Melaka Trip May 2013 - Day 1

We have arranged a trip to Melaka in May 2013 and this time, instead of staying in Holiday Inn, we decided to try Casa Del Rio which is situated next to Jonker Street.  This is boutique hotel, consisting of 66 rooms.  Not a very big hotel but at a very convenient location around Jonker Street.  Lime and Ginger sobert was served to us upon reaching waiting to be checked in.  We were also given a cold towel to freshen up ourselves.  The stay included a semi-buffet breakfast that included a main course from the menu for 2 days.  There was Egg Benedict, my elder son's favourite.  I chose Big Breakfast for my younger son which has his favourite sunny side up and sausage.    Besides the main course, we had various breads, noodles, rice, cereal and porridge to eat from the buffet.  Not a large buffet but sufficient.  (You won't want to eat too much in the hotel as there are plenty of nice food to try out there on the streets!!)

Egg Benedict

Big Breakfast

On the first evening, we were also served with a small cup of Onde Onde.  The mini onde onde is filled with fragrant gula melaka which burst in your mouth once you bite into it.  Unfortunately though, the skin was made solely from glutinous rice flour.  It would have been made better if sweet potato was included in the making of the skin.  But anyhow, it was a nice touch from the hotel.

So much about the Hotel.  The initial plan was to eat Char Siew Rice at Medan Makan Boon Leong at Bunga Raya, but the GPS coordinates : N2 11.889 E102 15.077 is WRONG.  We were lead to some paddy rice fields.  We aborted out initial plan and went to Jonker Area to try the chicken rice ball.  As it was noon, Chung Wah Chicken Rice Ball stall was packed with people and a long queue.  We decided to try Famosa Chicken Rice instead but was quite disappointed with the standard.  

We ordered chicken, chicken rice ball, dumpling soup and vegetables in oyster sauce.  The sauce for the chicken and vegetables were extremely salty.  Chicken rice ball was soft and my sons preferred loose rice to chicken rice ball.  The only item that tasted not too salty was the dumpling soup.  We also ordered some char siew which again was drenched with some salty char siew sauce. Unless you like your food on the salty side, I would not recommend Famosa Chicken Rice at Jonker Street.  Definitely will not eat at this place again.

After lunch, we walked round Jonker Street.  My MIL bought some mee suah from a corner stall near the river.  They sell various types of dried noodles like mee suah, pan mee, etc.   It is not difficult to find as there is an uncle on a push cart selling steamed peanuts just outside that stall.  We also tried Assam Laksa, Nonya Laksa and Chendol from the stall Jonker 88.  The Nonya Laksa was quite Lemak.  Both MIL and I preferred the Assam Laksa which was sourish with kick.  We liked it so much that I bought it again the next day.  Their thick noodles are different from the ones that is sold in Singapore.  More on the QQ side and nice.  I even asked the lady for more fish flakes which increased the price of the laksa to RM$6.50 from the orginal RM$4.50++. 

Chendol from Jonker 88 was also nice.  On the first day, we tried the Eight Treasure Chendol which had the usual Chendol ingredients and on top of that there was big roasted peanuts that was very frangrant, nutmeg shreds and corn.  We didn't really like the nutmeg though.  The gula melaka was thick and frangrant.  As like some bloggers had feedback, it is on the sweet side.  But I don't mind though since the gula melaka is fragrant.

For dinner on the first night, we pack back to the hotel to eat as my MIL didn't want to go out.  Guess she must be tired.  This map was provided by the hotel to locate the eating places near the hotel.  

We walked to location 8 in the map to pack Naan, Butter Chicken and Tandori Chicken from Pak Putra.  We ordered garlic naan, cheese naan and plain naan.  The naan was nice but we preferred the Butter Chicken from Sim Lim Foodcourt in Singapore.  Tandori Chicken tasted quite salty when eaten on its own.  Along the stretch from the hotel to Pak Putra, there are numerous stalls selling food.  But they all open only after 6pm.  There is a Dim Sum, and a small hawker place selling various food items.  We tried the satay and poh piah.  Was quite disappointed as the poh piah contained lard that didn't taste fresh and it ruin the overall taste.  The satay was normal, nothing to shout about. 

After dinner, we went to Bar Rio for Happy Hour on the first night.  We had soft drinks and some light snacks.  The kids were busy eating the muruku from these mini dim sum containers.