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
Facebook: https://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

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
Website: https://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-8155-novotel-melaka/index.shtml
Contact: +6062898222
Business Hours:  Check-in from 3pm and Check-out at 12pm

Melaka: Calanthe Art Cafe @ Jalan Hang Kasturi (Jonker Street)

Stopped by this cafe for a breather after getting lost for about fifteen minutes or so. Hahaa, my sense of direction is as atrocious as ever.

The cafe has a relaxed vibe to it. You can curl up with a book, and enjoy a cool coffee from any of the 13 states in Malaysia.

alfresco seats, outer side of the cafe

inner courtyard

Ordered a Sarawak Blenz, and a Nyonya laksa for lunch.

Sarawak Blenz

coffee jelly

The Sarawak Blenz was nice to drink, although I should really be having something to quench that thirst! Coffee jelly was a subtle complement to the drink. Something to chew on, while waiting for the drink to melt a little. Coffee was not too strong, and whipped cream gave it a smooth feel. Not too sweet and that's a major plus point.

My food was missing due to some miscommunication and when it came, the beehoon had already soaked up the sauce.

nice presentation

Nyonya Laksa with beehoon

dried sambal chilies

The laksa was fragrant, and quite 'lemak'. Ingredients were pretty simple. Deep fried beancurd skins, taupok, tiny fishballs, some shredded cucumber and egg strips. Big bowl and took quite an effort to finish!

Personally, I felt that the star of the dish, was the accompanying dried sambal chilies. Crispy, very yummy, and not too spicy.


This meal costs about RM16, and the service staff was friendly and courteous.

Melaka: Nadeje @ Plaza Mahkota

Walked past this shop, so went in for cake and coffee. If dining in, then just go up to the cake counter to choose the cake and then the service staff will show you to your table. Then, peruse the drinks menu and make your choice.

Ordered the Original Mille Crepe, and a cup of Melaka Latte.

Melaka Latte

The Melaka Latte was rather thick. Made a mistake of dumping in a stick of sugar before tasting. Ended up with a slightly too sweet version than preferred. Forgotten that this coffee already had palm sugar syrup in it. And that contribute to its distinct taste.

Original Mille Crepe (@RM9)

many layers

cream

such thin layers

Liked the cake. Not too sweet, and tasted moist, creamy and light. Yums.

One of their staff, a Mr Shahrukh Khan (he mentioned that his name is the similar to the Bollywood superstar) said that the owner of the shop is a Japanese lady and that Nadeje in Czech, means "Hope".

Melaka: Bunga Raya Pork Porridge @ Plaza Mahkota

Located at one of the alleys at Plaza Mahkota, and quite near to the hotel when I was in Melaka recently. Lunched there and to pass time while waiting for check-in time.

inside of the shop

Order and pay at the counter, then sit down and wait for food and drink to be served.

lone newspaper clipping

To tell the truth, the shop does have a dated feel to it. Apparently, it's now run by the 4th generation, so ordered pork porridge to try. The lady at the counter asked if I'd eat internal organs and I said yes, so they did a mixed parts pork porridge.

pork porridge (small)

small intestine, minced pork balls, sliced lean pork and liver

On first sip of the porridge, it tasted predominantly of soya sauce. It lacked flavour. The liver and lean meat were very overcooked. Fortunately, the small intestine was soft and tender. And the best tasting ingredient, was the minced meat balls. It has bits of salted vege (was it chye poh?) in it. Kind of something that ah ma (grandma) would make at home. Retro.

Somehow, this bowl of light tasting porridge kind of grew on me as I was eating it. Perhaps, it evoked a sense of nostalgia.

sour plum

The sour plum drink tasted like sour plum, but the sour plum didn't look like the kind of sour plum that I know.

sour plum

This meal costs RM5.50 in total.