Ravenous after a morning of sleeping on the bus to Malacca from Singapore. Sleeping takes up so much energy.On the taxi to our hotel from the bus interchange, the uncle told us of a food court selling good food nearby our hotel. You’d think “food court” means “air con,” but in Malacca, their food court is our hawker centre, a place I absolutely love.
Reached the hotel at noon but still the room wasn’t ready, so we walked to the food court. (Thanks, extorting taxi uncle!) The food court is at the end of Jalan Ong Kim Wee, near a Shell Station, and just beside KFC. There aren’t many KFCs in Malacca, so it’s easy to find if you intend to go there.
LOVE the boisterous, lively atmosphere. It was crowded with students, and young families BUT there were still seats and tables. A girl was reading Agatha Christie, and I decided I should bring my future-daughter up in Malacca. Such a simple life. The place was much cleaner than you’d think, even cleaner than Singapore hawker centres. Love the structure: a row of shops with two rows of tables in front of the shops. So cosy.
We picked the stall with the longest queue: an Indian-muslim stall. Very fun. You get the rice from them first (nasi puteh [white rice], nasi lemak [coconut rice] or briyani [yellow rice]) and then you get to take your own food! Like a buffet. I don’t know the portion size of the each dish you’re allowed to take, so I took what seemed to be a reasonable portion for each dish: bittergourd; curry chicken and honey lemon fish for 6 ringgit.
WOW WOW WOW. Anyhow, anyhow, any one roadside hawker Malacca food is so much better than Singapore food. The heavily-spiced curry soaked through the oh-so-tender chicken completely, giving it a whole lot of flavor; the bittergourd was so bitter and its black bean sauce was so salty it was orgasmic. I usually hate honey lemon fish. I didn’t even know why I selected it in the first place. Honey lemon fish in Singapore tends to be floury with no meat, but this one was very amazing. The fish, coated generously with honey-lemon sauce, was extremely moist on the outside and yet it retained its crispiness, as crispy as potato chips, and there was meat! The sauce was way too appetizing with the right balance of sweetness and sourness. I’m salivating as I’m writing this. I wanna go back to Malacca.
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