“Try this way,” says Zainal Abidin, an affable manager at the Prestige in George Town, Penang, Malaysia, cocking his head to one side. Zainal is showing me around the hotel, which is named after the 2006 Christopher Nolan film about two rival magicians. I’m supposed to see an illusion in which the corridor entrance transforms into a mirror, but it’s not coming.
The core of the city — about 1 square mile of twisting alleys lined with two- and three-story rowhouses that double as storefronts, known locally as shophouses — is a UNESCO World Heritage site. The city was eclipsed commercially by ports like Singapore many decades ago, but Penangites, as they call themselves, remain an inventive, multicultural community and are, in general, fiercely proud of their city.
It is no coincidence that the design echoes the Victorian features of the original buildings around it. Although the Prestige was constructed from scratch on an empty lot, the exterior design of the hotel had to blend into the city’s existing buildings to comply with UNESCO’s strict rules. The Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion, a prime example of the city’s restored heritage hotels, in George Town, Malaysia.
As with many boutique hotels, the owners concentrated most of their efforts on bringing the buildings themselves back into shape, preferring clean modern lines and fittings for the furniture and decoration. A guest room at Seven Terraces, a restored hotel where the design showcases the city’s distinctive Peranakan culture, in George Town, Malaysia.
The architecture of another of Ong’s hotels — the eclectic Jawi Peranakan Mansion — mixes British colonial design with Indian Muslim furnishings that he brought back from research trips to Rajasthan. Auntie Gaik Lean’s Old School Eatery, a Peranakan restaurant that was awarded a Michelin star in 2022, in George Town, Malaysia.
Dishes feature local ingredients prominently, ranging from citrusy bunga kantan, or ginger flower, to a spice called buah kulim, a golf-ball-size fruit redolent of garlic. There’s also chocolate made from homegrown cacao pods and even “tropical caviar” from locally raised sturgeon .One you’ve eaten your fill, digest by wandering the city’s narrow alleys, where you’re likely to stumble across an intriguing cafe or gallery.