Baba Cendol and Durian Cendol - Jonker Dessert 88, Jalan Hang Jebat (Jonker Street), Malacca

Another must have in Malacca is the cendol… There are many shops and stalls selling cendol but Jonker 88 is one of the most favourite among tourist especially…

Located in the middle of Jonker Street, it’s easy to spot. It is museum cafe..

Cendol is the best thing to have during the hot sunny day…. They in fact have a lot to offer in the menu, but we decided to go with the basic baba cendol and also the durian cendol… i initially thought durian cendol comes with durian flesh… hahaha.. anyways, cendol and other condiments are topped with shaved ice and thick gula melaka(palm sugar in the big pot).. and some coconut milk.. or was it evaporated milk?.. durian cendol also contain the same ingredient, but with extra durian syrup/sauce in the rectangle container. It’s self service there, where you place your order, pay and bring your own order to your table..

This is the regular baba cendol MYR2.00…. taste nice with the thick gula melaka…

This is the durian cendol, MYR 3.00…  would taste better with more durian syrup.. the syrup actually taste like those durian dodol/cake. besides the delectable desserts, they also have curry laksa, yong tau fu, rojak and few other dishes to offer.. too bad we were still full from the chicken rice meal…

The place is air conditioned, very comfortable and offers quite a number of seats to cater their patrons.

I guess I will need to go back again to try more of the dishes offered as i read that the curry/nyonya laksa is good… hmmm… and I wanna have the durian cendol again, with more durian syrup next round..

Jonker Dessert 88 (website here)
88, Jalan Hang Jebat,
75200 Melaka

Kedai Kopi Chung Wah - Chicken Rice Balls, Malacca

A trip to Malacca will not be complete without a meal of chicken rice balls! So, there we were, at Chung Wah Chicken Rice Ball. Initially, i wanted to go to Hoe Kee cos they have additional sides to offer… but they were close that day! Dang!

Managed to get a table at Chung Wah and the food was served pretty immediately… it’s very straight forward there because the only thing they sell is chicken rice ball and hainanese steamed chicken… so ordering was like ok, how many person and that’s it…

Feeling a bit dehydrated on that hot sunny afternoon, herbal tea seems to be the best choice or beverage..

Chicken rice balls are served in a plate of 5.. basically it is gold ball size, I would say it’s quite small.. in fact it’s like eating 5 table spoon of rice and that’s it… The last time I has chicken rice ball(at Famosa), I don’t recall it was at this size… Chicken rice balls are rice steamed with chicken stock, cooked with extra water for more sticky texture for the rice balls shaping purposes… so the rice sticks together…

Chicken was served chopped on bed of chopped cucumbers… presentation wise memang out already…

Luckily taste wise was okay.. manage to redeem itself a little bit.. the chicken was tender and smooth… a little oily though…

The chili sauce was exceptionally good.. very spicy but very nice.. I cannot remember how much it cost though… was it like MYR 18 or something… for 2 person with drinks… that’s the bad thing when I delay on posting all these entries… I tend to forget these information too… off.. I think I should just take notes next time…

We were there around 1:30pm.. got the last few 1/2 chicken I guess… haha… when the chicken is sold out, they will close the door.. and on weekends and public holidays, there will be a long queue to this entrance…

The shop infact it located at the beginning of Jonker Street at the corner, couple of shops away from Hoe Kee… and it’s very visible from the Stadthuys (Dutch/Red Square)..

Chung Wah Chicken Rice Ball
18, Jalan Hang Jebat,
75200 Melaka, Malaysia

Tow Kee Hakka Mee & Sin Yee Kee Beef Noodles, Pasar Besar Seremban

*Not Halal

We made a stop at Seremban on the way to Melaka during our trip in August…. since we rarely make a trip there, we might as well stopby for a bowl of famous hakka mee!

Pasar Besar Seremban, is where few famous food are located… the hakka mee, the beef noodles and also the sotong bee hoon soup… It is a 2 storey building… the ground and 1/2 of the 1st floor accommodates wet market stalls, and 1/2 part of the first floor is the food court. It’s a busy morning market…

This is the famous Seremban hakka mee stall.. in fact, they have another shop nearby, but I’m not sure if it’s still operating… I couldn’t find pasar besar in the GPS map somehow, but I managed to find Tow Kee Hakka Mee, so it brought us to the little shop lot near the police station (was it a police station or something) and it was closed! So, we decided to ask around on the pasar besar location…  so a few metres down the road before we could get out innocent passerby for directions, we saw Pasar Besar on the left hand side of the road! hahaha… so good thing the one here is open for business :D

Hakka mee actually tastes a little like kolo mee or milder wan ton mee… the noodles texture is slightly different though… I heard it’s own made noodles too… very springy…

A bowl cost at MYR 3.30 for small, MYR 3.70 for medium and MYR4.00 for large. It’s springy noodles, with minced meat, splashed with some light sauce and sesame oil, garnished with chopped spring onions and dashed with pepper powder..… the taste is not very intense, but somehow very pleasant indeed. A simple bowl of noodles, but tastes really good! Every bowl of hakka mee comes with a bowl of clear soup..

Next is the also famous beef noodles… Stall no 748! they have a few variety of noodles, dry and soup version, but the boss recommended a dry one instead. Perhaps the soup ones are common…

So here it is, my bowl of beef noodles with meat and beef stomach and parts, topped thick flavourful gravy, sesame seed sprinkles and spring onions. The noodles is also not some regular yellow noodles or wanton noodles.. it’s springy udon-like noodles.

The bowl costs.. urm.. was if MYR 4.00 or 5.00? Can’t remember..  comes with a bowl of soup… The noodles was okay.. this has a little sourish ( a bit like kai chai peng-chicken biscuit taste) and taste of various spices.. but perhaps I would prefer the soup one, milder version of it :D

The food court is divided into 4 and this is one quarter of it.. You can order food from other quarter and they will send it over… You can see actually more older generations there.. having their morning coffee and breakfast with friends…

I say it’s worth going again, especially for the hakka mee… :D I’ll try the soup beef noodles next round too…

Tow Kee Hakka Mee (Stall742) & Sin Yee Kee Beef Noodles (Stall 748)
Pasar Besar Seremban,
Jalan Pasar
70200 Seremban
Negeri Sembilan

Ming Court Hong Kong Tim Sum, Ipoh

On our way to KL the other day, we decided to stopby Ipoh for a dim sum breakfast. So instead of going to the nice looking Foh San Restaurant, we went to a more humble looking one, just right opposite it, which is Ming Court. We arrived around 10:00am and there are still a lot of people enjoying their breakfast.

Started the order with a pot of tea!

Followed by chee cheong fun! Not bad, but I do feel the one in Sin Kim San tastes better… :P

They were out of har gao (prawn dumpling in crystal skin), so har mai also jadi la… just so so.. I was expecting fat juicy fresh bouncy prawns… but…..

Siu mai was just okay… the sizes of the dim sun are quite small.. somehow I felt that my preferred standard of a nice dim sum has increased…

The char siu bao was good though… nice soft bun with yummy char siu…

The spare ribs…. pai kut ong…

Steamed fish balls…

Fish ball wantons… just okay…

Spring rolls with vegetable fillings..

Not so nice.. kinda oily too…

Salad Prawns… basically it’s prawns wrapped in curd sheets… also ok only…

Another type of fish ball…

The woo kok (yam pastry with meat fillings) was not bad.. but i was expecting the regular woo kok I always have.. like with char siu fillings…

This one comes with like minced meat filling instead….

Sau yuk pei dan chook…. century egg porridge…. ok ok la.. Total bill came to MYR 30 plus, can’t remember the exact number…  Will go try Foh San the next round :D

The morning crowd…

 Ming Court Hong Kong Tim Sum
32, 34, 36 Jalan Leong Sin Nam
30300 Ipoh, Perak.
05-2557134

Spicy Pork Soup – My Grandma’s Recipe!

My cousin sister who lived downstairs cooked spicy pork soup the some time ago and told me it’s my grandma’s recipe… they all stayed with grandma that time so they get to taste more of her cooking :D So I went back and asked my mom about this dish and I only need to mention few key words, pork and spicy soup, immediately my mom can describe the whole dish..  indeed, it’s a recipe of my grandma’s..

To continue the dish to the next generation, I think I wanna learn this one day.. this one that my cousins sis cooked is super spicy… haha… can sembur api from the mouth after eating it.. haha.. what makes this dish so fragrant is the kaffir lime leaves..

Ah Pai Nasi Lemak, Jalan Petri, Sungai Petani

Ah Pai Nasi lemak has been operating for many many years, just right next to Hotel Duta and the taxi station. The nasi lemak used to be only MYR0.50 for a small pack… but price did increse over the years and it’s now MYR1.00 per pack, slightly bigger pack. Back then when it was still at a smaller pack at 50cents, it used to be a place where few of my friends used to challenge each other on who can eat the most nasi lemak, and end of the day winner eats for free while the others share to foot his bill!

Opens from late evening to the wee hours, it used to be a hangout/supper place for many.. There weren’t many mamak stalls or nasi kandar back then. So it’s a nasi lemak place where people will hangout and have coffee talk.

Packs of nasi lemak is being placed at each tables, and it comes with variety of nasi lemak…  they have the basic ikan bilis nasi lemak, telur nasi lemak, ikan nasi lemak, udang nasi lemak, sotong nasi lemak and  ayam (chicken) nasi lemak.  it’s basically nasi lemak with different condiments/contents. All packs are being labelled with alphabets to ease the patron in recognizing their favourite pack of nasi lemak… my favourite is labeled with an “A” for Ayam (chicken).

Various types of nasi lemak.. they do not make their own nasi lemak… they have the Malay suppliers delivering the nasi lemak to them right before they start for business while they operate the drinks stall… so it explains the different packing and it’s  it’s a halal place…

Ayam nasi lemak, labeled as (A) on the pack. It’s not the regular nasi lemak with red sambal.. it’s a more tone down, milder nasi lemak, not too spicy but yummy… it goes out of stock early too sometimes.. but if you don’t see your favourite pack any at the table you are sitting, you can just check out at other tables or just request from them and they will replenish it for you, unless they are out of it.

Sotong (squid) nasi lemak, labeled (S) on the pack.. comes in a combo with both sotong and some fried ikan bilis (anchovies)..

Udang (prawn/shrimp) nasi lemak, labeled (U) omn the pack.. spicy and flavourful….

Ikan nasi lemak, labeled (I) is also a combo if fried ikan bilis (anchovies) and fried ikan kembong…

Also not forgetting the most basic and common nasi lemak, the ikan bilis (fried crispy anchovies) nasi lemak with sambal…. wrapped with banana leaves for that extra oopmh!  Missed out the Telur (hard boiled egg) nasi lemak though…

Until today, business is still a brisk, and my cousin’s husband will need his fix each and every time they are back in SP.

Nasi Lemak Ah Pai
Jalan Petri (Next to Hotel Duta)
Open 9.30pm-2am. Days off not fixed.

Delicious Fares during Ramadhan!

Yes, I know that Ramadhan is over, even Syawal is ending soon… and I have not been actively updating lately… was and is still very caught up with work, very overloaded and just too tired when I get home… but if i don’t update now, the more backlogs I’ll have! So I’ll just briefly share photos of some yummy food I’ve enjoyed for the past couple of months.. haha…

This year somehow, had lesser pasar/bazaar Ramadhan around… I got all these from the Pasar Ramadhan at Bayan Baru.. nearest on the way home from work…

I love malay friend bee hoon, the one orange in colour.. but somehow, those sold in pasar ramadhan is not as yummy as those fried at home… I could still recall those yummy ones made by my classmates’ mom during our lower primary class party…. they are always very sedap!

  

Roti jala too has always been a favourite… best eaten with chicken curry….  Last time, roti jala 4 pieces with chicken curry cost only MYR 1.00 to MYR1.50.. Now, it ranges from MYR 2.50 to MYR 4.00.

Satay is also a favourite… when i was young, I love tagging my mom to the weekend pasar minggu… because I can urge her to buy satay for dinner :D  This is only MYR 0.40 per stick… for chicken satay… considering it cheap as the chicken meat piece is generous. juicy and not chicken fat.. purely chicken meat… now, a regular stick of chicken satay(purely meat) costs at least MYR0.60. And it ranges until even MYR 1.00 per stick.

Nasi Lemuni is not commonly found like nasi lemak.. only some stalls have it.. and I never heard of it until few years back when one of my ex colleague cooked some and brought to the office for us…  lemuni is actually a plant. Best to be eaten simple with the normal nasi lemak condiments.. but this one comes in a set with the chicken..

Lemuni - a Malay herbal plant with small purple flowers and dark greenish grey leaves. Commonly used in traditional preparation, usually from extracting the juice. In Malay culture, it is very popularly used in as remedial medicine, most popularly believed is good for women who just gave birth.  

Nasi tomato with acar and ayam masak merah…. and also satay…

Lemang with dried beef rendang…

Yuo know what, if I ever get to migrate somewhere one day, I’m gonna open a small eatery promoting Malaysian food, and the above will surely be in the menu,, haha… day dreaming on owning a little restaurant…