Fried Oyster Boon Leong @ Medan Makan Bunga Raya, Melaka

I have long heard about the much raved Melaka famous fried oyster which is located at a food court located at Jalan Bunga Raya. I had been to Melaka numerous time but for some reason, I have yet to taste this famous fried oyster.

On my previous trip, I was brought to this stall by Shuet Yan. Being a Malaccan boy himself, he told me that this stall has operated for decades.

Medan Makan Bunga Raya

The fried oyster stall operates from 8pm until the midnight.

The business has been passed on from one generation to another generation. The current operator is actually the son of the previous operator.

Non-stop frying

It is not an easy money because you can see that he holds on to two ladles and keep stir-frying them. One wok can usually serve up to 5-6 servings.

The aromatic smoke of fried oyster

You got to be real patience if you want to have your share of fried oyster from this stall. Waiting time for the fried oyster is estimated to be at least 25 minutes, and longer if it is during the weekends or public holidays.

Expect at least 25 minutes of wait

On that day, our fried oyster is ready after 40 minutes of wait. Man, that was really long taking into the fact that it was already near to 11.30pm when we ordered it.

Boon Leong Fried Oyster (RM 8)
It was alright but not spectacular. There was hint of wok hei but the fried oyster starchiness is slightly on the high side and I didn't like it. The oysters were very small too and I hardly able to taste them.

The fried oyster might be better than most of the stalls in Klang Valley. However, I doubt I will return due to the long queue time for just an average fried oyster. Accordingly, my friend told me that the fried oyster wasn't as good as the olden days. Clearly the previous generation served better fried oyster.

Atmosphere: 3/10

Food: 5/10
Price: 5.5/10
Verdict: An average fried oyster that is made famous by it's predecessor.

Medan Makan Bunga Raya Boon Leong
Jalan Bunga Raya
75100
Melaka

GPS Coordinates: N2 11.895 E102 15.068

Satay Celup Ban Lee Siang @ Jalan Ong Kim Wee, Melaka

Many people may know what is steamboat or even Satay. But I doubt everyone know what is Satay Celup and I'm sure that indeed not many people have tasted it.

Satay Celup is a dish where raw or semi-cooked food on skewers ranging from meats and vegetables are being dunked into a boiling pot of diluted satay sauce. It's actually a different version of Lok Lok, where the soup base is satay sauce instead of the boiling water. This dish is one of the favourite among the Malaccans and it remained as one of the unique delicacy in Malacca.

Satay Celup Ban Lee Siang

This is my second time being here, being introduced by Agnes initially. Every table is equipped with a pot consisted of a diluted satay sauce constantly being heated up by the stove beneath.

Boiling diluted satay sauce

The shop operates on a self-service basis where you pick your choices of skewer from the fridge. Whilst this is a good implementation, however I do noticed that some people only start to discussion on the selection after opening up the fridge which result to an unnecessary "human jam".

Pick your choice

There are variety of fish balls, meats, seafood and vegetables to choose from.

Wide variety of choice (RM 0.50 -RM 0.60 per skewer)
The skewers are all made up from fresh ingredients.

Do note that there is a scoop prepared on each of the table where you are suppose to stir the satay sauce to prevent it from over heated beneath.

Dunk, Stir and Eat!
The art of Satay Celup

When the satay sauce started to boil, it's a sign that the food skewers are cooked and ready to be eaten. Look at how we dunked all the skewers into the tiny pot. This is called squeezing out every inch of the pot for a better efficiency!=p

Satay Celup feast!

The satay sauce were alright with ample of minced groundnuts. Taste wise, it is slightly on the spicy side, and nothing really to shout about. I don't like the part where they add on diluted sauce because that seriously kills of the original aroma of the satay base.

The total bill came to RM 53.30 which inclusive of drinks for the five of us. The price is decent taking into the account that we took nearly 60 skewers in total. Whilst I find the food is alright, but honestly I'm not really a big fan of Satay Celup to the extent that can eat every week.

Atmosphere: 2/10

Food: 6/10
Price: 6/10
Verdict: Be prepared to sweat like mad due to the immense heat in the shop.

Restoran Ban Lee Siang Satay Celup
45 E, Jalan Ong Kim Wee
Melaka
Tel : 06- 284 1935

GPS Coordinates: N2 12.144 E102 14.627

Hawker Food @ Jonker Street, Melaka

Jonker Street, the most famous street in Melaka is a street that filled with hawker stalls, surrounded with ancient shop lots, offering a bazaar type of shopping. Those stalls sell stuff ranging from food to souvenirs. You name it, they have it here.

Besides those antique layout restaurants, Jonker Street is well known for their hawker food as well. The street is full with a number of hawker stalls selling a wide variety of food and beverages. So many of them, that you could seriously be spoiled for choices!

Jonker Street at Melaka

One which caught my attention is the fruits candy. A few fruits such as grapes and berries are being skewered together before they were dipped into the sugar syrup. I have yet to try though, because certain thing might not taste as good as they looked.

Fruits coated with sugar syrup

As you walk deeper into the Jonker Walk, you will come across a stall which sells Popiah. The stall is currently being run by an uncle and his son.

Popiah stall

Consisted mainly of turnip and a mixture of ingredients such as bean curd, bean sprouts and cabbage, they are rolled over together on a popiah skin to form Popiah. Preparing this dish is not an easy task as it required a lot of efforts and skills.

Main ingredients of Popiah

Popiah at Jonker Street
What make the Jonker Street Popiah famous is the inclusion of pork lard in the ingredients. The pork lards does not only add extra fragrance but it provide some extra chew as well. The Popiah is nicely wrapped and the sogginess level is just nice. Clearly has what it takes to be the famous Popiah of Jonker Street.

Next, we had to slow down our pace walking down the Jonker Street because there were a small crowd gathering by a stall. Being curious, we joined in the crowd and later we found out that there were waiting for their Apom (pan cake) with fillings.

Apom with fillings

There were a range of fillings being offered by the stall. It even has the king of all fruit flavour, the Durian!

What's your flavour?

I ordered a Chocolate and Durian Apom (pancake). Roughly after 5 minutes of wait, my Apoms were ready!

Chocolate and Durian Apoms
The Apoms offered a mild crisp on the outisde. My first bite unfold the sweetness and the buttery flavour on my tongue and quickly followed by the generous aromatic fillings of the chocoloate. The same goes with the Durian Apoms which offered a stronger aroma. Pure bliss!

Being a Bak Chang fan, I could not resist myself from getting some of them from a stall.

Bak Chang

Bak Chang at Jonker Street

Lacking in flavour and very oily. Consisted a lot of seasoning powder as well. A fail Bak Chang.

If Petaling Street has their renowned Longan Winter Melon drink, Jonker Street has their very renowned drink as well. Named the Longan Guilingao (herbal jelly), it is the answer for those thirsty soul to quench their thirst.

Longan Herbal Jelly
Refreshing and cold! What a way to cool yourself down after a sweaty walk down the Jonker Street.

I'd always prefer to have my meal on a ceramic bowl because somehow they tend to make my food taste nicer . It was a nice feeling to be able to spot some of the stalls selling this type of ceramic bowls along the Jonker Street.

Chicken Brand ceramic bowls

Mum busy getting something?

As we were approaching towards the other end of Jonker Walk, we came across this stall which sells Dim Sum in a large quantity.

Dim Sum stall at Jonker Street

If I had recall properly, there were more than 10 types of steamed Dim Sum being offered at this hawker stall.

Tiny little Dim Sums
The steamed dim sums were a let down. Due to the bulk cooking, some were still uncooked and tasted cold. Terrible is the word!

Being so near to Muar, it is no surprise that there were stalls selling Otak-Otak.

Otak-otak at Jonker Street

There are plenty of otak-otak in the walk. However, I was not really happy with the Otak-otak that I bought at the main street of Jonker Walk.

Otak-otak at main street of Jonker Walk

The Otak-otak tasted flat, and was lacking in flavour. You should buy them at the stall located at the 2nd street of Jonker Walk, beside the demolished singing stage.

Night scene of Jonker Walk

After spending near to an hour and half, we reached the other end of the Jonker Walk. There used to be a stage here, where you can see some old folks showcasing their singing talent. However, during our time of visit, the stage has been demolished. Wondering is it undergoing a major revamp.

The demolished singing stage

The far end of the Jonker Street, the stage side

You will definitely enjoy strolling down the Jonker Street if you are a fan of night bazaar shopping. However, do prepare to get a little bit sticky due to the high humidity level of the Malacca weather.

Atmosphere: 3/10

Food: 5/10
Price: 6/10
Verdict: Popiah, Apoms (pancakes) and Otak-otak were the only food that are worth mentioning.

Jonker Street, Melaka
GPS Coordinates: N2.19815 E102.24472

Melaka Mango Juice @ Jonker Street, Melaka

Something has hit Melaka. It is not the tsunami, earth quake nor volcano eruption. It is the Melaka mango juice which just hit the town. Barely a year ago, I first came across to this juice at the Portuguese Settlements during my seafood dinner. Then on the very next day, my friend spotted another stall selling the same juice at Jonker Street.

This mango juice is not the typical concentrated mango juice which require you to add water to enjoy it. Instead, it is freshly squeezed to give maximum satisfaction!

Melaka Mango Juice stall at Jonker Street

You could see the mango skin are freshly peeled before being put into a container. A mixture of ripe and young mangoes are being used for the juice.

Slices of ripe and young mangoes

Upon ordering, you could see the lady boss taking a few pieces of the mangoes into the squeezer. Oh-no, what a pity to those mangoes!

Squeezing time!

After adding some ice, syrup and a sour plum fruit, the mango juice is ready to be enjoyed. It take approximately 2 minutes to prepare a glass. Pray hard that the queue is not long, else you will need to wait for more than 2 minutes.

Melaka Mango Juice (RM 2.50)
So here you are, a refreshing thick original mango juice that will be sure to quench your thirst! The perfect blending of sweetness, sourness and the coldness will be sure to make in an even more memorable trip down to Melaka.

The mango juice is the answer to chill the body especially during the walk on the soaring temperature of Jonker Street. Warning, highly addictive though! One is never enough and this is where you ASK FOR MORE!

Taste: 8.5/10
Price: 7/10

Location: The stall is located at a mini shop cum booth at Jonker Walk.

Hoe Kee Chicken Rice Ball @ Jonker Walk, Melaka

It is no surprise that when you are walking down the Jonker Street, you will be greeted by an abundance of chicken ball rice stalls. Whilst it is good to have more variety to choose from, it does give you a headache especially when you are new to to Melaka. So which stall really serve good chicken ball rice?

There is this stall named Hoe Kee which serve pretty decent chicken ball rice. Assuming you are walking from the Malacca river bridge, just head down to the Jonker Street and you will spot this stall on your right hand side right after passing by the Jonker Street arch.

Hoe Kee Chicken Rice Ball

It was 6pm of a Saturday on my previous visit to this stall. I supposed we were really lucky as we were the last customer of the day when the stall was getting ready to close.

Steamed chicken
The chicken was perfectly steamed, resulted to a tender and juicy meat. I particularly like the part where the meat were so silky smooth, as though you were having a semi-cooked chicken. Much to our liking, there is not even a single part of the chicken which is bloody.

Chicken rice ball
This is where the rice is being mashed and formed into a ball shape which we refer to as chicken ball rice. The taste of the rice is a resemblance of Hainanese chicken rice.

Chili sauce
I'm a person that is very particular to the chili sauce when it comes to having chicken rice. The chili sauce is rather a let down. Way diluted and contained too much sesame oil. I would have prefer it to be a little sweeter and concentrated.

The total bill came to RM 33 which included half of a steamed chicken, a platter of chicken rice balls and four drinks. I reckon the price is very reasonable for the portion that we get which feed the five of us decently. Was it because we were the last customer of the day? Anything it is, this is the stall to be if you fancy some chicken rice ball the next time you are at Jonker Street.

Atmosphere: 4.5/10

Food:7/10
Price: 7/10
Verdict: Be prepared to queue up especially on the weekends during the peak hours of lunch time.

Location: The stall is located at the shop lot along Jonker Street. Assuming you are coming from the bridge of the Melaka river, keep walking until you reach the arch of the Jonker Street. Walk a few more steps and the stall is located on your right side.

Hoe Kee Chicken Rice Ball
Jonker Walk
4, 6, 8, Jalan Hang Jebat
75200
Melaka
Tel: 012 - 6238431
Business hours: 8am - 5pm

GPS Coordinates: N2 11.717 E102 14.886

Jonker 88 Desserts @ Jonker Street, Melaka

When one travel to Melaka, one should not missed out the ice shaved desserts that are sweetened with Gula Melaka. Gula Melaka which literally means Malaccan sugar, are brown in colour, rich in taste and offer a very aromatic tasting experience.

Located at along the famous street of Jonker Street, Jonker 88 Desserts stall is hard to be missed out. During the afternoon and especially on the weekends, you could see people flocking in to queue up for their share of desserts. At times the queue could stretch up to the walkway of the Jonker Street.

Jonker 88 specialty dessert menu

I recalled that I have never missed out this stall whenever I visited Malacca. It is like a "must-to-do" thing in Malacca.

A very antique layout stall

Some calligraphy posters

The stall operates on a self-service basis where you order it from the counter and bringing it yourself to your table. It is advisable to get someone to look for a table first before ordering to avoid disappointment of not getting a table later on.

Baba Chendol (RM 2)
A small serving of ice shaved desserts that comes with green jelly (cendol), hint of cocunut milk and heavily drizzled with Gula Melaka.

Baba Durian Chendol (RM 3)
The same version of the Baba Chendol, but this is topped off with some Durian fruit. Fancy the aroma of the King of the fruit? Then this might well be your bowl of dessert.

E. P. C. Eight Precious Chendol (RM 3)
The name itself is bombastic. I supposed it comes in 8 different ingredients, hence the name given. Main essential ingredients of Chendol are remained but it comes with the nutmeg fruit. This is my all time favourite bowl of dessert here.

Mango Ice Kacang (RM 3)
A bowl of ice shaved dessert that come with groundnuts and topped with mango fruit before the heavy drizzling of syrup and Gula Melaka. I particularly like the tanginess of the mango which add some extra "kick" to the dessert.

Sago Chendol (RM 3)
The most bland of all the desserts. The sago did not provide any extra aroma but merely some extra chew. Not my bowl of dessert.

Our collection of desserts for the day

What make the desserts stand out is actually the presence of the heaving drizzling of aromatic Gula Melaka. Apart from that, the ice shaved desserts were pretty normal with some modified toppings. Whilst some may like the thickness syrup of the Gula Melaka, some might find them too sweet. As for me, I find the Jonker 88 desserts was alright, but not my best preference bowl of an iced shaved desserts.

Atmosphere: 4.5/10

Food: 6.5/10
Price: 6.5/10
Verdict: A unique aroma of ice shaved desserts thanks to the heavy drizzling of Gula Melaka. Great for those who had a very sweet tooth.

Location: The stall is located at the shop lot along Jonker Street. You could see a huge crowd queuing up for the desserts and the laksa as well.

Jonker Dessert 88 (Museum Cafe)
88, Jonker Walk
75200
Melaka