Weekend in Malacca #2

At night, we were brought to a Chinese restaurant that seems to be popular among the locals. We decided to order seafood dishes. The other tables mainly had simple tai chow but we shall see how the seafood fares.

Black pepper crab was really spicy. I’ve never tried this style before, it was surprisingly good.

With this salted egg crab dish, I can taste the freshness of the crab. There are bits of salted egg yolk clinging to the sweet crab meat. It was delicious~ But having tried other restaurant’s exact same dish, this was just ok in comparison.

I love the tofu dish. The sourness of plum sauce and the refreshing cucumber strips paired with the fried tofu cubes are really good.

Another one of my favourite dish. Deep fried squid rings. The batter was light and the squid has a q-q biting resistance. Something was amiss with the seasoning though, but I could look pass it ;)

The L-sized prawns are fresh and fried in some sort of egg-y batter (I’m not too sure). I wish there weren’t so much black bits on the shells but it was delicious nonetheless. We also had an Assam fish. The picture was too blurry I couldn’t make out what it is ;D It was, again, very fresh and lived up to expectation. The total came close to about RM500 for 2 tables.

Ji Xiang Restaurant
Opening hours: 12pm-3pm & 6pm-12am
No. 54, Jln Portugis, Kampung Hulu,
75200 Melaka

The next morning, we head to a dim sum shop opposite Kampong Kling Mosque located a few blocks away from Masjid Kampung Hulu. It is located at Jalan Tukang Besi, near to the intersection with Jalan Hang Lekiu. Jalan Masjid, nearby the Chinese restaurant we had dinner the night before.

Prices

A tray of steamed dim sum.

Our spread. Mwaah~ :D~

This is my favourite – loh bak gou (radish cake). I just love the texture of the smooth interior.

Beautifully presented siu mai. I don’t know what’s the pink pearl thingy.. I can’t distinguish it.

Overall, we paid RM10 per person. We definitely over-ordered because the other table (we split to 2 tables) only had RM5 each! But most of the dim sums were good and I had a bloated happy tummy afterwards.

Weekend in Malacca #1

Last weekend I spent the time with a bunch of couchsurfer‘s in Malacca. Couch surfing is a project where the member offer his/her couch (@ a place to overnight) to another member traveller. This way, as a budget traveller, you can experience the culture through the local host and make friends along the way :)

We departed from KL at 7am. When we arrived in Melaka, the rain was pouring mercilessly on us. We waited, and waited, before the rain subside a little. Then head for breakfast with a grumbling stomach.

Dried style fish paste noodle I ordered. Seems like fish paste noodle can be found everywhere in Melaka.

Mr. Ken “Chairman” was our organizer. He brought us to Mr. Yee’s teahouse for a demonstration of traditional Chinese tea preparation. His teahouse may not be as glamour as Boh’s in Cameron Highlands, but it is stocked with teapots of all kinds and tea leaves ranging from RM20/100g to RM80/100g. Then, Mr. Yee kindly became our guide for the day ;D

The Eight Immortals House
22, Jalan Laksamana,
75000 Melaka, Malaysia
yeetea@pd.jaring.my

We just walk around in the town.. jumping in and out between food shops, free museums and souvenir shops.

Some snacks and dried food stuff

More snacks – dodol and nyonya kuih

At around 3pm, we stopped at an Indian restaurant for banana leaf rice.

It is opposite Discovery Cafe where we were staying. For affordable yet comfortable accommodation, this place is it. I only paid RM15 for air-conditioned dorm :D

Discovery Cafe & Guest House
Mr. Teng Kim Sia
No. 3, Jalan Bunga Raya,
75100 Melaka
discoverycafe_1999@hotmail.com/yahoo.com

After we have checked-in, the walk continues in and around Jonker Walk. Because of that refillable banana leaf rice, I was too full to try the fried radish cake ^.^;

A trolley of pineapple tarts left in the street.. keke. *evil instincts to cart it away*

I accompanied a couple from Mumbai, India and we had 2 bowls of cendol and a bowl of ABC. They’ve travelled East Malaysia, got a tattoo from the Iban, conquered Mount Kinabalu, hiked a couple of mountains, flew to Penang before meeting us in Malacca. Amazing! I’m so inspired after hearing so much travel stories. I want to travel and conquer each country’s food!

Taiping Steamed Chicken Rice & Cendol

This post dates back to Labour’s Day, where I spent the day in Taiping. Folks here seem to enjoy the outdoor despite the heat. There were many people thronging Taiping Zoo and picnics set up at the Lake Garden. The most congested area are apparently places where family can spend time together. When we drove to town in search of food to fulfill lunch-time calling, the roads were almost empty and it was extremely easy to find a parking space :D

Along Barrack Road, a coffeeshop located at the corner block housed a steamed chicken rice stall. There are a number of patrons tucking away happily.. so, food must be good :)

Hot steamy rice with the fragrance of chicken fat and pandan leaves wafted to our table :3~ I started drooling already.

The chicken is wonderfully smooth and tender. Pretty good. Some parts of the chicken can be fatty though.

Most tables have a plate of Chinese rice dumplings (bak zhang/zhong zhi) on their table. It might turn out to be a regret if we didn’t try. The portion is quite big too. They are served with a bottle of Kampung Koh chilli sauce, made in Sitiawan, Perak.

A substantial amount of chinese mushroom and pork embedded in glutinous rice which can be easily picked up with a chopstick, and a dab into the sweet sour chilli sauce.. couldn’t have been more perfect ^.^

The price came to about RM28 for 4. The dumpling is about RM5.

By Jian‘s recommendation, dessert is the famous Bismillah Cendol also at Barrack Road. It’s located further up from the chicken rice stall. Business is very good here. Two families arrived in their cars at the same time as us. Luckily we still manage to find a table to sit.

There are also a pasembor stall in the shop and a laksa cart just outside. A good place for brunch, afternoon snacks and tea-time. Since we have had lunch, we went straight for the stripped version cendol. I think it would be so good with pulut. Unfortunately we couldn’t stomach any more starch :P

The strips of cendol is fragrant with distinctive pure pandan flavour. Jian said that the cendol is made fresh at the back of the stall. Overall, I find it not as good as Penang’s Teochew cendol though. The taste of coconut milk is more prominent. I prefer cendol with more gula melaka taste :>