Malacca 10 Jan 09

A Landmark of Malacca

Decided to make a short day trip to Malacca. Distance from Singapore to Malacca is approximately 260km. We reached Tuas checkpoint at 0815 hrs and surprisingly the usual Saturday morning expected queues were nowhere to be seen. Instead we managed to clear both Singapore and Malaysia immigration in less than 15 minutes. A first considering our numerous vacations into Malaysia via land.

It took us about 2 1/2 hours to reach the Ayer Keroh/Malacca toll. A friend met us and became our unofficial tour guide for the day. The Malacca trip became an eating spree with 5 meals all between 1130 hrs to 2230 hrs.



With our unofficial tour guide at Jonker Walk

Gaily decorated for the festive season..

The stage at the beginning of Jonker Walk


First stop was lunch at Kedai Kopi Chung Wah for authentic chicken rice ball. This place is located at one end of Jonker Walk. The rice came in cute little balls and I originally mistook them to be fish balls. Good aroma of shallot, ginger and chicken oil. Each rice ball costs RM0.30. The chilli was spicy and chicken tender. This shop serves only white chicken and would have made my day if the flesh was a little more tender. Half a chicken costs RM14. It seems that there is another shop close by that also serves the chicken rice ball but with a greater variety of dishes including roasted chicken and some vegetables as well but not as authentic according to our tour leader.

Chung Wah Coffee House where queues start after 12pm..

Chicken rice balls @RM0.30 per ball ...........

... With the accompanying chicken

To help the food digest, we took a walk along the famous Jonker Walk and the parallel road known as Harmony Street. Jonker Walk during the day does not have the roadside stalls, just the shop houses. If you were to come after 6pm on either Friday, Saturday or Sunday, you would be welcomed by the numerous roadside stalls, just like a night market. Harmony Street derived its name as there are various places of worship along the same street, namely Chinese temple, mosque and the Indian temple.

... The Indian Temple

The Chinese Temple ...........





....... A write-up on the mosque along Harmony Street



If you like to take a walk down memory lane, you can pop into the various antique shops along both streets. You can find various collectible items. Signboards of the olden days can be seen. Japanese occupation 'banana money' are available. Old household items which previously were so common but have become a rarity in modern times makes it a memorable experience, bringing one back to childhood memories. We managed to see an artist and a blacksmith at work on this lazy Saturday afternoon.



Blacksmith at work....





Artist busy painting

Colourful clogs for sale...

Surprisingly the sun was not burning hot as it normally is during the afternoon. This made it a great day to window shop. Many people make it a point to buy 'gula melaka' or palm sugar here. Gula Melaka is often used in some savory dishes but mainly in the local desserts and cakes of the Southeast Asian region. Another good buy is the 'pulut hitam' or what is known as black glutinous rice which is cooked into a dessert with the gula melaka and usually served with thick coconut milk.

Shop selling coffee powder ...

Your choice of coffee and tea


Jonker Walk is filled with numerous stalls selling pineapple tarts, delightful little tart pastry with pineapple jam filling on the top, and pineapple rolls, another version of the pineapple tarts. Many stalls even bake them in front of you. A good dessert and something that is a must for the festive season.


..... A giant pineapple tart


Next stop was home-cooked nonya or peranakan food at Donald & Lily's on Heeren Street. We each had a bowl of Malacca's famous chendol dessert and shared a plate each of the' special of the day' Nasi Minyak and the Tahu Goreng. For the chendol, the ice was lightly shaved. However, felt that a tinge more of gula melaka would have made it tastier. The Nasi Minyak came with chicken which was oh so tender and the chicken gravy just the right taste, though a little on the oily side. As for the tahu goreng, I love the tahu, but didn't like the prawn paste (usually used for rojak) that it came with. Just didn't gel for me. I did like the cozy ambience of the place. Total cost was less than RM15.

The entrance to Donald and Lily

31 Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock (Heeren St)

Nasi Minyak

Tahu Goreng

Chendol

A visit to the Eye On Malaysia brought us face-to-face with the cousin of the Singapore Flyer. Next to it is a new development still under construction which is expected to house a 4D Theatre and a Space Adventure when it is ready.

At the centre of Malacca lies the restored red-brick Dutch architecture, some of which date back to 1641. It is accentuated by the famous clock tower that was built in 1886. At the clock tower, a focal point of Malacca, there are lots of beautifully decorated trishaws that you can pay to ride on. Though they do not come cheap, they are good for photo-taking especially and a relaxed way to tour the area. Also by the tower is the ancient Dutch Studhuys building, built around 1650 as the official residence of the Dutch governors. It is said to be the oldest Dutch building in South East Asia. Today it is a museum with artifacts from Malacca's past and also houses some souvenir stalls.

The clock tower in the background

Gaily decorated trishaws

Whilst driving around Malacca, we were shown what seemed to be many museums in such a small vicinity. Overall, we passed more than close than ten museums.


Now for some exercise. A Famosa or "The Famous" in Portuguese, is a fortress built in 1511 by Alfonso de Albuquerque around a natural hill near the sea. This is among the oldest surviving European architectural remains in Asia. Only a tiny gate (called the Porta de Santiago) is all that is left of this once-mighty fortress. Almost at the top, there was a Dutch graveyard with a few tombstones left. Right at the top of A Famosa, you can see the sea in the distance. As A Famosa was built near the sea, what used to be the sea is now reclaimed land with houses and places of attraction built on it as can be seen in the picture.

The tiny gate that is left ...

At the top of A Famosa, statue of Francis Xavier

View from the top of A Famosa


After climbing A Famosa, we dropped into Dataran Palawan, Melaka's megamall. A recent addition to the shopping scene in Malacca, it is situated just next to Hotel Equitorial and A Famosa. A unique feature is its fountain where the pictorial history of Malacca is depicted on the four sides of the fountain. Carrefour, the hypermarket, is here.

The pictorial history of Malacca

Chinese New Year decoration...

Just across the road is Mahkota Parade, the largest shopping centre in Malacca. Giant and Starbucks can be found here. A word of caution if you are buying anything from Giant. This is the second time we were overcharged in Giant Malaysia as the prices scanned were higher than the displayed prizes.

If you are an avid baker, King Lin Plastic Enterprise is a shop you might want to visit. You will be able to find baking suplies, for example, ingredients, containers, baking pans, etc... I just love going to such shops and finding bargains.

Next on the itinerary was to get some satay. Pitifully, the shop was already closed by the time we got there after 1800 hrs. Hopefully we can get some during the next trip to Malacca. Next time we need to stay overnight in order to savour more delights and allow our stomach some time to rest as well.

So we made a visit to Nadeje Patisserie at G23 & 25 Jln PM4 at Plaza Mahkota. Nadeje's is a little cozy cafe and specialises in mille crepes which are light Japanese cheese cakes. Very light and not cheesy like the usual cheesecakes. Are they really cheesecakes? Guess will need to check it out when we next visit. We tried the original, berry and banana chocolate mille crepes. Light paper thin crepes sandwiched with cream filling. Ooooohhhhh, this was the highlight of the day. They were allso delicious and yummy and each of us had one favourite based on individual taste. Each mille crepe costs RM8.50. A whole cake costs RM65. We were so tempted to buy a whole cake home. Nadeje's also has a branch at Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall, although I was told by our unofficial guide that the cakes served at the main branch at Plaza Mahkota is slightly fresher.

The chocolate banana crepe ..





... Original





Berry mille crepe....





... 3 mille crepes, each done to perfection


After Nadeje's was time for dinner. We moved on to the Portuguese Settlement for seafood dinner. We tried stall number 8, Restoran De Costa. With some recommendation from the stallholder, we ordered the chilli baked 'jenak' fish, fried cuttlefish (a little like calamari), sambal kangkong, lala (shells similar to mussles) and chicken curry devil. The fish was extremely fresh and tasted superb, our favourite for the night. All the other dishes were cooked to perfection and our unofficial tour guide claimed that the food here is better than stall number 1 which he normally frequents. Total cost came up to RM87.50 for the 3 of us.

Stall number 8


Not to be outdone, our unofficial tour guide persuaded us to try the Satay Celup at Capitol Restoran Sate. There seemed to always be a queue of customers waiting for a table. This shop has been around for some time now and is run by the third generation currently. We waited almost 30 minutes for a table as there are only 12 tables in total. Satay Celup consists of a pot of 'satay-like' gravy placed on the stove similar to stamboat where you cook the food on skewers in the gravy. You help yourself to the food from the open refirgerator. Each skewer costs RM0.70. Place the skewers in the pot of satay gravy and cook them yourself. Enjoy...



Where queues abound...





Food on skewers....



WOW!!! Imagine having five meals in less than 12 hours. That ended our one day vacation in Malacca. In fact, it had turned to be a gastronomic delight which we had not expected so. Overall it was a very fruitful trip as we managed to try as much local food as possible and even got some shopping done. All thanks to our friend in Malacca, Edwin Wong. Without his help, it would have been impossible for us to explore Malacca so thoroughly.

Church of St Francis Xavier ...