Showing posts with label nyonya cakes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nyonya cakes. Show all posts

Monday, January 3, 2011

Malacca Vacation 6 Nov - 7 Nov 2010 Day 2

The second day of our weekend Malacca vacation, we had a leisurely breakfast in our Malacca accommodation, Hotel Puri. We took the last few hours in the hotel to walk around and enjoy the serene surroundings and lush greenery before checking out.


Breakfast venue in Hotel Puri





Hotel Puri - Heliconia Garden

Baba Charlie's Nyonya Cake is next on our itinerary. As usual, we are amazed at the many varieties of delicious and colourful nyonya cakes available here. Surprisingly, it was not too crowded at Baba Charlie's today and we had time to chat with Baba Charlie himself for a short while.


Baba Charlie signboard at front entrance


Dumplings with chicken filling

Holiday travel tips:-
Baba Charlie's "chang" (dumplings with chicken filling) are a favourite of many of my local citizens who always make it a point to drop by this popular home based kitchen to grab some to bring back to Singapore.




Chatting with Baba Charlie (in dark blue t-shirt)

Our next favourite haunt whilst in Malacca is Bee Bee Nyonya Pineapple Tarts, a home based bakery specializing in nyonya pineapple tarts.


Bee Bee's Nyonya Pineapple Tarts

Holiday Travel Tips:-
If you are keen to try some of Bee Bee's popular pineapple tarts, do give her a call and let her know how many boxes you need and approximately what time you will be collecting your tarts. This way, you will not be disappointed when you find the tarts out of stock!

After purchasing whatever we needed, we went to Dataran Pahlawan Megamall and were pleasantly surprised to see a sandart exhibition depicting the Deepavali Festival.


Sandart designs depicting Deepavali Festival

Taking some pictures of the sandart, we then went to Zen, a cafe where we had tea and spent some time surfing.


Zen


Green tea cheesecake - found it a little odd in flavour. Guess I'm not that adventurous after all.


Enjoying a drink

Next we had a foot reflexology before visiting our friends, Emileigh and Lydia, at their home in Jonker Walk for a home cooked nyonya dinner. The food was simply delicious and well prepared by their 'mommy'.


Thai foot reflexology

Here are some the home cooked nyonya dishes that we enjoyed for dinner.


Fish & chicken


More nyonya dishes


Not forgetting the 'chilli sambal' that is a must!


The home-chef

After eating till our stomachs were bloating, we started on our drive back to Singapore. By the time we cleared customs and immigration, it was already past midnight. Time simply flies when we are having fun!





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Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Malacca Vacation 16 Oct – 17 Oct 2010 Day 2

Breakfast in Hallmark Hotel is served in Hallmark CafĂ© 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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Monday, November 1, 2010

Baba Charlie Nyonya Kuih - Malacca


Baba Charlie Lee (better known as Baba Charlie)
72, Jalan Tengkera Pantai 2
75200 Melaka
(Closed on Thursdays)

Contact:- 019-666 2907

Directional sign along the main road. When you see the sign, be prepared to turn left into the small alley that will lead you to the house below which should stand out with its bright red wall and yellow house.



If this is your first time looking for Baba Charlie, look out for the sign by the roadside. This was erected recently which helps a great deal as we could not locate the place when we first went looking for it even after our friend gave us directions.

A favourite with tour groups, you might just see tour buses parked along the main road as the small alley to Baba Charlie is too narrow for the big buses.

Baba Charlie is the owner of Baba Charlie Nyonya Cake which sells all kinds of delicious nyonya cakes. Baba Charlie also caters for buffets and produces nyonya popiah with lots of filling and at great prices!

Nyonya cakes galore


Nyonya cakes - Just love the myriad of colours

Baba Charlie started by selling his Malacca peranakan food at pasar malam (night market) about 20 years ago and has now grown into a major supplier of hotels and restaurants.

If you miss getting your nyonya cakes at Baba Charlie's house, you can visit them at the pasar malam:-

Mon : Bukit Beruang/Tanjung
Tue : KG. Lapan/Ujong Pasir
Wed : Bukit Beruang
Thu : Off
Fri : Malim Jaya
Sat : Kota Laksamana
Sun : Air Keroh/ Batu Berendam

A common sight to see big groups rushing for the famous nyonya kuih

Kuih koci hitam - what it looks like on the outside

Upon removing the leaf wrapping, outer layer made with black glutinous rice

Filling of sweet coconut

Going crazy over the wide choices of nyonya cakes

Kuih Talam and Pulut Seri Kaya

Ondeh ondeh

Kuih dadar and kuih bingka ubi

Lepat Kacang

Yam cake

Pulut seri kaya and kuih lapis




Rempah udang - Baba Charlie's specialty

Glutinous rice with the trademark blue colouring synonymous with nyonya cakes

Shrimp paste filling

Dumplings, also known as chang, a hot favourite and top seller

Various cookies on sale such as the pineapple tarts and kuih bangkit

Love letters or egg rolls

Pickles and chin cha lok

Photos of the family

Always smiling, family members at work

Baba Charlie (left) chatting with hubby



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