Melaka Food Hunt: Chicken Rice Balls, Nyonya Laksa, Assam Pedas Fish, Hainanese Mutton Soup

Having 2 glorious nights hosted at the Case del Rio boutique hotel at the Melaka riverside, I took the opportunity to (what else?) scour the streets of old charming Melaka to unearth some of its culinary gems.

All the Jonker overrated shops and insipid nyonya restarants has been getting all the coverage lately. I had followed the same path, since I needed to experience for myself what’s the fuss all about and frankly none of them left me impressed.

And of course, what better way to find the good stuffs if not by engaging with a local born, bred and current Malaccan resident? Vincent has been the most gracious host, taking time off his busy work schedule to help us satisfy our insatiable hunger.

Breakfast was following a tip from a Malaccan. Unfortunately his tip wasn’t too updated and we ended up having to settle for a quick red wine mee sua to hold back our hunger since the duck noodles he recommended wasn’t in business anymore.

Saturday Ice cafe - melaka - pah poh, mee sua

*Old school coffee shop.

Saturday Ice cafe - melaka - pah poh, mee sua-003

*Menu:

Saturday Ice cafe - melaka - pah poh, mee sua-007

I refused to spoil my appetite with mediocre food so I ordered a “Saturday Pah Poh”, thinking that it was some novel creation only to be disappointed by this.
It was basically ais kacang with 3 thin crackers on top. My mood turned really foul at this point.

Saturday Ice cafe - melaka - pah poh, mee sua-002

Saturday Ice cafe - melaka - pah poh, mee sua-004

The red wine mee sua did have strong undercurrents of wine so it wasn’t too bad but it wasn’t exactly memorable either.

Saturday Ice cafe - melaka - pah poh, mee sua-006

Kevin said his coffee was so-so.

Saturday Ice cafe - melaka - pah poh, mee sua-001

Name: Saturday Ice Cafe at Melaka
Address: Along Jalan Parameswara
GPS: TBU – to be updated.

We moved on quickly to Baba Charlie Nyonya Cake as I figured some rich, creamy nyonya kuih would somewhat pacify the stomach while we figure out somewhere else to head for nyonya laksa.
At Baba Charlie I selected some of my favourites (separate blogpost coming up) namely the tapioca kuih, the famous bongkong, layer kuih and my top pick – the durian apom.

baba charlie nyonya kuih melaka - blog

I had wanted to try the mee siam, nasi lemak and popiah as well but was told that that would be available only after 2.30pm.
Unfortunately there wasn’t any table for me to take a quick bite so I ended up holding my hunger .

Name: Baba Charlie Nyonya Cake
Address: 72, Jalan Tengkera Pantai 2, 75200 Malacca, Malaysia. +60 19-666 2907. 11am to 3pm
Open daily except on Thursday.
GPS:  N02° 20.325′ E102° 23.154′

Things took a turn for better as Vincent must have somewhat “felt” my distress a mile away and called at that  moment asking me where I was.
I immediately grumbled about being hungry and not getting to eat what I originally planned (yes, I’m a huge whiner  when things don’t go my way) and he decided to step in to my rescue! 😉

After meeting him, the first place he bought me to was this low key laksa stall in Taman Peringgit Jaya. Only laksa, prawn mee or yee kiao mee are on the menu.

juat lye Melaka - good curry laksa

juat lye Melaka - good curry laksa-006

I took the laksa (RM4.00), and Kevin the yue kee mee (RM3.50).

juat lye Melaka - good curry laksa-003

juat lye Melaka - good curry laksa-002

The laksa was full bodied richness, creamy and tasty. No fancy ingredients were added (no chicken, big prawns) but just small cockles, beansprouts, fish cakes, shredded cucumbers and “tau pok” – beancurd puffs. It was the broth made all the difference!
The layer of oil on top put me off at first but surprisingly it didn’t really affect the overall taste. I was careful not to mix the broth and not to scoop any oil onto my spoon.
Overall, it was a humble bowl of good nyonya laksa for RM4.00!

juat lye Melaka - good curry laksa-004

Kevin’s yee kiao mee (a kind of local fishball/fish cake soup noodles) was just decent at best. The soup is good, but other than that there wasn’t any reason to drive to Juat Lye for this.
We washed it all down with leung cha (herbal tea), a refreshing herbal drink.

juat lye Melaka - good curry laksa-005

Name: Juat Lye Melaka  
Address: 371G, Taman Peringgit Jaya Melaka 75400 Malaysia.
GPS: To be updated. A few kilometres out of town and a very quiet area.

juat lye Melaka - good curry laksa-001

A short drive away was for chicken rice balls. These iconic spheres of Melaka had never impressed me. I have went to Chung Wah twice and I very much preferred Huang Chang’s version!
For once I actually enjoyed eating chicken rice balls.

huang chang chicken rice ball - best chicken rice balls in melaka-003

It’s cheap too, the service friendly and the condiments – soy and chilli was commendable. The chicken is tender and firm while the rice balls were nicely seasoned, fragrant and firm to bite (not mushy).

huang chang chicken rice ball - best chicken rice balls in melaka-004

huang chang chicken rice ball - best chicken rice balls in melaka-005

Here is the ordering process. We arrived earlier than lunchtime so there wasn’t a queue. Whew!

huang chang chicken rice ball - best chicken rice balls in melaka-001

Queue, make your order, pay, get a chip. Once food and drinks are served, return the chip to the wait staff.

huang chang chicken rice ball - best chicken rice balls in melaka-002

Food is cheap and good, service systematic and warm. I’ll recommend Huang Chang for chicken rice balls in Melaka anytime! 🙂

Name: Huang Chang Chicken Rice Restaurant
Address: BB-376 Taman Melaka Baru, Batu Berendam, 75350 Melaka. Telephone Number : +606 317 0299
Business Hours : 645AM to 3PM (Close on Thursdays)
GPS Coordinates : N02° 23.792′ E102° 25.946′

huang chang chicken rice ball - best chicken rice balls in melaka

Then it was time to check-in at my hotel and we took a break from our food hunt. Casa del Rio is beautiful (check out the post HERE) and we forgot all about food once we stepped in. The vibe and the relaxed atmosphere just blanketed me and eased my tension.

casa del rio melaka review - rebeccasaw blog -003

We finally dug into our Babe Charlie kuih seated at the balcony, overlooking the river and the lago.

baba charlie nyonya kuih - rebecca saw blog

But more on Baba Charlie’s delicious nyonya delicacies later.

After checking it was a spa session at the Satkaya Spa. That would be in another post. All I can tell you now is it’s very good! The therapist are knowledgeable and her hands worked magic on my stressed physical self.

Casa del Rio PICS4

The gluttony continued right after.

First up was to satisfy my craving for a good bowl of claypot asam fish. Vincent bought us to one that is just simply known as Pasar Borong Asam Fish.

Melaka - Asam Pedas fish at Pasar Borong Taman Merdeka-005

There are actually 2 sides to it. One is for the Muslims, another is for those who do not mind pork.

Melaka - Asam Pedas fish at Pasar Borong Taman Merdeka-009

No prize for guessing which side we sat at. Kevin the non-lover of seafood ordered a wantan mee with added siew yok (roasted pork belly). I happily took a few mouthfuls and my; the noodles, condiments and most importantly the roast pork was good!

Melaka - Asam Pedas fish at Pasar Borong Taman Merdeka-010

Other than roast pork there’s roast duck, char siew and chicken as well. When I saw the stall and all the meat on display, I understood how Kevin got tempted to order the noodles!

Melaka - Asam Pedas fish at Pasar Borong Taman Merdeka-007

But we are here for the assam fish. Leading the way Vincent chose 3 sizeable stingray for our dinner. Our claypot asam fish is cooked in superb sour spicy stock, thick and redolent with spices. 

Melaka - Asam Pedas fish at Pasar Borong Taman Merdeka-003

Melaka - Asam Pedas fish at Pasar Borong Taman Merdeka-015

This cried for rice and even I couldn’t resist a small serving of carbs. The ladyfingers were a bit old, but the long beans crunchy and the stingray so sweet and fresh!
It was easy to polish one whole claypot of this with orders of ‘kah fan’ (add rice) but we had to pace ourselves since this was the first stop of the evening. 🙂

Melaka - Asam Pedas fish at Pasar Borong Taman Merdeka-016

Melaka - Asam Pedas fish at Pasar Borong Taman Merdeka-014

I spied on another table this soya bean curd with unique toppings of wheatgrass, longan, corn, peanut cream, sesame cream and many more. Heck there’s even a chendol tau fu fa!

Melaka - Asam Pedas fish at Pasar Borong Taman Merdeka-002

See the menu? So many flavours! Who said eating taufufa is boring?

Melaka - Asam Pedas fish at Pasar Borong Taman Merdeka-011

I ordered a sesame cream taufufa, cold (RM2.80). I regretted that as the sesame cream was very diluted once the ice melts. Other than that it was quite nice to devour the smooth bean curd with the thick creamy sesame cream.

Melaka - Asam Pedas fish at Pasar Borong Taman Merdeka-004

This venue is like a food court so the wantan noodles, the taufufa and the claypot asam fish are ordered from separate stalls. I like it here; it’s clean, the food is good and cheap and there’s variety!

Name: Asam Pedas Pasar Borong Taman Merdeka 
Address: 11 Jalan IKS M2, Melaka 75350
Business Hours : Evenings.
GPS Coordinates : To be updated. 

Melaka - Asam Pedas fish at Pasar Borong Taman Merdeka-012

Our next pursuit was bloody cockles and fresh seafood that Melaka is so famous for. Everyone told me to try  cockles, fresh lalas (siput kepah) and the cuttlefish so I told Vincent I want to try the best there is in Melaka. His pick was however this Hock Chin outlet somewhere in . Everything was so cheap and absolutely fresh!
Here’s a dedicated post on the food we had that evening.

Hock Chin, Melaka - siham, cockles, sotong kangkung -009

Name: Kedai Makanan dan Minuman Hock Chin 
Address: Kedai Makanan dan Minuman Hock Chin, Jalan Jasa Merdeka 2, Taman Merdeka.
GPS: (will update as I got my GPS coordinates all mixed up for now).
Closed every Sunday.

The legendary queue of the Melaka Tengkera Putu Piring had me intrigued for some time. Anything with a queue does. We tried our luck that night and though there was queue it was a reasonably short one so we didn’t mind.
As soon as I took a bite I knew what’s all the fuss is about. Damn, this is good stuff! 😀

Putu Piring at Jalan Tengkera, Melaka -006

Read more on: https://www.rebeccasaw.com/putu-piring-tengkera-melaka/

Name: Putu Piring Tengkera  
Address: No. 252, Jalan Tengkera, Melaka. Available only in the evenings from 6pm, closed on Sundays.
GPS coordinates: N02° 12′ 3″, E102° 14′ 21″

The plan was to head to a satay celup place. Along the way I saw this spooky little shop with a sign that reads “Famous Malacca Hainanese Mutton Herb Soup”.
Now that’s an uncommon dish.
Kevin had been craving for hainanese mutton soup for eons, Vincent haven’t tried it before and I’m pretty game for everything and anything.

heng hong tin kee restaurant - famous malacca hainanese mutton herb soup-001

heng hong tin kee restaurant - famous malacca hainanese mutton herb soup

We were stuffed, so as tempting as the menu read of Hainanese Pork Chop, Hainanese Lotus Leaf Chicken, Hainanese Stewed Meat, we just couldn’t stomach anymore food after the Hainanese Mutton Soup. It’s RM35 for 2 pax and that’s the smallest portion they offer.

heng hong tin kee restaurant - famous malacca hainanese mutton herb soup-002

But it was really aromatic. How do you say “No” to a whole bowl of thick mutton soup with generous of tender mutton? Nevermind that the meat terribly gamey, the key factor is the amount of herbs used and the hours taken to coax the flavour of the meat and herbs into the liquid, resulting in a broth that is flavourful but not overpowering. As we sipped spoonfuls of it, the deep hearty broth warmed our inside and bought back memories of old, sadly forgotten cuisine.

heng hong tin kee restaurant - famous malacca hainanese mutton herb soup-005

Name: Heng Hong Tin Tee Restaurant –   Famous Malacca Hainanese Mutton Herb Soup
Address: 62, Jalan Tengkera, Melaka, 75300, Malaysia. Contact: +60 6-282 2172
GPS coordinates: To be updated.

heng hong tin kee restaurant - famous malacca hainanese mutton herb soup-003

Gratified, we called it a night. It’s been a long day and I can’t wait to hit the bed!

casa del rio melaka review - rebeccasaw blog -009

But that’s not all.
Stay tuned for day 2, day 3 and day 4 as we navigate the streets of Malacca; savouring yong tau foo, duck noodles, the famous Bukit Cina wantan noodles and more; all of which will be published soon.
Meanwhile I appreciate any suggestion you may have for me as I’ll be heading to Melaka again soon. Do drop me a comment of what I should eat/drink/see/do/buy when I’m there next!

If you’re heading to Melaka soon, I have compiled a list HERE which may be helpful. Take a look! 😉

This Post Has 18 Comments

  1. Sean Eat Drink KL

    omigosh, saturday ice cafe! sometimes i would actually walk back from school (it’d be about a 30-45 min walk), and i would pass by the cafe. i remember they used to sell my all time favorite char kuey teow. it was full of cockles, and it was creamy and greasy and savory-sweet, just the way i like it. i guess the stall probably isn’t operating anymore though 😀

    1. Rebecca Saw

      Ah the CKT. I think it is, but at the time we were there – about 9am the uncle at the stall was still setting up! It’s the stall that’s outside the coffee shop right? There was only one CKT stall. We did’t have much luck with this shop I’m afraid, went off hungry and disappointed. LOL!
      And you used to walk 30-45mins huh Sean – wht happened to those days? HAhahahaha!! 😛

  2. Jacky

    Good job. You covered quite a bit of the good eats in Melaka. I’m a Malaccan by the way.

  3. Choi Yen

    The crackers on the ABC are really weird for me >.<

  4. Pamela B

    Definitely marking this post for safekeeping! 🙂

  5. Uma Devi

    Glad to see that your day gradually got better! The start of the morning start was dismal for sure!

  6. Laura

    A list of the-not-usual joints that I have seen on most blogs. Good job Rebecca!

    -Laura Lee-

  7. Hong Wei

    Thank you for the list. I agree on Huang Chang, but haven’t tried the rest.

  8. Doreen

    Heng Hong Tin Tee Restaurantdeserves a full review on its own – try the fish and pork chop!

  9. Andrew

    Don’t blame me. I’m drawn to the picture of you being massaged first of all, then the putu piring, the assam claypot and the mutton soup.

  10. Amber

    What great finds! I certainly haven’t read about these on other blogs. The key success factor to a great food hunt – having a local to host you!

  11. Veron

    Can I join you next time? The assam pedas claypot looks incredible! Thick gravy that I could eat with bowls of rice!

  12. Brian L.

    It seems like I have missed out some of the good food that should have got included at my Top Melaka Food post.

    1. Rebecca Saw

      Oh I’m sure you would have the chance to try all these! Are you based in Melaka?

      1. Brian L.

        I am from Johor but travel to Melaka quite frequently so I did try all of the food 🙂

  13. Christine

    Hi Becky,

    U may wanna check out this duck noodle shop, it sells at night and pretty famous in melaka. They do have a wide choice of desserts too.

    SS Food And Beverage Station
    Off Jalan Tun Sri Lanang,
    Malacca

  14. Wong

    Ah Boy Asam Fish near Pasar Borong very famous. However, the owner is not honest. When their business in the shop is pack, they tried to put small plate meal into big plate and sold as big plate price. Please be aware when you visit next time.

    Ah Boy Asam Fish 近 Pasar Borong, 商家不诚实,欺骗食客,客流量多时把小碟菜剩去大碟,以高价出售。请帮忙提点食客,尤其是外乡人,万一把马六甲名给丢了就不好。

  15. Sukan7

    Hey. Great article especially the tip on the mutton soup: Tried it. Loved it.

Leave a Reply to Rebecca Saw Cancel reply

Related Posts

How to Afford Your Next Getaway

After a sustained period of lockdown, nothing will be more exciting than planning your next vacation. With freedom returning to our streets in the coming

Buy Seafood Online

Get your favourite seafood delivered to you!  The coronavirus epidemic has been taking a toll in Malaysia. People start working from home, restaurant can only