Family Trip: Hunting for Joy and Malacca delicacies (Part 2)

A trip to Malacca will not be completed without a meal of chicken rice balls! On the 2nd day of my family trip at Malacca, we had breakfast at a shop near Malacca Pasar. We had to book earlier to avoid disappointment like what had happened yesterday. We ordered 70 rice balls and hainanese chicken apart from a bowl of nyonya laksa to be shared. I would say the laksa is just okay as I still prefer Penang style laksa which is richer with curry paste. Overall, the chicken rice never fail me, but prefer it to be served hot :)

After a hearty breakfast, we had a walk at the Malacca beach. The view from here was not that pleasant as many rubbish left.

The historical heritages were our subsequent destinations. The last time we visited historical heritages at Malacca was during my form 1  and my youngest sis was just aged 7 years old. 

Fort A Famosa

St Paul's Church

Christ Church Malacca which has built since 1753.

Tan Beng Swee Clocktower

Family Photo :)

After visiting historical heritages, we headed to our lunch before we went back to K.L. The experience of stuck in heavy traffic had us decided to leave Malacca earlier than our plan. Pork Satay as our 'dessert' before lunch as we expected that we might need to wait for a long time for foods to be served later.The shop was located near to the Jonker Street.

The satays were served once we were seated and the staffs refilled the satay once we finished the satays. It was a value-added service, but the portion of satay meat is abit too less. However, the pork satay were really delicious!

The final spot in Malacca before we headed back to K.L. was Baba and Nyonya food. Applauds given to Joel as tourist guide who brought us to this place. I think only few locals here know where is the best to find Baba and Nyonya food in Malacca. It was located near Klebang ( sad that Klebang coconut milkshake was not opened that day). 

We were shocked to see many big cars parked around this old shop. It is obvious that the place is famous of its nyonya food otherwise I think rich people would dine at restaurants or hotels. (Perhaps that's my fallacy to think of rich people never dine at mamak style place). Nasi lemak, ikan cencaru sambal, sambal prawns or sotongs, and kangkung sambal are the main delicacies here apart from its famous mango juice. Every dish was scrumptious although each considered as simple dish. This place is definitely worth to be visited again!

The trip ended at 2pm and we rushed back to K.L. as we could see more and more heavy traffic problems occurred at the town. It was a nice family trip and there were foods pending to be tasted such as ikan bakar @ Portuguese Settlement, nyonya laksa, Klebang coconut milk shake and nyonya kuih muih. 

Thanks to Joel's mom who bought Nyonya dumpling for us. Again, it was the first time for us to taste Nyonya dumpling. It was different compared to the Chinese style, whereby its filling consists of dried shrimp, mushroom and pork cooked with sambal and Nyonya spices. The taste was very different but I would show a thumb up! 

Visit What You Can Do In Malacca and Malacca Delicacies You Can Try for more details :) 

Family Trip: Hunting for Joy and Malacca delicacies (Part 1)

It was a continuous holidays following Hari Raya as public holidays which fell on 8th -10th August (weekends). My family and I had decided to have an annual family trip to Malacca. As usual, it was a sudden plan since last month and we faced difficulties in booking hotel. Nevertheless, we managed to rent a room with Joel's help. When visiting Melaka, food is always something on top of the list when travelling in the city. The main purpose of the trip was hunting for foods apart from joy!

We arrived Malacca during noon and we headed to have our lunch. The mee sua here is the best one I ever ate. The food had been cleared before we remembered we should at least taken a photo of it. :P

Parallel to Jonker Street, there is a street named as Harmony Street (officially Temple street or Jalan Tokong), containing the prayer houses of Malaysia's three main faiths - the Cheng Hoon Teng Chinese temple, the Sri Poyatha Vinayagar Moorthi Hindu Temple, and the Kampung Kling Mosque.

Sri Poyyatha Vinayaga Moorthy Temple

Sri Poyyatha Vinayagar Moorthy Temple is the oldest Hindu temple in Malaysia, located at Jalan Tokong, or Temple Street, within walking distance of the Kampung Kling Mosque and Cheng Hoon Teng Temple. It was built by Hindu community of Malacca in 1780s and dedicated to Vinayagar or Ganesh, the Elephant deity. 

Masjid Kampung Kling

 Majid Kampung Kling was built in 1780s along Jalan Tukang Emas in Malacca, is among the oldest mosques in Malaysia. The minaret was built entirely of masonry in contrast to the accompanying timber mosque. It has the appearance similar to a Chinese pagoda or stupa form, another Malacca characteristic.

马六甲青云亭

The Cheng Hoon Teng Temple is Malaysia’s oldest Chinese Temple. The temple was founded in the 1600s by a man named as Li Kup, who fled China when the Manchus toppled the Ming dynasty. 

Walking past the road, we dropped by Orang Utan House. The Orang Utan House is originally set up by a Malaysian artist, Charles Cham. I was impressed with the remarkable paintings and t-shirt designs which deliver some funny yet sarcastic messages. I bought a t-shirt from there not long ago, which emphasizes on human rights. More details, please click here .

We spent the whole noon to walk along Jonker Street. My mom was excited to shop for cookies here. There are dodol, pineapple tarts, biscuits, and confectionery here, there and everywhere around Jonker Street. Anyway, dodol is not my choice. The first stop was LW Nyonya Pineapple Tarts House. The retailers were generously served us to taste various types of cookies for free. Of course, we ended up buying many types of cookies back. 

To quench our thirst, we had gone to San Shu Gong to have their famous durian cendol. My siblings had their cute egg ice-cream along the way heading to San Shu Gong. The durian cendol is refreshingly delicious and rich with durian taste, gula melaka and coconut milk. However, my mom said that the durian cendol had failed her expectation as she felt the cendol was too sweet and lacked of durian taste.

The view of Jonker Walk from San Shu Gong. The road was full of tourists and we decided to come at night after our dinner.

One of the photos I liked the most! Captured from San Shu Gong.

An advice to be given: Never visit to tourists destination during public holidays. We chose to have dinner at Portuguese Settlement but we ended up being told that the whole place was fully booked. Even given a queue number, the ingredients might have finished that time.Eventually we had our dinner at Ban Lee Hiang Satay Celup House. Satay Celup is basically a type of steamboat with the raw foods on the stick to be cooked in a boiling spicy peanut sauce. It was an unprecedented experience for my family (except me), yet they felt the way of eating the same pot of peanut sauce which had been eaten by others was unhygienic. Okay, let's just conclude it as a good experience to enjoy local delicacy at Malacca- the famous Satay Celup!

After having dinner, we went back to Jonker Street to have a walk. The recent news that Jonker Street may be closed down due to politic issues. I hoped that the Chinese culture here would be continued. Along Jonker Street, we can find plenty of nice cafes or pubs with live bands playing throughout the night. A great night that we ended it with a nice walk along Jonker Street and piping hot putu piring :)



Click here for reading Family Trip: Hunting for Joy and Malacca delicacies (Part 2).
Click Malacca Delicacies You Can Try for more details :)

Italian foods @ Bel Pasto Italian Restaurant; Kepong

Bel Pasto, Kepong branch is opened for quite some time already, however, I had rarely paid a visit due to parents who do not fancy of Italian foods. It is rare to have authentic Italian delicacies in Kepong area, moreover this shop is owned by Italian chefs.

The Italian set meal lunch set which costs RM9.90++ is inclusive of the choices of soup, main course, drinks, and dessert. The set meal lunch set is only available from 12pm till 3pm; and they only resume operation around 5pm till late night.

This blog post included meals that I had eaten at two different times in a year. I could only recall the 2nd time dining over here which was on 14th July 2013.A simple,quiet yet cozy dining restaurant that serves good Italian foods. You might be shocked when you stepped into Bel Pasto Italian Restaurant as waitress would be greeting you aloud.

The roof with hanging with grapes and leaves made me thought of picking grapes hanging over my head. Haha...

The chefs and the staffs

I ordered espresso as I need some doze of caffeine to keep me awake.

Wild mushroom soup with generous portions of mushrooms!

Chicken Cream Soup (RM4.90+ A La Carte) with milky creamy taste which I found the taste was less flavorsome.

Chicken Lasagna which is cheesy and tasty!

Hawaiian Chicken Pizza which is the typical choice that most would make when thought of pizzas.

So, we had ordered one as well.

The sliced ham matched with tomato sauce and cheese become good combination.

Perhaps the chef shall add more slices of pineapples.

The thin crust of the pizza which made it much different compared to those we ate in Pizza Hut.

Spaghetti bolognese

I couldn't remember the name of this spaghetti.

Briefly description: Seafood pasta which is covered with fresh clams and sliced ​​olives. 

The sauce is unique as sour and spicy; adding ravenousness.

The long-awaited tiramisu which costs only RM8.90.

Tiramisu is Italian dessert consisting of layers of sponge cake soaked in coffee and brandy or liqueur with powdered chocolate and mascarpone cheese. The top layer dusted with cocoa powder. Ever wondered of the meaning of ' Tiramisu' ? It means  "pick me up" or "lift me up"). This exquisite dessert leaves a lifelong imprint on my taste buds! You would fall in love with this Tiramisu at the first bite of it.

me

the one with his favorite tiramisu

If I had any more room in my stomach, we might have ordered the garlic breads to match with the wild mushroom soup.I could conclude that Bel Pasto Italian Restaurant offers appetizing Italian cuisines which has good quality. If you are craving for Tiramisu, do not hesitate to try Bel Pasto's signature Tiramisu which has perfect amount of sweetness and thick!

Top 5 Epicurean Destination Guide to Malacca

Talking about Malacca, most will only think of chicken rice balls, nyonya foods and Nadeje mille crepes. Hence, during this trip to Malacca, I had been requested for tantalizing my taste buds with delicacies that locals here would go.

Our first destination for breakfast: Pin Pin Hiong Foodshop
- Mee Sua (salted Chinese noodles made from wheat flour)

It's just located near The Orang Utan House. Well, the big crowds could be seen and most were still waiting the foods to be served. The hawkers remained cooking each bowl of mee sua individually in a large wok. I guess this is the way of maintaining the quality and taste of each bowl of mee sua. My mom and I had attempted to cook this dish however,  it tends to absorb a lot of stock too quickly causing a glob of fat noodles.

The flavorsome broth which cooked with porks' intestines, minced pork, sliced pork, pork liver and etc.

I just ordered minced pork/ sliced pork because I didn't favor pork's inner parts.As I sipped spoonfuls of  it, the deep hearty broth warmed my tummy and it's really tasted like home-cooked food.

Observing the other people's ordered foods, I found most had ordered oysters egg omelete and Joel informed that it's one of the signature dishes here. Okay, I will reserve my stomach for it next time.

品品香餐室 (Pin Pin Heong)
Working Hours: 7.30am – 3.00pm (Rest on Wednesday)
Address: Lorong Hang Jebat, 75200 Melaka

It's the ultimate combination of exotic spices and epicurean delights with the famous Taiwan noodles at Hing Loong Pork Chop and Spicy Beef Noodles (兴隆台湾面馆). Nah, if you are drooling over Taiwan foods, you shall not miss this out from your foods list!The shop sells mainly fried pork-chop noodles and spicy beef noodles. The owner of the shop is Taiwanese and she is quite friendly as she has personally topped up two slices of fried pork ribs after we talked with her.

The irresistible pork rib noodles

By the way, I still wonder what noodles they have used. Are these soya noodles? Hmm..

irresistible pork rib noodle

The well marinated, crispy and aromatic pork ribs

An extra order of the deep fried pork was ordered to satisfy our cravings.I forgot to capture the flavorsome soup which boiled from the pork bone for hours.

兴隆台湾面馆
Kedai Makan Heng Long Sdn.Bhd
No 11-j,Jalan Bachang,75350 Melaka

So, what's next epicurean delights that could make your taste buds are on a passage of exhilaration?! We headed to a place which have been well-known to tourists i.e. Sun May Hiong Pork Satay located at Jalan Kota Laksamana, Melaka. It's one of the best satays I had eaten before. What makes the satay different compared to the others is the peanut dip which has mixed with pineapple.

RM0.60 each stock is considered reasonable but I do wish them to increase more meats per stick.

Sun May Hiong Pork Satay @ Jalan Kota Laksamana, Melaka
GPS Coordinates: N2 11.523 E102 14.655

Coincidentally, our food trip theme seems to be surrounded with pork only today.  The plan was to head to a satay celup place at night. However, we opted for lighter food i.e. putu piring which had me intrigued for quite some time. The long queue along the shop which made me wondered what it tastes like!

Round, steamed rice cake with a  mouthful of palm sugar and hugely shredded coconut.

The sweetness is pleasant and obviously this tasty, sweet putu piring is contributed by its high quality gula melaka.

Putu Piring (made by Chinese)

No. 252, Jalan Tengkera, Melaka

Lastly, not forgetting about the souvenir to be brought back home. The Malacca food trail will be incomplete without Nyonya delights and we brought back Nyonya Chang.For Nyonya food, it is highly recommended to ask locals to provide suggestions. You may click here to find out one of the best Nyonya foods I have tasted

The winter melon and coriander powder which cause it different compared to the ordinary rice dumplings.

Apart from blue color externally, the pork fillings are cooked with different seasonings.

I couldn't find words to describe it, but I could say that it's definitely worth savoring!!

Our tummies and stimulated taste-buds are thoroughly satisfied!

A quick recap:

1. Pin Pin Hiong Foodshop
2. Hing Loong Pork Chop and Spicy Beef Noodles
3. Sun May Hiong Pork Satay
4. Putu Piring @ Jalan Tengkera
5. Nyonya dumpling Malacca

~THE END~

Reunion with University Friends @ Wufu Chok Dee Thai Restaurant & Victorious Cafe

The distance and lapse of time hadn't weaken the friendship bond of us and most of us from North, K.L. and South coming over to Batu Pahat for a short reunion and to pass our internship log book. I had thought of jotting a short review of Wufu Chok Dee Thai Restaurant during my first visit, however I decided to leave a blog post when there's better moment.

Notably, Wufu Chok Dee Thai Restaurant which was famous in the town had been chosen to be dined at.
It's definitely the best moment with great foods and great friends. Nevertheless, it was also putting an end to our university life as the final task i.e. internship log book had passed to lecturer successfully.

The Thailand cuisines here were splendid and scrumptious with authenticity. By the way, anyone had even mis-pronounced the name of the restaurant to "Chor Dai Dee" i.e. the card game.

Tom Yum Seafood Soup which had appropriate sourness and spiciness.

Generous portion of fresh prawns, squids,mushrooms and other ingredients were found in this big pot of tom yum seafood soup.

A closer look of the big pot of tom yam soup (RM18)

Pineapple fried rice which was the next dish that had delighted much.

It was tasted nearly like the fried rice that my mom cooked. Well, awesome dish!

Crunchy~

BBQ Pork with Iced Fresh Kale served with dippings

The BBQ Pork was marinated well and remained tender and juicy at each bite. We had been wondered if we had been given chicken meat instead of pork as the meats are really tender and appetizing. There was a glass of water being served along with this dish and we were still doubted the usage of the glass of water ( unsure if it's juice or...).

Victorious Cafe was the next venue for our girls'cozy chat. Well, the delectable cakes with good friends would make the night ends with smile on each face of us.

The presence of you all had made my journey in university life becoming meaningful.

I miss you guys and hope for the next meet up ;)

Kanashii

It is strange that words are so inadequate to describe how's the feeling of the one when loneliness and sadness sets in. Sometimes, I do feel that bad relationship with siblings brings a terrible feeling, it makes me feel that I am isolated. It would be great that I able to have further studies at other states again. Having fun with friends makes me feel that I am not a loner.

I guess....

ASS.U.ME.

An assumption is based upon what one may have observed another one to do and then knowingly or unknowingly placed the previous observations into a pattern(s) of cycles that later form a label to what one mind would think is a probable act for the other one. This is something that happens to most people when interacting with a person for a period of time, They start to measure the other persons' reality, to their past impressions. 

Assumption is often be made by us most of the time. We assume that what we say and do can be understood by the ones who are closer with us. We assume that we don't need to thank parents for what they contribute. We assume that it is okay for friends to clear up mess for us. We assume that there's not a big deal to kidding with friends, not knowing that it may cause misunderstanding. 

I have inevitably adopted assumptions recently, and my friend shared with me this topic i.e. ' Assume'. Admittedly, I had never heard the phrase, "When you assume, it makes an ass out of you and me," until fairly recently. My friend told me about the root words of 'assume' which are:

Assume= Ass + u + me. 

Thus, by assuming we make an ass of not only others but ourselves too. I think that it is simply a human instinct to assume things, yet it often turn out to be different than what we assume or expect. Just because you perceive something a certain way, doesn't mean it is true. It boils up things easily especially with a false assumption. 

The assumption that I made today made a sweet conversation be ended badly. It made terrible mood existed throughout the night. 

 "You should never assume. 

You know what happens when you assume. 

You make an ass out of you and me because that's how it's spelled."

-Ellen DeGeneres