Trip was from 26/12/14 - 28/12/14. It's a short trip, but it was genuinely quite relaxing and fun. The food there was really satisfying, much so that I often overate and gloated myself up at times. :x
Checked in at the Hatten Hotel:
Hatten Hotel-lobby
After checking in, My family and I dumped our bags and headed out soon thereafter for our food hunt!
Here is a collection of all the food that I had there and hopefully you'll get a chance to try them on someday.
1. Ah Hui's Bak Kut Teh
This was actually a humble shop near to our hotel and which we decided to give a shot.
The Bak Kut Teh broth was really flavorsome. It certainly did have a unique taste to it which differed greatly to those from Singapore which were usually more towards the spicy nature. You could taste the mixture of the ingredients in the soup which certainly left an impression in my mind. Top it off which some beansprouts, tofu and rice and you certainly have a great inexpensive and delicious meal!
2. Nadeje Melaka
This shop was something my bro recommended. Apparently it is a really famous shop selling Crepe Cakes. It was certainly welcomed by the people there judging from the looong queue, so much that we decided to join the (still not so short) take-away queue so as to be able to get our food faster.
There are loads of choices to choose from, some of which includes original, green tea, mango, etc. The cake itself had pleasure-rich
layers of butter-soft creaminess; immaculate in terms of texture, subtle
& not too sugary. One of the better cakes I've eaten in my life admittedly.
3. Jonker Street
This is the one place in Malacca everyone will go to. It is the busiest street with loads of shops selling all kinds of tasty treats and cheap keep sakes.
Carrot Cake, Curry Fishballs
The carrot cake tasted really different from the one in Sg, but definitely in a good way. It has this crisp, aromatic flavor to it after ordering it from some street vendor. Not to mention, it was really cheap!
Rojak
Oh my, the beancurd skin was so crunchy, everyone was fighting to get some of it! Top it off with some of the sauce and you'll be taking another before you know it.
Satay
Blazin' Oysters!
This stall caught our eye. Their preparation looked really cool and flashy, so much that we had to order a set of cheese oysters from them. After seasoning the oysters, they got down to actually scorching it with a torch before serving it to us and it tasted heavenly! :D
Cheese Egglette
Otah
Twisted Potato
These came in a variety of flavors. I believe in Sg Pasar Malams, the way it is served is that they put sauces on the whole stick before serving it to you. When we ordered here, the flavors came in the form of powder which was sprinkled all over it.
Jonker 88
Jonker 88's Famous Cendol!
Located somewhere in the middle of Jonker Street is a well known store for their (Durian) Cendol. We're pretty lucky to get some seats when we arrived and had to jump straight into ordering some.
Taste wise, it was super refreshing after all the walking we'd done so far on the day. The durian taste was really prevalent yet the sweetness was just right. The generous toppings of Gula Melaka provided a slightly different taste to all the Cendols that I've been used to, making it a memorable taste experience!
Hot Dog wrapped in an egg, topped off with mayonnaise and cheese. Mmmmm...
Quail Eggs w/ Ham
That night, there were also loads of shops selling really unique souvenirs, hand-made products and providing all kinds of services from hand-painting to fortune telling to foot massages. Never really stopped for those though as the only thing I wanted was foooood. I'm such a greedy ass. ~_~
Jonker Street - (Following Morning)
Revisited again the following morning to check out whatever we have missed again as there were really too many shops to go to.
Non-Alcoholic Cocktails
Got some of these bad-boys which looked like a pretty appetising drink which will serve us in what's there to come and that is queuing up for this chicken rice ball shop under the sweltering sun for a really looooong time. Apparently, this shop closes at about 2pm in the afternoon as it would've already been sold out by then which was why I didn't get to go to it the day before.
Chop Chung Wah's Hainanese Chicken Rice
Shop Sign
Look at the damn queue to this place
Chicken Rice Balls w/ a whole Chicken
The rice balls were really soft and scrumptious. You could barely taste the grains of rice at all which means that they probably crushed and molded it till it is as such. In addition, the chickens (from what I heard) that they use is those kampong ones that are free to run about everyday which gives them a lot of exercise, making the meat more tender and less fatty.
Served with lime juice and chilli which was quite 'gao', I'd say the meal was certainly worth the wait.
Continued walking down Jonker Street after the hearty chicken rice ball meal and here are more of my findings(loot):
Gula Melaka
Freshly-made Ondeh Ondeh
These balls of fluff didn't really catch my eye initially. However, after my dad bought some and told me to try it, I was swept away by it's sweetness enveloped amongst the dough and coconut bits.
This concludes the journey within Jonker Street. The time spent here on the first night and second morning was certainly worth it. Time to find look for some other local delights.
6. Makko
Based on many reviews and recommendations online, this was next on the list. Visited the place at around 5.45pm, only to find the place closed. Thank god it was going to re-open at 6pm though and more importantly, that we unknowingly had ourselves to be the first in line. Before we knew it, throngs of people started to come minutes after and a long line started to form behinds us
Basically the place served Nyonya cuisine and the staff were all dressed in those traditional Peranakan attire which was quite nice when we were served with our food.
The spread
For a table of 5, we had a total of 8 dishes (Beancurd, beef rendang, otah-otah, potato leafs, chicken, mango salad, sotong and salted veg soup). Sounds overkill? Nah, we finished it all.
It was a really enticing meal. You could literally taste and appreciate the nyona influences in the dishes. My personal favourite was the sotong, stole a lot of those from the table! Haha.
7. A&W
Sign
A&W Bear
A&W Root Beer Recipe
A&W Family Meal
Fun fact about A&W is that the last outlet closed in Sg a while back and to my knowledge, there's no A&W branch left in Sg. This was the last stop we'd visit before heading back to Sg. My mom was pretty enthusiastic to try their root beer float which had a 'flatter' root beer base, topped off with ice cream. The curly fries were fantastic as well, adding on a couple of swanky frank hot dogs + chickens and burgers, it was time to get fat! Om nomonomomom :O
Oh yeah, got myself a pair of new walking shoes from a nearby shopping mall before heading back. (Thanks mummy!)
lonsdale shoes
Overall, the trip really did spoil my taste buds. Sometimes till the point where my stomache could no longer take it anymore... lol. Oh well, I regret nothing though!
Malacca is definitely one of those destinations worth checking out if your planning a short-food oriented trip to spoil yourself a little. Not to mention, it is also relatively inexpensive compared to Sg. Exchange rates are pretty good now, so what are you waiting for? :D
