i just came back from malacca - the first time i've driven myself up there!the trip's meant to be a short 2 day 1 night affair mainly involving eating and lazing around in a nice hotel. relaxing and luxurious. the secondary goal would be to let me get acquainted with driving in malaysia, under the supervision of my parents. n i think we accomplished our goals splendidly ;)
we had stayed at the majestic hotel, a beautifully restored mansion attached to a small block of rooms overlooking a bend of the malacca river. it's tastefully furnished to resemble something not out of place at a colonial clubhouse, with generous dark wood panels and regal chrome lights. n as if to clearly emphasis that this is malacca - a major peranakan settlement - a splash of psychedelic colours and a twist of hybrid styles were applied most cleverly throughout.
our first lunch was at nancy's kitchen, the supposedly quintessential peranakan establishment in the heart of historic malacca. we ordered a sample of the well known traditional dishes, all painstakingly made the traditional way. well, i've never really appreciated the big deal over peranakan food, but i suppose nancy's food was quite nice, though a tad overly oily (i'd suppose pple don't really care abt their health when they decide to binge on good malaysian food). but their chendol is just sinfully irresistible. for one, their chendol's the REAL deal, not the hard tasteless strips of plastic u normally get. n the gula melaka was just so so good.
after an entire afternoon of sampling tarts, biscuits, kuehs, and other chinese/peranakan pastries throughout the jonker area (and after a long long nap back at the hotel), dinner was a teochew place not far from nancy's that chubbyhubby had recommended. teosoonlong's quite a typical chinese zichar place (with all the charms of its roadside muck) that has upgraded itself to a restaurant with air-conditioned seating. the food's good, no doubt, n the service friendly and efficient, though i must admit, the place is really overpriced >.<
breakfast was skipped the next morning, and lunch was hainanese chicken rice (balls) at hoe kee (however u spell it). well, it's recommended by the taxi driver, and everyone's crazy over it (the queues to all the hainanese chicken rice establishment are testament to the phenomenon), so we HAD to give it a try. well, i'm personally not particularly impressed, but i suppose the food was enjoyable.
ending off the trip with more desserts and more pastries, ihad sped us home zooming down the highway at 160kph. which was a stark contrast to the jam at the malaysian border where we got stuck at on our way there, crawling at a record breaking speed (or slowness?) of less than
500m(etre)ph :S haha.
