Beyond street food: The new hotels, restaurants and bars refreshing George Town, Penang

Beyond street food: The new hotels, restaurants and bars refreshing George Town, Penang From the storied Eastern & Oriental Hotel and newly opened Soori Penang to Michelin-selected restaurants, independent bookstores and intimate cocktail bars, George Town’s heritage scene is finding fresh energy. I discovered Areca Books while visiting the newly opened Soori Penang. After lunch one day, I followed the hotel’s architect-owner, Chan Soo Khian, into the bookstore, where he bought several copies of Streets of George Town, Penang: An Illustrated Guide to Penang’s City Streets & Historic Attractions to place in the hotel’s suites. Its author, Khoo Salma Nasution, is a Penang-based historian, heritage advocate and co-founder of Areca Books. The bookstore is a rewarding stop for travellers looking beyond George Town’s celebrated food culture, ornate religious buildings, shophouses, street art and the funicular ride up Penang Hill. George Town’s rich history has not kept it frozen in time. Across the city, chefs, hoteliers and independent business owners are reworking old buildings, ingredients and traditions for contemporary use. Founded in 2005, Areca Books is both a speciality bookstore and publishing house, with titles spanning Penang and Malaysia’s social history, cultural heritage, architecture and environment. A DEEPER PLOT There is a book for almost every kind of reader: cookbooks for those hoping to recreate Penang’s signature dishes, Penang Then & Now: A Century of Change in Pictures for architecture buffs, and, for readers drawn to intrigue, Penang Confidential: Private Journals & Personal Letters by Mike Gibby, which offers a glimpse into 19th-century Penang society through the writings of East India Company surgeon Dr John Bishop King. Literary names such as Rudyard Kipling, Hermann Hesse and Somerset Maugham would later pass through Penang too. They stayed at the Eastern & Oriental Hotel, Penang, better known as the E&O. Its seafront setting – the “brown-green ocean”, as Hesse once described it – still lends the hotel a literary charge, especially in its Writers Suites. WHERE HERITAGE CHECKS IN The E&O is slightly removed from George Town’s busiest streets, which is part of its appeal. A short drive from the city’s dining quarters, the 141-year-old hotel opens onto uninterrupted views of water and sky. Founded in 1885 by the Sarkies Brothers, whose hotel legacy also includes Raffles Hotel Singapore, it remains one of Penang’s most storied addresses. Guests in the Heritage Wing can spend the afternoon by the seafront pool, while the pool at the Victory Annexe, completed in 2013, offers a higher vantage point. After dinner, the promenade is a fine place for a sunset stroll; for more privacy, the L-shaped balcony in the Victory Annexe’s Corner Suite gives guests their own view of the evening light and sea breeze. If the E&O represents George Town’s old-world hospitality, Soori Penang offers a newer, design-led reading of the city’s heritage. Set within 15 restored shophouses beside Khoo Kongsi, the hotel brings a contemporary sensibility to the historic enclave, pairing old-meets-new interiors with polished service and access to the clan temple outside regular visiting hours. The hotel has also drawn international attention. In May 2026, Soori Penang was named to the Prix Versailles World’s Most Beautiful Hotels list, which recognises recent hotel projects for their architecture and design. It was also included in TIME’s 2026 World’s Greatest Places list. Later in the year, eight of the suites are expected to open with a second storey and two additional bedrooms, catering to larger families, multi-generational groups and guests travelling together. Non-staying visitors will also be able to experience the property when its street-fronting cafe and restaurant open in two heritage shophouses. These add to the attractions around the hotel, including the Teochew Puppet and Opera House. The small museum and performance space offers an introduction to Teochew opera and iron-rod puppetry, with displays of puppets, costumes and backstage artefacts. Visitors can also try handling the puppets. It is a modest set-up, but one that supports the next generation of practitioners, including students who train here three times a week. NEW TABLES IN OLD ROOMS From the E&O, it is an easy walk to Sood by Chef Ton at 33 Lebuh Farquhar. Opened in January 2025, the Michelin-selected restaurant occupies a 150-year-old colonial mansion and is the first Malaysian outpost by Thai chef Thitid “Ton” Tassanakajohn, chef-owner of Bangkok’s Michelin-starred Le Du and Michelin-recognised Nusara. Set against garnet walls and oversized Thai sculptures, the restaurant serves a modern Thai menu built around the samrub concept – a harmoniously paired set of dishes. Dinner might include som tum with soft-shell crab, sweet-savoury galangal fish soup with grilled mushrooms, and crisp prawn biscuits with salted egg relish. Another historic dining room is Peninsula House, located in India House at 25 Beach Street. Built in 1937, the Art Deco building once housed the United States Information Service library from the 1950s to the 1970s. After sitting vacant for decades, it was revived by the team behind neighbouring cafe and roastery Norm, which opened Peninsula House in mid-2025. Kuala Lumpur-based Wunderwall Design has transformed the space with natural materials, linen curtains and second-hand furniture, set against the building’s original architectural details. The Michelin-selected restaurant serves modern Australian dishes such as chanterelle orecchiette with black garlic miso and aged black cod with fish consomme. George Town has also become fertile ground for chefs reworking local traditions through contemporary technique. Chef Johnson Wong’s Michelin-selected Gen and Bib Gourmand-rated Communal Table by Gen, both at 68 Lebuh Presgrave, have helped push Penang’s modern dining scene forward. Communal Table by Gen offers a more casual experience, with diners seated along a long counter. After dishes such as deep-fried buns stuffed with duck rillettes and served with kicap sambal, or a playful take on mango sticky rice with pulut panna cotta, burnt meringue and pandan ice cream, head upstairs to Winenot. The intimate wine store and tasting space focuses on boutique wineries, small-scale producers and natural wines. Those who enjoy Communal Table by Gen can also try Root House by Gen, located within 1926 Heritage Hotel on Jalan Burma. Opened on Apr 10, 2026, it brings another new name to George Town’s dining scene. The menu includes curry oil-steamed threadfin, Fuzhou red wine chicken with young ginger and fried mushrooms, and wok-fried lotus root with black garlic, served in a space designed around a high-end audiophile sound system. “While Penang is celebrated for its traditional roots, Root House introduces a ‘return journey’ philosophy, exploring how flavours of the major Chinese dialect groups evolved in Malaysia before returning to their origins through modern fine dining,” said Sherrie Ho, the restaurant’s head of operations. AFTER-HOURS AND SLOW RITUALS For a nightcap, head to Steep Social, one of Penang’s newer bars, located near Soori Penang at 279 Beach Street. Founders Joe Ngui, from Kuching, and Chew Qing Ting, from Pahang, met while working in Singapore’s bar scene – Ngui at Live Twice and Origin Bar at Raffles Hotel, and Chew at Shangri-La, The Bar House and Madam Fan at JW Marriott Hotel Singapore South Beach. In July 2025, they moved north to open Steep Social. The unpretentious bar reflects the duo’s interest in tea and wine. Its name refers to the technique of steeping tea leaves, herbs or spices in liquid at a precise temperature to draw out flavour. The playlist moves between Mandarin and Cantonese R&B, hip-hop, classical and folk music. Try tea- and wine-led cocktails such as Crimson Jade, made with tumugi, clarified tomato, koji, miso, green tea and umeshu, and finished with longjing tea foam. By day, Ome by Spacebar Coffee is a local favourite. A short walk from Soori Penang at 1 Lorong Toh Aka, it is recognisable by the curtain of plants at its entrance. Owners Joachim Leong and Shean Tan moved from Kuala Lumpur to Penang after spotting the city’s potential. The cafe serves speciality coffee, organically grown fine teas by Hojo and simple bakes such as Tan’s olive oil zucchini bread. For a wind-down rather than a pick-me-up, consider a Traditional Chinese Medicine session at Virtue TCM. The Kuala Lumpur-born practice has opened at The Qing Suites, an annexe of Cheong Fatt Tze – The Blue Mansion across Leith Street. It is a short walk from Sood by Chef Ton, making it possible to book a treatment before dinner. Sessions take place in a calm, spa-like environment, beginning with a consultation before treatments such as acupuncture, auriculotherapy and gua sha are recommended. Depending on the guest’s needs, the practice addresses concerns ranging from pain management to women’s health and aesthetics. An hour or two here offers a slower counterpoint to George Town’s lively streets.