Melaka Feb 2016

On Friday evening, our family made an impromptu decision to take a road trip to Melaka! It's been a long time since we last visited so I was pretty excited =D

(Took only some photos as it's difficult with the kiddo around and I wanted to take it easy for this trip. Quite lazy to blog actually, so just some photos and captions with some highlights of the trip.)

Due to the terrible jam at Tuas Checkpoint (we were stuck for 1.5hrs, TYVM SG), we reached Melaka only close to midnight.

It was a glorious Saturday as we woke up to great sunshine! Lovely view from our Deluxe Lago Room at Casa Del Rio. This is not an advertorial, but seriously Casa Del Rio offers impeccable service on top of their luxuriously appointed room. Quote my kiddo, we are on a luxurious holiday!

Love the breakfast at the River Grill Restaurant, Casa Del Rio. We could order an item cooked-to-order from the menu, in addition help ourselves to the already sumptuous ala-carte buffet spread.

 Yummy Egg Benedict, look at the runny egg yolk oozing out!

 It's always nice to dine alfresco, enjoying the breeze and view over a slow and relaxing breakfast.

Lovely to stroll around the grounds of the hotel, admiring the architecture and scenery.

Iced gems biscuits, for guests to help themselves at the library.

 A contrast of old shop houses and modern high-rise buildings in the background.

 We stayed here a few times, this was the first time we swam, credit goes to the kiddo.

Refreshing to enjoy some chilled watermelon and iced cold lemon water after a swim.

 When in Melaka, must buy Gula Melaka!

 Intoxicating smell from the Gula Melaka.

 Guess how many kilos I bought?

Discovered a baking supply shop! It's always exciting to explore new shops and even better to find things to buy :p

Kinghin Sdn Bhd
89, 91 & 93 Jalan Temenggong
75000 Melaka

This shop is huge, great selection of bakeware, packaging and ingredients.

Who would have guess there's such a good restaurant hidden inside this place at the Portuguese Settlement? A few years ago, we came to Portuguese Settlement as we heard that there are several restaurants here serving Portuguese food. Went away disappointed as the food was mediocre, expensive and not even Portuguese. After chatting with Alan of Travelling Foodies, realised we went to the wrong place. We went to the row of restaurants at the next block of building, which is the common place where most people would go. The recommended place for Portuguese food is:

Big Ben's Restaurant Cafe & Cottage Industry
Lot 1 & 2 Sea Front
LimKokWing Academy of Creativity & Innovation
Portuguese Settlement
Melaka
Big Ben: 016-4469077

** We made a phone call prior to going because they may not open every day.

So glad we made it here! The whole place was deserted and for a moment, I wondered if we were at the right place. As we ventured further into the building, spotted only a row of stalls/small kitchen with a couple of staff, whom were equally surprised to see people walking in (it was 1+pm, past lunch time). One of them was like, "Yes?", I asked "We are looking for Big Ben's Restaurant", and the guy broke into a smile and replied, "I am Big Ben!" Aha!

The restaurant is indeed facing seafront.

There wasn't any menu, and Chef Benildus (his actual name) told us he would arrange a simple set meal for 3 of us.

The first dish, the Devil's Curry, or Curry Debal, a popular dish of the Kristang (a community of people of mixed Portuguese and Asian ancestry). Oh man! This curry was soooooo sedap lah! The sauce was so unique, spicy and fragrant, with just a tinge of tangy sweetness.

Ayam Cili Garam, I think is more of a Nyonya dish? I'm not sure, but Chef said this was one of his most popular dish, especially during catering events, always the first to be wiped out.

Indeed, the chicken was fried to a perfect crisp, yet the meat was so tender and juicy! The flavour of the spices was perfect and brought out the sweetness of the meat.

 This was a very interesting dish! Chef called it Brinjal Black Pepper. The sliced side of the brinjal was coated with a black pepper-salt-garlic concoction and fried, so it was super crispy, yet the flesh of the brinjal was so tender and juicy! There was a hint of lemon juice on the crispy surface, probably a splash of lemon juice just before serving? Super love this as well!

 Fish fillet in savoury sauce. This was prepared specially for the boy who couldn't take spicy food. Even a simple dish like this was perfectly cooked. The fish was first deep-fried then cooked in a sauce. The fish texture was tender and succulent and went very well with the sauce which was slightly salty with a tinge of sweetness. The kiddo enjoyed it.

We are definitely returning to try his other signature dishes, hopefully with more makan kakis so that we could order more food!

The Big Bad Wolf Mega Book Sale at MITC Melaka. Tonnes of books, especially children's books. Worth a visit for children's books. Quite a selection of cookery books but I only bought a few, not many familiar titles. Stayed only an hour as the kiddo was tired.

In the evenings, it's nice to stroll along the Melaka river bank.

The facade of Casa Del Rio.

 That's the Casa Del Rio Residences.

 Interesting street busker with a comical dancing donkey, who only dances to the guitar music and singing.

 For our dinner, we simply ate our way through Jonker Walk.

This particular fried radish cake was very popular, but the hb claimed it was over-rated after trying.

Assam laksa from a random stall. Surprisingly good, the noodle had a chewy texture, gravy was umami, spicy and sour.

Ayam satay from random stall. Surprisingly good as well, chicken meat was well marinated and tender, gravy spicy and sweet and the ketupat soft and fragrant.

 Late breakfast before checkout. The nasi lemak and sambal was really good!

The glutton in me ordered a Spanish Frittata (omelette with mushroom, tomato, capsicum, olives laid on fluffy white toast) on top of what I got from the ala-carte buffet. #fatdieme

The kiddo insisted on swimming after breakfast and before checkout. Might as well, a feeble attempt to work off my sinful breakfast.

 After swimming, feast on watermelon again.

Before heading home, a stop at Baba Charlie to get some nyonya kueh. Nowadays, they even designated car park lots for customers.

Doing a brisk business, mostly locals. Also saw tour bus parked at main road, and group of tourists walking in.

 Assorted kueh kueh and other popular Melaka products, like Gula Melaka, belachan etc.

 The open kitchen where staff were busy churning out the kueh. Nasi lemah, curry puff, fried noodles were also available for sale.

Kueh Pie Tee for takeaway.

 We love the Ondeh Ondeh here, it's soft yet chewy and when you pop one into the mouth, the richness of the gula melaka burst into the mouth! The coconut is steamed with some salt, complementing the sweetness, and the addition of toasted white sesame enhanced the overall fragrance of the ondeh ondeh.

The glob of golden gula melaka almost drooping off as I struggled to take a photo using my left hand :p

 Bought a bunch of kueh chang and a tub of sambal belachan. Yet to try.

A few assorted kueh and a curry puff with sweet potato filling. The kueh dadar was nice, soft skin and moist inti, abok abok sagu was not bad, but didn't like the Pulot Serikaya, texture too hard. The curry puff is interesting to use sweet potato as filling but a tad too sweet and not spicy enough.

Baba Charlie Nyonya Cake
72, Jalan Tengkera Pantai 2,
75200 Melaka

Discovered yet another bakeware shop about 5 mins drive from Baba Charlie.

Yami Bake Ingredient House
49-H Jalan Tun Perak
753000 Melaka

This shop is slightly smaller than Kinghin but well-stock nonetheless. 

Lastly, ending my post with my newly bought Nyonya Kebaya, complete with kerosang. The makcik patiently let me try kebaya after kebaya, so that I can find the colour that's suitable for me, then search the matching sarong :) Price is really reasonable, doubt I can find in SG. Loving my new outfit, have to find the occasion to wear it soon :p

Toko Che Ros 
No 27 Jalan Laksamana
(the 2 rows of old red painted shop houses near the Dutch Square, on the side nearer to river)

Port Dickson April 2015 (Part II) - Food at Thistle and elsewhere

Continued from Part I - Thistle resort

When it comes to food/dining during vacation with the little rascal, there are many more factors to consider, like whether the food is suitable, whether he likes the food, whether the place is crowded (incessant nagging from hungry kid can spoil the entire meal!). If it was just the two of us, we could go places and eat ANYTHING we like.

For our first night at Port Dickson, we decided to stay in and dine at one of the restaurants because all of us were tired from the swimming, and the little rascal was hungry as well.

There's a Chinese restaurant, Italian restaurant and an all-day dining restaurant that serves ala-carte and buffet. We opted for the Italian.

The restaurant was rather quiet so we were served promptly.

Caesar salad to share. The little rascal only had interest in the croutons. Nothing to rave about since this is a very common and easy to make salad.

Bruschetta which was quite nice. Bread was crispy and tomato salsa juicy and tangy.

The little rascal ordered his very own "choose your own toppings" pizza with mushroom, pineapple and cheese. Pizza dough was handmade and baked in a brick oven, very crispy and yummy!

Hubby ordered a ravioli, the creamy sauce with truffle oil was not bad.

What blew us away was the Pan-fried salmon that I ordered. The salmon was pan-fried to perfection and the meat was so tender and juicy. It was so delicious that the little rascal ate a third of it! The creamy potato, sauce and side vegetables were also very nicely done. We were quite surprised that we were able to enjoy such a well-made dish here.

The little rascal insisted on ordering a homemade strawberry ice-cream which was not bad.

All in all, a very worthy dinner!

Breakfast was included in the room rate and served buffet-style at Fresh restaurant. Luckily it was a weekday and restaurant wasn't crowded. During vacations, I prefer peaceful, relaxing and quiet atmosphere, that's the whole idea. But then again, with the little rascal it's a different story.

Quite a reasonable spread. The usual suspects, bakery section, salad station, fruits, local cakes/pastries.

Local fare - roti canai with curries, nasi lemak, porridge and the usual breakfast items like baked beans, grilled tomato, sausages etc.

Cereal and juices.

"Live" stations serving cooked-to-order noodles, waffles, eggs.

On the second night, we decided to dine in again and this time, we ordered from the room service menu. The little rascal loves room service, I guess to him there's something fancy about having food delivered directly to the door-step and enjoying it in the comfort of the room?

The little rascal's fish and chips. On hindsight, I should have ordered something light and share this with him as the portion was big and he could only finish one piece of the fish.

I was craving for nasi goreng kampung which like I said a mistake as the portion was too big too and I couldn't finish it at all!

Hubby's beef burger looked yums!

Would say that the room service was quite efficient, food quality quite good and portion certainly generous.

During our second day at Port Dickson, we ventured out for lunch. Before the trip, I searched the internet for recommended places for seafood and decided on Weng Yin Seafood which was very near to the resort.

As it was a weekday afternoon, the restaurant was empty.

This three-flavour deep fried fish is supposedly the signature dish of the restaurant. Fish was fried perfectly to a crispy with tender meat. Sauce was spicy, tangy and sweet but I found it a tad too heavy and sweet.

Tofu dish for the little rascal who couldn't eat the rest of the dishes. (that's the problem when dining with young kids).

Sambal kang kong. Not bad.

Sambal clams with basil. It was so-so, I found the clams not very fresh.

Creamy butter prawns. The prawns weren't fresh so this dish was out.

Overall, I thought the food standard was so-so only. The only saving dish was the three-flavour fish, but it wasn't the best we've eaten. If we were to return to Port Dickson again, we would probably try other restaurants.

After our lunch, we drove to a nearby beach area where kayaks, canoes, jet skis are available for rental. The whole place was quiet since it was a weekday.

Many stalls selling swimwear, beachwear, sand toys and floats.

It was freaking hot, so we decided to drop by a stall to have some coconut shake and cendol.

This is the PD Famous Coconut Shake Power, RM3. Power indeed, the shake was creamy, thick and very sweet.

The iced cendol was very fragrant with gula melaka and coconut milk.

In a nutshell, we enjoyed our short getaway to Port Dickson, and with the positive experience this time, Port Dickson is once again back as one of our beach vacation choices.