I headed to Melaka for a food escape in the middle of my study break last month. Since the last time I visited Melaka was close to a decade ago, I needed help with determining where the good eats were. And because I'm a blogger, and all bloggers stick together (self made-up rule), I summoned the help of VKeong , a well-trusted Malaysia Food Blogger (click to be directed to his blog). With reference to this and this blog post of VKeong's , here's the Melaka goodies that I filled myself up with during the 1 day trip. Our 1st stop was the Klebang Original Coconut Shake. A cup goes for RM2 which is inclusive of a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. You can add additional scoops of ice cream for 50 cents a scoop. Even for Ipoh standards, that's a really good price for an entire cup! The texture of the shake is alike what you'll expect from a Rm2 shake. It wasn't even or smooth , but it surely tasted great. In fact , I felt that the bits and pieces of crunchy ice added up to the shake-y feeling of the drink.
Rated 200/10
I'll say it again,the shake was AWESOME!! It was so good that we went for another helping on the way back. This time around, we had 2 scoops of ice-cream in our shake. It tasted much creamier and HEAVENLY. Klebang Original Coconut Shake's makeshift stall can't be missed along Jalan Klebang as they have a huge banner printed out and if you're lucky like we were, the long line of awaiting thirsty customers can be spotted from afar. If you're heading to Jonker Street (which is where everyone goes) , you'll have to drop by because the stall is only 15 minutes away! But if directions are not your forte, you can find for them at GPS coordinates N2 12.920 E102 12.36. They are open daily from 11.30am to 6.30 pm and are closed when they need to (I'm not too sure what that means), or to be really sure , you can call Shaffie at 013-399-4661 to find out if they're operating. We then headed to East & West Rendezvous cafe along Lorong Hang Jebat for their Nyonya 'chung' (glutinous rice dumplings)
The shop is a road away from Jonker Street. It's not that hard to find.
'Chungs' in the making. This was the first time I saw the use of blue rice for making chungs. If my memory serves me right, the aunty selling it said it was meant to add to the texture and 'fullness' of the chung.
rated a 7/10
The 'Chung' is filled with dried shrimp, sambal and spice-marinated pork . Overall it was an okay dish for me. Maybe because I'm generally not a fan of eating chung. But the tour group that ta paued dozens of uncooked bundles home sure had a different opinion. Vkeong also stated that the same shop served his favorite bowl of cendol, made using 100% pure gula melaka. We did not try it as we were awaiting to eat more at Jonker Street. If you're planning on bringing a bunch of chungs home, I would suggest you call Grace at 016-634-6283 to pre-order them first. Our next stop was Jonker Street The first shop we landed in at Jonker Street was Hoe Kee for Chicken Rice Balls. One of my earliest memories of Melaka was having these chicken rice balls and they tasted fantastic so I was excited to revisit my past.
Rice balls: 5/10
5 rice balls, a dish of sliced chicken and a vegetable dish caused less than Rm15. Now let's just forget about taste for awhile, for the amount of food we ordered Rm15 is a really good price!
Chicken and vegetable dish : 7.5/10
I'm not sure if the standards of chicken rice balls has dropped over the years but to my disappointment, the dish tasted just ordinary. The chicken was smooth and seasoned well, like those you can find at good chicken rice shops and the vegetable dish was refreshing but there was no kick to it. In my opinion, the rice balls were , as my mom puts it, just gimmicks. Or, as some people have told me, the main attraction of the dish is the chicken, not the rice balls. Well, that's rather silly. Why put so much emphasis on the rice balls then? I'm not sure lah! But either ways, it was a disappointing dish. However, I do agree that this is a must try dish when you are in Melaka. After all, it is their specialty. Maybe other chicken rice stalls ,like the one VKeong went to, serves better tasting dishes. Next we headed to Jonker 88, another famous shop along Jonker Street Here we had a bowl of Nyonya Laksa and Yong Tau Fu ( not very Melaka like but I was craving for it)
The Nyonya laksa at Jonker 88
seriously, don't even bother trying it. It was diluted and tasted like they made it in the morning and left in the pot to reboil for the entire day. rated 4/10
Yong Tau Fu was mah mah tei. soup was tasteless. 3/10
However, the cendol at Jonker 88 did not disappoint
Sago Cendol Rated 10/10
I ordered the sago cendol for Rm 4. From the chattering of the other customers around us, it seemed like all the other cendol variations of Jonker 88 was a hit as well. My bowl had just the right amount of everything in it. I also realized that many customers were asking for the Sago Gula Melaka but they ran out of it that day. I'm surely going to return to try it. Good stuff. By the way, I realized that a handful of stalls were selling fancy bottled drinks for Rm10 for 3. Was very tempted to buy them but I got talked into doing otherwise. I wonder what kind of beverages they were? Realizing that we were too full to carry on with our makan plans, we walked around Jonker Street for a bit. Our last location was for the famous Putu Piring that I have been hearing so much about.
each only cost 90 cents!
The shop house is located in Tengkera, which is about a 10 minute drive from Jonker Street. It took sometime for us to find it because all the shop houses looked alike, so you'll have to keep your eyes peeled.
GPS Coordinates: N2 12.076 E102 14.326
Putu Piring is a family affair for the 3 generations of vendors that I saw that day. They still stick to the traditional means of preparing the rice flour dish and use a recipe passed down from generations. The Putu Piring itself taste great especially when it is freshly steamed. It does not taste as good when cold, but it's still better than the ordinary ones you find at a push cart. The shop is open everyday except Sunday from 6.30am to 10.30 pm. And that was all our tummies could handle. My all in all impression of Melaka is that it's a good place for a short trip, but you'll run out of things to do quick ( Eh doesn't that sound a bit like Ipoh?)
Be Right Back,
Sabrina.
Labels: critics, food, friends, malaysia, me, travel 2 lovely comments ✿
Everyone knew about it. Everyone, especially the bigger, cooler kids. Grow up. GROW up. GROW UP. What does this word actually mean? To grow up. Why can't they just say 'grow'. Why is there a need to add the word 'up' to it? I mean how do you know if you've grown enough to reach up? Is 'Up' 21,? or 30? or 69? or even 100? Or does 'UP' represent something else like your level of education? Your job? Your income? Do we ever stop growing to reach up? Is there a certain age, or well, time in your life where you can fully say "I've grown up! , I no longer need to go on growing!" I mean, isn't that the cockiest thing to say? To say that you've grown so much that you do not need any more improvements. That's why I could never understand the term 'grown up'. I'm 22 this year and I still don't think of myself as a grown up. Heck, I don't think you should consider yourself as a grown up either! There's always more growing to do! And why 'grow up'? Since you can never stop growing up, shouldn't it be called grow infinity instead? But then again, I know of people who age but don't grow UP. They sometimes grow down. Or not grow at all. Which in that case, means they are growing sideways. Some words in english have completely no meaning. Since Mathilda never grew enough to reach UP, she never found out what a hickey was. May this be a lesson to all parents. Don't dodge your kids' questions. It's always better to have a curious kid than a brutally raped and murdered one.
Be Right Back,
Sabrina.
0 lovely comments ✿
Well hello there all you delicious people ! :) Hope everyone is having a good day. Sau Yip brought me to Pickle & Fig (click to be directed to their FB page) late last week and we both thought that it would be good to get the word out about the 3 week-old cafe. The hipster like cafe is located along Taman Tun Dr. Ismail and can be found easily. I really wish I could give you directions like how I did for Tofu but I was sleeping in the car. My first impression was that it was a very dimly lit shop. Like somewhere chi-ku-peks (ham sap lous) bring their prey so they can touch touch here and there while eating. But I think they just forgot to turn their lights because later into the meal the cafe lights were switched to a brighter dial. For now Pickle & Fig only serves sandwiches but we were excited to hear that they would be expanding their menu in the near future. Desserts maybe? Sau Yip got himself a smoked turkey roll & cheddar panini for Rm 15. We both didn't know what a panini was but the friendly waiter was more than happy to explain. In fact he did more than explain and talked about the ingredients and bread using fancy gourmet terms while we both just smiled and nod. It turned out to be a rather masculine meal. Very meaty and it tasted very bulky. Like something I would imagine Fred Flinstone eating after coming home form work. "A panini is a hot pressed sandwich, something like a Quesadilla lah" friendly waiter guy.
Cheddar Cheese, Lots or Turkey Ham and Mushrooms. rated 8/10
I had a smoked salmon & cream cheese sandwich for Rm 19. This dish was fresh , simple and definitely did not feel as bulky as the turkey panini. It tasted delicious and was enough to fill my tummy but it was not something new. It's similar to other salmon sandwiches I have tried.
Rated 9/10
All sandwiches are accompanied with a small salad and hand cut potato wedges I also had an ice lemon tea to accompany my sandwich for Rm6. Pickle & Fig fact : No sugar is added into any of their dishes or drinks. Not even their ice lemon tea. You'll have to ask if you want any. Pickle & Fig supports healthy and good tasting diets! The cafe is said to have really good smoothies as well but we did not try it because we were under a budget. Here is the rest of their menu. Click to enlarge. Just a side note, do you see the guy in the left corner? This is the only picture I have of him not staring straight into my lens. Don't know what's his problem. If you're going to visit Pickle & Fig for lunch, you can try out their lunch set offer. It changes everyday so you may go everyday for the entire week. Pickle & Fig opens daily from 10am-10pm on Thursdays to Sundays and 10am-11pm on Fridays and Saturdays. They are open for coffee and tea as well. Find them at 26, Jalan Tun Mohd Fuad 2, Taman Tun Dr. Ismail, KL or
Be Right Back,
Sabrina.
Labels: critics, food, kl, malaysia, me 0 lovely comments ✿ |