Lonely Planet Review

Upstairs in an attractively renovated 19th-century house is this small collection of simple but striking rooms. It's a creaky old place incorporating a museum and a cafe and is an atmospheric place to stay.

100 Cintra Street is a late 19th-century Baba-Nonya (Straits Chinese) house which has been lovingly restored and today hosts a ground floor cafe, a few antique shops, a Baba-Nonya museum and, most recently, a simple guesthouse. Climb the grand wooden staircase, open the sliding iron door to your room and step into the past, though thankfully a cleaned-up version. The rooms are very basic. You get a rather thin mattress atop a kind of wooden platform, with a mosquito net, fan and hanging basket for your belongings. The shared bathrooms are perfectly modern. At present, the dorm, such as it is, consists of five single beds on an open landing, so it's none too private. A new dorm, in a large room, is planned, however. Guests can visit the small Baba-Nonya museum, with its collection of vintage costumes and furnishings, free of charge.