Feeling Oriental

I hail from Melaka. What about you?

Do you know everything about your hometown?

Can you take a friend (who’s coming to visit) around your hometown, showing him/her ALL of the attractions and the pride of your hometown?

Most importantly, would you be able to get back to the route that you intended to take (in less than a few minutes) after you’ve accidentally took the wrong one?

I was born and raised in Melaka. Although after that I spent a few years away from Melaka, I can humbly say that I am a Malaccan, through and through. And that is why it is such a shame to admit that there are many things about my hometown that I know very little about. I could even get lost here, despite the small vicinity.

Being 24, I feel I am bit older and naturally, with age comes nostalgic feeling. I want to know this place a bit better. I don’t want to stare in awe anymore as a colleague describes how he found the best pineapple tart in the world is sold at Jonker Street, Melaka when I don’t even know exactly how to get to Jonker St, let alone indulging my taste bud with those delightful pineapple tart.

So to Jonker St I went.

To begin the experience with, I marvelled at my own negligence. It is so easy to get to Jonker Street! It’s a stone’s throw away from Mahkota Parade. But parking your vehicle might be of a challenge. However, since you’ll be arriving late in the evening (Jonker Street is waaaay more happening later in the evening, when all the stalls are open), you don’t have to buy a coupon to park your car and that is kinda a relief. I said kinda, because that also means some ignorant people would park their car just about anywhere and that probably would annoy you somewhat.

The moment I stepped my feet at Jonker St, I felt like I was in a totally different place. It doesn’t feel like I was in Melaka at all. The environment was very lively! When I was there, there were an open Chinese karaoke session going on and many aunties (can you believe it!) sang their heart out in public. There’s also this uncle who must’ve really been in the mood because he was dancing in front of the stage, alone. Visitors, locals and abroad took a lot of pictures of him, he must be unofficially famous now, all over the globe :P

I divide the items that are sold there into 2 basic categories, namely FOOD and inedible stuff ;p. I’ll touch on the latter category first because I’m a firm believer in saving the best for the last :)

There in Jonker Street, you can find clogs (and they are really pretty!), printed t-shirts, decorative items (for both home + car), key chains, beads, accessories, toys, collectible coins, books, and good God, they even sell cute, adorable puppies there! So the items that are sold there are pretty random. Just make sure to have extra ringgit in your wallet in case there are some attention grabbing stuff that you just had to buy :)

Now, let’s talk about FOOD.

And I’m not only talking about some silly chips or kerepek.

As I’ve had mention earlier, Jonker St is quite famous for its pineapple tart. The hawkers bake them there and then; there are ovens on the left and right of the street. I smelt nicely baked tart along the street. I stumbled upon a stall that sells this pineapple tart in different flavours and colours. I am certain they just use colourings on the dough but it is still attractive though. And I bought some, out of curiosity :P

There are also simple food that you can snack on while browsing the stalls. I noticed a few stalls that sell fruits on stick that are dipped in chocolates and sprinkled with colourful chocolate rice. A friend of mine was kind enough to treat me and my girl pal for a scrumptious fruits-on-stick. No need to worry about the chocolate dripping on your clothes because they dry quite well, just like the McDonald’s chocotop ice cream (if you are not hasty enough to eat it the moment the McDonald’s crew hand the ice cream to you). Aside from pineapple tart and fruits-on-stick, there are also other dishes to please your appetite and drinks to quench your thirst. Just choose, point, pay and indulge.

Because we were rather hungry and snacking could never satisfy our hunger, we went inside this particular restaurant that is famous for its baba nyonya’s dishes and cendol. And good gracious, there were heaps of people! All tables were taken but we decided to wait anyway. This massive crowd could only mean one thing – the food is really all that.

Jonker 88 – living museum is the name of the restaurant. As the name suggested, there are several items being displayed in glass cabinets and customers could buy these items should they want to. Like I’ve mentioned earlier, this restaurant is famous for its baba nyonya’s dishes and cendol and I noticed that these two types of delicacies are on almost every table. Some of the menu that I could recall (forgive me, but the food was really great, I could remember only bits about other stuff apart from the super delicious RENDANG CHICKEN NOODLE itself ;p) are nyonya assam laksa (has significant sour taste, different from the usual laksa), baba laksa (bear in mind, these two names I’ve mentioned might have been swapped –thanks to poor memory got lost in the midst of gulping the *kuah greedily), seafood assam laksa, and heaps more. There are also juices, coffee and tea for your choice of beverage but most of the customers prefer to have cendol as both of their desert + beverage. And boy did their cendol presentation made my mouth water! A mountain of ice shaves spilt with *santan, perfected with dribbles of melted *gula melaka, all in one cute oriental porcelain bowl.

Because of the ridiculous number of customers, the initial menu that I pick unfortunately was no longer available for my famished tummy and therefore I had to settle for another. It was far from a disappointment. The Rendang Chicken Noodle that I had was simply bowl-licking good! It was spicy just to my liking and it was very rich in flavour. The santan was not too thick that could sometimes take you to the verge of vomiting. Going out from the restaurant, I was a one happy, full customer (with a rounder belly).

As I was leaving this exciting street that is also known as JALAN HANG JEBAT recently, I took a lot of pictures. Pictures of hawkers preparing their dishes, visitors in awe as they’re spoilt with choices, tourists hanging out at local bars whilst sipping their cold beers, lights of various colours that make the place even more hip and of course, pictures of my favourite people, my friends. We went in my friends’ *kembara all sweaty and our face was oily, but my heart grew fonder, to the place that I call home.

Now I feel even more Malaccan :)

*kembara - a local car

*santan - coconut milk

*kuah - gravy

*gula melaka - a special type of sugar