Hono Workshop (炎工作室) - A Japanese Eatery @ Penang in Malaysia

Given my body's penchant for gaining weight, you would usually not catch me having any supper but when I walked past the above shop in Penang at about 9pm, my eyes were drawn to the Chinese / Japanese Kanji character, 鳗.

Now, I really can't resist Japanese eel, known as unagi in Japanese and 鳗 in Chinese / Japanese Kanji. And it definitely did help that the overly Japanese decor piqued my curiosity too! Plus, I noticed the charcoal grill station right at the entrance, which captivated passersby with the aroma!

Interior design of the eatery; felt like the works of a japanophile! Before stepping in, I also did a search on google and it was much better than expected; a high review of more than 4.5! 

Comfortably seated. 

Draft Beer - starting with one glass of refreshing ice cold Kirin draft beer! Beer is such a versatile beverage; too hot, drink one to cool the body and too cold, drink one to warm the body. 

Unagi Hitsumabushi - how to resist not ordering this?! Before trying this for the very first time at Man Man, I had absolutely no idea of the three ways we can thoroughly enjoy unagi! 

Having it the normal way, and with the freshly ground wasabi (so much better than those artificial one), seaweed and spring onions. Unagi was nice grilled and although slightly charred with a smoky sweet marinade, it lacked the crispness that Man Man had perfected. 

Soaking the unagi and rice with the dashi broth was my favorite out of the three ways! Strangely, however, the broth tasted more flavored and this kind of masked the original, natural taste of the grilled unagi, which would be more my preference.   

Nevertheless, it's still a meal I didn't regret having at 9.30pm! 

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Address

27, Jalan Magazine, George Town, 

10300 George Town, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

Map

As above.

Menu

As above.

Pricing

Draft Beer - RM 28.00

Unagi Hitsumabushi - RM 78.00

(Subject to Service Charge) 

Click here for my Five Days 

Itinerary to Penang in 2024

Chinatown Street Light Up (Daytime) for Lunar New Year 2025 - Year of The Snake & the CNY Bazaar @ Singapore #yearofthesnake

Happy Lunar New Year! I was so busy these few months (with work, travel etc) that I clean forgot to upload the photographs taken  on 12 January for the annual Chinatown street light up and bazaar for Chinese New Year! 

Well, it's never too late since technically, today is only the second day of the year of the snake and the street light up could last till 27 February 2025, although the bazaar had already already ended by now. Nevertheless, good to blog for memory purpose.

Sadly, the beginning drizzle started turning heavier after I was done with my teriyaki chicken rice set from Kazan Japanese Cuisine at Chinatown Complex Food Centre. Now, being an amateur photographer, seeing the rain isn't a happy thing. 

The rain tapered a bit when I reached the main centerpiece; lucky! 

Centrepiece zodiac animal; the slithering snake! Known to be the most sinister among the twelve zodiac animals, it's impressive that the designers can come out with such a cutesy snake that exuded adorable beauty! 

Said to be 8 meter tall and part of this installation called the tree of fortune, the golden snake appeared much smaller at maybe about 3 meters tall, and all lonely. 

Even the snake banner adorning the facade of Yue Hwa Chinese Products was bigger! 

Due to the rain, I didn't venture much to the back of the tree of the fortune to check out other snakes. But maybe given the shape of a snake, with no limbs, I think it's quite hard to portray them in different forms. 

As usual, I would proceed to the best spot to shoot top-down photographs of the Chinese New Year centrepiece; People's Park Centre! But something was amiss with all the barricades.

Damn; the prohibition to take photos and videos. Frankly, I am wondering if section 447 of the penal code would hold in this instance if the object of photo-taking and videography is not within People's Park Centre. 

Back on ground to check out the CNY bazaar.

Hardly any customers given the rain. 

Under the shelter of my light, trusty umbrella from Tokyo Hands, I continued my crusade to see what's on offer. p.s. I almost bought the standing piggy banks! 

Wall decorations in the images of snakes, and cats. 

To be frank, the snakes don't look right.

Snacks on sale! Aside from the common Taiwanese mochi, jelly, peanuts, melon seeds, I noticed vegetarian options like buckwheat flake, pumpkin chinese yam chips, flaxseed chips etc.

The standard long line of new year cookies / snacks! I remember one year when the prices were heavily discounted on the eve of lunar new year, and I bought a ton! A lesson learnt though as it's obvious we overbought! 

This organic dried persimmons were really good, and they came from either Korea or Japan. Prices are reasonable and sampling is a must for you to decide which "country" is better for your taste buds.

My favorite stall; every year you would see me there buying a few kilograms of phoenix melon seeds and peanuts for my mom! I always look out for the uncle who was wearing the pair of black slippers with red sole! 

Happened to check out the Tai Chong Kok nian gao. Gosh, prices seemed to have gone up a lot! Back in 2019, the price of a medium was just S$14.80, and it's now S$22.80?! Darn the inflation.

Finally, the rain lightened a bit.

But, I was already going to leave. 

Video taken of the rainy weather. Although I did notice a cameraman taking footages of the street scene, I didn't realize I was actually shoot, with Alex exclaiming that he saw me while watching the news later at night! 

Karpal Singh Drive @ Penang in Malaysia

After stepping out of Fisherman's Wharf Food Corner, I had assumed that this promenade right in front would be the Karpal Singh Drive, which was a famous street with a high review rating score of 4.6 on google review! 

Turned out it wasn't the correct drive although this section was right beside. Nevertheless, kids would love this stretch for its plentiful supply of kiddy rides. p.s. they could be a menace for those just strolling. 

A beautiful sight in front of us, with mainland Malaysia just about a few kilometers across the channel; until I noticed the large pile of rubbish topping the hill! 

Crossing the stream to reach the other stretch.

Karpal Singh Drive - a 800-meter long promenade that was named after a prominent opposition politician who was killed in a car crash on 16 April 2014. As the state of Penang was under the opposition party, the chief minister then decided to rename the stretch after the Tiger of Jelutong, nickname of Mr Karpal Singh.

Overlooking the spectacular 13.5-kilometre long Penang Bridge connecting the island to mainland Malaysia, this direction also faced the east which means it should be a nice place to catch the sunrise too.

On a Sunday evening, I can sense its popularity with the locals; many were jogging, strolling, some alone, some with the entire family, including kids and/or grandparents. Relaxing, it sure was! 

Said to be the works of Hitori Nakayama, the above area contained art pieces like the 'Celebration of Our Blue Sky' and the 'Rhythm of Light'.

Celebration of Our Blue Sky; just four blue pillars. 

Rhythm of Light; in the design of a musical notes.

Frankly, I found them pretty rundown.

And rightfully so according to the plaque I found. These were installed before 29 May 2008 and about to be twenty years of age in 3 years' time! Having said that, I thought there would be some maintenance in place to spruce up the sculptures, like a fresh coat of paint maybe?

Aside from those along the pavement, some preferred to step beyond the boundary and fish! I got it that it could be quite therapeutic, especially with the view in front but I am sure this activity would be deemed too boring for a hyperactive person like me.

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Location

Jelutong, Penang, Malaysia

Map

As above.

Click here for my Five Days 

Itinerary to Penang in 2024