What to eat in Malacca, Malaysia

Eat, Sleep, Repeat.

Dates of visit: 25 - 27 December 2014

This was a totally random and impromptu visit to Malacca over the Christmas holidays. I had the luxury of getting my Annual Leave approved last minute and off we went! We only booked the bus and hostel within the week we were supposed to go.

Being Christmas holidays, we wanted to get out of the country, but didn't want to spend too much (have you seen how crazy expensive the airfares and hotels are!??). Decided on Malacca, just a 3-4 hour bus ride from Singapore, has really good food and decent places to stay and keep us entertained.

We ate so excessively on this trip that I couldn't button my skirt when I got back to work! So, this is what we ate!

(Note: I'm just gonna start clearing my backlog of posts that I'm supposed to write, but got too lazy..)

Street Food

Lively Jonker Street

Along Jonker street during the weekends, the Pasar Malam (Night Market) comes to life. The street usually closes around late afternoon and vendors set up stalls selling all sorts of things. From toys, to clothes, to street snacks!

Kueh Kuehs

Kueh Kueh

We chanced upon this stall selling all sorts of Nonya Kuehs. Of course I had to buy my all time favourite Lapis Sagu! My family affectionally calls it 'Colourful Kueh', due to it's many colours! It's my childhood favourite, with Bangawan Solo selling the best Lapis Sagu and Pandan Cake ever!

Quail's Eggs

Quail's Eggs

As we walked along the street, we bought this skewer of quail eggs (cholesterol alert!!). Vendors crack the eggs into small pastry iron caste things and it's just fried like that. Once cooked, vendors season the eggs with pepper, salt and BBQ sauce! Super yummy, but I think our heart and arteries could only manage a skewer each.

Lok Lok

Lok Lok

Lok lok-Malaysian style is the best! Lok lok in Singapore are usually cooked in a broth or gravy, which I don't really like. Food items like fishball or vegetables are fine cooked in broth or gravy, but Pork Intestines tastes nicer when grilled or deep fried. This lok lok van/stall may not look like the most hygienic place to have a meal, but if you cook your food thoroughly, you shouldn't have any issues.  We came back twice! This can be located near the end(or start, depending on which direction you're coming from) of Jonker Street!

Cendol

Cendol

Traditional Nonya dessert made from coconut milk, green starched jellies/noodles flavoured with pandan, gula melaka (brown sugar syrup) and topped with crushed ice. Depending from stall to stall, grass jelly, sweet corn and red beans might also be added into the bowl for a sweet dessert!

Coconut

On the streets of Melaka, you're able to purchase an entirely shaven coconut. What you get is just the sweet soft flesh with sweet sweet coconut water. Best thing is, you can eat the entire thing without scraping the sides for the flesh! #melakaboleh #coconut #lazypeople

A photo posted by Natasha Lim (@natatatasha) on Dec 26, 2014 at 6:40am PST

Nonya Food - Nancy's Kitchen

Nancy's Kitchen

Address: 7 Jalan Hang Lekir, Off Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock, 75200 Melaka, Malaysia

Tel: +60 6-283 6099

Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nancys-kitchen-Jonker-St/161933007198411

Malacca is known for their rich Peranakan culture, architecture and of course, the Peranakan food. Nonya women pride themselves in cooking the best dishes for their families, and such savoury and flavourful dishes needs to be shared with the world!

Happy Me!

So we scouted TripAdvisor and food blogs for the best Nonya restaurant that serves pork. We had two options but Nancy's Kitchen was the only one still opened at the hour that we went. Do expect looooong queues as everyone who flock to Malacca wants to have a taste of traditional Peranakan cuisine. Happy me just waited patiently in line for our turn.Since the restaurant was packed, the wait staff asked us if we mind sharing tables. Of course not! I was famished and wanted food!

Seriously, who doesn't like crunchy Kueh Pie Tee!

Kueh Pie Tee

I'm not a fan of laksa or spicy foods, but G is an avid Laksa lover. It's very different from Singapore's laksa as it's more sour, but not as sour as Asam Laksa.

Nonya Laksa

How can I even NOT order Babi Buah Keluak! It's traditionally cooked with Chicken (Ayam) but I was craving for Pork (Babi). The Keluak nut has a hard exterior shell. The insides are dug out, pounded with spices, stuffed back in and boiled with the meat and spices till the gravy thickens. At Nancy's Kitchen, they will ask you how many nuts you would like to order (at an additional cost of course). I wanted to order like two or three, but dearest G quickly replied, "ONE!". *inserts exasperated emoticon* The gravy is so flavourful, I wanted to drink it all up!

babi buah keluak

My Grandmother is half Peranakan and very often she'll cook Chap Cai for the whole family to eat. Honestly, even though Nancy's Kitchen's food and Buah Keluah is fantastic and so delicious, my Grandma's Chap Cai is still the best.

chap cai

Bah Kee - Restoran Kok Keong
(板底街芋饭肉羹汤 - Bottom street yam rice pork meat soup)

Restaurant Kok Keong

Address: 11 Jalan Kampung Pantai, 75200 Malacca, Malaysia
Opening hours: 730am-2pm and 6pm until the bak kee runs out (usually by 9pm). Closed Wednesdays.

We were walking past this coffee shop the day before and the smell of the herbal soup just whiffed through the air and made my stomach rumble. This is located just next to our hostel so on the second day we went for some Bah Kee! Bah Kee is similar to Bah Kut Teh, just that there's offals, tofu and other pork innards in the soup.

Even at 9am, the coffee shop is almost full. You have the option of choosing what you want in your soup, or you can just ask the very nice Uncle to just do a random mix for you. I opted not to have pork lard or skin and to have more intestines (my favourite).

Bah Kee

My bowl consisted of intestines, shio bah, offals, tofu, and slices of meat. You can also have the option of having plain steamed rice or yam rice. Of course we got the yam rice. The rice itself is so flavourful and you can just eat it on its own! If you're there, please order a cup of coffee too! It's just divine.

Famosa Chicken Rice Balls

Location:

• Jonker Street - Tel : 06-2860121, Business Hours : 9:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. (Mon-Sun)    
• Mahkota Parade (1st Floor) - Tel : 06-2883354, Business Hours : 10:30 a.m. - 10:30 p.m. (Mon-Sun)
• Tesco Hypermart (Food Court) - Business Hours : 9:30 a.m. - 10:30 p.m. (Mon-Sun)     
• Jalan Bendahara - Tel : 06-2860122, Business Hours : 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 a.m. (Mon-Sun)  
• Cheras (K.L.) - Business Hours : 9:30 a.m. - 9:30 p.m. (Mon-Sun)    

Website: http://www.melaka.net/famosa/

This is one of Malacca's iconic dishes, but, not the best. Famosa's chicken rice balls' popularity have traveled far and wide across the region. Although it may be unique, it's not the best chicken rice I've had.

The rice is flavourful enough, but the texture is sticky and dry. You can order a portion just to try, but save your stomach for better food (like Peranakan food) out there!

What we did in Bali, Indonesia

Jimbaran Beach

Dinner by the Sea

Seafood dinner by Jimbaran Beach!

Jimbaran Beach - Lia Cafe

One of the most iconic things to do in Bali is to have a tranquil seafood dinner on the beach while watching the sunset. Yes, literally on the sand, facing the sea and sunset. We arranged a car to take all seven of us for Rp300,000, both ways and including waiting time for us while we have dinner.

We knew we wanted to head to Jimbaran for dinner, but there were SOOO many choices to choose from. After researching, we heeded TripAdvisor's recommendation and headed to Lia Cafe.

Address: Jalan Pemelisan Agung Kuta Sel. Bali 80361, Indonesia
Tel: +62 361 709002
Check out the menu here.

Lia Cafe!

There are about 3 different sections of Jimbaran Beach with different restaurants. Lia Cafe is located in the middle section. This small establishment boosts about 20 odd tables, so do go early to secure your table with a good view!

Table facing the sea and sunset

Sunset is about 6pm, so we got our car to pick us up at 4.45pm (from Potato Head) and we arrived at about 5.30pm with sufficient daylight to take more photos and wonder around the beach. Of course, traffic is also rather bad around that timing, so do give yourself ample time to get lost or even to find a suitable restaurant that you like.

Many restaurants line the Jimbaran shore

Lia Cafe has several menu packages, most of which caters to two persons only. Thus, the guys went to select and choose our own seafood and style of cooking.

Group photo with setting sun!

We had a total of four Sri Lankan crabs, 15 big prawns, one fish, one (according to the guys - hugeass) squid and a plate of kangkong vegetables. Later on, we also ordered grilled chicken (just a chicken leg) and satay. To be honest, the seafood was much better than the meat dishes.Also, I've had better crabs in Singapore, but for that amount we're paying I can't really complain much. At least the seafood was fresh and juicy!

Seafood feast!

We spent about Rp1,300,000+ for the seven of us in total for all the food.

Lounge at Beach Clubs

Lounging by the sea

There's a plethora of beach clubs dotting the shores of Bali. During our trip, we visited two of the most popular beach clubs in the Seminyak/Kuta area. It's a perfect place to just lounge and laze the day away, drinking Mojitos and eating pizzas, while working on your tans.

Check out the full list of the best 10 beach clubs in Bali!

Ku De Ta

Address: Jl. Kayu Aya No. 9, Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia
Phone:+62 361 736969
Opening Hours: 8:00 am – 2:00 am
Website: http://www.kudeta.net/

Ku De Ta

We visited Ku De Ta on the whim late at night after returning back to the Villa after our scrumptious dinner at Jimbaran. We were tired, but we've heard so much about Ku De Ta that we just had to check it out. I initially refused to go as I was tired and oh-so-smelly. I didn't want to walk alllllll the way there in the middle of the night. I was just looking forward to soak in the tub and scrubbing all the salt and grim away. The guys persuaded me by saying that we will just take a taxi over.. I was on board! The taxi fare was about Rp30,000.

Lounging on the grass

I sincerely apologize for the sucky quality of the photographs as I was so lazy to adjust the settings and just used Auto mode all the way.

Arriving at KDT, everyone was granted access.. All except G, because he was in singlet. It was almost midnight and we only had two options. To go back to the villa to get a t-shirt or to just go outside and purchase one. We choose the latter. He bought a Bob Marley t-shirt for Rp100,000 (which was rather steep, but we were desperate). The guy initially quote us Rp300,000. Madness or what! But G being the uncle he is... Well, you know the rest..

Full crowd

There's both a restaurant (which looked really posh) & a bar lounge area. Surprisingly at 12 midnight, the lounge area was full! When my friends requested for a table outside, they said "free seating". Hmmm~ My friends found a table indoors by the bar and about 10mins later, G said there's an area on the grass patch with two small tables and beanbags. Quite a nice place to lounge, so we shifted! It was a good idea as KDT installed flood lights facing the sea, so you're able to look at the waves crashing against the shore.

Pulled pork pizza

We all ordered cocktails each, pulled pork pizza and a bowl of fries. The red stuff on the pizza is actually red cabbage! The pork is so heavenly, I swear! As the clock ticks on, people started to leave, and the wait staff shifted us to the day beds where we stayed till about 2am.

Potato Head Beach Club

Address: Jalan Petitenget, Seminyak, Bali 83061, Indonesia 

Tel: +62 361 4737979 

Opening Hours: 11:00 am – 2:00 am

Website: http://www.ptthead.com/

Hordes of people lounging on Easter Sunday!

After walking for nearly 1.5 hours from our Villa to Potato Head, we just wanted to relax and soak up some Vitamin Ds. We honestly did not expect throngs of people that flooded Potato Head Beach Club! My big mistake then was not making a reservation for a day bed! We couldn't lounge by the pool or even near the sand. The only place available was on the second floor terrace. Although it's away from the crowd and pretty peaceful, there was no shade at all. I didn't mind though, as the day wore on, the sun grew lower and we found some solace in the shadows of the surrounding palm trees.

Check out all those people on beach towels on the grass! It was crowded to the point where people just laid down on the grass and soaked up the Easter Sunday atmosphere! By the way, I had no idea how those people did it. I was just walking through the grass patch as I was returning from the beach and I got bitten by a red ant on my foot! Although, it wasn't very serious, it did hurt and itched like crazy over the course of the next few days. I might had an allergic reaction or perhaps it's because I scratched it in my sleep, but the ant bite became an ugly, angry, 1-inch wide, red patch of inflamed ugliness. You could still see the small, teeny-tiny dot in the middle where the ant bit and the surrounding area was just massively red and inflamed. Thus, morale of the story: DON'T SCRATCH! Damn, my itchy fingers!

Check out G's grumpy face

We had a fantastic view of the beach and could see gigantic waves crashing onto shore. People were being tossed around (including us when we went down) in the sea and having so much fun! Potato Head is more casual as compared to Ku De Ta, and surprisingly, the hostesses attending to the front of the club were all Caucasians, some could even speak fluent Berhasa, whereas, Ku De Ta's staff were mainly Indonesians. It was quite a pleasure because for once, I could communicate efficiently to the staff and get myself understood.

We ordered some sparkling water to cool ourselves down, fries and calamari with squid ink sauce. The squid ink sauce is absolutely divine. I suspect it was finished in 10 mins! Clean towels were draped over the day beds so it was not too hot to lie on.

It is a fantastic place to just chill and soak up the atmosphere. The staff were friendly, though they were a little overwhelmed with the large crowd that gathered over Easter Sunday. I don't blamed them though, I totally understood what they were going!

Try the Local Food

Warung Babi Guling Pak Malen

Babi Guling

Address: Jalan Sunset Road No. 5, Kuta Utara, Badung, Bali 80361, Indonesia
Tel: +62 361 7452968
Opening Hours: 8:00 am – 6:00 pm

Pak Malen

We've been meaning to try this Babi Guling (pork rolls) since the first day we arrive in Bali. We just didn't get round to it with all the activities. Now, this place is like an ordinary coffee shop, just like the shop name states "Warung" (food stall/street stall), so don't expect much for an ambiance or service.

Long long queues

Do expect long queues and sweltering heat though! The service is pretty fast so you're able to find a table soon enough. I was surprised that with such a big group, we were able to find two tables for ourselves within about 10mins of waiting. Besides, with the heat in the shop, most people will just eat and go. Hardly anyone lingered around chatting. Wear comfortable clothing (singlet and shorts will be best), bring a hair tie and lots of tissue! You're bound to perspire like you just took a shower!

Yummy Babi Guling

The mixed plate consists of the pork skin cracker, pork skin, spicy minced pork, fried pork cutlets, seasoned meat, a satay stick and some pork roll. The minced meat is really good and flavourful, but be warned! It is spicy as hell!

Have a Spa Day

 Spa Bali Seminyak

Bali Spa Seminyak!

Address: Seminyak Bali, Indonesia
Tel: (0361)-737-932/(0361)-737-933
Website: http://www.spabali.biz/
Opening Hours: 10am to 11pm
Outlets: Drupadi, Seminyak & Kuta

Spa Bali has a professional spa ambiance throughout the vicinity. There's professional hair salon facilities as well as big comfy chairs for your meni-pedi! We got the hot-stone massage as I needed the heat to ease the tension in my muscles after climbing the two volcanoes. It cost me about Rp200,000++ (Rp235,000nett) for an hour's massage.

This is considered expensive in Balinese standard as we we went to a more casual/street massage place the next day and had an hour's worth of Balinese Massage for Rp60,000. I guess you're paying for the ambiance, cleanliness and the service as the massage techniques and styles were about the same for both Spa Bali & the street one we went the next day.

We were shown to a locker room where we could keep our belongings safely and then we were ushered into a couple's room. It's a wide, beautiful room with two bathtubs which we wished we could use. We were asked for our names and the therapists used it frequently when she asked about the strength and hotness of the stones during the massage.

Usually, after the massage, we're used to having something hot, like hot lemongrass teas served in Thailand spas (even dodgy street ones), or even warm water if they're really budget ones.. But Spa Bali gave us cold water in those disposable plastic cups. Quite a funny end to our wonderful treatment I must say!

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Check out our beautiful villa where we stayed for 3 days!

Or our experiences climbing Mount Bromo & Kawah Ijen!

Villa Sanook Review - Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia

A little piece of heaven on earth..

Villa Sanook

Dates of Stay: 

04-06 April 2015

Itinerary: 

02 April - Surabaya to Mt. Bromo

03 April - Climb Mt. Bromo & travel to Kawah Ijen

04 April - Climb Kawah Ijen & travel to Bali

05 April - Bali

06 April - Bali

07 April - Bali to Singapore

Rough estimate for the entire trip:

Not inclusive of food and shopping

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I would also like to give a shout-out to my friend, Kenneth, for taking and providing me with wonderful shots during our trip! All those photos you see that are done professional and waaaaay above average shots were beautifully taken by him. Please do go to his Instagram or website and check out his photos!

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Address: Jalan Drupadi, Bali, Indonesia

Email: info@villasanook.com

Website: http://www.villasanook.com/

Room Type: 4 Bedroom Villa 

Rates: US$475 (Low), US$ 575 (High) , US$675 (Peak)

After two days of hiking at Mount Bromo & Kawah Ijen, we're headed to Bali to relax and recuperate from whatever torture we put ourselves through.

Initially, we found Villa Sanook on Air B&B. Being the Kiasu me, I went to do more research while waiting for the owner to reply me with the questions I had asked. Lo & behold, I actually found their website. It is actually much cheaper if you book the villa directly on their website as there is no booking fees charged by AirB&B.

Pool view

One of the main reasons why we chose this Villa was the close proximity to the beach and the main Seminyak street! Also, I noticed from the description and photos there were no specific Master bedroom. It was four almost identical (yet different) rooms with their own private outdoor shower and bathtub! There were a total of 7 of us and it was perfect as we do not need to draw lots nor fight who sleeps in the Master Bedroom!

Map of Villa Sanook

One piece of advice though, Potato Head may seem like it is within walking distance, but I'd rather you just take a taxi there. There are plenty of taxis going past the entrance of Villa Sanook, along Jalan Drupadi, so you don't have to wait for long. Taxi ride by metered fare to Ku De Ta was about Rp30,000, so perhaps a taxi ride to Potato Head will cost you Rp 60,000 at most? That's inexpensive and saves you time! We took about an hour and a half just to walk there. Of course we stopped for drinks and shopping around the main Seminyak street before heading over, but we were pretty worn out by the walk.

Two of the rooms were standalone pool-view rooms, away from the main villa building like the picture below. The other two rooms are located inside the villa building itself and has views of the small garden behind the glass.

That's my room on the left!

The outdoor area has a verandah and three sun beds. The pool has a shallow end as well as a deep end, which was really really deep! I couldn't even stand at all. There are ledges around the pool so that you're able to sit comfortably in the water too!

Outdoor verandah for us to lounge on!

There were quite a number of mosquitoes (but not too many that we couldn't handle), so we just lit a mosquito coil and placed it under one of the sun beds. We were so excited to be staying in such an exquisite villa, we just couldn't contain our excitement. We got changed into our swimwear and dived right in without even unpacking.

Living Room

Another reason we liked Villa Sanook was that there's sliding doors to separate the living room and outdoor areas. We looked at many villas but they were mainly open concept where it would be a feast for the mosquitoes. With this, we were able to turn on the A/C & cool off the summer heat!

Have I mentioned how comfy & soft the sofas are..? 

Dining area

We had our breakfasts and lunches here at the dining area & it can fit 10 persons comfortably. For the first morning, we had eggs, bacon and toast. On the second morning, we requested for Indonesian style breakfast so Sukra & his colleague prepared a portion of Nasi Goreng & Mie Goreng with a fried egg on top for us! It was so delicious! I would love to have more, but sadly, I was only allowed one helping. 

Breakfast of Mie & Nasi Goreng with fried egg! 

yummy eggs and toast!

State of the art kitchen!

To be honest, I opened up all the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen. I swear they had anything you could think of! It was like my own kitchen back home where I had all sort of condiments & even flour! We could help ourselves to iced water from the fridge anytime. I don't usually drink water dispensed from fridges because the water always tasted funky and plastic-y. I guess Sukra really cleaned it damn well or a lot of people had already drank from it and washed away the weird smell with each refill. This really is my dream kitchen! Just look at the space and the island counter! Even the oven was humongous and beautiful! 

If you can see on the island counter top on the right, there's this light blue speaker thing where you can just unplug it, connect it via Bluetooth to your mobile device and bring it out to the pool side. It was so awesome!

Pool view room

The bedrooms are spacious, clean and felt so homely! All rooms are fitted with King sized beds and wooden furnishing. In the photo above is the layout for the pool-view rooms.

Bathroom - pool view room

My favourite part of the room is undeniably the bathroom! Not only is it spacious, it has a bathtub AND an outdoor shower! The funny part about the bathrooms was that we could all chat while we were in our respective rooms taking showers. P would sneeze two rooms away, J would say "Bless You!", and I would start laughing like a mad woman. No, we couldn't see each other, but we could definitely hear each other.

Garden View Room

Washroom

The bathrooms for the garden view rooms seem larger though as compared to the pool view ones. I'm not complaining though. I'm happy enough! For the pool view rooms, there's a glass door and panel separating the outdoor shower to the rest of the bathroom, but for the garden view rooms, there's no such panel so mosquitoes may fly in anytime and you may feel the heat during the day. There's even rubber duckies soap dish for you to play with!

Despite the villa being so vast and beautiful, it's still the little things that blew me away! The first detail was that because the showers were "outdoors", people from the outside may climb into our villa at night, thus there's a lock from the bedroom so you may lock it before you go to bed. Of course, there's also a lock from inside the bathroom, but it's the simple slide lock that you can find in all public restrooms.

Sukra also burns mosquito coils in all the garden view bathrooms because there's no glass panel to block out mosquitoes. For the pool view rooms, he burns the mosquito coil near our bedroom doors to drive away the mosquitoes. He does this diligently, everyday!

Also, when he saw us bringing the rubber duckies out to the pool to play, he even took out a floating rugby ball so we could all play like little children.

Fresh flowers.. Fresh flowers everywhere! There were flowers decorating all the statues and ornaments in the villa too! It was on the towels, on the bed, on the dining table. Everywhere.

The only thing that I would consider a con in this villa of pros would be that I couldn't get second helping for breakfast. I wanted more bacon and coffee, but I saw that they had washed all the pottery and cutleries and I didn't think it was possible without feeling guilty. Also, we could only choose one type for breakfast. Either American (eggs, bacon and toast), pancakes or Indonesian style. I wish I would eat my omelette with pancakes though.

It was just a small little hitch, but I absolutely loved this place & I wished we stayed longer! I will definitely be back!

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Find out more about my hike up Mount Bromo & Kawah Ijen!

Or what we did in Bali!