Wanderlust of smileybrows: January 2015

Weeee, I love road trips, we used to drive in to JB very often when I was still in school and before A officially started work. Also it was through all those road trips we had back in USA, we got to know each other better. Anyway, road trips to M'sia means lots of eating and eating and this time round we made our way to Malacca.

With two kiddos at the back (A's Bro and GF). We set off with three cars, a total of 11pax, such a big group.

The usual spot after we cleared the custom- BKT!

I love all the dishes on the table, our orders are always the same whenever we visit Ah Shun BKT. The side dishes are usually these three: Pickled Vegetables (梅菜)

You Tiao (油条): I like to dipped it into the BKT soup and soak it before eating it.

Tau Kee (Beancurd Skin): Sweet bean curd skin goes very well just white plain rice.

The main dish- Bak Kuh Teh (肉骨茶 ): The piping hot, herbal, peppery soup served in clay pot has the right amount of pepper and infused with the flavour from the pig bones after hours of cooking. However the pork is too dry and tough for my liking, but I guess it is from long hours of cooking anyway the broth made up to it.

Drum roll for the champion dish- Sesame Oil Chicken (麻油鸡): I love everything about this dish except that it is a guilty dish. The meat is tender and fragrant, with the gravy. The gravy goes very well with my plain rice and I will go for Sesame oil chicken than BKT anytime.

Both dishes are prepared using charcoal which explains why it is so fragrant with the right control of heat.

Kedai Makanan Ah Soon Bak Kut Teh 亚顺肉骨茶

Address: 141, Jalan Keris Satu, Taman Sri Tebrau, 80050 Johor Bahru

Hours: 8:00am to 3:00pm (off on Mondays) 8:00am to 3:00pm (Closed on Monday)

After another 4 hours of drive, we finally arrived at Malacca. And this is our home for a night. Inspired to be a modern-industrial home stay, keeping its decor minimal.

Pleasantly surprised with the house when we entered and it looks really spacious with its high ceiling. There are a total of three bedrooms, two bathrooms, an indoor garden and an open mini kitchen. With fast wifi access is a plus point for us to get connected to the world and post my photos on Instagram.

For those who are interested, you may book your room from here and visit the website for more images.

After checking in, we proceeded to the top tourist attraction in Malacca- Jonker Street. It was about evening time, 5-ish when we got there and all the night market stalls were already set up in rows along the shop houses. Once we entered the Jonker St from the carpark and I already stopped to buy snacks.

Peranakan dessert: Ondeh Ondeh, the hot steamy filled with Guala Melaka.

We got 5 pairs to try and was suppose to be our night activity(cleaning each other ear) that day but I don't know where it ended up haha( maybe is a blessing in disguise, it could end up really gross).

The perfect setting for OOTD if it wasn't this crowded. But you see the beauty of this heritage street, the architecture preserves the Peranakan culture. This is the chinatown of Melaka(Malacca) and the road is closed for weekend night market starting from Friday, 6pm.

Taiwan sausage with different flavors of seasoning/sauces- Spicy, black pepper, honey lemon, curry etc. We went for hot and spicy & honey, each at RM2.00 I love TW Sausage especially those from Pasar Malams! Sparking juice on the right, so refreshing and not overly sweet.

Twisted Potato, this is a popular snack everywhere we go, cheese and spicy potato chips.

Hotdog wrapped with egg with the mayo-japanese sauce. Don't stop at one, this is one of the boys' favorite.

Fruits Rojak: The rojak sauce was quite spicy for me, but the guava was very crunchy.

Milk fishlets, the warm milky custard flow out as you take a bite.

You will see along the streets, vendors selling childhood candies- Ding Ding Tang (candy) and Malt candy (麦芽糖). We bought 3 packets but it was really horribly hard and impossible to chew as it just stick to your teeth and will not relent.

We literally stopped at almost every food stall. Couldn't resist trying one plate of carrot cake as it smell really good and there was a crowd around. Singaporean mentality. HAHA but it was quite disappointing, it doesn't taste like Singapore style that cooked with sweet soy sauce.

Cute Hello Kitty cookies:

So there was a trend of flower pot ice-cream on IG a while back, and we got to try it in Melaka for half the price in SG.

Chocolate ice-cream covered with soi(oreo crumble). So with all the hype, verdict- Mediocre ice-cream but instagram worthy!

Seafood lovers can also find themselves in for a treat with street style tze char serving variety of seafood dishes.

A cup of Pan fry ice-cream cost Rm8 which I thought is quite pricey, but they try to make it up with a lot of toppings and make the cup looks really full of treats. I ordered the chocolate cornflakes ice-cream and they added more cornflakes and chocolate chips and biscuits for extra crunch. This surprisingly taste better than the flower pot ice-cream.

This shop is famous for serving the best chendol. They also retail a lot of local products such as the gula melaka, or snacks. My mum loves to mixed the Bibik house guala melaka(syrup) with fresh home made avocado, so she got me to buy a few bottles back. They are located at the end of the street you should be able to see it.

It cost RM5 for a small bowl of Chendol but I love the combination of the fragrant coconut, their home made gula melaka with the fine shaved ice that are so smooth!

Melaka Popiah: the vegetable filling tasted quite weird, it doesn't have the sweet and refreshing taste like those from SG (try Chomp Chomp's, I love it).

Jonker Street
Jalan Hang Jebat, 75200 Melaka, Malaysia

So after one whole evening of snacking and possibly tried all the street food, we moved on to the next destination for some chicken rice ball.

Roasted chicken, well roasted, flavorful and the chicken was quite tender, overall not bad but does not leave an impression.

We ordered crazy amount of food and had to play 终极密码 (ultimate code?) to finish the last few on the plate. The Chicken rice ball was fragrant but I prefer the usual chicken rice. Chicken rice ball has this sticky texture and made me feel more bloated easily.

Next morning, time to check out and do last minute eating before driving back home.

I love the Nonya traditional costumes-Kebaya, especially after watching Channel 8 best drama hit- Little Nyona. A good set of Nonya Kebaya is often made of high quality fabric, with intricate lace details, embroidery and mostly hand sewn designs. But they usually comes with a heavy price tag due to the exquisite and detailed hand-sewn work.

Quail eggs, oh i missed this since TW, my BDG love quail eggs but this time round, there was no one to fight with me.

If you walked along the street, you will see a lot of stalls selling pastry, one of the famous snack is buttered pineapple tarts. A pity I did not get to try. But I tried the yummiest taro pastry. Remember during Mooncake festivals, other than the famous durian moon cake, another hot fav is the Teochew Yam moon cake. Over here at Malacca, they sell fresh flaky snow taro pastry. Remember to try it when it is warm, with generous amount of taro filling which is very smooth. The pastry skin is also very light and flaky, best to know that it only cost us a few dollar for 3 pieces, compared to S$40-50 for a box of 8 taro moon cakes from the MCF fair.

Lunch was supposed to be Peranakan cuisine, but it was sold out when we got there (super good business), so we went for chicken rice again. This stall is more popular than the one we went yesterday, however the standard of the food is almost similar.

Satay: Very well marinated and BBQ-ed chicken

With the help of a machine to roll the chicken rice ball, ayer not handmade.

I don't recall the food to be very good, I probably only enjoyed the satay and barbecued Char Siew with the roasted sweet sauce. One of the reason they are so popular is because of the Heritage city at the backyard and second level, featuring photos detailing the history of Malacca.