Malacca Boyz Nite Out: The Quest for Good Food!!

Finally!
We've always been talking about going on a food trail in Malaysia during one of the holidays....and we've been talking bout it since our Year One days!!!
Last holiday however, the plans finally realized!! Thanks to mainly Jon and Karthik and abit of Cheekiang...

So, it was a weekend getaway and the theme was 'Boyz Nite Out...' Participants included Jonathan, Karthik, Lam Chee Kiang, Wong Leong Hui, Chua Chun Kiang, and me.



Day 1: 6.30am rendezvous at Jurong East Interchange to take MRT to Kranji to take bus to the Woodlands checkpoint.

Excited and happy faces

The Ah Kiangs...

Halfway thru our journey, while taking the bus from Kranji MRT to the checkpoint to be exact, the traffic jam was so horrendous that we and 30plus other passengers decided to just walk all the way.. cz its faster...

Loser drivers q-ing up...."we walk faster than you!" Haha *sour*

Though it was quite a tiring journey, we expected worse. Upon returning to the homeland, we first grab the car that we rented and proceed to one of the best place in JB for breakfast....

...The Storia Cafe.. cant really tell ya where's this place cz i forgot the street name. According to ChunKiang, this place is always crowded in the morning and especially worse during weekends.

According to ChunKiang who's a pseudo-Johorian cz he spent more than half his entire life in sg, this place is extremely famous for Otah-otah and Nasi Lemak!!

Otah and Nasi Lemak

Malaysia's Nasi Lemak... Totally different taste (better actually) than any nasi lemak you can find in Sg...

And the otah is superb..

Panggang right in front of you...

What a satisfying breakfast!!

With 4 to 5 pieces of otah each, a packet of nasilemak, and a cup of kopi-ping, it cost about RM6 per person... Hearty, cheap, and satisfying...

And with out tummy filled, its time to get ready for the long drive up to our destination: Melaka.
Our driver for the day: Mr. Karthik Pyraroganam.

Our 8-seater rented Toyota Innova. Extremely comfy and poweful to fetch the 6 of us. It was RM300plus if im not wrong for two days over the weekend...

After bout 3 hours of driving.... we have reached King's Hotel in Melaka....

However, cz we reached so early, the lady dont allow us to check in yet.. aih....

Cheeks is obviously upset, and almost slipped and fell on the slippery floor. Catch the sign at the left of the pic??? Poor cheeks...

But since its lunch time anyway, we went to look for some local eateries to have our lunch first and check-in after that....

The Melaka River.. i assume...

Busy Street...

Holland V????

The Christ Church of Malacca

After abit of walking towards Jonker Street, we stumbled upon this overcrowded small little stall...with super long Q outside...

A closer look revealed it to be a Chicken Rice Ball shop which is a famous delicacies in Melaka. We really wanted to try it out but the Q is too crazily long.. this could be the original stall i guess.. cz of our impatient stomach, we decided to look for other chicken rice shop instead cz there're a number of them along Jonker Street all selling chicken rice balls....



This place looked good.....

Famosa Chicken Rice Ball... its not as crowded... maybe cz its a lil bit pricier..

Chicken Rice Balls!!!

Taugeh!!!

Steamed and roasted chicken!!!

Roasted Pork and BBQ Pork aka Char Siew!!

Overall it was another satisfying meal... fantastic chicken rice... but everyone agrees that the balls were overrated and they prefer rice instead.. much tastier and much filling! Bout RM10 per person for the meal!

Next, it was time for desserts...

We head to this Jonker Dessert along Jonker Street (duh)..

It looked crowded and that's always a good sign of good food!

Making desserts right in front of you..

and when you're in Melaka, your dessert gotta be a bowl of Durian Chendol with generous topping of Gula Melaka!!! Nothing beats this.. really!! RM1.80 (i think..)

*Cheese!!*

This stall was also named 'The Museum Cafe' and there were some really antiques inside.. *Things hanging on the wall*

A very suiting atmosphere when you're enjoying the Chendol in this historical city...

Old-school typewritter..

Cheeks - Jonker Dessert ambassador

And so the hotel we went....

King's Hotel .. with Astro!! (Astro is Malaysia's satelitte TV provider)

We wanted an apartment unit so our room was at the building next door...

Before you continue, i would want to say that our unit was really really freaking big and too big for the 6 of us... huger than huge... way beyond our expectation...

As you can see from the floor plan, there's a living room and a dining room, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, and a modest balcony.... If you're not impressed with the number of rooms and bathrooms there was.. wait till you see the size of them...

Living and Dining Area - spacious

This was the freaking size of each bedroom... there's a queen bed and a single bed in each of the bedroom!

Cozy living area with TV, couches, side table, and a mini bar...

The lovely bathroom...did i mentioned we got three of this????

Oh, and in each bedroom, there's a wardrobe and a dressing table...complete with mirror

Free soap and shampoo in the bathrooms...

The balcony!!! though the view could be better..

The mini bar with free mineral water!!! Seriously, i bet that entire place is bigger than your HDB unit lar... and all that just cost bout RM330 for one nite!!!

*Activities after that was lazying around the entire afternoon in our unit until dinner time*



And its dinner time.....

For dinner, we wanted to try the Melaka Satay Celup.. another must try when you're in Melaka cz that's what famous there!!!...





After a few rounds around the city and directions from one uncle, we found this supposedly most famous Satay Celup Restaurant in Melaka.....

A crowded Ban Lee Siang

But next to it, there was also a Zao Jiuu which serves the same thing but looked more expensive




So What is Satay Celup, you ask me.... Let me explain it to you to the best i can.. Imagine lok-lok but instead of cooking your food in a pot of soup, you cook it in a pot of satay sauce!! If you dunno what is lok-lok, then just see the pictures below larh...

A pot of satay sauce in the middle of the table.. Its like the pot of soup in the middle of the table when you go Bugis to eat steamboat...

Our dinner!! - You cook all this food-on-stick in the pot

There were fish, shrimps, cuttlefish, taupok, crabstick, fishballs, hotdogs, etc...

It looks alot, but it wasnt enuf for the 6 of us!!

waiting for the pot of satay sauce to boil....

Boys and girls, this is how you cook your food in a satay celup restaurant...

You can help yourself with as many sticks you want... But do know that its not a buffet restaurant! I repeat, its NOT a buffet-style restaurant. Each normal stick will cost you RM0.50 and each red stick will cost you RM0.80... (Guys, correct me if im wrong!)

Night life in Melaka on a Saturday night is never quite with the existence of Jonker walk.. a giant-scale Pasar Malam.

This street will turn busy when night falls and its a stark contrast from during the day. Roadside stalls popped out of nowhere..

Its really damn happening all the stalls here i tell you...

You can buy fried ice-cream here..dunno how much cz we never buy.. too full...

Stalls selling boxes of fresh pineapple tarts... its also a famous thing in Melaka.. available not only during Chinese New Year... and to ensure customers that the tarts is really fresh, there's the oven right next to the boxes.. its where they baked the tarts, and put it straight right into the boxes.. and most still warm!! And smell damn nice too! One box around RM12.

Got popiah stall

Got Apom Balik stall..RM1.20 each. (apom balik, knw means knw, dunno i oso dunno how to tell u)

Got stalls selling handcrafted souvenirs....

The Jonker Dessert at night!! Its as crowded at night!

Their menu...

Haha, we cant get enough of the durian chendol and so we went for another round as desserts after our dinner..*sinful* While eating, i spotted this old notes exhibited in the cafe...

We continue to walk around after our desserts...

Got fried carrot cake stall....

Another pineapple tarts stall.. which i brought a box from.. which i finished the next day.. it was THAT good...

It was so happening that night that we saw this giant stage being set up for uncles and aunties to sing hokkien karaoke... Hey, some of them were invited to perform all the way from KL k.. dun play play...

Ipoh rojak stall..

After hours of walking, hunger pangs stroked us again and we sat down near this row of road side stalls for some light supper....

The busy aunty with the big wok and large trays of eggs in the background should give you a hint of what we're going to eat...

Fried Oyster!!!

More walking around after that to buy supper back to our hotel....

A pau stall!!!

A egg tart and curry puff stall!!!

A siew mai stall!!!! RM2 for 10 pieces mix and match everything!!!

Melaka nite life

This guy selling some traditional candies...

Before we head back to the hotel, we decided to have one last round of durian chendol!!!! (crazy rite...)

But this time in another dessert joint with very interesting tables made up of old sewing machines...

While walking back to our car, we spotted this church which after 5 mins of debate, we concluded that it was abit slanted to the right... as seen in the picture..( not i purposely senget the camera k..)

Our Day one ended with some really good siew mai and pineapple tarts as supper while watching Astro TV at the comfort of our living area, then concassed on the bed till next morning.







Day Two: 10am in the morning.. we obviously overslept and missed our free buffet breakfast...


But thankfully to JON, he woke up early and went down to pack some Nasi Lemak for us!!

It was a damn mouth-watering nasi lemak k.. Freaking good bfast... I always like ayam masak merah (chicken) instead of bony fish with my nasi lemak...

After breakfast, we checked out and just took the car to drive drive around Melaka Town....

Preserved old shophouses

Then we went back to Jonker Desserts which also serves a variery of Laksa to try 3 of their famous Laksa... From top and clockwise: Baba Nyonya Laksa, Asam Laksa, and Curry Chicken Laksa.. each bout RM3plus...

Assam Laksa

Baba Nyonya Laksa

Curry Chicken Laksa

Then we proceeded to buy some dodol back ....

and visit the 'Ship' museum...

But it was too expensive so we just took a picture outside of it instead.. Haha

Chunkiang on our way back to JB...

But our food quest did not end just like that.. our plans were to make a quick stop at MUAR to eat their famous otah.. and we did....

'Selamat Datang ke Muar'

Muar is a small town north of the Johor state...

It was this row of roadside stalls that we were looking for...

Otah!!!!

Check out Cheeks the poseur with sunglasses on in a dark room!!!

Satay!!!!

Otah!!!!

Char Kway Teow!!!!

Dunno what stall is this!!!!

Wantan Mee Stall!!!

Char Kway Teow!!!!

This shop looked interesting.. but dunno what they sell...




*at this point, the blogger is tired of blogging.. just enjoy the pictures... maybe he'll update soon*

UPDATE: and the blogging continues...

Roadside stalls.. Best place to enjoy genuine local hawker fare

More Satay!!!!

Wantan Mee!!! Any msian will tell u that the wantan mee in singapore is slightly different.. ours was not prepared with chilli sauce or ketchup (nicer obviously)....

A pisang goreng stall!!! Look closely and you'll see that its no normal banana.. Its technically a plantain, so not exactly a banana.. its like 5 to 6 times bigger than a normal banana.

Plantain goreng... These are slices of one piece of plantain, being sliced into many pieces.. If they fry the entire plantain for you, you need to carry it with two hands..

We reached JB citysquare in late afternoon and went to watch a movie.. Then it was time for one last meal before we cross the border...


Location: Meldrum Walk, 5 mins walk from City Square
Cuisine: Roadside Stalls, Local Hawker Food
Cleanliness: Zero
Food: Heavenly

We walked to this very long and kinda secluded backlane, the Meldrum Walk.... It was my first time there and i am amazed by how many stalls were there...all selling the kinda food that we were craving for...It was a relatively narrow lanes with tables set up along it.. Though its kinda hidden, everyone sort of knew just where to find it...

Standard....must have Char Kway Teow

And BBQ seafood.. Stingray and sotong!!!

We also had BBQ chicken wings and Fried Oysters

We then went back to the little island, happily full. It was one fantastic makan trip that we can never forget (whenever we do, we just look down at our tummy)....
We lived like kings and brought many stuff back.. Total expenditure: bout RM300 per person..
Cant wait for the next trip!!