Dim Sums are quite popular in Malaysia. However, I noticed that in my hometown, Dim Sums are not as sought after, maybe due to the fact that it is more expensive for the locals to eat Dim Sums for breakfast than to eat, say Chicken Rice or Laksa.
Chong Fun with Sambal Chili - Sambal is to Malaysian cuisine what hot sauce is to American food. I like both hot sauce and Sambal, but given a choice, I would choose Sambal in a heartbeat. Sambal is made with chili, garlic, onion, some citrus juice, sugar and salt and it goes well any dishes.
Loh Mai Kai - sticky rice with chicken
Da Bao - Big hot bun with meat and hard boiled eggs inside
Shiu MaiCity Bayview Laksa
Laksa is a spicy curry noodle soup. I'm not a big fan of Laksa, but Gan loves it, especially this stall near City Bayview hotel.
Gan enjoying his Laksa
I ordered a bowl of hee kiaw mee, which is fish paste with noodles in light sauceHeeren Street Wonton Noodles
It's extremely rare to find Wonton noodles served in light sauce in NYC since most of the restaurants make only Wonton noodles soup. You might have noticed by now that Malaysian loves their noodles in light sauce so this is our own adaptation of Wonton noodles dish.
Banana Leaf Restaurant
Bunga Raya ABC Shop
This is a dessert place in Bunga Raya, Malacca's Chinatown. I rarely go there, but Gan told me that he used to visit this dessert place quite often as a kid during his mom's shopping trip to Bunga Raya. We like the ABC here since we have the option of adding two scoops of Jagung (sweet corn) ice cream on top of the already sinfully delicious ABC. *ABC = ais batu campur, which means mixed shaved ice.
Little Merlin enjoying his ice cream!
Across the street from the ABC place is Min Chong, a small store which sells pretty good rojak and chendol. I love the look of the shave ice machine, wished I have one here.
Rojak or Mixed fruit salad is usually made with freshly sliced cucumber, pineapple, mengkuang and mango, and tossed in a shrimp paste molasses with some toasted ground peanuts. Delicious!
Jonker Walk
During the daytime, Jonker Street houses some restaurants, shops, galleries and museums, but during the night time of every Saturdays and Sundays, the whole street is transformed into a lively night market where you can find the most gorgeous arts and crafts, tropical/local clothings and shoes, antiques, souvenirs, food, pubs and more. We love to take a stroll at this market whenever we are back in our hometown, and soaking in the lively atmosphere, as well as doing some shopping and enjoying some yummilious local food. You can find sugar cane juice, shiu mai, candies, satay, chendol and all sorts of other local food at the food stalls on Jonker Walk.
Sugar cane juice vendor
Shiu mai
Chendol - shaved ice with palm sugar, coconut milk and green bean jellyCalanthe Art Cafe
We were very impressed by this coffee shop when we found out about it a couple of years ago. The owner has done a good job in transforming this old Dutch House into a cozy coffee shop. The coffees are pretty good too. This cafe serves coffee from 14 different states in Malaysia, where the coffee beans from each state has its own unique taste due to the roasting process and technique used.
I ordered a glass of the famous white coffee from Perak, a northern state in Malaysia. The reason why it is called white coffee is because of the roasting technique. White Coffee is produced by roasting the coffee beans with only margarine which resulted in a less dark coffee, as oppose to the regular Malaysian Black coffee which is roasted with Margarine and sugar, and is therefore darker.
The historical Malacca River is just a street away from Jonker Walk. The river used to be smelly and dirty when I was growing up, but the local government did a fantastic job in the river restoration. Nowadays, the Malacca River area has become a popular and lively nightlife area where new pubs, lounges and bars are popping up everywhere.Miscellaneous
Roti Canai is extremely popular in Malaysia because it is tasty and inexpensive. It is an Indian flatbread where the dough are made with flour, eggs, ghee, water. It takes numerous kneading and folding of the dough, and waiting for the dough to rise before it is oiled and flipped and finally cooked on a flat iron skillet. I love my Roti Canai flat, crispy and flaky, slightly thicker than the ones I get here in NYC.
Putu pirim - steamed fermented rice with palm sugar and coconut. This is one of my favorite Malaysian desserts but it's difficult to find a vendor that sells it nowadays. Sinfully delicious!Durian and Mangosteen
This is the famous or infamous Durian. The fruit is very pungent and is not for everyone. It tastes somewhat like pungent custard. Andrew Zimmern from Bizarre Food, who is able to eat anything from bugs to a beating snake heart, is not able to even eat one piece of Durian.
Colin opening a Durian with a cleaver
Durian is extremely "heaty" (inflammatory) to the body, so be sure to drink lots of water after eating Durian. I usually overdose on green tea or fish oil, but the traditional way is to eat more Mangosteens, another local Malaysian fruits that has anti-inflammation effect.
Mangosteen - also known as Queen of Fruits in Malaysia. The fruit is very refreshing and sweet.
2 comments:
Do you know the "Mah Che"-with-tongcheng wanton noodles shop if it still exist?
Yea, I used to go there at Heeren Street. The last time we were home in Feb 08, my dad told me the "mah che" s @ heeren street already retired...
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