Food lovers can proceed to some of Malaysia's finest cuisine. From characteristics PEranakan dishes to Portugese cooking, restaurants aromas citywide add further colour to the cultural mosaic that makes Melaka such an astonishing experience.
ITINERARY:
Day 1: Singapore - Melaka
Day 2: Melaka
Day 3: Melaka - Singapore
DAY 1 (22 April 2011, Friday)
It was easter long weekend, with holiday makers in cars tailing back few hundred metres at the Woodlands checkpoint at 0600hrs on Good Friday. Novi and I decided to getaway from Singapore this weekend, and we decided upon Melaka.
The smooth drive on North-South Highway took us about 2hrs to get to Melaka. Our first stop was at Famosa Cafe for breakfast.
Dry Mee Siam
Nyonya Laksa
While we arrived too early to check in, we wandered around Melaka City to get some snapshots of the historical city. Malacca City plays host to attention-grabbing attractions as well as some of the most sumptuous cuisine in the region.
The luxurious Casa Del Rio hotel
Menara Taming Sari (Taming Sari Tower) offers the most strategic view for Malacca City, overseeing the water front, Malacca River, Formosa and Museums and the rapidly sprouting up city, developpingy into a Tourism Heaven. The tower car rotating slowly upward covers the city from all angle.
Maritime Museum & Naval Museum
The Porta De Santiago's (A’Famosa) architecture is worth a visit
St. Paul's Church lies in ruins on top of St. Paul's Hill
Views of Melaka City
Christ Church is the oldest Protestant church in Malaysia. Built in 1753 to commemorate a century of Dutch rule in Malacca, it is one of the most notable heritage sites in the city.
Lunch at the famous Chung Wah Chicken Rice stall.
Chickens steamed and marinated to perfection. Rice balls, tasty and flavourful.
Shopping along Jonker Street, with quite a number of handmade handicrafts worth a peek.
Baba Cendol at Jonker 88 Cafe
By noon, our room at Heeren's Inn is ready, and we got to check in.
Off we went to search for the famous popiah stall along Bunga Raya. It is a small push cart stall that operates only from 1330hrs daily.
Back in Jonker Street, it was walkabout to capture some historical buildings and the rich peranakan heritage in the city.
By late afternoon, we were hungry for more food again. This time, we found a lok lok stall next to Chung Wah Chicken Rice stall next to the river. Had a few sticks of lok lok, with satay sauce.
Power potato at a streetside stall along Jonker Street
More laksa at 86 Jonker Cafe this time. Had both the assam laksa and the nyonya laksa.
Performers from Tianjin, China, entertaining the crowd at the drama stage. Lots of locals and tourist dropped by for the show.
Walking on along Jonker Street, we stopped by at another stall selling BBQ seafood. We stopped over for some cockles, clams, sotongs and chilled beer to end the evening.
And..... one more bowl of baba cendol with the thick, rich, gula melaka sweetener to sweeten the deal!
DAY 2 (23 April 2011, Saturday)
We woke up with our stomachs growling, knowing that the local delicacies are calling upon us again! We headed straight to Bunga Raya to search for the famous Oyster Omelette, however we were only disappointed by the fact that it only opens at night after 2000hrs.
We have no choice but to settle for the char siew rice then. We had the best surprise of the trip! It was the best ever char siew I've ever eaten in my entire life!!! The char siew has a crispy bite with sweet-bitter taste to the texture, as we were told that the char siew was roasted by woodfire instead of gas ovens.
Our 3rd plate of char siew!!!
Following late breakfast, we had early lunch at Nyonya Suan Restaurant for some authentic Peranakan Baba Nyonya cuisine.
Due to the scorching heat in the afternoon, we decided to hang around in shopping malls for the free air-con. We spent the entire afternoon in the air-conditioned comfort of Makhota Parade, Hatton Square, and Pahlawan Mall.
By evening, we thought of taking dinner at Capitol Satay Celup, but was disguisted by the super long queue when we arrived just after 1800hrs.
Instead, we headed to the other famous Satay Celup stall at Ban Lee Siang. It was also packed with people, but we managed to get a table in no time.
Satay Celup is like steamboat, just that you cook in hot spicy peanut gravy instead of hot soup. In Malaysia, there is no governing body to control the food hygiene, so everyone just dips into the same pot of gravy to eat, and the same pot is 'recycled' by the next person using it!
After a really filling dinner, we were back at the Jonker night market for a walk, to get some pineapple tarts, before settling down at Kafe Eleven Bistro for a few rounds of drinks.
DAY 3 (24 April 2011, Sunday)
We got up in the morning only to have more cravings for the fragrant chicken rice ball at Chung Wah. There were already at least 10 people in the queue when we were there at as early at 1000hrs!
This was one of the many 'copycat' chicken rice balls in melaka
Another round of Assam Laksa and Nyonya Cendol at Jonker88 Cafe before we left Melaka for home.
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FAST FACTS
Petrol: S$10
Toll: S$13
Accomodation: S$44
Food & Beverages: S$77
Shopping: S$19
Miscellaneous: S$20
TOTAL EXPENDITURE: S$183
EXCHANGE RATE
S$1.00 = Rm2.41
TRAVEL GUIDES / NEWS / MAGAZINES
Melaka Net
http://www.melaka.net/
Tour Malaysia
http://www.tourmalaysia.com/category/melaka-malacca/
Amazing Melaka
http://www.amazingmelaka.com/
Hotels in Melaka
http://www.melakahotels.com
Melaka Food Guide
http://www.tourism-melaka.com/MelakaFoodGuide.pdf
Malaysia Most Wanted Food
http://food.malaysiamostwanted.com/locations/Melaka
Melaka Food
http://www.melakafood.com/
MAPS
http://www.melaka.net/map_of_melaka.htm
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