The advantage of going to Malacca on a weekday is that there are lesser cars on the road and parking is readily available. What a joy!
We were very hungry by the time we reached Malacca, and headed straight to Yong Moh Coffee Shop after reading good reviews on the dim sum sold here. The shop has been opened for 60+ years (according to the friendly lady boss) and is now managed by the 3rd generation in the family. Yong Moh Coffee Shop is located along Jalan Tukang Emas (Blacksmith Street), adjacent to Jonker Walk and opposite Kampung Kling Mosque.
They are famous for their meat paus and simple and good dim sum fare (don't expect a huge variety like what you get in dim sum shops in JB and KL, Yong Moh serves the basic dim sum range but what we tried all taste good). We ordered the meat pau (of course), stuff beancurd, and various other dim sums. More pictures here:
The famous Yong Moh Meat Paus. They are THE most delicious and MOST value for money meat paus hubby and I have tasted so far!. The meat is very well marinated, so so juicy and succulent, and the pau is packed full of this juicy goodness. Be prepared for a burst of gravy as you take your first bite into the pau. Am sure you can tell from the pictures above how juicy the pau is. And ladies, the meat is pretty lean, so just enjoy yourselves! Oh and did I mention that the meat pau is only RM2 each?! We ended up da-baoing 6 more back to share with family.
We also tried the otah flavoured meat balls and steamed glutinous chicken rice (Loh Mai Kai). The meat balls looks unappealing but we were pleasantly surprise by the springy meat balls and the once again very well marinated otah flavoured filings. Definitely worth ordering if you are there. Hubby find the Loh Mai Kai passable, but not great. But I personally enjoyed it as I like that the Loh Mai Kai is not oily.
I like the dim sum here as I find that they do a very good job in marinating their dim sum filings. All of the dim sum we tried are juicy and tender. Taste test pass!
Price list of the paus and dim sum sold in Yong Moh. Very reasonable isn't it!
What is a trip to Malacca without the famous Malacca Chendol. We stopped over at Jonker 88 to quench our thirst and to satisfy the chendol craving. Jonker 88 offers 8 different varieties of chendol among which the Durian baba chendol (RM3) is my personal favourite. We decided to try this "Eight Treasure Chendol" (RM3) this time. The chendol is drizzled with a thick gula melaka syrup, coupled with very fragrant coconut milk and finely shaved ice. This is complimented with a generous serving of kidney beans, corn, chendol, atap seeds and my personal favourite - nugmet strips and crunchy peanuts! All the different flavours and textures in this one bowl.
Next up - Lunch at Nancy's Kitchen. One of the best Nyonya restaurant in Malacca (in our opinion). Nancy's Kitchen is located at Jalan Hang Lekir, off Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock. Be sure to reach there early as the restaurant will be fully packed during meal times. Oh, and the prices are very reasonable and the servings are quite large by our standard.
Spring Roll (Popiah) RM3 each - steamed spring roll served with turnips, cucumber, fresh bean sprouts, coriander leaves, eggs, garlic and others. A very popular starter before meal (actually I think this would goes very well with rice as well) and is a must try. Hubby tried one and immediately said this is very good.
Pork Rib with Black Nut (Bak Buah Keluak) RM10 for small bowl (which is actually quite big) - A Peranakan classic dish, a must order in any Peranakan restaurant. Buah Keluak refers to the black nuts in the dish above, originally from Indonesia (and supposedly tastes like truffle). The nut is cut opened so that the interaction of the spiced gravy and the nuts will produce a sweet spicy and sourish taste. We both love this dish very much and would probably have both polished off the huge bowl of rice given if not for the fact that we are on low carbo diet (I know, we had probably load in more carbo than anyone in this trip =p). Well, we were suppose to scrape out the nut paste in the buah keluak and eat it with the dish but we both fall into the category that "love the dish, but not the nut". I personally prefer this dish over Babi Pongteh aka Pork with Bean Paste, another classic Peranakan meat dish. Though both goes very well with rice.
Fried Egg Cincalok (Cincalok Telur) RM6 for small - Egg is nicely fried but we couldn't really taste the cincalok inside.
Nyonya Mixed Vegetables (Nyonya Chap Cai) RM8 for small - This is another classic Peranakan dish where cabbage, lily buds, black fungus, glass noodles, bean curd sheet are cooked with fermented soya bean. I like this very much as the vegetables are cooked till they are soft and soaked with the sweetness of all the flavours all blended into one. Would say this would be a favourite among all age groups, especially those who prefers the natural sweetness of vegetables rather than spiciness in some belacan or assam based Peranakan dishes.
We also tried some of the kuihs in the restaurant, they taste good, though not absolutely fantastic.
Kuih Ku
Onde - Onde (Kuih Gula Melaka)
Next, we headed over to Nadeje Pateserie (located at Taman Melaka Raya - the rows of shop houses besides Newton Foodcourt and Mahkota shopping centre) for the famous mille crepe (a cake made up of 20 layers of paper thin crepe, with a light and smooth vanilla flavoured creme in between each crepe layer). The crepe cake is very light and fluffy, and isn't it very visually enticing just looking at the cake layers.
We were so stuffed by the time we left Malacca that we could only managed this plate of Guo Tie (which btw is very good as well) as dinner in JB before heading back over the causeway.
The end of my makan trip. Am going to stick to light meals for the rest of the week haha.
