“Let’s go somewhere out of Singapore over the long National Day weekend?”
“OKAY!”
So off we go, for our second sister trip; the first being the BKK trip which I think I will blog about it soon…
It was our first time there, so I was asking around my friends what is there to see, buy, eat etc? To my disappointment, most of the comments went like, “Ahh Melaka nothing much one lar… and wah you still go for 4D3N?”
CANNOT MEH? Haha anyway the goal is just to chill~
Day 1 Food Stop- Watermelon Juice, Famous Popiah , Capitol Satay
We took a coach bus from Bugis to Melaka (3-4 hours ride depending on traffic)because that was one of the most convenient venue for us (lazy folks). You may purchase the tickets from here.
Tip 1: Do a little research before hand, try to stop at the designated hotel if not, close enough. We made a “mistake” by booking our coach first then our accommodation, so we ended up walking half an hour to our hotel… TRUST ME, IT IS NOT FUN AT ALL WALKING UNDER THE SCORCHING HOT SUN.
On a positive note, I am still feeling very happy that I managed to secure the accommodation from Agoda a few days before the trip, at a very good deal -70% off!!! Any other online platforms such as Booking.com, Trivago, Expedia should be fine as well, but please Tip 2: read the reviews to gauge whether it is worth the penny! I leave it to you to exercise some judgement on your own; sometimes negative comments maybe due to “customers” having a higher expectation than others, while other may indeed indicate that the hotel is simply not “up to the mark”. Well, you decide!
The ride to Melaka was a bumpy one, leaving me very dizzy and nauseous thereafter!
1st thing first- Quench thirst! Thank goodness for this cold refreshing drink, if I must say a not to miss on a hot day! It cost 10RM for one, and can be shared among a few of you. Stall is conveniently located directly opposite St.Paul.
Next Stop- Popiah from Jalan Bunga Raya! Though there is no signage on this mobile stall, it is still hard to miss this food place due to the long queue.
So, what is so unique about this Popiah? Its ingredient consists of fresh turnips, egg, and deep fried pork lard, add some chilli to it, it taste so good. It would have been better if the chilli is spicy version than the sweet-spice version. We got it for 5.50 RM for a big portion, don’t bother asking to cut into bite size (smaller) piece as they don’t. Anyway, trust me, you will probably gobbled it down in 5-10 minutes when you are hungry!
We settled for an early dinner at Capitol Satay– place that serve satay “hotpot”. Tip 3: Go there early if you want to avoid the dining crowd, with expected queuing time up to an hour!
So this is how it works, basically you just select the stick (each stick cost 1.10 RM) and plates (different prices for different color plate) you want from the fridge, and like steamboat, you dipped those sticks into the pot of piping hot satay sauce, refillable by the waiter/waitress.
The sauce is rich in taste and slightly spicy, you can even taste the crumbles of peanuts in the sauce. While I thought satay sauce was nice pairing with cucumber and I still don’t why people would want to dip broccoli? Anyone can enlighten me on this?!
We ordered a total of 22 sticks, 4 plates of ingredients, 1 serving plate of bread and a cup of 100 plus, amounting to 46 RM! Guess what, we ate more than the pax of four seated right across us! 好能吃哦!
Tip 4: The best way to burn off some calories is to walk, moreover to Malacca is best explored by foot than by car… simply because it is really hard to find parking space around. However it is pretty much easy to grab if you are feeling lazy to head home or going somewhere slightly far off from the Malacca city,
We ended the day strolling by the river, roaming some parts of Jonker street like the famous murals at Bikini Toppings , the art gallery – The Orangutan House, shopping at the famous San Shu Gong, and H&M. Most of the shops are already closed then! We did, however, managed to snap a lot of pictures along the way.
Day 2 Food Stop- Tengkera Duck Noodle, East & West Rendezvous, Klebang Original Coconut Shake, The Daily Fix, Restoran Indah Sayang
One of the things I look forward to when traveling is to play dress-up, and experiment with some make-up looks! On normal working days, it is hectic and between looking good and sleeping enough, I will choose the latter. HAHAH practical much.
We GRAB our way to this place that sells duck noodles, as this place is quite far off from the city center. They sell the dry and soup version and we decided to order one of each.
Verdict: My sister preferred the dry version while I like the soup version, maybe because it feels comforting in warming up my stomach for the day!
Next up, Nonya food from East & West Rendezvous! You can’t tell anyone that you have been to Malacca without trying some of the Nonya dishes (well it doesn’t always have to be spicy)!
Thought their Nonya Zhang (dumpling) is slightly on the pricier end (RM5), the portion of fillings are generous. Unlike the normal dumpling that I am used to having, their version of glutinous rice is more of a chewy type.
Their Chendol is very sweet as it is drizzled with Gula Melaka, so if you are sweet tooth, I think you will like this.
From there on, we headed towards an outskirt of Melaka- Padang Pasir Klebang Melaka.
EXPECTION: This is how it looks like from a search on the internet:
REALITY:
We simply couldn’t find the place URGH !!!! I think we will need to walk like 40 minutes on foot, and the thing is the more we walk the more we felt weird. There was not a single soul in sight! Like you know if CHOYYY something happen no one is available to lend some help….We ended up abolishing the “adventurous” plan and just hang out playing by the beach. Later the grab driver told us, it is better to explore the place on a weekend because there will be more people going there.
Thankfully it was not a scorching hot afternoon, so it was nice chilling by the beach, and playing what we termed as “EXPECTATION VS REALITY” mini photo shoot.
Model photo credits: Tinselrack
Photo Credits: Mongabong Instagram
The results were hilarious, don’t you think so?
Okay here are some of the nicer visuals:
Don’t miss this place – Klebang Original Coconut Shake, if you are in Malacca, because the coconut shake (RM3.70) is so good and definitely worth your money!
Next stop: The Daily Fix, one of the most popular cafes in Malacca. Do expect a wait of 15-30 minutes for a seat, during peak hours.
I am unsure about you, but for me I simply adore vintage cafes, that provides a homely and relaxing atmosphere like this one… There are plenty of display for you to look around, and maybe that’s why we aren’t too bothered by the 20 minutes of wait.
PLUSSS they served really good coffee at an affordable price (around RM11, SGD4). The pancakes are best consumed when served, while it is still hot and fluffy:)
Hot Fluffy Chocolate Pancakes
Dinner: After a quick rest-up in the hotel, and doing some impromptu research, we settled at Restoran Indah Sayang.
True to the reviews online, the service attitude of the boss aren’t that good; he will make random sarcastic remarks, like for example, “you may do without the utensils and use your hand to eat since it is more flavorful,” or like “of course is eat with rice, if not eat with what?!”
We were there around 8pm, and considered us unlucky to be after a huge group of (loud Singaporeans) patrons, we ended up waiting for an hour for our dinner. Thankfully, the food is damn good, so it made up for the poor service and long waiting time.
Ended the day with a movie MEG at Dataran Pahlawan~
Day 3 – Christ church, St Paul’s Church, Food Stop: Jing Yuan Biscuit and Bakery, Restoran Lim Kee Bak Kut Teh, Heesan Kopi, Jonker Street- Jonker 88, Hard Rock Cafe Melaka
I always thought the Penang’s Tau Sar Pia was good, but nooo I found another place that sells really good Tau Sar Pia – Jing Yuan Biscuit and Bakery ! This place serves Tau Sar Pia, that are fresh from oven, and I love how the green bean filings are slightly on the salty end, which in fact brings out the whole favour, while the thin crust remains flaky! BAGUS!!
They serve two different sizes of Tau Sa Piah- normal vs Mini, but my take just get the normal size it is more flavorful! It was so good that we went back to get more for ourselves hehe
We head towards the next food stop- Restoran Lim Kee Bak Kut Teh, which is a 10 minutes drive away from the city center.
Tip 5: While the operating hours for this place tend to be up to 2:30 pm, their Bak Kut Teh tend to sold out fast! We got there around 12:30 pm and I kid you not, there was no more You Tiao (Chinese Fried Churros), which served to soak up the goodness gracious soup!!! So please get there early! In case you aren’t aware, it is quite common for the locals to have this as breakfast!
Both of us loves herbal Bak Kut Teh over the peppery version so this is so good! We even request for extra soup!
Next up- a visit to the historical sites: Christ church, A’Famosa, and St Paul’s Church.
Some of these historic sites are built to commemorate the Dutch occupation (from the previous Portuguese occupation), and like A’Famosa, it remains one of the oldest (dates back to 16th century) surviving European architectural remains in Asia!
It is hard to imagine how this white-washed gatehouse used to house the entire Portugese hospitals, churches, stockades and comprised of four key towers?!
Here are some of the photos we snapped before seeking refuge at Heesan Kopi from the relentless sun!
We spent the rest of the evening walking through Jonker street (again!) and the night market which is essentially a replica of the shops along the Jonker Street, with more street foods to indulge.
CAN YOU FEEL THE HEAT?!!!
And of course to unwind in a Hardrock Cafe!
Day 4 Food Stop- Hoe Kee Chicken Rice- Home Sweet Home
Bye & thank you Malacca! I did had a good break from everything, so back to working our ass off to prepare for the next vacation! Till then, fighting!
Xoxo
Agnes
tweetyeggy 