Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Malacca Vacation 16 Oct – 17 Oct 2010 Day 2

Breakfast in Hallmark Hotel is served in Hallmark Café from 0730 hrs – 1000 hrs. Very limited varieties of breakfast foods are available. The good part about the breakfast is the availability of some nonya kuih. However these are very limited and may not be refilled.


Hallmark Cafe


Simple breakfast

Checking out from Hallmark Hotel at 1000 hrs, we stopped along Heeren Street to show our family members the unique Hotel Puri. Before we even reached Hotel Puri, we stopped and entered Ah Lan Beaded Shoes shop. Here, we were surprised to find the kasut manek (beaded slippers) costing from RM150 (US48.85) upwards. Considering the other two shops which we fould along Jalan Kubu were selling these beaded slippers, usually worn by the nyonyas (descendants of Chinese settlers who married the local Malay) at RM800 (USD260.40) and above, this shop was truly offering value for money.


Nyonya beaded shoes


Nyonya attire

Here you could also get other traditional wear such as cheongsam (traditional Chinese body-hugging dress), sarong (a piece of fabric wrapped around the body and used as a loose skirt) and kebaya (traditional blouse worn by the Peranakans and usually made of sheer material). Sister-in-law and I had a fun time trying on the various clothings and we finally ended up buying RM500 (USD162.90) of goods. What is even more amazing is that you can get your sarong and even the beaded slippers custom-made if you are not able to find the size and design that you like. This is all at no extra charge, mind you. Provided they have the materials, your item can be ready in 3 hours’ time.

Holiday travel tips:-
If you are looking for great looking nyonya beaded slippers at very reasonable prices, you simply must check out Ah Lan Beaded Shoes. Located along Heeren Street, you simply will not find it any cheaper.

You can also see some bound feet shoes and bring some home as souvenir if you fancy. Again, the price for this is at a very reasonable RM35 (USD11.40).

Next stop was Hotel Puri. Everyone was amazed at the greenery inside the hotel and sister-in-law immediately started making plans to bring her daughters to Malacca and stay in Hotel Puri.


Hotel Puri Lobby

Nyonya kuih was next on the itinerary. We headed towards Jalan Tengkera and found our way to Baba Charlie, a well-known ‘manufactured from home’ nyonya kuih supplier. With the many varieties of high quality nyonya kuih available, you will be spoilt for choice.

Holiday travel tips:-
As you drive along Jalan Tengkera, look out for Tengkera mosque on your right if you are coming from the town centre. Once you spot the mosque, look for the sign Baba Charlie on your left and turn sharply into the narrow lane. At certain times of the day, you may see tourist buses along the road. That will mark the area where you need to turn.

The nyonya chang (meat dumplings) are a hot favourite. With the traditional blue colouring from the bunga telang flower, this is well loved by everyone in our group.


So many varieties and colours of nyonya cakes to choose from


Baba Charlie (right) spending some time with customers


After purchasing the nyonya kuih, we went across Jalan Tenkera to 486 Baba Low, another place that our friend Edwin had introduced us to before. Sitting out in the open, under the trees, brother and sister-in-law loved the rustic environment and simple food such as popiah, pie tee and mee siam. The laksa however was not what we expected as the gravy was very thick and was laden with coconut. The chendol was, according to brother, even better than what we had yesterday at Jeta Groves.

We visited Kampung Morten once again and this time, we were more fortunate as the owner Kamarbee was home to show us the beautiful house and the many antiques in the house. Brother was full of praise and claimed that the house was ‘first class’. ☺


Visit to Kampung Morten


135A Kampung Morten


You can see lots of antiques in the house

Our appointment at Scents and Senses, a place to relax, was at 1350 hrs. We were there at 1330 hrs for our herbal ball/Thai massage and brother for his aromatherapy massage. As usual, we were not disappointed. Everyone agreed that the massage was good and wished that it could have been longer.


Scents and Senses - a great place to unwind

Holiday Travel Tips:-
If you are going for the massage at Scents and Senses, do opt for at least a two-hour massage or more as you will find that the one hour session is a little too short to enjoy. In addition, a two-hour session would be more cost effective.

Shopping was next on the list. Heading to Aeon Jusco, we continued with more shopping before heading back to Ah Lan along Heeren Street to collect our beaded shoes. Sister-in-law was very happy with her purchases.

Stopping by Nadeje in Plaza Mahkota, we bought a piece of double chocolate mille crepe cake to have as dessert later.

We then went to Bee Bee Nyonya Pineapple Tarts to collect the pineapple tarts that we had ordered before proceeding for dinner at Delicious Home Taste Kitchen for our 1800 hrs dinner booking.


Bee Bee - Delicious Nyonya Pineapple Tarts

Holiday Travel Tips:-
At RM13 (USD4.25) per box of 18 tarts, Bee Bee’s pineapple tarts are just the right texture and have the right jam flavour to bring out the oomph of the tarts.

Delicious Home Taste Kitchen is located at No. 2, Jalan SP 3, Taman Semabok Perdana,75000 Melaka. However, somehow we could not locate the address on our Garmin Global Positioning System. Fortunately, hubby could still remember the way there!

We had earlier ordered the watercress porkbone soup, sweet potato leaves, crispy chicken, squid with dried chilli and pork ribs. As such, we did not have to wait too long for our dishes since they had already prepared the ingredients and just had to cook it for us.


Watercress porkbone soup


Our wonderful dinner

As usual the food was great and everyone found this a great eating place. Brother loved the squid with dried chilli and pork ribs. I loved the squid as well as it had a mildly spicy taste and the squid was extremely tender. Mum loved the watercress porkbone soup and sweet potato leaves and hubby loved the crispy chicken. This is one reason why we keep on coming back to Delicious Home Taste Restaurant to have our meals.


Delicious Home Taste Restaurant

Holiday Travel Tips:-
If you intend to have your meal at Delicious Home Taste Restaurant, do call them in advance as they have been known to turn away customers when there is a huge crowd as they do not wish to have their customers waiting too long for the food.

Dessert was the mille crepe cake we had bought from Nadeje earlier. Brother found it too creamy since he does not like cream cakes. However, sister-in-law loved it.


Nadeje's Mille Crepe

We started our journey back to Singapore at 1900 hrs. This has been a wonderful Malacca vacation with family members and everyone had an enjoyable time.





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