Culinary delights in Malacca

Note the instructions on the yellow paper behind us.

WOW. I have never in my life experienced such an incredible, memorable culinary experience as I did in Malacca. Every meal was memorable. Every meal was sensational. Every meal was most likely loaded with trans fats, MSG and definitely NOT organic, but hey, you only live once right?

Our lovely host gave us the lowdown on precisely where to eat chicken rice balls, dumplings, satay fondue and Nyonya cuisines. Once we had tried the first two and they were AWESOME, we realised we would stick with her suggestions throughout our trip.

Our first stop was breakfast: Pork Dumplings @ Kampung Kling Mosque (well, opposite the mosque)

The Bun. And some other less memorable yum cha dishes.

As this was our first morning, we weren’t in a major rush to eat. We spent time wandering through the streets and temples (and the map was difficult to comprehend). There was one place which caught my eye directly across from the Mosque which was PUMPING with customers but all the signage was in Chinese so I had no idea what was going on in there. We asked several people for directions to the restaurant when we finally realised the place across from the Mosque? That was THE place. It is to be noted, one lady, whose shop was two stores down LITERALLY, told us it was a five minute walk away.  

And the dumplings? The most amazing dumplings I have ever eaten in my entire life.  Fluffy, loaded with chunks of meat, and just completely insane in taste.  I took great pleasure in the fact that they were steamed.

After more wandering & popping our acupuncture, we decided it was time for a spot of lunch.

This time? Lunch: Nyonya Style @ Nancy’s Kitchen

Tamarind chicken with plain rice.....

Nyonya is the local cuisine of the Malay/Chinese people. We walked into the shop and were told to go upstairs and share a table with another couple. We had the most delicious lunch of tamarind chicken and boiled rice and chatted with our elderly lunch companions about travels through Asia. They were on a 4 week trip through Malaysia and entertained us with their stories of India……. Such a lovely couple! The shop was airconditioned and Malacca was HOT so it was nice to chill out, chat and relax over the local cuisine.

To walk off our food, we wandered Jonker St and after getting reheated, decided to try a frozen drink. I decided on passionfruit and lime and this was the most refreshing delicious fruit drink I have had. Seriously, it felt as though I had not eaten until I got to Malacca! My travelling companion decided to go with a watermelon / lychee concoction. Unfortunately, she suffered from a serious case of food envy post trying mine.

My kind of slurpee!

That night we ventured for a local dish. Dinner: Fondue Satay. NOT @ Capital Satay

1 hour line up for food?

Hunter- Gatherer.

Yep, imagine a pot of bubbling satay that you stick your bits of pork / prawns / vegetables into to cook. Now, this was our first (and only) culinary hiccup. You see, we finally found THE place to eat this dish. Alas, there was a line that was over an hour long. Now we were hungry by this point, having just shopped up a storm in the night market, and right next door was another place sans line. Seriously? How different could the two places be? Well, after a terrible, uninspiring, tasteless meal, we left and went for some noodles then called it a night!

Hard to tell, but this was very watery and quite bland :(

The next morning, we tucked into Pork dumplings for energy to sustain us through our pre-booked bike ride. This time, we supplemented our dumplings with glutinous rice with meat wrapped in a banana leaf. Heaven in a leaf - cooked to perfection with big chunks of meat. I thought I had died and gone to sticky rice heaven! (For those of you unfamiliar with my love affair of sticky rice, during my year in Thailand, this managed to make me 10kgs more glutinous. Hence, I cannot be trusted with rice – particularly of the sticky kind - and only partake on special occasions).

Post bike ride, we decided to try another local delight for lunch: Chicken Rice Balls @ Hoe Kee

Another day, another line.

Balls = much more fun! Shout out to my man with my beverage of choice to accompany the meal!

It was at this point that I started to realise that there were a lot of Singaporeans in Malacca. And they were all lined up for Chicken Rice balls at this one shop. So, I guess living in Singapore is rubbing off on us because we joined the cult and lined up. This time though, our confidence was buoyed by the size of the shop and the stream of diners exiting the restaurant contently. We lined up for about 40minutes before tucking into chicken rice balls. Now, this is very similar to the common Hawker market style dish Chicken Rice which can be found in Singapore, however the rice was in the shape of balls. Much more fun! And they were delicious. It is at this point that I should confess I have not actually had this dish in Singapore, (please refer to my rice confession in the previous paragraph for an explanation why), so I can’t really compare to what Singapore has to offer in this area. But I am keen to try now so I can compare. Pretty sure Malacca will win.

The Line. Take 2.

Earlier that day, we decided to try the recommended Satay Fondue place: Capital  Satay. After our late lunch, we decided to beat the crowd and head straight to Capital Satay in order to be there for their 5pm opening time at the front of the queue. The time was 4.15. The shop was ALREADY open. And at capacity. And there was a line.

After 20 minutes of not moving AT ALL (the same chick was at the front of the line), I went out for supplies and returned with beer. This made the line up a whole lot more fun. However, in my absence, the size of the line had tripled, and there was a separate line running parallel to the original line. Seriously, people were stopping to take photos of the line up! This place MUST be good.  One by one, the westerners gave up waiting and left. But the Singaporeans held tight to their positions – as did we, blocking off the second parallel line.  After an hour (and 2 beers), We. Were. IN!

The parallel line up.

Line = conquered with the help of beer!

The skewers on offer were much the same as the previous night, however, the fondue. the fondue. OMG THE FONDUE. They kept coming around to place more peanuts and spices into the sauce. Where the previous night the fondue was watery and slippery, this one was thick and clung to the skewers and was just the most incredible satay I had ever experienced.  Unfortunately, in my joy of experiencing such a foodgasm, once the satay arrived, there was no thought of the camera L. So you will just need to imagine the peanut heaven in a bowl simmering and bubbling away.

Pre-satayed lunch.

The next morning, we again dined on pork buns and glutinous rice before our 8am bus trip home. Seriously, we set our alarm for half an hour early just for a pork bun and rice. Breakfast of champions.  

If you are ever in Malaysia, Malacca is a must.  If you require a guide…….. I just may need to consult the size of my ass before I decide whether I can afford to indulge my tastebuds in food heaven again.

Ok, Malacca - You Win.

Photo evidence of our lining up.