Gastronomia in Malacca

I’ve heard so much about Malacca since I was young. I was probably a mere teen age when I first heard about Malacca being a small little state, rich in history and of course, its colonial existence. It wasn’t until the spread of the love for their food there that captures my interest for this little place. Known for its historical architecture, my mere impression of this place are little red buildings, standing just inches away from each other, making the entire town a red picturesque.

My chance to visit this much known yet unknown place came when I chanced upon a deal in Dealguru under yahoo. I must say, these promotion mechanics happening everywhere now is really beneficial to us, but unfortunately, hurting to the business, but frankly speaking, who cares. The girl termed me kiasu when I zoomed down to the travel agency on the day the promotion was reflected. Can’t really blame me because I have restricted dates, just as much as the promotion itself.

And so, there we went on a good getaway amidst/after our busy period. We definitely reckon a 4 hour coach ride wouldn’t do much ‘damage’ to us. Even my luggage was packed only at the very last minute. That goes to show how ‘prepared’ we were for this very light-hearted getaway. The coach ride was smooth, accompanied by my ever-so-important iPhone, with music blasting from Singapore to Malacca, straight!

When we arrive, the weather was killing. Less humid yet the sun was harsher to our skin. Our ill-preparation before the trip cause us to kind of lost our way, while wanting to look for that famous chicken rice ball. Thankfully, for a rare Chinese speaking local, we managed to drag our tired body under the killer sun to find that chicken rice ball store, finally! Queue was insanely mad when we got there, and by the time we joined the queue, the piercing heat got the girl so frustrating that she went metres just to buy an umbrella. It was a relatively long queue before we got to our turn and I went ‘finally’ over that chicken rice ball. We increased the number of balls from 10 balls to 15 balls (too hungry due to the queue). Their servings is pretty much standard. Either you get half a chicken or one full chicken, followed by chicken rice balls in the multiple of 5. In no matter of time, we are done with our food and we went on in search of yummy Gula Melaka or Chendol.

With an umbrella on hand, we take our time before deciding not to torture our legs and just settle for somewhere nearer. The Chendol was awesome yet heavenly. Strong sweet taste from the brown sugar, makes the Chendol even more appealing and delicious than ever. With our bodies feeling lethargic, we headed for some photo taking around this small little town before we took a much needed nap. The bed was comfy all because it was a double bed. (One can never understand how difficult it is to get a double bedding request because most operators/travel agents/hotelier alike will simply ignore your request. Therefore, just a tip for everyone, if you ever request a bedding request to a travel agent, chances is that your request will be ignore. Back in where I am, such requests are considered additional word and we simply lied over it. Therefore, should you even want to complain to the travel agent about your bedding request, forget it, because a sentence like “I’ve already told you it’s only upon request, subjected to availability” would have bring you down.)

With soccer action at night, we wasted no time in getting our dinner. Little did we knew that Jonker Street has stores closing as early as late afternoon, and we were very lucky to be able to patronize a store which sells noodles and really awesome desserts. By the time night falls, we can see hawkers laying their makeshift area, cordoned nicely beside the walking path along Jonker Streets. When the dark totally coincides, Jonker Street turns into a buzzling street with food as the main highlights. You can literlly see hawker displaying their culinary masterpiece ranging from Otah to Carrot Cake to even ice pops. Definitely, I sense a hinge on what is it like being a child back in my parent’s younger days where it’s very kampong.

To perfect our soccer watching action, we accompanied it with lots of food. We even had a taste of their Macdonald porridge and Fried Chicken which easily outwin that of Singapore’s KFC’s. We spread the food across the dinner, blasted the TV out loud and off we went, enjoying life like never before. It wasn’t until the first yawn from a full tummy that we realized we had watched two matches back to back. Thank god for Star Sports and ESPN in the hotel. One would and could never image how worse it can get watching local channel when you don’t even understand a single word they are saying due to the language.

Next day was pretty much spent eating and sleeping as we lazed our way until check out. To be honest, 1 night in Malacca is good enough, just for a short getaway away from the hustle and bustle of rubbish Singapore. I swear I’ve gained weight just from this trip alone. However, it’ll probably be some time later before I re-visit this little town again, but one thing’s for sure, Malaysia still has what Singapore no longer have. And because of that, I’m pretty sure short getaway will continue to be on my travel agenda. Till next time…..