Melaka trip part 5 - Portuguese settlement

After a day of activities, evening has came and everybody head towards portuguese settlement for some seafood. The people there should be heir of portuguese. But they look quite localized already. I remember when I went there donkey years ago, there was only one stall. Now it operate like a zi char stalls.


Every stall owner trying to pull us away


Look, so many stalls, like hawker centre


We are eating beside the beach.


Can see sunset somemore


The first dish was the grill fish, looks good right?


Then, come the sambal chicken


Asam fish with lady's finger and others


The scallop was yummy


Steam fish


Finally, it is crab time. Just alright only.

After the meal, our Melaka trip ended and everybody heading home.

Melaka trip part 4 - Jonker walk, St Paul Hill

I didn't really finish on the chicken rice ball. So, here are some more pictures.


The coffee shop signboard. The first shop who come out with this dish


Rice ball on close up

Ok, after eating, it is time to move on. But, guess what happen, they went into another shop to eat again!


Look at what they have ordered.


Laksa in close up, it does look very yummy


Another bowl of cendol. But this time is the Durian cendol. Taste not nice.


If you walk down the Jonker street on day time, still get to buy more kueh.


Many shops selling the handycraft


Ok, now is some history about the street. Why it is called Jonker walk.

After eating so many things, everybody move back to Mahkota Parade again. Some people went sight seeing.


The St Paul Hill church. Some 400 years at least.




Good view from the top of the hill. You can see almost the whole Melaka city. Guess that's what make it special.

How much is Perdana maintenance cost?

Malaysia is a country full of surprises. Now, the hottest topic in the country is about Proton Perdana maintenance fee. The story started when Terrenganu government wants to buy Mercedes as official car. They argued the car is of poor quality and 4 years maintenance fee is about 117 million ringgit.

The figure is stunning. Anyone with a logical mind would immediately think it is enough to buy how many new cars already? Can the car maintenance fee go to this extent? I think most probably everyone would have a common answer. We hope the truth would be revealed eventually. How could maintenance fee cost so much?

Another interesting issue that it brought up is whether Proton car quality. Is it so poor in quality?

Togi korean restaurant

Last Friday, as part of friend gathering, we went to Togi korean restaurant at China town mosque street. It was suggested by my friend, otherwise I won't have go to korean restaurant, since I was never a fan of korean food.

When we sat down, they served the starter - some pickles. The taste was really good and if I remember correctly it is free flow. The tea also taste great. I didn't take any picture because too busy in eating.

I ordered a squid hot pot rice. Frankly, after tried some food court korean food, I feel hopeless regarding korean cuisine. But, when the rice is served, it really surprised me. The rice is full of squid and mixed with some red chili sauce. After mixing, it is ready to be eaten. The taste was great. Squid was tender and rice is full of flavour. It is worth every cents of the price ($9.8 I think). We also tried the fried ramen with rice cake, also very good.

The restaurant was opened by Korean owner. I guess that's the real taste of Korean food which is much much better. The restaurant offer authentic, delicious korean food which is light on the wallet. Thumb up from me.

Red Cliff - short review

I watched the Red Cliff last Friday night. It wasn't the original intention to catch it immediately, but due to the work stress, just want to watch a movie to sort of distress. So, I choose the red cliff directed by John Woo.

For the sake of following reason:
- One of the heaviest investment film
- Great battle scene

I wasn't with great expectation. The film did just alright. Because it is supposed to have part 1 and part 2. But, as the clock tick towards the end of show, I became worried. Where is the climate? True enough, it was an anti climate. That means as the movie goes into the 2.5 hours, it just stopped there and "to be continued..."

It is a total let down. It should have allow for at least a small climate before letting it continue into the part 2. Almost all my friends had the same feeling. Nevertheless, it is a must for watching part 2. So, not much choice.

Melaka trip part 3 - Dataran Pahlawan, Chicken rice ball

After sleep for one night, the next day we had the Melaka Da Pau for breakfast and set off to Mahkota Parade. There is a new shopping centre opposite it called Dataran Pahlawan.


Side view of the mall. It is a double storey building with shop at level 1 and open space at level 2.


We walked past the museum. Seems like not many people go there.


Old train


We walked pass the centre area again for the Chicken Rice ball.


Finally, we reach the Chung Wah coffee shop. This is the first coffee shop selling the chicken rice ball.


This is what we had. Frankly speaking, I was never a fan of chicken rice ball. The chicken just taste like any other hainanese chicken. The rice ball is expensive and not tastier than the usual rice. Why take so much trouble?

Causeway jam, afraid not?

Just came back from JB. The jam was quite amazing.

Yesterday 6pm plus, the cars were queuing to reach Singapore custom. I guess they need an hour to clear it. Today, the cars were queuing at the opposite direction. That means on the causeway to Singapore. Seriously I don't know what are the additional measures that they have put in to cause these. But, I think the people do get pretty frustrated.

So, driving to JB for cheap food and petrol might not worth the waiting time. In a way, it is good for environment also. Since people would cut down driving. Just a random thought, public transport in Singapore is as good as driving. But in JB, you don't have an option, but to drive. If public transport can be cheaper and faster, there is no reason people would want to drive.

Melaka trip part 2 - Wanton mee and satay celup

When I was in the pasar malam, I wanted to eat the char kueh on sell. It is really authentic road side food which looks, smell good. But, as we have dinner plan, therefore I didn't eat that.

We proceed to the satay celup store, but the queue was quite long. So, we decided to try the Melaka wanton mee, which my friend said very good.


This is what the wanton mee looks like. I think somehow every place has their own version of wanton mee. This mee obviously looks different from all combination I have tried so far. So, just give it a try. It doesn't really impress me actually. The mee is special, but the rest think that is too hard. Taste wise, just alright. Still like the Pontian wanton mee.


After the wanton mee, we went back to queue for satay celup. Other friend said die die must try. This is a 60 years shop which selling the satay steamboat. Meaning instead of clear soup, the base is actually peanut sauce. The queue was long. We waited nearly 1 hour.


Satay celup in action. Notice the pot on the table with satay peanut sauce? You put your stick of ingredient inside, until it is cooked. But, as you eat, it get messy and messier. Because the peanut sauce would spill onto the table more and more.

Melaka trip part 1 - Ole Sayang, Jonker Walk night market

The last Sat and Sun, went with colleagues to Melaka for a weekend tour. It was pretty fun, as we have car to move around and a local to bring us around. Know where are the good food place is great.

Here are some of the snapshot.


First we stop at the Ole Sayang restaurant. Famous for the nonya food.


We have prawn first. Not spicy.


Then, we have the sambal chicken which is pretty good. Especially the gravy.


Last, is of course a cendol to wrap up the meal.


When, we leave for the resort apartment. This is the countdown traffic light. Only found in Melaka.


Outside the window of the apartment unit. The sea is all yours.


We park the car near Mahkota Parade and walk past the centre area to Jonker Walk.


This is what we called Pasar Malam. Anything other than this is not really.


Pay $1 for the karaoke session


Hawker selling satay at the roadside. Yum yum.

吃，回忆的一部分

小时候,对吃并没有什么要求。家里煮得都往肚子里塞，也不会嫌家里的饭不好吃。长大了之后，一个人出来生活。三餐都是在外，不是太油就是不好吃。会常想念家里母亲所煮的家常菜。平实的味道，健康的煮法，一种平凡的幸福。反观在家里的小妹却老是嫌东嫌西。没经历过的人往往无法理解曾经拥有过的简单幸福。

在外，时不时会吃到一些小贩所制作的糕点、小吃。一种家里的记忆就会浮上心头。小时候外婆拿手的潮州饭果，在外面怎么样就是无法买到那样的味道。那时，想吃几个就几个。现在想要都已经很难了。