A Short Trip to Melaka

My trip to KL landed me on another short trip to Melaka, the historical landmark of Malaysia. It was a jalan-jalan cari makan trip with Kin Fai's friends (a bunch of 9 hungry ghosts). I was among the excited hungry ghost because I never been to Melaka before and I just can't wait to see the place with famous historical landmarks such as the A Famosa, churches, delicious baba and nyonya food, eager to see what the small town has to offer.

Journey was short but not as breezy as we thought, because of the festive season, cars were moving bumper to bumper even in highway. It took us 2 hours to arrive (usually it's just 1.5 hours) and by the time we arrive, we were literally transformed into hungry ghost because it was already 1pm. Melaka was already crowded with so many people. I was surprised to see that Melaka is actually quite a small town and the famous landmark were actually very near to each others, the Stadhuy Building, Melaka museum (much to Kin Fai's dismay, it was closed), Fort A Famosa, St. Paul Church, Jonker Street and even the shopping mall (Mahkota Parade and the brand new Pahlawan Squares) all within walking distance.

We don't care much bout sight seeing first because we had to fill up our growling stomachs. We head straight up to the oh-so-very famous Chicken Ball Rice.

Chicken Ball Rice at Kedai Kopi Chung Wah.

You won't miss the location of this shop because you will see a line of crowd waiting for table and seats outside the shop. That's not something you'll get to see everyday, not even at the famous chicken bean sprout (nga choi kai) shop in Ipoh. Is the food worth the 30 minutes-under-the -sun wait? Yes and no, I would say.

How adorable but only 5 balls per plate.

Actually the chicken rice is just Hainanese chicken rice that we can get at Kedai Kopi Rasa Sayang at Ipoh. But the ball-ball rice is some special, out-of-the-box, twisted way to eat our daily grain. I liked the rice more than the chicken itself, which I didn't even bother to take any picture of, due to the chef's unprofessional way of cutting the chicken, which he just simply smashed the meat and bones into pieces. We ordered 30 more ball-balls and just eat the ball-balls on its own.

But still, onigiri is cuter.

Very colourful trishaws were all around the town, some with very hip contemporary music being played.


Stadhuy's Building.

At St.Paul's Church. Or was it St.Peter? I'm sorry, thousand apologies to you holy saints.

Nothing much to look at in the historical building but historical monuments.

Fort A Famosa is smaller than I thought.

After spending 1 hour at Pahlawan Squares, we went out to hunt for food again, this time is satay celup. The place were, as expected, crowded and we had to wait awhile before there's table and seats for us. Steamboat style but all the food were to dip and cook in the satay gravy. I still prefer the conventional lok-lok especially the one located at Ipoh Garden South, although the food on skewer is only cooked in hot boiling water but the satay gravy they served is super great delicious. And the century egg is OMG OMG OMG delicious @_@ Well I guess satay celup is just not my style.

And of course, we did not miss any Baba and Nyonya food. We tried itik tim, otak otak (different from our usual one), ayam poh teng, and assam prawn. Delicious but not magical enough to charm this Ipoh-born tongue.

Satay celup.

Jonker Street.

Jonker Street was even more crowded than Chiang Mai's night bazaar. But things were a tad too expensive, equivalent to shopping mall standards (RM9.90 for a cute character key-chain). Too bad that we already had too much of food, if not, I would really want to try those street hawker food along the Jonker Street. I still crave for the fried lobak kueh that I did not try. >_< style="text-align: center;">Melaka is also famous for its pineapple tart. It's the best food so far. Runner up will be the ball-ball rice (can't say Chicken Ball Rice because the chicken is not that good).

I regretted that I only bought one box of tarts. >_<>

Festive season in KL. KL roads suddenly seems wider than usual.

Meal at Manhattan Fish Market.

My KL trip is always more towards food trip rather than visiting trip. I gained a few kilos every time I come back from KL. >_<