Celebrate Heritage! Hidden Retreat The Road ... - The Expat Group

Hot Housing Creativity
Imagine a space where you
can draw on the walls, play
games, brainstorm and bounce
out-of-the-box ideas around
and call it work. This is exactly
what Work Palette aims to
provide for creative nomads,
freelancers, tech-preneurs and
just about anyone working in or visiting Penang. The name Work Palette is a
play on artist’s palette and the wooden pallets which have been up-cycled into
furniture, reflecting both the creative vibe of the space and its deep green roots.
This amazingly creative house in Pulau Tikus, where colours abound and
funny thought-provoking notices grace the walls, could change the workingat-home
practice and usher in a flurry of creative synergies. You can sit and
dream here, chat, fly paper darts, work on your computer, hold business
meetings, or just chill out. Monthly memberships begin at RM650 but you
can purchase four hours for just RM23 (including tea and coffee) if you want
to sample the magic.
For more details, www.facebook.com/WorkPalette.
Work Palette, 11 Medan Maktub, Pulau Tikus
Where
Memories are
Made
If you want great
food in a relaxed,
friendly setting
then check out Les
Memoires, at the
junction of Burma
Road and Penang Road. I enjoyed a Caprese Salad,
with three different sorts of tomatoes, mozzarella,
and toasted fennel seeds, followed by a single giant ravioli stuffed with
spinach and ricotta in a sumptuous tomato sauce. Starters include smoked
duck and grilled squid salad and there is selection of mouth watering mains
and yummy desserts on the menu.
Les Memoires is one of the most recent additions to the food scene of Penang
and the elegant fusion of French and Italian food with some Asian accents
should hit exactly the right note with tourists and locals alike. Presided over
by Chef Aames, a Penangite who’s worked in the top hotels of the world, and
his charming mother, Juliana, they serve beer but not wine, so bring your
own (no corkage).
Les Memoires Bistro, Loke Thye Kee Building, 2 Burma Road, Georgetown. Open every day
from 11am-2.30pm, 6pm-11pm.
Victorious
Great Dame
The E&O (the Great
Dame of Penang)
has just opened
a gorgeous new
wing – the Victory
Annex. It comprises several stories of elegant guest
rooms, all of which are beautifully designed and
combine both modern comfort and the heritage for
which the hotel is famous.
There’s also a new set of function rooms and a
ballroom in which the Expat Penang/IWA joint ball
will be held in November. Best of all, though, is the
rooftop swimming pool, where you can catch a tan as
you look out across the Straits.
Visit www.eohotels.com.
Written in
Penang (but
it’s about
Singapore)
There’s
stimulation of
a different kind in the air as 1 June
sees the publication of The Scarlet
Macaw by Penang-based Canadian
author SP Hozy. Set in two time
periods, the Singapore of the 1920s and that of
the present day, it is what is called a “crossover”
novel, containing elements of both literary fiction
and crime. When SP Hozy started writing twenty
years ago, it wasn’t a recognised genre, but now it’s
gaining popularity.
The novel starts when artist Maris Cousins, who has
gone to Singapore to paint, loses her mentor, Peter
Stone. She feels he has been murdered but the police
take little notice and the case is closed. One day,
looking through the trunk that Peter Stone left her,
Maris finds a set of short stories, depicting life in the
Singapore of the 1920s, that begins to shed light on
the mystery.
For more details, visit www.sphozy.com.
Penang International 23