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Saturday, February 6, 2010

Museum Cafe (Jonker Dessert 88)

This is probably the most popular food outlet along the famous Jonker Street in Malacca. It has quite a number of offerings. Pernakan style food, desserts as well as home-made kuih are among the delicacies served in this shop.

There are 2 stalls on the outside. One serves a variety of noodle-based dishes, as well as some finger food. The other stall serves desserts, namely ais kacang and chendol.
Whenever I am around the area, I would definitely drop by for the chendol. Just like any other chendol, it comes with the green chendol jelly, ice, santan and red beans. But the best thing about it is the thick gula melaka (palm sugar) that they pour on the top. Mmmmmmm, that is what makes it special. Of the late, I've been asking them to add more sugar. However, I find that their quality isn't very consistent. On one day, the santan didn't really taste that nice, making the dish pretty bland. The next day when I went back, the santan was creamy and tasty. Among the other dishes that they also serve are ais kacang, Eight-Precious Chendol (I have never tried it before, but it looks like it comes with 8 variety of ingredients) and mango and durian flavoured ais kacang/chendol.

As I mentioned earlier, the other stall serves noodle dishes. I've only tried the Nyonya Asam Laksa and the Baba Laksa. Among the two, I very much prefer the Asam Laksa. As the name implies, this one is a little bit sour. It comes with rice noodle, tuna, prawn, half an egg, wanton and some sliced cucumber and onion on the top. I don't think I have tasted a dish like this anywhere else, so it is definitely worth a try. The Baba Laksa is very much like the curry mee that you can get elsewhere. It comes with meehoon, tuna, tahu-pok, loh-bak, prawn and sliced cucumber and onion. Most of the people that have tried this said that it isn't as good as the Asam Laksa.
Inside the shop, they serve a variety of kuih-muih, as well as some home-made dishes. They also have some historial artefacts and relics on display inside the shop.

Overall, the Museum Cafe serves up some pretty decent meal, and I highly recommend the cendol.

Location: It has a strategic address, 88 Jonker Street (Jalan Hang Jebat). Just look for a signboard with the number 88.

Opening hours: They open around 9-10am. Not exactly sure what time they close, but on the day they have the night market, they were still open at 10pm.

Capitol Satay Celup Melaka

Address:Capitol Satay Celup Restaurant41 Lorong Bukit Cina, 75100 Melaka, Malaysia

Tel: +60-6-2835508, +60-12-2295505

Third generation owner: Low Yong Cheng

Operating hours: Daily from 5:00 pm (Closed on Monday)

I learnt that 'Satay Celup' was originally innovated by the first generation of Capitol Satay Celup Restaurant operator in Melaka – The Historic City more than 60 years ago. This dish consists of an assorted raw food ranging from chicken, cockles, abalones, mushrooms, vegetables, quail’s eggs, shrimps, bean curds, some fried bean curd/tofu by-products, fried flour dough or locally called 'yu-char-kuey', white breads and cubed cucumber. Displayed and served in a refrigerated counter, I guess there are easily more than 50 odds of type to pick from.

Choose your favorite and it is indeed an amazing dining experience in Melaka. These raw materials are placed on bamboo skewers and then dunk in spicy boiling peanut sauce to cook. The semi-fried or bread can be eaten directly by dipping them in the thick and aromatic peanut sauce.

The secret of 'Satay Celup' lies in the peanut sauce served. It is a thick and full of crunchy ground peanuts. Comprising of 22 ingredients and spices (as reported by The Star Street Food guide) including peanuts, dried chilli, onion, garlic, lemon grass, brown sugar, turmeric, galangal and sesame seeds, they are cooked together to perfection. As we got seated, a stainless steel pot with peanut sauce was placed in the middle of our table right into the round hole.

Underneath was a gas cooker to continuously warm and boil the peanut sauce. As the sauce started to boil, a waiter came and added in more freshly crunched peanuts and brown sugar. He also kept stirring till the bottom to avoid any sedimentation of the peanut chunks in the pot.Don't leave Melaka without trying 'Satay Celup'. This dish is considered a signature dish in Melaka so complete your trip with this dining experience! If time and queuing are not your forte, you may alternatively pick other 'Satay Celup' operators in town like Ban Lee Siang.

Bukit China Mee Rebus

First of all, I don't think the stalls that I am about to mention have any official name to them. Since it is located at the fringes of Bukit China, so I just call them with reference to Bukit China.There are 2 stalls here. One sells Mee Rebus, Rojak and Mee Rojak. The other stall sells only Cendol.

I believe that this dish is popular in the southern part of Malaysia, namely Johor and Melaka. It can be found in other states, but I don't see it very often. I grew up in Johor, and there is this great Mee Rebus stall that moved a few times till I have lost track of where it is now. If I remember correctly, it started out at the stall in the old Jalan Trus bus station, and later moved to Kotaraya. Since then, I have never tasted (or smelled for that matter) a delicious Mee Rebus till this one at Bukit China.

When the dish arrived, the smell of it was really nostalgic. Even before tasting it, I could already tell that this is gonna be really delicious. And true enough, this is the best Mee Rebus that I have had in a very long time. The kuah is thick and tasty. The ingredients are served at just the right amount. Not too much taugeh as some I have eaten before. The friend flour thing (I'm sorry I can't remember what it is called) is just nice, not too tough. I used to not like eating the chopped green chilli, but this time, I pretty much appreciate it as it adds to the aroma and taste.

The cendol is the only drink/dessert served here. It is quite good, especially after a delicious meal of Mee Rebus. And the prices are pretty reasonable as well. The Mee Rebus costs RM2.00, and the cendol costs RM1.00.

And the most interesting part is that you will be eating among the "dead". As many of you know, Bukit China is now a Chinese cemetary. The tables are laid out among the graves. OK, I'm not exactly sure if they are authentic or not, as there are no markings on the stone. But it does add some spookyness and "spice" to it. However, there are some real graves a stone's throw away from the stall.

The map below is an approximate location of the stalls. The nearest landmark that I saw is the Hang Li Po well, which is not far from it.
There is only one word to describe the experience: Heavenly!

Chung Wah Chicken Rice Ball

Address: Chop Chung Wah Coffee Shop
Right corner after crossing Tan Kim Seng Bridge from Dutch SquareLorong Hang JebatMelaka, Malaysia.

Tips: Go as early as 11 am on weekend to avoid long queues.

Chop Chung Wah owns a simple and clean facade with only one entrance into the coffee shop. The signboard is placed high that you may not notice when you are too near. If you are walking from Dutch Square where the red buildings like Christ Church or Stadthuys are situated, keep look up on the right hand side of a white color building. Chung Wah is exactly on the right corner after crossing over Melaka River by Tan Kim Seng Bridge.
From Tan Kim Seng Bridge, the yellow signboard on your right is Chung Wah Coffee Shop.
Standing at the entrance, you will notice a traditional Chinese name plate hanging high above an arch, describing the name of this shop usually implies it could be a family business run over generations.

Ole Ole Baba Nyonya

In my quest to search for delicious cendol througout the country, I was brought to this shop in Malacca. It is located close to Mahkota Parade in Malacca town. However, as it is located along a row of shop houses behind the main road, this place is not that easy to find.

Ole Ole Baba Nyonya is located along Jalan Plaza Mahkota 3, a row of shop houses beside the new Newton Food Court, a stone's throw away from Mahkota Parade and the newer Pahlawan shopping centre. It is located adjacent to Restoran Nyonya Suan and seems to be owned by the same owner.

Cendol seem to be the popular dish here. At first look, it seems pretty normal. Crushed ice with gula melaka on the top. However, after mixing it up, mmmmm, it tastes really delicious. The santan (coconut milk) is thick and fresh, and the gula melaka seem to go well with it. Hard to pin point exactly what makes this dish so nice, but the excellent blend of everything makes this dessert extremely enjoyable to eat.

If I were to compare this cendol with the one at Museum Cafe (Jonker Dessert 88), other than consistency which I can't say as I've only eaten this one once, I would say that the one at Ole Ole Baba Nyonya is slightly (only slightly) better than the one at Museum Cafe.

Steamed and Roasted Breads at Siang Chiang Kopitiam.

Though wholemeal bread is undoubtedly more enriched in terms of nutrition facts, but it can never replace the role of the traditional white bread for making steamed bread with butter and kaya spreads. Combination of butter and kaya spreads is known locally as kahwin.
Where in Melaka is your favourite kopitiam?
When I’m back to Melaka during weekend, I like to visit Siang Chiang for breakfast. Siang Chiang is one of the authentic (non Halal) kopitiams in Melaka town, which is still preserving the heritage feel.

Though the shop house is undeniably an old building, but the interior hygiene is very well kept. The while tiles on the wall appear clean, and most importantly, the kitchen where breads, eggs and drinks are made is also hygienic and neat.
Pricing wise, very reasonable. My gf and I ordered a se of roasted breads, a set of steamed breads, a cup of tea, and a cup of Milo; all made up to RM4.90. Comparing to the modernized franchised kopitiams, really a big difference.

At Siang Chiang, there are a few more stalls rented to other hawkers to serve other types of food. Among all the stalls, the most notable one that I would like to mention, is the one that sells mee hun kuey (pan mee) and mee sua. I like to eat the mee sua in dry broth, which comes with 5 fresh prawns at RM3.50.

Address: 59, Jalan Munshi Abdullah, 75000 Melaka.
Siang Chiang is located on your right along the one-way Jalan Munshi Abdullah. It's opposite Teck Trading Co. which sells electrical appliances. At the back of Siang Chiang is Melaka River, and Eye on Melaka is caught in sight at the opposite river side.