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.
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