The Burger King Restaurant and Drive-in at the end of Skudai Highway, near a petrol kiosk which is just before the N-S
Highway toll plaza, it reminded me of the many drive-ins I have seen in USA.
We had some burgers there before hitting the N-S highway. Their Whopper tasted better – juicer – then those in Singapore surprisingly. I’ll eat more whoppers in Malaysia from now on because they just taste better. Singapore BK can learn from them on this one.
Nancy Ktichen has been opened for biz serving Nonya dishes since 1998 and is situated in the heart of chinatown.
Her desert like ondah ondah is good too. The skin is soft and thin yet chewy, and the gula melaka (palm sugar) just oozes out when you bite into them. Steam eh!
Her nonya dumpling is like those my mom used to make.
She sells good blachan too, it is shrimpy without being salty.
Biz hrs: 11am – 5.30pm
Off: Tuesday
H/P: 013-618 3608
FYI: She travels to Singapore often to conduct cooking courses. She had her picture taken with Pres. SR Nathan when she was in Singapore and she even has a Singapore Flag hanging in her kitchen too.
My friend’s Melakan colleague brought us to this place several years ago.
We had BBQ prawns, grilled stingray with sambal in banana leaf, sweet and sour fried sea bass, fried curry-battered squid, bamboo mollusk cooked with ginger, garlic and shallot, otah, and nasi lemak. It was alfresco dinning (at 7.30pm) and our table overlooked the mouth of Sg Duyung River, which emptied into the Melaka straits.
The BBQ prawns, fried curry-battered squid, and bamboo mollusk cooked with ginger, garlic and shallot were good.
However I prefer our sambal stingray to their grilled stingray with sambal in banana leaf. The sweet and sour fried sea bass wasn’t good like the one we had the last time round where the sweet n sour sauce had the right amount of sugar, vinegar, ketchup and chilli in it. Eat leow steam er! Also this time the sea bass flesh was soft and breaks apart when you dig into it – sign of a not-so-fresh fish. The otah otah tasted better too during our last trip too.
The bill came up to RM101 for 4pax.
Ok, it was reasonable.
Then again, if you go earlier like about 5.00pm before the crowd comes in (which was what we had done during one of our earlier trips there) the food might taste better because more attention is given to the cooking. QC suffers whenever there are a lot of orders waiting to be cooked.
Bring along mosquito repellent, as there are plenty of them to feed on you while you feed on the seafood.
FYI: I still find the freshness of the seafood in Taiwan to be unbeatable when compared to the ones offered at this restaurant.
The lovely brass tooling (1st pic) adorns the wall of the front desk.
Holiday Inn, Melaka is a nice cozy 5-star hotel that recently opened its doors to guests in Oct 07. The surrounding is beautiful. Our room 1509 (RM300/day) offered us a beautiful view of Melaka Straits and Melaka Island with her lovely buildings on it. It has a safe, free broadband internet access and cable LCD TV.
However we found the housekeeping can be better. Our toilet mirror had dried water spots on it including a handprint that was not wiped off – the same goes for our room’s glass window. There is a gap on the top left of the shower mixer, which will grow algae if it is not patched up soon. Our room’s sofa chair still has some plastic wrappings stuck between the upholstery and armrest. One of the two mugs had some stains in it. There was also dust on the closet shelf.
On the second day, we found hair on the shower drain cover, after it was cleaned by housekeeping.
I tried to take picture of Malacca town’s development through the lift lobby’s windows, on the same floor, but decided against it because they were full of dried water spots.
We waited for a long time to get from the 15th to the 2nd floor; the lifts were very slow and hence jam-packed. While going down it stopped on many floors but no one could get in, which frustrated the hotel guests after having waited for so long – you see it on their faces.
But we did manage to get to the second floor restaurant where we had western breakfast (RM35). They had a very busy that morning. While one of my friends queue for a bowl of noodle soup, they ran out of bowls. She had salad and found some of the greens had turned brown. I also observed a chef feeling the freshly baked croissants with the back of his bare hand to see if they were cooled enough before he takes them, with his bare hands, again to place on the serving tray. We were surprised to find the food hygiene standard in Holiday Inn is the same as the hawker centers there. In Singapore, the cooks must wear gloves when they have to handle cooked food. Nevertheless the breakfast was enjoyable.
Prior to this, their reservation center’s operator said that our confirmed booking of the two rooms included breakfast – she was mistaken about that one. We were also told, by her, that if we were to book the rooms online we were entitled to free breakfast. (I wonder if she was right about that one since her first info was erroneous.) When we checked in, we asked the front desk if our bookings included breakfast? He told us that it did not. We were thankful we had asked earlier or we will be billed for it unknowingly.
Direction Signage – There could also be better road directions and signage to tell drivers where the hotel is. You need to slow down once you turn left into the slip road from the highway behind Mahkota Parade, just before the flyover, and then do an immediate 90-deg left turn into the road that lies between Makohta Hotel and Holiday Inn to get into the latter. Otherwise once you miss the second left turn, you will have doing a big round about route, on the said highway, to get into Holiday Inn again.
Another thing, the basement parking lots are not numbered. So if your friend were to drive your car, you will have to describe to him/her where it is parked.
Other then those things abovementioned, our stay at Holiday Inn Melaka was pleasant & comfortable.
We will be stopping by Melaka again on 27-28 January 08.
I found that KFC, Melaka serves great tasting fried chicken. It is not too greasy and the fried batter is crispy and tasty. The chicken is chunky and juicy, I luv the steriod in them. :0)
While we were heading for the N-S highway in JB, there was a jam along Skudai Highway due to an accident. A motorcyclist got ran over by an articulated lorry (tractor with trailer). It was 7.30pm when I drove past this awful scene, his body was mangled and his guts had spilled out onto the road. We felt very sorry for his family.
The motorcyclists there have a bad/dangerous habit of weaving in and out of traffic. If I do ride a motorbike in the future, I will stay in the middle of my lane. I won’t ride between lanes or weave in and out of traffic either.
One American I knew commented, regarding this bad habit, “they have a death wish.”
I hope that isn’t true.
When you drive in JB in the future please keep a lookout for these motorcyclists before you either steer left or right. It can save a life.
The Nyonya chendol at 88 Jonker Street (Jonker Street Desert), near yellow-color Geographer Cafe, and 69 Jonker Street (Yummy Yummy Food Station) beat the famous Teochew chendol (last pic) in Penang Road, Penang.
We found the Pasar Besar Seremban finally after turning off the N-S highway. Don’t turn into “Seremban 2” which is the new town, you want to get into “Seremban” – the old town. We finally found the original Seremban Beef Noodle with the old man (original hawker) sitting in front of it. (3rd pic) We also tried the other Seremban Beef Noodle ran by Mr. Sing Kon Cheng.(Last pic)
After comparing the two beef noodles at 2.30pm in the afternoon, we found the one by Mr. Sing to be tastier. His noodle is chewier, his beef, sauce (which has the right amount of salt in it while the former one was sweeter) and soup are more flavorful, the cooked tripe just melts in your mouth!
FYI: Seremban beef noodles come with kiam chye and peanuts.
Mr. Sing told me that he took over his father’s biz which is now more then 60 years. He said he doesn’t advertise as a result he is less well known unlike others. He also proudly showed me the table that customers use that is over 33 years old. I asked him why doesn’t he open up a stall in Singapore to compete with Mr. Wong’s seremban beef noodle? His reply was it is hard to find someone who can cook and maintain the same standard or QC!
Chin sayang.
Seremban Beef Noodle by Mr. Sing Kon Cheng (017-680 3522 H/P)
742 Pasar Besar Seremban
Biz hours: 8.30am to 3.00pm
Off day: one Wednesday, monthly
Observation: Pasar Besar Seremban’s condition reminded me of Singapore’s hawker centers during the 1970’s.
His or luah (stall located in Bunya Raya Lane) in the past was very good. The fried batter was crispy without being too greasy. It has finely chopped dried shrimp in it. He uses small or luah (oysters). And you eat it with his chilli sauce dip. Very nice.
We ate this
lovely dish along Jalan Bunya Raya, they call themselves "Bunya Raya Wanton Mee". They have been operating for over fifty years. This pushcart operates only in the night, and it is situated just right in front of a coffee shop and on the left of "Medan Makan Bunya Raya" or “Bunya Raya Lane”. Their noodle (doesn't have too much yellow sodium bicarbonate – aka “khee” here - added to it thankfully) is chewy probably made from high quality flour, the char siew is tasty (but it can be juicier inside), the wanton is delicious and the soup is light but favorable without being laced with too much MSG. The sauce they add to the noodles is light, clear and very yummy – has the right amount of soya sauce, pork lard, etc in it.
Definitely haram (meaning “sinful” in Malay) and it tastes great!
No hogwash!
To me it is one of the must eat food in Melaka.
Eat already, triple steam eh! Eat to believe.
After I eat this stall wanton mee in Melaka, I don’t have much appetite for Singapore’s wanton mee – ching kang kor.
Zakayo Nderi wins (in 7mins 03sec) it as my friend Nick has predicted. His winning prize is to compete in the Empire State Building vertical marathon in New York, Feb 08.
Nick wants to prove that Africans make world class cyclist also besides marathoners. Read my earlier posting in October, Backdated to 20/07/07 - www.theafricancyclist.com
http://www.theafricancyclist.com/Climbing%20buildings.html
17.12.07 - He will take part in the vertical marathon in Taipei 101.
I took a picture of the BBQ pits and accessories displayed prominently in the isle of a local Taiwanese supermarket called AiMai. In Taiwan, mid autumn festival is a holiday there and families with friends have a BBQ in the evening on that day! It is a big and important event unlike here. I wished I were there. I don’t know if they have fireworks that evening. If they do then it is almost like the fourth of July.
FYI: Their kids carry lanterns during Chinese New Year unlike us here during this day.
No, has nothing to do with beer. My Aussie customer – a foodie herself – calls my non-spicy Taiwanese beef noodle “Tiger Special”. She ate my beef noodles once, then it became twice and then it became three times a week. She thinks it is really good and has brought her hubby, relatives, friends (including those visiting from down under) and colleagues to try it and all of them like it too.
Many thanks Tanya!
I learnt from her friend that she will leave for home in Feb 2008!
I’ll drink to her good health.
Two of my customers wrote me a get-well message on a postcard after they found out I had a little accident. They also enclosed $200 to help offset my medical bills/expenses during this time. I returned them the money, with gratitude, because I am not financially strapped.
This a Japanese-Taiwanese style BBQ located near Chong Yuan University. At SGD13.50 you can have 6 repeated orders of tender beef for you to eat yourself silly after BBQing them . There are pork and mutton slices too for you to BBQ till your heart’s content. They have sauces for you to dip your barbequed meats into which are Japanese-Taiwanese style – makes your BBQ tastier. Their fresh salad, veg and fruits help to add fiber into your protein rich, cholesterol-laden diet. Their smokeless grill works beautifully unlike some of those here – you end up smelling like BBQ. Their drinks and ice cream are free flow.
If you want to retire in a place where you don’t mind suffering from gout (formerly a rich man’s disease), high blood pressure with high blood cholesterol, and heart disease. This might be a good place for you to consider.
I took a pic of these fish in an ordinary evening market, Taoyuan. They have shiny scales, their eyes are clear, their bodies are firm with lively colors, and they don’t smell fishy – that’s because they are fresh! Caught this morning! They don’t cost a bomb either. They taste so good. They look and taste so different from the fish we get here – so not fresh. After eating fresh fish in Taiwan, I generally don’t have much appetite for fish sold here in Singapore market.
I ate the fried pork chop bento and braised pork chop bento (last pic), from a franchise in Taoyuan, in order to compare the two. I like both of them and I think they tasted good – the pork is tender and juicy inside while their fried outside were flavorful. The cooked fresh bamboo shoots were nice. I don’t care for the preserve ones because it smells/tastes like dung to me. They also use Taiwanese rice which is sticky, fragrant and fluffy – like those used in sushi – I like it over fragrant Thai rice.Unfortunately I’ve never tried the original ones before it became a franchise so I can’t really tell if they are as good as the original. Nonetheless the franchise chain is pulling in the crowd. I wished the pork chops were crispier; then again I ought to have eaten them immediately instead of bringing them home to savor them. While on the way home, the smell of these two bento had me salivating in the car.
Once a Taiwanese bloke traveled on a train in China during a biz trip there. As he ate his cup noodle, its flavor floated thro the carriage, and that got the other local commuters asking him where he bought his cup noodle? Reason being they aren’t readily available in China. He struck gold after opening up his instant noodle factory in China.
This Michelin-star award-wining Chinese restaurant serves tasty and refined food. One dish that stood out for me was their shark fin soup. It doesn’t contain stock e.g. chicken and ham – where it full of sodium nitrate preservative (I find it gives a unpleasant strong “iron” taste) – and corn starch. I find the delicacy taste to be light and natural with the subtle flavor of seafood from the shark fin. The Taiwanese don’t add vinegar or pepper to detract, enhance or “cover” its original flavor. I like it very much and after finishing it I don’t feel thirsty – due to them not using MSG. It is politically incorrect to eat shark fin but I’ll suffer it for now.
Landis Hotel also serves delectable international breakfast. I’ll highlight the notable ones that I have enjoyed. Their plain chai tow kuay is to die for. I have never tasted anything this good before ever. I felt like asking the cook there that morning who was scrambling eggs for customers to sir fry my chai tow kuay first before adding eggs, chai poh, spring onion and finally prawns into it with a dash of soya sauce…. Wah that will be the best chai tow kuay that I’ll ever taste in my life!
Coming back to the other dishes (sorry I got carried away there for a moment) their smoked salmon is the best I have ever tried. It is not fishy or salty and the slices are thick…. I can’t remember how many slices I have tucked away…I am still drooling just thinking about it. Their bacon slices are fried right, not like a dried piece of cracker. It is juicy, not salty and surprisingly quite chewy. Then again I didn’t taste a lot of sodium nitrate in it too and that is a rarity these days.
It means “Finished up your tea, and have sons.” Not politically correct thing to say but it’s their traditional saying. The guests from certain parts of southern Taiwan – may not be all of them – will utter this to the newly wed at the end of their wedding dinner while on their way out. That was a culture shock for me, I wish I was making it up, and I thought I understood the Chinese culture. Surprise!
This car park lot 145 (is between pillar 27 and 28, B Section beneath the flyover that intersects Loong Aun St) used to mark the approx. spot, where a lady sold her tasty clear-broth beef noodle in the night market. The tasty beef is tender, the soup is flavorful and the noodle is chewy. I enjoyed eating her tasty clear-broth beef noodle with lots of kiam chye (salted veg). She told me she learnt her recipe from a shifu (chef) who cooked it for years, I believe her. Unfortunately biz was slow there and it closed down after a year. If she had moved her stall elsewhere, I‘ll certainly go patronize it repeatedly.
I ate 2 pcs of their chicken plus a local Song Hey sarsaparilla for NT69 (SGD3.5) on a warm, lazy afternoon; the traffic was zipping past beside me and a local soap opera has aired on TV in the stall. Surprisingly their chicken’s – cooked local style – crispy fried batter coating was tasty and its meat was tender without being too greasy. I zest my up with some hot pepper powder, which made it even tastier. The Song Hey sarsaparilla drink is a lighter version of our Sarsi here.
