Teo Soon Loong Chan Teochew Seafood Restaurant, Melaka

Ever since Chubby Hubby blogged about his great experience, we've been curious about this Teochew restaurant in Melaka, located in a small street near the touristy Jonker Walk area. From the outside, Teo Soon Loong Chan looks like a rather dingy and nondescript hole-in-the-wall eating place.

The entrance is almost entirely blocked by the outdoor kitchen, leaving only a tiny gap to squeeze through into the eating area.

The inside is tiny too, with space enough for only about 7 or so tables, but clean and welcoming, with cheery red tablecloths. Very Chinese!

We had a Teochew-style steamed pomfret, fried vegetables, fried pork and Teochew yam paste - Or Ni, all for about RM80 (SGD32). The cooking was pretty good, but not really earth shaking, we've had better Teochew food at Chin Lee. Still, this was worth the visit just to watch Ethan wolf down half the pomfret all by himself. That's a lot of fish! I wonder where all that food goes to?

Teo Soon Loong Chan Teochew Seafood Restaurant

57 Lorong Hang Jebat

75200 Melaka, Malaysia

http://www.tslcmalaysia.com/

Melaka Feb 2012 (pictorial)

So we decided to risk a couple of sleepless nights and screaming fits (mine!) and take Ethan on another trip to Melaka. The trip turned out unexpectedly well, and most fortunately Ethan even managed to sleep well in the hotel bed. Thank heavens. There was no screaming in the end. Only smiles all around! And lots of nasi lemak and chicken rice wolfed down by our hungry toddler.

strapped safely into my car seat and zooming down the expressway!

our room in Hotel Equatorial!

sliding off the bed is so much more fun than staying still on it for photos!

mummee's all bright-eyed from getting enough sleep. I just want my nasi lemak!

Amy Heritage Nyonya Cuisine, Malacca

When in Malacca, peranakan food is a must and the Majestic Hotel highly recommended Aunty Amy's place. This turned out to be the best meal of our trip! And possibly the best Peranakan food that I've had in Singapore or Malaysia to date.

All the cooking is done personally by Aunty Amy only upon ordering, so be prepared for a long wait if you don't call and pre-order. We were lucky - we were the first customers when the restaurant opened (thanks to the need to accomodate Ethan's early bedtime) so we only waited around 20 minutes or so, before the dishes started arriving on our table.

We had the usual dishes that we would always order when having Peranakan food - the he peow soup (fish maw soup), ayam buah keluak (chicken with a special type of nut which is very difficult to prepare), as well as this very special dish below - Sambal Jantung Pisang (heart of the banana flower fried with sambal chilli paste). Apparently very rarely seen in restaurants, it was our good fortune that it was available on the day that we chose to go to Amy's! This was delish - while the jantung pisang did not have that much taste of its own - I thought it had a slight nutty hint - it took on the flavour of the sambal chilli well. The other dishes were also addictively good, nothing like fine dining or with creative noveau cooking twists of course, just good old wholesome home style cooking. No MSG is used here, so no fear of dying of thirst and headaches after you've stepped out of the restaurant.

Amy Heritage Nyonya Cuisine
75, Jalan Melaka Rayu 24
Taman Melaka Rayu

Jonker Street Satay, Melaka

Formerly on the old Jonker Street, hence the name, and now relocated to a spacious and rather clinical looking shophouse outlet, this was a slight let down. According to The Star Street Food guide - "Jonker Satay is relished as much for its wonderfully aromatic meat - with crisp, slightly burnt edges - as for its special satay sauce, a tangy, spicy-sweet concoction of crushed peanuts, aromatic roots, spices, shredded pineapple and belimbing."

Unfortunately, we didn't find the meat marinade that superb (tasted a little like curry), and the bits of pork fat lacked the requisite juicy crispness and slightly burnt aroma for satay nirvana. It was a pretty interesting and unique experience to have innards as part of the satay selection though.

In my books, Chuan Kee satay at Old Airport Road is a lot better than this.

Jonker St Satay / Sun May Hiong Satay House
50/50A Jalan Kota Laksamana 1/1
Tmn Kota Laksamana

Medan Ikan Bakar, Melaka

It's no secret that I love seafood, and it always seems to taste better when grilled on the spot and eaten next to the sea. So I had high expectations of Medan Ikan Bakar, with memories of Lombok's Warung Menega still vivid in my mind.

Well it wasn't quite as good as Warung Menega - the grilled aroma wasn't as fragrant and the chilli dip not as delicious, neither was the food eaten on the beach with sand between the toes - more like a huge open-air seafood restaurant, but the seafood was all fresh and came out piping hot from the kitchen. Affordable too, we paid about 40 Malaysian Ringgit (SGD16) for the spread you see below, including a fried vegetable dish and drinks.

I liked that they provided these small packets of nasi lemak (coconut rice), in the Malay style.

Medan Ikan Bakar
KM 4-5, Jalan Padang Temu
Permatang Pasir, Melaka

The Majestic Hotel, Melaka

The Majestic hotel is absolutely beautiful, a boutique jewel in the heart of Malacca. The hotel lobby is housed in an old building dating back to the 1920s, while the rooms are housed in a cunningly integrated new annex, all decorated in sumptuous Peranakan style - tiled floors, dark teakwood furniture, gently whirring wooden fans, intricate mosaic decorations, porcelain vases.

We simply loved the thoughtful little touches such as jars of old-time snacks of nuts and candies, the welcome drink of fragrant Chinese tea served in a wicker basket, and the nighttime snack of Peranakan kuehs served in the traditional lacquered wedding basket.

Service was absolutely beyond reproach - everyone from the duty manager, front desk receptionists, porter, maintenance workers - were exceedingly warm and friendly without veering into obsequiousness. A wonderful experience and the highlight of our little trip.

www.majesticmalacca.com

Sun Fong Bak Kut Teh, Kuala Lumpur

I have a thing for clear Asian-style soups, served piping hot. So how could I resist when some colleagues wanted to have Bak Kut Teh (pork ribs served in hot broth), even after I had already eaten two dinners within 2 hours? (Long story but in short I had gobbled down a quarter grilled chicken from Nandos, a bowl of assam laksa from Little Penang Cafe, and two spoonfuls of Mdm Kwan’s Nasi Lemak, all located at KL Convention Centre by this point...)

A short cab ride from the KLCC later, we made it to Sun Fong Bak Kut Teh at Jalan Imbi just as the skies crashed open and truckloads of rain came pouring down. Perfect weather for drinking soup! Sun Fong is really rather touristy and many Malaysians think that it is overpriced and not as good as other places but it was the most convenient for us.

The version of Bak Kut Teh served here is in the Hokkien style – dark and herbal in taste, rather than the Teochew style (lighter and peppery) more common in Singapore. Our order (about RM24 for a two person serving) came bubbling hot in a claypot packed chock-a-block with all manner of porky cuts and offal: belly, ribs, intestines, liver, kidneys. This certainly made for interesting eating although I contented myself with just drinking soup to save my much-abused stomach. This was pretty gut-warming and the taste of herbs and ginger in the broth was nicely balanced and not too strong as to be off-putting to me, although my personal taste preference still runs towards Ya Hua’s Teochew style Bak Kut Teh. They also sell sachets of their soup mix for cooking at home (10 packets for RM60…pricey!).

Sun Fong Bak Kut Teh: 35 Medan Imbi, Kuala Lumpur (Tel: +603-2141 4064)
Open from 5am to 12 midnight

Kluang RailCoffee

I have been travelling this entire week in Malaysia for work and hence the paucity of posts. But as everyone knows, there is good food to be found everywhere in Malaysia and hence it was scarcely any hardship at all. In Johor, we made a special detour for the famous Kluang coffee, located in a very humble coffeeshop just next to the railway station.

Woah! This was good proper "kopi", strong, rich and fragrant, accompanied by charcoal-grilled toast slathered with kaya and slabs of butter. I bought some back home to brew too - 300grams selling for only 6 Malaysian ringgit (SGD2.50). But the unexpected scene stealer? The tiny nasi lemak packages on the table (70 sen each). Simple stuff, nothing fanciful - just some coconut rice accompanied by a devilishly good sambal chilli - but oh! so wonderfully addictive. And sometimes that is all that one needs.

Kluang Rail Coffee

Stesen Keretapi Kluang, Kluang, Johor

33, Jalan Manggis, Kluang, Johor

Seremban Beef Noodles

Well after 3 days of feasting in Penang it was time to take the drive back to Singapore, but one of our most memorable meals before we reached home was in a stopover at Seremban, just off the North-South Highway.  This is the most famous beef noodle stall in Seremban, and was started by Mr Goh more than 60 years ago, now being run by his daughter Mdm Goh and her husband.   The dry version, which is extremely superb, comes with a thick gravy spooned over the thick slippery smooth udon-like noodles, redolent with the scent of spices, topped with peanuts and sesame seeds.  E was in heaven after tasting it.  The soup version is also good, with a robust and sweet tasting stock, although I personally prefer the version served up by Mr Wong's Seremban Beef Noodles in Singapore, which has a stronger seasoning and comes with added sweetness from braised carrot and radish. 

(Back in Singapore, Mr Wong of Mr Wong's Seremban Beef Noodles in the hawker centre next to Parkway Parade, learnt the trade from these folks about 3 years ago - they are his cousins and Mdm Goh even helped out at the Parkway Parade stall in the initial stage for more than a month to help her cousin get on track.   She was really happy to hear from us that his stall is doing very well now - be prepared to wait for half an hour or more.  Now doesn't that give you a warm fuzzy feeling?)

Seremban Beef Noodles: Stall 748, Pasar Besar Seremban, Jalan Pasar

Nyonya Kueh from Moh Teng Peow, Penang

Tucked away in a little back lane along Chulia Street (next to Sky Hotel), the entrance of this kueh shop looks unprepossessing, even a little dingy at first glance.  Entering with some trepidition, the shop looked deserted initially - we later found out that the shop does mostly bulk orders now, and not retail - but then the friendly owner Mr Mook came out and started cutting up some kueh for us and even waved away our offers to pay him.    The kueh were truly delicious (their being free had nothing to do with it), with a super smooth texture and strong coconut milk fragrance, and even came with a topping of kaya on the side.  

Moh Teng Pheow Nyonya Kuih, 53 Muntri Street

Kway Chap (super potent)

Well after eating the char kway teow we promptly proceeded to cross the road to one of the top kway chap stalls in Penang.  Oh my god, it was sooooo good.  A bowl of square rice noodles cooked in pork/duck broth, topped off with a generous serving of pork offal, duck meat, braisedhard-boiled eggs, and my favourite - coagulated pigs' blood.  I know it sounds really gross but I really like to eat coagulated blood and had been deprived for more than 15 years, ever since the Singapore authorities banned fresh pork and pork products from Malaysia.   Real comfort food!  While the noodles were not so refined and smooth, I still give this bowl top marks for its nostalgic flavour for me.   A bowl sells for a mere RM5 (SGD 2.30). 

Yummy Penang Char Kway Teow

Mention Penang street food and one of the oft mentioned would be its char kway teow.  It's cooked in a different style from the Singapore version, which uses sweet dark sauce, which I don't really like (because then you basically only taste the sauce).   This plate came from one of Penang's top char kway teow stalls, at a pushcart outside Kedai Kopi Sin Guat Keong, at Kimberley Street.  While we didn't have enough time to try the most famous Sisters Fried Kway Teow at Macalister Road, I really liked this rendition.  His version is very savoury with sweetness from seafood as prawn-infused oil is used to fry it.   The consistency was great, sticky with still slightly runny egg, and with the "wok hei" of quickly stir-fried kway teow over super high heat.  Very cheap at only RM2.50 (SGD 1.10). Yumms.  What's next? 

Assam Laksa (also known as Penang Laksa)

I love Penang laksa. It's tangy, mouthwatering, and not too heavy in contrast to the "lemak" variety of laksa sold here in Singapore. Unfortunately I have not been able to get good Penang laksa in Singapore since the stall I used to frequent at Roxy Square closed down.

So in a bid to hunt for great assam laksa in Penang, we drove more than 45 minutes from Gurney Drive to Balik Pulau, a small market town right in the centre of Penang island, to track down this stall. Yum yum, the stock passed the test, it was thick with fish, tangy with assam (or tamarind), and had a generous serving of onions and herbs for garnish, as well as prawn paste on the side. We ate one bowl each and that was not enough, so we walked back into the shop and ordered another bowl each of the Siamese version (with some coconut milk added), well that was rather embarrassing. But, why be shy when it comes to good food?

Nan Guang Kedai Kopi, 67, Main Road, Balik Pulau

Sea Pearl Lagoon Cafe

For our first night in Penang, we wanted to eat some delicious seafood. This hard-to-find place gave us one of the most memorable experiences of the Penang trip. Tucked away down a nondescript little lane, with no signages and parking next to a Chinese temple, a collection of stalls serve up seafood next to the sea. The grilled crabs tasted wonderfully succulent, sweet and briny and what with the light breeze wafting salty sea air, the entire experience was magical. Affordable seafood at about 30SGD for two.

338 Mk.18, Tanjung Tokong (we found our way there with the aid of a GPS system)

Ipoh Hor Fun in Ipoh

On the road to Penang, we made a short detour to Ipoh for lunch, arriving at around 1.30pm. Ipoh is famed for its hor fun, or rice noodles, as their noodles are supposedly much more silky smooth than those made elsewhere. Restoran Lou Wong Tauge Ayam Kuetiau is one of the most famous and popular places around to eat chicken and hor fun, and this was where we found ourselves that afternoon. The place was jam packed with hungry families but service and turnover were extremely fast. We ordered what everyone else seemed to be having - white boiled chicken, fried bean sprout (or tauge), accompanied by two bowls of plain hor fun noodles in chicken soup. The hor fun was indeed very smooth although a tad too oily for my taste. Chicken and tauge were likewise quite oily and while very tasty and delicious (with super fat and crunchy bean sprouts), not super spectacular. Well it was a cheap and good meal at only RM14.4 (or SGD 13), and a good pit stop for us.

Eastern and Oriental Hotel, Penang

The Eastern and Oriental Hotel in Georgetown, was where we moved to the next day, and boy, was it really beautiful! Started by the Sarkies brothers who also built the Raffles Hotel in Singapore, E & O went into a period of decline in the earlier decades but underwent a 5-year complete restoration and re-opened its doors in 2001. And it is stunning indeed - white-washed walls, dark wooden polished furniture, Afghan carpets, shuttered windows, wooden panelling on the floor.... the hotel just exudes an air of elegance and calm. All the rooms are suites, with separate living and sleeping quarters, that look out onto the sea. Can't describe how wonderful it is to wake in the morning to the sound of waves lapping on the stone breakwater below. At SGD 250 a night, this is a real steal for a gem of an experience (Raffles Hotel costs a jaw dropping SGD 1000 a night). The E& O offers complimentary valet parking for hotel guests which is really a nice perk.

Going the Mile for Food

E and I literally went the mile for food this week ... to be exact, 800 km. The day after we took part in the Standard Chartered run, we were off driving to Penang to pile back all those calories that we expended running!

We started from the eastern part of Singapore at 5 am in the morning, and were in Penang by 4 pm (with a short detour to Ipoh to partake of their famous hor fun, but more on that later). For the first night, we stayed in G Hotel, which is a new hotel located just next to Gurney Plaza, on Gurney Drive. G Hotel is branded as a hip and happening place, in an extremely central location. It looks extremely sexy in the photos, no? However the quality of the finishings and furnishings is not really good (think Ikea or knock-down furniture quality), and in a few years time without proper maintenance, I suspect that the hotel will no longer be quite so nice. Toiletries were not of high quality either - plus, they strangely gave only one of each (one toothbrush, one comb, one pair of slippers). Nevertheless we were happy with it at the price we paid (SGD 160 per night) and it served its function as a relatively affordable option for a late check-in well.

Teck Sing Paper-Wrapped Chicken, JB

Yes, our original plan was to go to Bamboo. But we changed our minds when we took a peek at Bamboo after our Bak Kut Teh lunch - it was not very crowded and the customers didn't seem to be eating with that much gusto. On the other hand, the next door eatery, Teck Sing was packed to the gills with happy locals slurping down their cze cha dishes.

So when we returned for dinner, naturally Teck Sing it was. We were very glad we did. The paper-wrapped chicken smelt so good and fragrant when it was opened and the meat was tender and simply melted in our mouths. The chicken is actually a small kampong chicken which is good for small groups who want to try more items on the menu. The peanut soup with chicken feet was very good too, if somewhat on the salty side, with 8 chicken feet (yes, I counted) which I love. The only slight let-down was the fried potato leaf, as I think the chef was heavy-handed with the oil. The total cost was a somewhat unbelievable 30 ringgit (12 SGD).

Ah Soon Bak Kut Teh, Johor Bahru

Carpe diem, seize the day and so off we went to JB on the Labour Day public holiday. I had decided to eat the famous paper-wrapped herbal chicken even before we had stepped out of our house but 1 hour later, got waylaid by the sight of hordes of happy locals tucking into steaming claypots of Bak Kut Teh, or pork rib soup not far from our original destination. 3 huge steaming vats of bak kut teh were boiling furiously away on the stoves next to the entrance, making our entry a precarious one for fear of being scalded by the hot soup.

Ordering was fast and superbly efficient despite the very busy shop. The soup had a very slight pleasant herbal taste and was tasty and steaming hot. They add a little sugar to the soup (something that I personally don't care for, but many people like the added complexity) but fortunately it did not leave too much of a sweetish aftertaste on my palate. Very affordable fare at 20 ringgit (8 SGD) for two of us, including the side dishes and Chinese tea.

Ah Soon is located at 3/5 Jalan SUtera Satu, Taman Sentosa, JB just 5 minutes walk away from the famous Bamboo paper-wrapped herbal chicken (that will be another post).

U-Zen, Concorde Hotel, KL

On the way back from Cameron Highlands we made a one night stopover in KL, and took the opportunity to try U-Zen, a Japanese restaurant in Concorde Hotel, Jalan Sultan Ismail, KL. This had received good reviews from KL's Best Eats and was just around the corner from where we were staying at the Renaissance hotel (also, our first choices of Lafite and Zipangu at the Shangri-La were unfortunately, fully booked). We ordered the omakase kaiseki - chef's menu, at RM150 each. Not having any menu to refer to, we were left anticipating eagerly what the dishes coming out would be.

Unfortunately, the entire experience was quite a bit of a let-down. First, the restaurant was completely empty. First warning sign - how can a well-regarded restaurant be empty on a Saturday night? Second, service was very indifferent, with the waitresses seemingly more interested in chatting among themselves than actually noticing that you were ready to have your orders taken or tea refilled. Third, while the food itself was fresh and actually rather good, it was not spectacular enough for us to overlook the fact that the waitresses did not know what each dish was (w: this is the appetiser. me: what is it? w: it's the appetiser ...). In any case, the prices that U-zen charged were considered very expensive by KL standards. When we went back to the hotel, we tried to reserve Zipangu for lunch the next day to make up for the experience, only to find out that Zipangu was fully reserved (yes, even the counter seats!). Oh well.... we need to remember to book it 1 week in advance the next time then. And, to trash KL's Best Eats.