A Gastronomic Overload in Malacca
It was a short 2 day/ 1 night trip, but couldn’t have been more ful(l)filling. Take 5 ladies on a road-trip, determined to optimize their appetites for food, fun, adventure, shopping and yes, we did it all, and more. It was a great idea to hire an MPV with ample space and a driver to take us there and back, instead of going by coach. Setting off bright and early on a weekday also meant there were no snaking queues at the checkpoint and we cleared immigration in no time at all.
Food, Food, Food
Lunch stop was at this cosy restaurant off the beaten track that serves authentic Peranakan food in Malacca. ( Aunty Lee Restaurant, 385 Jalan Ujong Pasir, Taman Sinn, 75050, Malacca ) Aunty Lee has passed on and the restaurant came under new management with nary a dent to its repute and quality. There is a good write-up about this place by klyeoh at chowhound.com dated Mar 2015.
I found the chap chai and sambal chilli for the ladies’ fingers a tad too sweet and the beef rendang could have been more tender. Otherwise, the ayam keluak was cooked to near perfection, the prawn with petai went down well, and the cinchalok omelette fluffy, moist and full of flavour. Their piece de resistance was yet to come…
I have lived life with few regrets but this was one of them – to have to share this very decadent, sinful dessert which ought to be given its rightful adulation and selfishly savoured in all its glorious mouthfuls. The spirit was more than willing but the flesh conceded at the waistline. People, you will do well to leave room for an entire bowl of this dessert!
Notwithstanding bloated tummies from an overload at Aunty Lee’s, dinner was right on cue with Satay Celup, which is an iconic dish in Malacca. Leave your reservations about hygiene and food safety behind, just dunk right into it and keep your fingers crossed. You choose from an assortment of raw seafood, meat, vegetables, quail eggs, cockles on wooden skewers and dip them right into a hotpot of satay gravy.
Gluttony took control with desserts of Mille Crepe .We did the next respectable thing by sharing two portions among the 6 of us, including our very obliging driver, P. Macaroons should have been on the menu but they just ran out, so our exploding tummies enjoyed a small reprieve this time.
Day 1 has been a “gastronomic bonanza” in the words of C. She is French, and every bite of local Malacca has been a “fear-factor” challenge which she gamely undertook with grace and dignity. ( But she drew the line at durian cendol! ) Still recovering from jet-lag, she retired early to bed while the rest of us soldiered on…
Day 2 started with a good buffet spread for breakfast at the Hatten Hotel – highly recommended for its price, amenities and location. We reminded one another to exercise more restraint before heading off for lunch. P surprised us by driving us to a Taiwanese noodle outlet which tested our resolve to be less greedy. We ordered the entire repertoire of noodles with minced chicken, spicy beef, pork trotters and pork chop with seconds.
Jonker Street is peppered with snack shops and cafes to suit every taste and budget. We stumbled onto one which ranked in our books as the coolest cafe along that street, aptly called ” The Daily Fix” when we needed just that. It was not apparent from the shop front that it is a cafe and one can easily walk right past it, had we not been lured by the goods on display and walked into what we’d thought would be a shopping fix , which led us to the cafe located behind the shop. The prices for 5 juices were equivalent to our Satay Celup dinner for 6 the night before but the decor and ambience of the cafe was good enough to justify its audacious pricing.
One does not leave Malacca without stopping at Baba Charlie Nonya Cakes to take away some home-made nonya kuehs for the folks back home. Apart from a mind-boggling selection of kuehs, they will also tempt you with freshly made egg kaya, sambal blachan, dry mee-siam, and pantry staples like blachan, cinchalok, and gula melaka.
Our early dinner stop after leaving Malacca was at Nijyumaru at Johore Bahru, my favourite haunt across the border. It has two outlets, one nearer the Woodlands Checkpoint, and the other nearer the second link at Tuas. You get to enjoy a wide variety of good quality Japanese food at very reasonable prices going by the exchange rates in our favour. It was a lovely and fitting end to our greedy eating adventure which tested the edge of our endurance and limit.
Culture and Heritage
Travelling with docents from the Peranakan Museum requires a mandatory trip or two to the museums of straits heritage. We did both – the Baba Nyonya Museum and the Straits Chinese Jewellery Museum. Visiting these museums after surviving the rigorous training to becoming full-fledged docents ( all but one ) added depth to the experience and appreciation of the Peranakan culture. It lent credence to the weak label of a “study tour” for pigging out.
The historic city of Malacca is a UNESCO world heritage site. It was founded by Parameswara ( aka Iskandar Shah ), a Malay Hindu Prince circa 1402. Subsequently, it came under Dutch and Portuguese rule with intermittent British occupation as a crown colony. Some of the vestiges of its rich colonial past together with its Peranakan heritage are still lovingly preserved.
Home Sweet Home
This trip brought 5 of us from different backgrounds, nationalities and personalities together in a whirlwind of feasting and activities compressed into 2 days but stretched out like a week. We got to discover each other’s quirks, temperaments, habits and disposition as strange bed-fellows and cemented the bond as good friends and travelling companions. I even got to take home a new kitchen gadget to add to my excessive arsenal – a putu piring maker for my favourite snack. Never thought I would ever find something like this, but you’d never know, if you are persistent enough. We have been so blessed with a good driver, smooth traffic, wonderful chemistry, friendly locals, divine food and great shopping. It is truly one of the best holidays I’ve ever had, with such a lovely bunch of ladies. Let’s do it again – soon!
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