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Thursday, July 25, 2019

2019 Road Trip to Malaysia Clocking Mileage in Johor - Melaka - Seremban - 3 Days 2 Nights Part 2

And so, let's continue with our adventure in Melaka. We spent the next 2 nights in Novotel Melaka. Guess what we did immediately after we checked in? Yes, we continued with dinner!

Superior King
amenities
view from room


We knew for sure what we wanted to eat that night. Crabs! Yes, our hotel was really really near Restoran Tong Sheng and we did passed by it but we wanted to go back to Restoran Lee which we enjoyed during our last visit.

Restoran Lee
menu
kacang @ RM3
lime juice @RM3.50

As per our last visit, we did two flavours. We tried the spring onion and salted egg yolk flavour this time round. Last visit, we did their signature carnation milk crab and black pepper crab. Delicious! Waited quite a bit for the crabs. About 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, we started on the side dishes comprising of Muar Otah (don't ask me why we ordered Muar Otah in Melaka...), Hokkien Mee (this aint the black black hokkien mee...) and the customary plate of vegetables. The stir fried cabbages were pretty good. Savoury and chockful of those hae bee (dried shrimp) flavours. Just like homemade. The otah were pretty good too.

Muar Otah @ RM13

stir fried cabbage with hae bee @ RM14

The hokkien noodles tasted like the ones we could get from Singapore zhichar stall. It was basically a plate of braised yee mee in dark soy sauce. The noodles were really inexpensive at RM12 for such a large plate that fed all four of us comfortably.

Hokkien Mee @ RM12

Main course; the crabs. We ordered 3 good sized crabs for 2 flavours for about just SGD88. Lovely! My favourite was the salted egg yolk crabs with its intense flavour and finger-licking goodness.

spring onion crabs @ RM132
salted egg yolk crab @ RM132

It was really satisfying to be able to take your time to slowly savour the food. And, everything tasted better with good company. Thank you foodie buddies and travel kakis. We spent about SGD28.75 per pax for this scrumptious meal. Recommended.

After many hours of eating that started in JB, we decided to get chendol/dessert as the last item before we call it a night. We went to the riverside and decided to check out this place called Straits Werks and Cafe.

Straits Werks and Cafe

riverside

colourful mural
shopfront
Actually, we didn't enter via the riverside entrance. We walked right into its backdoor neighbour, which is a barber shop (albeit unattended at that hour!). The cafe had a very hip feel inside but it was rather hot and stuffy. Its stall front facing the riverside had the 'mamak' stall feels.

Cendol Kampung Hulu
plain 'ol peanut butter toast for supper

forgettable (and regrettable) root-beer float

The chendol was rather nice but it was more of the coconut shake kind of chendol, or even bingsu kind of dessert. It wasn't the Melaka chendol that we were expecting. The root beer float, don't even think about it. It was so flat and thin.

And I thought that was a wrap for our first night in Melaka. But it wasn't. I was wrong. We are foodies. Thus, we ended up at the famous Long Siham back alley.

our table

grilled cuttlefish
most delicious rojak!
We had been to this back alley two years back but we had seafood near the entrance. This time round, we went further in to this stall with the lady selling rojak.

As we sat near her, I could see the entire process of the rojak 'assembling'. Place a few pieces of beancurd skin onto the charcoal grill top and flip after a short while. Meanwhile, cut-up the fruits pieces (mango, turnip, cucumber), cut-up the youtiao, Take out fishballs from a container and cut it into smaller piece. Place the crisp beancurd skin onto the chopping board and cut it up nicely to top the rectangular plate. Pour some dark sauce over and load up the sides with chili sauce. Serve.

It was a magical concoction. Everything tasted so good together. What a good night it was!

Restoran Lee

Address: 155, Jalan Bendahara, 75100 Melaka, Malaysia
Contact: +60 6-284 6601
Business Hours:
Daily 4pm to 11pm


Cendol Kampung Hulu @ Straits Werks and Cafe

Address: No, 30, Jalan Kampung Hulu, Kampung Dua, 75200, Melaka, Malaysia
Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/pg/cendolkampunghulu
Contact: +60 0173540524
Business Hours:
Daily 12am to 12pm


Capitol Seafood-Longkang Siham 佳必多祖传海鲜小吃

Address: 120, Jalan Munshi Abdullah, Kampung Jawa, 75100 Melaka, Malaysia
Business Hours:
Wed to Mon - 5.30pm to 1100pm
Closed on Tues

Sunday, July 21, 2019

2019 Road Trip to Malaysia Clocking Mileage in Johor - Melaka - Seremban - 3 Days 2 Nights Part 1

Blessed to have like-minded friends whom we can travel together with similar styles (and eating preferences!). It all started way back in May 2016, and with Bangkok as our first destination. Kind of funny how we all flew in at different dates, yet able to stay together at the same place for the next two days for the rest of the journey. Next was South Korea, Melaka and then Taiwan, and this time round back to Melaka. Wanted to do more of Johor initially but there was the Pasir Gudang incident at that time so we went further up and ended up back in Melaka.

Exited Singapore at about 2pm and wanted to find a bak kut teh place to have lunch. Found one called Restoran Tong 东肉骨茶馆 at Taman Skudai Baru. Thank you Tracy for trawling the web in the car to search for this.

first stop - late lunch in Johor at Restoran Tong

Unfortunately, the bak kut teh was sold out by the time we reached at about 230pm. The only other things remaining were the BKT side-dishes, while the main course items only had steamed chicken or steamed fish. Decided to get half a chicken, a pot of tea (hey, this was one-half of the original intent *lol*) and some side-dishes.

half steamed kampong chicken @RM30

preserved vegetable (mei cai)  @RM3 and braised beancurd skin (tau gi) @RM6

White rice is at RM2 per bowl and a pot of pu-er was RM15. Our lunch expenses was RM14.50 per pax. The kampong chicken was delicious and its meat was not tough. Dip into the special chili sauce for extra oomph. Good comeback from the earlier disappointment of no bak kut teh. However, we also vowed to try to find a bak kut teh place for at least one of the subsequent meal.

powerful chili sauce for the chicken
super steeped pu-er

With lunch done, we continued our journey to Melaka with the aim to reach before the Friday evening end-of-work traffic starts. It began to rain at about that time as well.

Reached Melaka town at about 6.15pm and the first thing we did, was to queue up for putu piring! Yes, this remained fresh in my mind since the last visit two years ago where we only bought one to eat. This time round, we wanted two for each of us. Hehe.

queue starts from 6pm
various write-ups for this delicious dessert
putu piring @RM1.20 per piece
look at that fillings~

There was someone in front of the queue who ordered 40 pieces. But it was ok since the staff are churning each batch of 20s within about 5 minutes. Happy with our purchase, and we ate it while it was still hot. Hmm, actually one piece was enough to make me a bit full. So I kept the other piece in the fridge for the next day. Not recommended actually. Best to consume within the same day or within the next one two hours.

After which, we proceeded to check-in to our hotel at Novotel Melaka. Previously, we stayed at The Hatten and this time round, we tried a different hotel. If interested, here's my review on Novotel Melaka.

Watch out for the next episode on our travelmakanlogue. The episodes made possible by Hence and Tracy (@chubbybotakkoala), and Ivan (@ivan_teh_runningman).


Restoran Tong 东肉骨茶馆

Address: 41, Jalan Hang Lekir 10, Taman Skudai Baru, 81300 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia
Contact: +60 7-558 5367
Business Hours:
Mon-Fri: 9am to 330pm
Sat-Sun: 8am to 330pm


Putu Piring Tengkera

Address: 252, Jalan Tengkera, 75200 Melaka, Malaysia
Contact:  +60 6-282 1505
Business Hours: 
Mon-Sat: 6pm to 10pm
Closed on Sundays.

Novotel Melaka

Address: Jalan Melaka Raya 2, Taman Melaka Raya, 75000 Melaka, Malaysia
Websitehttps://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-8155-novotel-melaka/index.shtml
Contact: +6062898222
Business Hours:  Check-in from 3pm and Check-out at 12pm

Monday, July 15, 2019

NUDE Seafood (where we ate through almost the entire menu!) @ MBFC Tower 3

It was time for our monthly gathering and this time round, the theme was "fish". Ok, that means we'll be doing either seafood or fish steamboat. There were a couple of choices and in the end, the majority decided on NUDE Seafood which serves seafood in a modernized manner.

So I wrote to them via email since we couldn't make the reservation through their website due to party size of 8 pax which requires either a call-in or write-in. Response was fast and Junchen managed to answer most query that I had. Mainly on the deposit required and whether or not we need to pre-order. Do note that a 20% deposit is required for party size of 8 and above. We also pre-ordered some of the food items as the popular ones may run out. With a party of 8, we managed to order almost everything on the menu with some items in multiple quantities.

interior
menu
ready for food

The place has a cosy and chic industrial vibe. They do open kitchen concept so one could see the food preparations. We didn't because our seats were further in.

For starters, we had the crab and egg white chawan mushi (x3), black pepper king prawn (x5), gochujang cauliflower (x1), tofu skin salad (x1) and broccoli (x1). Which means we had ordered everything except century egg.

Crab and Egg White Chawanmushi @$8
smooth steamed egg

The chawanmushi was flavourful with the abundance of crab meat and the dashi used. Well cooked that resulted in a smooth steamed egg. Yummy!

seafood with  Cabernet Sauvignon blend, Barry’s Extraordinary Claret / Bordeaux, France, 2015 @$17

Tofu Skin Salad @$5.80

We were so funny. After all the photo taking, we had forgotten to pour the sauce into the salad itself. The tofu skin salad comprised of a handful of cold soba noodles, and its accompaniment included sliced cloud ear (black fungus?), spinach and the crispy tofu skin. The sauce was plum vinaigrette but it tasted interestingly, like... chocolate? Pretty good and I liked it better with the sauce, definitely.


Gochujang Cauliflower @$5.80
Broccoli @$5.80

Well, the broccoli tasted like...well, broccoli, because that was what it was. Like how our home might make this as well. The cauliflower on the other hand, tasted like chicken due to its texture and the sauce used. Pretty nice. Otherwise, these were ordered to fulfill our vegetable quotient for the meal.

Black Pepper King Prawn @$6.90

The black pepper king prawn was served with deep fried mantou and each prawn is priced at $6.90 with minimum order of 2 prawns. Hmm, let's just say I wasn't wowed by this. I prefer my prawns not to be overcooked.

Next up would be the "Bigger Dishes". The bigger dishes was meant to be shared by two pax. Our group managed to order all of the bigger dishes. We had "Squirrel Grouper" (x2), Steamed Pomfret (x2), Miso Grilled Halibut (x1), Japanese Squid (x1), Hickory Smoked Salmon (x1), Oatmeal Spinach Tofu (x1).

Squirrel Grouper @$18.80

Steamed Pomfret @$13.80

I have always liked squirrel fish ever since I had my first at Putien. The version at NUDE was delicious too! Loved the sweet and sour sauce, and that meaty bite of the grouper. It was a pity that the steamed pomfret was a tad overcooked hence the meat felt a bit '老'. Otherwise, it was priced rather reasonably and for that, we had two plates.

Hickory Smoked Salmon @$12.80

Oatmilk Spinach Tofu @$12.80


The presentation of the smoked salmon was rather striking and half of my table voted that they liked this quite a bit. The Oatmilk Spinach Tofu was a surprise winner for its overall tastiness. The tofu was smooth and paired well with the sauce and the seaweed.

Japanese Squid @$16.80

The Japanese Squid had a very interesting look and I didn't expect it to be served whole in this manner. Loved the enjoyable chewiness of the squid yet still quite tender. The sauce was Thai influenced with the expected tangy-ness, sweet and spicy flavour.

Miso Halibut @$20.80

The most expensive fish is the Miso Halibut but it was worth every penny of it! Served with mushroom tea broth, shiitake mushrooms and spinach. But the star was clearly the fish itself. Grilled to a perfect golden hue, flesh that's still smooth and soft with good oily mouthfeel. Best fish for the night! Totally recommended.

Oh ya, if you need some carbs, do get their bamboo rice. There's blue pea mushroom rice with its lovely colour or go for the flavourful salted fish blue pea flower with mushrooms and jinhua ham rice. Cooked with Niigata rice so every spoonful was of a lovely sticky texture.

Blue Pea Mushroom Rice @$4.80
Salted Fish Blue Pea Flower Rice with Jinhua Ham @$4.80

Now, what shall we order for dessert? Oh, just order everything and that was exactly what we did! The perks of dining in a larger group. Keke.

We got their brownie (x1), the honeydew sago (x2) and the tiramisu (x1).

NUDE Brownie with Ice-Cream @$6.80

While the staff mentioned that their signature is the honeydew sago, I do like their brownie. Such lovely texture and chockful of cocoa.

NUDE Honeydew sago and Peach Gum @$6.80

The honeydew sago difference from the usual is the large blob of honeydew, and the inclusion of peach gum plus it wasn't already served swimming in the coconut milk. The sauce is served separate and its called 'snow'. Loved the snow, more of that please!

the customary pour shot

However, my favourite dessert was the tiramisu. Yes, nothing out of the ordinary when compared to others yet, this housemade tiramisu had all the perfect ratio. Scooping up a large chunk of mascarpone layered with coffee soaked sponge and topped with bitter cocoa was simply super satisfying. My friends say this one had alcohol but I didn't detect any. Was it because I had wine earlier? If you ever tried it, do let me know.

Housemade Tiramisu @$6.80
super satisfying!

Thank you to the foodie gang for sharing the calories and the love for food. Here's a shout-out to Elle, Kris (@msginginly), Shermaine (@littletinysun), Rachelle (@with.rachelle), Ivan (@ivan_teh_runningman), Hence (@chubbybotakkoala), Alvin (@o_oican) and Tiara (@tiara_star).

Overall, expect to spend about $45 per pax for food and a drink. For two pax, recommend to get at least one starter, two mains and two dessert to share. For the rice, one portion is good to be shared amongst two pax.

NUDE Seafood

Address: 12, #01-02 Marina Blvd, Tower 3 Marina Bay Financial Centre, 018982
Websitehttp://www.nudeseafood.com
Contact: +65 6443 1167  /  hello@nudeseafood.com
Business Hours:
Mon - Fri: 8am to 10pm
Closed on Sat and Sun.