Baba Charlie - Nyonya Popiah

Baba Charlie is well known for his nyonya kuih as well as nyonya popiah (fresh spring roll) in Malacca. Either you can get the delicious nyonya food from his house in Jalan Pantai 2 (near the Tengkera mosque) during the day time before 1500 hrs or at the pasar malam (night market).

We found Baba Charlie at the Kota Laksamana pasar malam on one of the Saturdays that we were in Malacca and attached below are picture of popiah making. You can see the many ingredients that go into the making of the popiah.

Baba Charlie nyonya cakes and nyonya popiah - sign at the pasar malam

The various ingredients that go into the making of the popiah

First, lay the popiah skin on a flat surface

Spread the sweet sauce and chilli paste

Next, the lettuce, beansprouts, egg, garlic and nuts

Then the vegetable (bangkwang - light brown tropical root vegetable with a crisp, watery texture and a nutty, slightly sweet flavor) filling

Roll it up and VOILA! There is your delicious popiah

In many nyonya households, popiah parties where the whole household chips in to get the popiah ingredients ready are common. However, with the tons of work and time involved in making home cooked popiah, many are resorting to buy popiah.







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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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KL & Malacca Malaysia 17/09 – 19/09/2010

This time, instead of driving up to Malaysia in our car, our friends Lionel and Lisa picked us up and we went along in their SUV. Taking a slow drive, we entered Malaysia via the Second Link at Tuas Checkpoint and headed for the North-South Highway.

First stop was Machap Rest & Relaxation where we had breakfast. The nasi lemak (coconut rice) and dishes from stall no. 8 was good, especially the sambal chilli. The lontong and mee soto were not too bad either. As Lisa was not up to a heavy breakfast, she opted for kaya toast.

Lontong

Nasi lemak

Kaya toast

Mee soto

Warrior in Malay outfit

2nd stop was in Malacca as we had to collect something from a friend of ours before going up to Kuala Lumpur.

Next was lunch at Jeta Groves which we had called around 1030am to reserve the last two portions of their mee rebus. Open for breakfast at 0700 hrs, their mee rebus is a hot seller and if you wish to try it, you definitely have to either go early or call to reserve.

Mee rebus (left) and mee siam (right)

Holiday travel tips:-

If you wish to try the mee rebus at Jeta Groves, it is best to go early in the morning preferably before 0900 hrs

Here we had their mee rebus as well as mee siam, both of which were great tasting. The noodles used for their mee rebus tasted much better than the usual yellow noodles used and the gravy was also different making the dish a hot favourite. The mee siam also had a nice tinge to the slightly spicy, sweet and sour gravy.

Since we were at Jeta Groves, we definitely had to take the chendol which is a favourite of ours. We had the durian chendol and the plain chendol. They tasted great as usual.

Durian chendol - rich and with plenty of ingredients

This time round, we saw some nonya cakes on each table and decided to try the pulut panggang (rie wrapped in banana leaf with filling made from grounded dried prawns and grated coconut) as well as the koo kuih (nonya steam cake made from sweet potato flour with various fillings).

Nyonya kuih

The glutinous rice of the pulut panggang had the blue colouring reminiscent of nonya food and the filling was just right. The skin of the koo kuih was not too sticky and just the right texture.

After the Malaccan Nonya lunch, we continued our journey to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. By the time we checked in to Blessings Homestay, our Malaysia accommodation for the night, it was already 1600 hrs. However, due to some miscommunication, the room was not ready for us.

Interior of Blessings Homestay - bright clean and airy

Eco-garden at Blessings

After placing our luggage in the rooms, we stayed in the living room and worked on the internet. When the room was ready, we took a nap before moving off to Eco Oasis, an organic café in Jalan Riong where we met up with some of our friends and conducted a ‘Get Real’ evening. Light refreshments were served and that was our dinner.

After the session ended at 2200 hrs, we managed to catch up with some of our friends and answered their queries on the meditation retreat. We followed Michael, a good friend of ours, to Devi’s Corner close by for some supper.

Devi's Corner

Enjoying the company at Devi's Corner

Even at 2300 hrs, the place was quite crowded and we had to wait for a table. We ordered the thosai, masala thosai as well as the satay. The food was good and we thoroughly enjoyed the Malaysian thosai and satay. After talking further with Michael, it was past midnight when we parted ways.

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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