Bukit Cina Ginger Tau Fu Fa @ Malacca

When we were tired of walking on the street of Malacca looking for a tourism spot, coincidentally we met this soya bean stall at a narrow roadside (Lorong Bukit Cina). The old man (hereby call him the uncle) who was operating the stall approached us very friendlily and politely asking if we want to have some soya bean drink. We were attracted by him. We stopped a while to look at the stall before decided to take a short break before continue our journey.

The uncle then offered us seats beside his stall which consists of few red plastic chairs. The alleyway is just too narrow to accommodate any table. He then introduced the signature dessert from his stall to us, the brown sugar ginger tau fu fa!

Differ from the ordinary tau fu fa which used plain and cool sugar syrup as sweetening agent to the almost tastless soya bean curd a.k.a. tau fu fa, the ginger one was using special homemade hot ginger syrup. Worried that some people may not like or accept the aroma and taste of the ginger, the uncle adviced us to order one bowl to try out first before order for more.

After I tried a spoon, surprisingly person who is not in favor of ginger taste like me find the taste acceptable and quite nice to eat actually! The hot syrup is full of the spiciness of the ginger but it is sweet when put in the mouth. I craved for few more scoop after that!

However, as the weather was hot and we were in the thirst, we didn't order for more. We ordered cold and more cooling soya bean drinks instead which is equally nice and smooth!

The uncle told us many people even as far as Singapore will look for his stall and take his signature ginger tau fu fa whenever they visit to Malacca.

After I came back and googling through the Internet, I just discovered that this friendly uncle was not bluffing. His ginger tau fu fa is very famous in Malacca and this is actually the third generation business passing down from his father about 60 years ago. His son now is operating Bukit China Soya Bean House which serves 20 versions of tau fu fa at another outlet.

You should try out when you visit to Malacca! Feeling regret that I didn't took much photos on this!

Famous Baba Chendol @ Jonker 88 Malacca

Jonker 88 is a museum cafe located at the famous Jonker Street of Malacca. This cafe is well-known of its local dessert especially the Baba Chendol which is one of the local delicacy you must try when you visit the city.

The outlet also served Baba Laksa and Nyonya Asam Laksa which I didn't try on the day as my stomach was still full with Chicken Rice Ball eaten earlier.

While you are sweating and tired of walking around the town center, this is a shop that you could pay a visit to take a rest while enjoying the cooling iced Baba Chendol. It's a fascinating experience and truly relaxing before you continue your visiting to more places.

The shop has a small entrance with a stall is placed on the left and right respectively at the entrance. It practices self-service serving method, where you order and pay for the foods at the stalls, then carry them to the table all by yourself just like what you did at KFC or McDonald.  

This cafe is called "Museum Cafe" as the owner exhibit various kind of antique as well as old photos inside the shop for the customers to see when enjoying their foods. I am truly sorry for not taking much interior look of the cafe probably because I was too tired of walking that time, so I spent most of the time enjoying the body cooling chendol while taking a good rest.

Back to the dessert, there are many variants of chendol to choose from including the durian flavor, but I went for the most original taste, which is the Baba Chendol. It is actually the combination of ice snow, red beans, the green chendol jellies with coconut milk then topped by a layer of thick and concentrated palm sugar (Gula Melaka).

It is simply yummy!! The aroma and fragrance of the thick Gula Melaka was the key to the delicacy of the dessert! RM2.00 for a bowl of Baba Chendol.

The concentrated Gula Melaka is not that easy to melt. Therefore, before you eat the dessert, make sure you properly mix everything up so that the Gula Melaka is totally melt into the mixture. Only by then you can get the total sweetness and greatest taste of the Baba Chendol!

It is definitely the best choice to quench the thirst especially during the hot days!

This is another shop in Malacca which always pack with patrons. However at the time of my visiting, I didn't see the crowd most probably because it was not on the weekend or is it just simply "lucky"?

Delicious Chicken Rice Ball @ Chop Chung Wah Malacca

Chicken rice ball is one of the unique local delicacy in Malacca which is labeled as "must try" when you visit to the historical city. It is basically the famous Hainanese chicken rice, but the rice is served in round/ball shape which make it unique and different from the normal chicken rice.

You can easily find this food in Malacca as it is a symbolic delicacy for the city. Just walk along Jonker Street or area nearby, you will find many eateries serving this. However, to get the most authentic and original taste of Hainanese Chicken Rice Ball, I went for this one - Chop Chung Wah / Kedai Kopi Chung Wah.

This shop is not so easily spotted as its signboard is hanging high and not obvious. There are neither fancy decoration nor colorful banners and advertisement inside or outside the shop to promote their food. All you can see is just an old coffee shop with a single entrance and a chicken rice stall just beside the small entrance. I never knew this was the place until a local Indian man told us so.

However, it is not so hard to find the shop as it is located at a very strategic location. If you are at the "Red House", just cross the road heading to Sungai Melaka, walk across Tan Kim Seng Bridge and the shop is just in front of you (on the right).

The small shop is always full with patrons during lunch hours. If you go on that time, you gonna wait in a long queue under the hot sun to get a table. Therefore, we took our lunch a bit earlier that day around 11 something to avoid from queuing.

After ordering, the foods reached our table just within few short minutes. It's lighting fast to cope with large patrons craving for the food everyday I guess! Each serving have 5 chicken rice balls on the plate and the chicken were shared on a bigger plate.

The rice balls are glutinous and solid, therefore they are not easily fall apart while you biting them. The taste of the rice explains everything - why an ordinary old shop, without luxury interior design, without banners to advertise the food, without Astro AEC host Ah Hien portrait standing outside the shop and without an eyes-catchy signboard but could attract so many patrons willing to queue and wait under the hot sun just for their chicken rice!

The taste is certainly fantastic! The most delicious chicken rice I ever try! The fragrance and the aroma of the chicken rice balls are definitely unbeatable and you just can't help yourself from craving for more!

The chicken is smooth, juicy and tender. Don't forget to add some free flow chili sauce to the chicken which definitely will please your olfactory system to the highest!

The only problem with the shop is sometimes you may get unfriendly treatment. Well, who care? If you feel bad, you can just leave! There are still plenty of customers queuing for the food and their business is guarantee!

The shop will only operate till 3pm because by then or even earlier than that all their chickens and rice will be sold out.

A Day Visit to Historical City of Malacca

Malacca is one of the historical city in Malaysia. It had been inscribed as World Heritage City on 7th July 2008 in Quebec, Canada by UNESCO.

I had visited the place once when I was still in Primary 6. Therefore, I was pretty excited to revisit the place as most of the impression on this city had disappeared from my memory.

The revisit was done on 25th August 2010 with my family members. It took around 2 hours car journey from capital city of the country to Malacca. It rained quite heavily when we reached there, so we spent time at one of the authentic delicacies shop named "San Shu Gong" while waiting for the rain to stop.

It is not that hard to spot this shop as the building structure is quite unique and located at the center of the town, just within short walking distance from the famous "Red House" in Malacca.

You can get various local delicacies for your own or as a gift to relatives and friends here which had been arranged very neatly in the shop. However, I felt that some of the workers in the shop are rather unfriendly which may leave bad impression to the visitors. I personally felt a little uncomfortable with some of their attitude which treated the customers just like their debtor!

The "Red House"

The "Red House" is a venue you can never miss when you visit to Malacca. Your trip is incomplete without visiting to this iconic tourism spot of the city.

The Stadthuys which is more well-known as "Red House" as the buildings were painted in red were built by the Dutch occupants in 1650 as the office of Dutch Governor and Deputy Governor. Beside it is the Christ Church which had been built in the year of 1753.

The buildings are now the home of Museum of History and Ethnography. Around the compound of the "Red House", you will notice a lot of heavily decorated trishaws lining up ready to fetch the tourists to the spot of their preference.

These flowery trishaws had become one of the tourists attraction for the city of Malacca as well.

St. Paul's Church

St. Paul's Church is located at the summit of the hill beside the Stadthuys building. Just follow the properly built stairways headed to the hill and it is not that hard to reach this historical church.

This church was built by a Portuguese captain named Duarte Coelho in 1521 AD as a chapel for Portuguese with the name “Nosa Senhora” – Our Lady of the Hill. When Malacca was taken over by the Dutch in 1641, this chapel became temporary praying place before their own church - The Christ Church (just beside the "Red House") was completely constructed.

Dutch then turned the place into burial place and graveyard. Thus, when you walked inside the building, you can see quite a number of tombstones with Dutch wording engraved on them leaning against the wall.

Standing in front of the church is a huge white St. Francis Xavier's statue who was the pioneer of Catholic missionary work in Southeast Asia during 16th century. His body was placed in this church temporarily before it was taken to Goa, India.

Besides the historical monuments, you can also see the beautiful scenery of the Malacca city as well as the coastline from the summit of the hill. It is really an amazing view!

Fort A'Famosa

Walking down the hill from the rear of St. Paul's Church is where the famous fort A'Famosa is located. This is another tourism spot you should never miss when you visit the historical city of Malacca.

This fortress was built by Alfonso de Albuquerque in 1512, to defend attacks from Sultan Mahmud of Malacca as well as Aceh and Johor empire.

Also known as Porta de Santiago, this fortress is the only Portuguese fortress out of 4 left. It was the most symbolic and well-known fortress that the Portuguese ever built to protect themselves from the attack of their enemies.

Maritime Museum

Walking along the streets in Malacca, you will certainly be amazed by a giant ship structure at a roadside. This is actually the Maritime Museum which showcases the maritime histories in Malacca. The structure is a replica of a Portuguese ship named "Flor De La Mar". Centuries ago the ship carried a vast amount of Malacca treasure on its way to Portugal and somehow it sank at the coast of Malacca.

I personally love this structure very much as it is so unique especially when it is located at the town area surrounded by buildings. It gave me the feel of the pirate ship like the one always seen in the movie just in front of my eyes! Amazing!

Jonker Street

Another tourism attraction spot of Malacca. Jonker Street is actually a long and straight street with old shops along the street. It is a place you can find various kind of unique antiques, statues, fashionable clothes, household products, colorful accessories and also various souvenirs.

This is a place you can spend hours of walk and shop around. If you are too tire of walking, you can stop by at the eateries here to enjoy the famous baba cendol or any other local delicacies of your choice

I read from the Internet that this street will be very happening at night time during the weekend, but I was not overnight there, so couldn't feel the atmosphere myself. Perhaps you could?

St. Francis Xavier's Church

Located at the town center as well, this historical Catholic church was built by a Catholic French priest, Rev. Farve in 1849. It's named so to commemorate St. Francis Xavier who is credited for his Catholic missionary work in Southeast Asia during the 16th century.

Malacca River

You can also see the fascinating Malacca River view when you visit to the city. It is just across the road from the "Red House". If you are not satisfy enough by just watching the overall scenery of the river, you can choose to take the river cruise which will bring you to see the scenery along the river more closely and specifically.

Others

There are plenty of museums around Malacca town center which worth a visit but you really need to spend days to visit them all. You could also see a lot of old vehicles being exhibit near the museum compound and the surrounding. You really need to spend more time to discover all of them!

All the places I mentioned above are nearby to each others at the town center and can be easily accessible within walking distance.

There are also local foods that I tried out during my visit to Malacca which I will reveal them in the coming post. As the conclusion, it was a nice experience visiting to a historical city with a lot of thing to see and feel. Although is a short trip, but I truly enjoy it a lot!

Thanks to my sister and brother-in-law for making the efforts to make this trip a success. Oh ya, don't forget to bring along your cap or hat or umbrella whichever you prefer when your visit the place as most of the tourism spots are not sheltered and you will be directly exposed to the hot sun. So, be prepared before you get the sunburn!