If you would like a taste of a mee rebus and rojak recipe that has spanned 3 generations, this is it.
Abdul Rahim Jenu, 68, has been selling mee rebus for almost 40 years.
Now in the third generation of business, his son, 41 year-old Mohd Nishar, helps him out daily and is set on continuing the trade.
A typical day begins at 5 am and the stall is ready to serve by 10 am.
By 12 – 1pm, all portions are sold out.
What is unique about this Mee Kahwin Melaka?
Well, it is a rather delightful marriage of mee rebus and Indian rojak. It has all the condiments of Indian rojak on top of a bed of yellow noodles.
So expect blanched yellow noodles topped with fried beancurd, hard-boiled egg, potatoes, crunchy bean sprouts, cucumbers, cut green chillies and my personal favourite; crunchy fritters. Crispy fritters soaked in gravy, half soggy and half crispy is my weakness!
Mee Kahwin: RM4.00.
As you can see, the gravy in my spoon is lighter and runnier (Mee Rebus gravy) and the thicker, peanut-based, tangerine-hued gravy on the left of the plate is the gravy for the rojak.
To be honest, either dish in its original form is good, but blended together it transformed into a gastronomy creation of glee.
This Mee Kahwin is delectably enticing to the palate with its unique amalgamation of sweet, sour, savoury, spicy and nutty flavours.
It is a secret recipe passed down from Rahim’s father, Jenu Musahid who was an immigrant from India.
I watched in fascination as both Rahim and Nishar assembled each order and doused each plate with the aromatic gravy from the large cauldron.
Both worked efficiently and both are ever-ready with a smile
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Other than the mee kahwin the locals flocked to Restoran Ming Huat for the nasi lemak.
Yes, the nasi lemak from this push cart at the right side of the restoran.
The variety here includes fried chicken, curries, cockles (kerang), cuttlefish, vegetables, fried tempe and the basics of peanuts, anchovies (ikan bilis), egg, sambal and fresh cucumber.
I piled my plate with rice, egg, squid, cockles (kerang), kangkong, tempe, fried anchovies, peanuts, sambal and cucumber.
I would highly recommend the sambal sotong which was really bouncy and went perfectly with the fluffy, grainy rice. The nasi lemak sambal is good too; a thick spicy paste unlike the usual sissified sweet versions. I absolutely abhor sweet sambals. Sambal is supposed to be spicy!
Both the kerang and cuttlefish seemed to be cooked in the same chilli paste, though the sambal kerang had onions added.
The egg, as you can see below, is over fried with crispy edges. I know some of you actually liked it this way but I thought it was a waste of a good egg.
This plate cost me RM7.00. I would have liked more protein, but they were out of fried chicken so this was the best I could manage. An item uncommon from the standard nasi lemak fare is the deep fried tempe.
If you like tempe then you might want to try it.
All in all, I love coming here.
Busy and lacking any ambience whatsoever, Restoran Ming Huat is your typical local coffeeshop.
Other than the nasi lemak and Mee Kahwin, the roti canai stall and the chicken rice are highly recommended too. In conclusion, Restoran Ming Huat offers a variety of good food at reasonable prices under one roof.
It is also a locals’ favourite so if you are tired of the overpriced and commercial fare in town, swing by to enjoy the local fare.
Chinese-owned, its patrons are a mix of all races and everyone are seen tucking into their food heartily. It is truly a muhibbah scene.
** The friendly and hardworking people of Melaka’s best rojak/mee kahwin – Mr Nishar and Abdul Rahim – always smiling and polite.
**The humble, hardworking lady manning the Nasi Lemak stall:
By the way, Restoran Ming Huat is operational in the evenings as well. The evening crowd pours in for this nasi lemak stall which is run by a different proprietor entirely and has no relations to the morning stall.
I’ve tried the nasi lemak from this evening stall once but that was months ago.
I will post the pictures if I could find them!
Though it is obvious that 80% of the crowd is here for the Mee Kahwin and Nasi Lemak, I’ll be back for the roti canai and the chicken rice soon; both rated highly by the locals.
See that enthusiasm? Ok Uncle, I’ll order some roti on my next visit!
Restoran Ming Huat
Address: Jalan Ujong Pasir (opposite the entrance to Portuguese Settlement).
Waze “Restoran Ming Huat” .
oh! i had been eating mee kahwin/ mee rebus since i was young, and i had always assumed it was widely available in other parts of malaysia too, but i only found out after leaving malacca that it wasn’t! this could be the stall that my family buys from, since they live only 1 or 2 km from ujong pasir. i haven’t had it in years. it looks even more awesome than i recall (maybe cos i usually had it tar pau-ed back home in a packet instead of being served on a plate like this) 😀