I went down to Melaka after work yesterday. It was a tad rush as I had to take my lunch and bathe before I go. Initially, I told Mr. IBM that I would prefer to go the following week when I’m off work but he was so gung-ho about going as his fren was also going so I just went along with the idea. Anyhow, he was the designated driver so all I have to do is sit in the car so never mind lor. We left slightly after 2pm and reached Melaka almost around 5pm with roadworks and accident slowing down traffic along Seremban to a crawl.
We headed straight for the famous cendol shop in Jonker Street (Stall No. 88 if not mistaken), which is smack in the middle of the street. Usually, I’ll take the Baba Cendol with durian ice-cream. Yums….I just love the gula melaka that they use. Somehow, it’s more fragrant and taste different from the ones here in klang valley. Oh, and they also serve ABC, assam laksa, curry laksa etc in the shop. The not so great thing about the shop is that you have to place your orders outside before you walked into the shop and it’s self-service. The inside of the shop is really long and you sit amongst all the antiques on olden tables and chairs, pretty much like the kopi tiam of yonder years. Further down the street is the Geographe Cafe, which was made popular appearing in the HK movie, Summer Holiday.
We walked along Jonker Street for quite a fair bit waiting for the stalls to be set up and ended up walking to The Stadhuys, the unmistakably red building. Now, it houses the Historic and Ethnography Museum inside. We went in and started browsing the various historical and traditional artifacts of yesteryears on display. There were traditional bridal costumes and relics from Malacca’s glorious past. The weather was rather balmy and humid so I was constantly perspiring while walking inside the museum. Inside the museum were only equipped with ceiling fans which were hardly enough to keep the place cool. Only the area where the paintings were kept was equipped with air-cond.
Quickly left the place and sauntered back to Jonker Street which has almost finished setting up. Ate some tidbits along the way which is some colourful dim-sums, sold really cheap. They looked nice but frankly they don’t taste that good. I was surprised that there were so many people lining up to buy them. Me thinks the dim-sum place near my area serves better dim-sums.
Walking down the street, we landed up in a shop selling pineapple tarts. Actually, a lot of the shops along the street sells pineapple tarts so it’s hard to know which ones are the best. Anyways, Mr. IBM saw the huge oven being placed in the shop and eagerly stepped into it saying they probably baked it fresh. We went into the shop and sure enough the pineapple tarts were just out from the oven!!! Yum-yum. The couple next to us bought many boxes and I cheekily asked the lady boss whether we can test the tarts though I could see that they looked really yummy. She told her hubby to give us some samples and I chomped on it happily. We bought few boxes to bring home. Yay!
Saw a stall peddling tidbits like kacang, sourish stuff and fruits, pretty much like those stalls set up outside the olden days cinema. Brought back a bit of nostalgia. A lot of the shops in Jonker Streets mostly sells antiques which mostly appeals to the angmohs and antique collectors.
Subsequently, we drove around town getting a bit lost and trying to locate the Portugese Settlement area. I downloaded the Melaka Food Guide from the net and we decided to try out the San Pedro Restaurant which claimed to be the first and oldest Portugese Restaurant. The place looked kinda run-down with not much maintenance over the years. Since the Devil Curry and Portugese-styled baked fish were recommended, we ordered those 2 dishes and a squid fritters to boot. The squid came first and I find it a tad tasteless with more flour caking the squid more than the actual squid meat. The Devil Curry and baked fish tasted similar with one curry being more dry than the other. Anyhow, I also find the 2 dishes rather bland and nothing to shout about.
