next to the famous Apong Guan, but the truth is Chooi is the older brother of Apong Guan, so both have the same family recipe and their apong pretty much taste the same. Chooi has also operated the business longer.

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Penang

I’m now in Penang and frankly, am feeling overwhelmed. I’ve only been here two and a half days and already feel as if I’ve lost track of all the delicious things I’ve consumed. I’ll do my best to keep up and blog about the amazing food here, but suspect it’s going to be tough.

In a good way, of course.

More to come soon…

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Penang in Spotlight

Meeting Anthony Bourdain in Penang

Greetings from Penang!

It’s been a month since I came back to Penang. Needless to say, I have been having too much fun, eating too much good food, and not blogging much at all. The first month of my vacation had been filled with festivities and much celebrations: Chinese New Year, short trips to KL and Singapore, visiting friends and family members, running (driving) around, including meeting Anthony Bourdain and the No Reservations crew, who were shooting in Penang!

Lanterns along a street in George Town, Penang

One month later, I am finally settled into a more relaxed pace and I hope to share more Penang/travel-related photos and posts here with you.

First of all, Penang is definitely in spotlight now; it’s fast gaining international attention as a much-happening place and a must-visit island in Southeast Asia. As a result, Rasa Malaysia and the Penang Culinary Tour business my brother and I co-founded had been written up in two travel magazines recently—a very popular Filipino travel magazine Leisure + Adventure Travel as well as a Singapore’s NEXT Magazine (please click on the links to view the articles). Previously, we were featured on Budget Travel USA and SilkAir’s inflight magazine.

The highlight of Chinese New Year was the chap goh meh (15th day of Chinese New Year) and my elder brother CK Low got us some durian that were out-of-the-world delicious, creamy, aromatic, and finger-licking good. We made durian rice, served with salted coconut cream, and also bubur cha cha, our family rituals on chap goh meh.

Durian and Sticky Rice with Salted Coconut Cream

Whenever I am in Penang, I love going to the local wet markets, the fresh fish/seafood/produce and the hustle and bustle mesmerize me.

A typical morning wet market in Penang

I could never get fish as fresh as this in the United States, not mention about the species.

Fresh fish at a wet market in Penang, Malaysia

One of my favorite breakfast snacks: fried Chinese “hum chim peng” and “hua chee.” These are fresh-off-the-frying-wok and so delicious. I usually buy a few of these and eat them as I wander around the wet market.

Fried hua chee at the morning wet market

While I don’t blog about everything I do or see here on Rasa Malaysia, I do share interesting pictures, food, and what I eat here via Twitter. If you are interested to follow my journey and adventure, please join me at Twitter @rasamalaysia.

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Boutique Hotels in Penang

April 25th, 2011 | Penang, Travel | 5 Comments

Following the UNESCO World Heritage Site inscription, Penang has become a hotbed for boutique hotels and small intimate resorts. International and renowned hoteliers such as Christopher Ong of Galle Fort fame and Narelle McMurtrie of Bon Ton Resort have transformed the hotel scenes in Penang by restoring heritage buildings and property into stylish and chic boutique hotels that put Penang on the hip list for affluent and upscale world travelers. Here is my guide to some of the hottest and “happening” boutique hotels as well as iconic resorts that shape up the landscape of Penang hospitality…

Clove Hall

Set in a quiet street 10 minutes drive away from the heart of George Town, Clove Hall is a tastefully restored heritage bungalow turned luxury boutique hotel. With only six (6) suites in a gated and serene tropical compound (complete with a garden and pool), Clove Halls oozes great charm and timeless elegance, as reflected in the furnishing and Ong’s private collection of family-owned antiques and artwork. All guests get a personal and warm welcome from the staff before checking into the room. I especially enjoyed being pampered with the high-tea treat of pandan chiffon cake, kaya (coconut egg jam), and local dark coffee as I lounged on the room’s daybed, looking out to the greenery outside. For ultimate pampering and privacy, I recommend the two-storey Star Anise Suite. And for fans of Christopher Ong, he has launched Muntri Mews, another boutique accommodation in George Town, Penang.

Clove Hall
11, Clove Hall Road
10050 George Town
Penang, Malaysia
Tel: +604-229 0818
Website: http://www.clovehall.com

Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa

When it comes to the ultimate pampering and luxury accommodation in Penang, you can’t beat Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa, a legendary hotel that is synonymous to Penang hospitality. Rasa Sayang to Penang is like the Raffles to Singapore, or the Peninsula to Hong Kong;  it has hosted numerous guests from all over the world, many of them returning year after year without fail. I recommend the suites in Rasa Wings which offer some of the largest and most luxurious accommodations in Penang, which include perks such as the welcome drink, private lounge with complimentary English high tea, separate pool, breakfast, and more!  Rasa Sayang is also the home to the BEST spa in Penang—the award-winning CHI Spa which promises an exotic journey into an Asian paradise of healing and rejuvenation. The spa treatment at CHI is sure to bring wellness, peace, and renewal. Rasa Sayang remains my favorite hotel in Penang. For my complete review of Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa, please click here.

Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa
Batu Feringgi Beach
11100 Penang
Malaysia
Tel: +604 888 8888
Website: http://www.shangri-la.com/en/property/penang/rasasayangresort

Straits Collection

Spread over two locations in the heritage enclave of George Town, Straits Collection Residences are gorgeously restored pre-war Chinese shophouses. The heart of the boutique hotel is at Stewart Lane, with six suites housed in one row of five heritage homes. Other than indulging in the modern amenities provided in the suites, guests can take a leisure evening stroll on the surrounding alleys, reading at the “Reading Room” or sipping local coffee (with an Italian touch) at the adjacent Kopi Cine.

Straits Collection
47 to 55 Stewart Lane
George Town
Tel: + 604 263 7299
Website: http://www.straitscollection.com.my

China Tiger

China Tiger is a boutique heritage homestay right in Little India. It consists of two (2) separate houses  and offers heritage home-stays in the form of two (2) private suites and two (2) self-contained studio apartments.

China Tiger
29, China Street,
George Town, Penang
10200 Malaysia.
Tel: +604-264 3580 (weekdays 9am – 5pm)
Website: http://chinatiger.info

Bonus Mention:

CHYMES

This seaside mansion turned boutique bed-and-breastfast is in Tanjung Bungah. Fronting the beach, CHYMES is cosy and intimate with only six (6) bedrooms, each decorated with individual teams. Depending on your mood, guests can choose their own toiletries and I especially love the organic garden with numerous vegetables, herbs, and spices.

CHYMES
547-K Jalan Wee Hein Tze
Tanjung Bungah
11200 Penang, Malaysia
Tel: +604 890 9088 / +6016 414 1808
Fax: +604 890 3088
Website: http://www.chymeshotel.com

New Comer:

Hotel Penaga

Old-time favorite that has been remodeled:

Lone Pine

There is really no better time to visit Penang, and if you do, learn more about the award-winning Rasa Malaysia-organized Penang Private Tour and Culinary Tour.

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Capturing Penang

March 1st, 2011 | Penang Tour | 6 Comments

Greetings from Penang! I’ve been home for almost a month and am enjoying every minute of it. Today, I wanted to introduce you to Reese and Mark of Capturing Penang, a wonderful blog about Penang and their journey of discovery in my homeland. Many Penangites left home to pursue our dreams, but we all share one thing in common— we miss our island deeply and eventually, we all realize that Penang is such a special place that there is nowhere else quite like it, and we will always call Penang home regardless of where we are. Reese and Mark tell their stories through Capturing Penang and in this remarkable guest post. Please read on and check out their YouTube videos (MUST WATCH) and you will understand why Yahoo! selects Penang as the #8 island to explore before you die. Enjoy!

A few days into Chinese New Year, Mark and I headed to breakfast at Toh Soon – a rusty, bustling coffee shop in an alleyway along Campbell Street in Penang, serving roti bakar with kaya (charcoal-roasted thick bread with coconut jam), soft-boiled eggs with soy sauce & white pepper, and strong local coffee to give you that morning kick.

When we walked in, there was a film crew around the first table, and we were surprised to spot a familiar face seated among them – Bee from RasaMalaysia…

Bee had arrived the week before from California, for a two month visit to the island that she will always call home.  At that moment, I realized it was exactly one year since I moved from Singapore back to Penang with the same goal.  It would be a journey that would draw me into the thriving cultural and arts scene of George Town after its recent listing as a UNESCO World Heritage site.  A journey that I reveal through stories, photos, and videos, on my blog – Capturing Penang.

However, I didn’t expect this a year ago.  While Mark was confident about the move, I couldn’t push my apprehension away.  I had left seven years earlier, like so many other Penangites, in search of bigger and better things.  I had convinced myself that if I ever returned to live in Penang, it would only mean a step back in my life.

But by the first week, to my relief and exhilaration, I felt the energy of a revitalized Penang.  Not only from the millions of visitors every year to the island, but also from the locals, like myself, who had taken this wonderful island for granted for too long.

I love saying it now – Penang is an exciting place!

You can experience the transformation in the shophouses and temples and bungalows that have been meticulously restored and opened to the public like the Peranakan Mansion, Suffolk House, Teochew Ancestral Temple, and Sun Yat Sen Base.  In the quiet, verdant hills on the northwest corner of the island that have been protected under the National Park and awarded at the Tropical Spice Garden.  Through the traditional trades that have been recognized and championed like the nyonya beaded shoemakers, spice mill grinders, wooded signboard engravers, popiah skin makers, bertam blind weavers, songkok makers and more.  During the huge festivals like Chinese New Year and Thaipusam that have erupted with pride and exuberance, and in new festivals that have sprung up like George Town Festival in July, George Town City Day on January 1st, and Mark’s favorite – Durian Festival in June.

But you know what I’ve realized?  As much as this renewal has shined a spotlight on Penang in recent years, what makes this island truly remarkable comes from what hasn’t changed, and should never change – its cultural diversity.

You’ll experience it in the distinct faces that pass you by on the streets and down the five-foot-walkways, in the myriad of languages you may never place, in the shifting colors of the endless parade of festivals, and yes, in Penang’s famous street food.

Oh yes, the food.

The Chinese, Nyonya, Indian, and Malay food that Bee styles and promotes on Rasa Malaysia for you to drool over, and challenges you to prepare.  The sizzling, steamy food that you can find at every street corner in Penang being whipped up by every sifu with a spatula.

Curious now?  I have a challenge for you too.  Travel to Penang.

But you may then ask – When?

If Yahoo Travel has anything to say about it, which just listed Penang as one the Top 10 islands in the world to explore before you die, I know the answer is – Now.

See you in Penang!

YouTube Videos:

Eating in George Town Part 1Eating in George Town Part 2Thaipusam

Reese (& Mark too)
@CapturingPenang.com

Note from Rasa Malaysia: If you are planning a trip to Penang, check out our Penang Private Tour services.

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