Little Food Adventure At Jonker Street
January 22nd, 2007.
Categories: Eating..., Eating... In Malacca
Ivan and Calvin were in Malacca during the weekends. We went to Jonker Street and Tien Soon and his girl friend joined us later. We went to Jonker Street (Hence, the news and this post), Capitol Satay Celup and of course, Nadeje Patisserie. It was a fun outing with them!
Anyway, I was requested to write a story on Jonker Street for the papers. Since I was there and another photographer (Tien Soon) to help me out, our walk along Jonker Street also became my assignment. Now that I am done with my article, I am just plain lazy to rewrite the article to fit it into my blog. Hence, for the first time, I will be publishing a YET-TO-BE-EDITED news article.
Comments are welcome, but don’t crush my confidence, OK? -blek-
Tourists and locals will definitely not want to miss having a walk along Jonker Street, formerly known as Jalan Hang Jebat, which is famous for its distinct Chinese’s culture that forms the true essence of Jonker Street. Apart from its night market liked street, one can definitely savour many authentic local foods at Jonker Street as well.
One shall start his food journey from the stage, which is the main entrance for Jonker Street. Every now and then, there will be performances, dances or events held at the stage. Right behind the stage is the Taiwan’s fruit candy stick. Choon Mee Fah, 60 will cut various fruits into small pieces and pierce(?) them into a stick, before dipping it into winter melon flavoured sugar water. Sweet and juicy, an awesome finger food for you to munch on as you walks down Jonker Street.
Next to it is the famous Hong Kong’s curry fish balls. Aromatic and spicy curry to go with sweet and fresh homemade fish balls, prepared by Low Chee Kok, 28. If you are not into spicy food, then opt for glutinous rice with finely crushed peanuts, called “Mua Chi” (RM1.50 per serving). Bok Lik Chek, 74, has been selling Mua Chi” for the past 6 years, since the start of Jonker Street.
You will hear people shouting “four for RM1.50″ as you walk ahead. Hee Song Nooi, 44, would hand you a long toothpick for you to select four of your favourite “dim sums”. Steamed minced pork in delicate skin, piping hot from the steaming stove; it is definitely worth the RM1.50, as you cannot get similar price and offer at anywhere else but Jonker Street.
Who can forget the famous Nyonya’s pineapple tarts? Buy freshly made and right from the oven pineapple tarts from Goh Kiat Ka, 45, who has been selling tarts for more than seven years. Hakka dish, yam coins (RM2 per serving) is next on the menu. Ho Siew Eng, 36 will cook them for you when you place your order. Mashed yams, molded into mouth bite size and cooked with black fungus, minced pork, mushrooms, oyster sauce, soy sauce and garnished with spring onions is definitely mouth watering.
If you want to have a decent dinner meal, head to Jonker Dessert, the museum cafe. With a huge variety of Nyonya food like Nyonya Asam Laksa, Baba Laksa, Nyonya Rendang, dumplings and many more, you will definitely leave the shop with a filling stomach and a satisfied customer. Do not forget to try their signature chendol that comes with superbly thick, sweet and authentic gula melaka, regarded as one of the best stalls in Malacca to have your thirst of chendol quenched.
Geographer Café is the best place to have your daily dose of beers as you chill with your friends. With live bands performing and people strolling along Jonker Street, the atmosphere is simply marvelous. You can also order fried radish cake from Ng Yeow Beng, 34, whose stall is just right outside Geographer Café. Chunky radish cake, stir-fried with garlic, onion and eggs to go along with that glass of chilled beer.
If beer is not your stuff or you are with your families, pop over to Limau Café that serves a huge variety of beverages, such as coffees, teas, milk shakes, ice blended, lassi, fruit juices and many more. They also serve food like sandwiches, pastas, spaghettis and toast breads for you to fill your stomach.
Choo Tian Chai, 61, will be busy preparing spring rolls, also known as pohpiahs for customers, not too far from Limau Café. His pohpiah is simply delicious as he has been cooking and preparing them for more than 10 years. It’s a hit among the locals and also the tourists.
As you venture further, you will definitely get attracted to the aromatic BBQ squid. Eng Boon Ang, 55, has been in the business for the past seven years, definitely knows what it takes to burn a crunchy and aromatic BBQ squid. If you cannot stand the smell of the burnt squids, get a piece of Apom Balik from Chia Kim Fong, 46. You can opt for peanuts, sweet corns or a mixture of both, with a starting price of RM0.60. The natural sweetness of corns, the aroma of finely crushed peanuts or the best of both world will definitely make you want another piece before you can finish the one in your hands.
Among all Chinese traders in Jonker Street, you will definitely not miss out the South Indian food stall that sells vadai, masala vadai and other South Indian finger foods. Muniandy, 53 and Saraswati, 45 are very considerate as they prepare them in vegetarian style, and it does not come with a single bit of garlic.
After all the food, a glass of herbal tea from Tok Yoke Leong, 63 will quench your thirst and “cool” your body down after all the heaty foods. Tok also prepares a pot of herbal eggs, which she prepares during late afternoon and boils them for few hours so that the essences and tastes of the tea leaves, herbs and spices will seep into the eggs.
You should have reach the end of Jonker Street by now, turn around and you will be walking back to the point where you started your little food adventure along Jonker Street. Of course, there are many more foods like fried ice cream, Taiwan’s hotdog, traditional Nyonya kuih-muih, chicken rice balls, pancakes, fruits, sugar cane water, sushi and many more.
Ends.
P/S : Pictures’ credits go to Tien Soon, Ivan and Calvin. All pictures are taken with Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30.
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January 22nd, 2007 05:23
The pics are great! Jonker St. is like pasar malam.
January 22nd, 2007 08:43
[...] The savory food hunting journey at Jonker Street is definitely more than the little description above. For a comprehensive Jonker Street food hunting guide, please hop to Jason Lioh’s post. Visit at the Right Time [...]
January 22nd, 2007 08:59
OMG! You are making me missed Malacca so much. LOL. Haven’t got a chance to hang around Jonker Walk for long. Last New Year’s Eve was only 2 hours for me to hang around there and disturbed by the rain. LOL. Nice review.
January 22nd, 2007 09:02
haha you left out another person liao
you should say “… We went to Jonker Street and Tien Soon and his gf joined us later …” ma :p
anyway, acting as temporary reporter taking the pics of hawkers is definitely a fun experience. at least, they really don’t mind posing for you hehe
January 22nd, 2007 10:15
I already written my comments but I would like to check with you about constructive criticism and whether you can take it or not.
January 22nd, 2007 13:45
jason, thanks for the tour hehe. lol let me knw when they publish the story aite. i tried the ori mille crepe woot woot!
January 22nd, 2007 16:28
I HEART those pineapple tarts!! BTW, do you go asking people their names arr..?!
January 22nd, 2007 23:31
First off,
Thank you for bringing the cake over. And THANK YOU, Uncle Lioh for belanja-ing us.
Next, your article.
Dude, you have got typo and a bit of a grammatical error here and there.. e.g., (…Chinese’s culture…) ['Chinese culture' dah okay..]
And your lead.
Rubin Khoo would say this (I suppose.. Cuz that’s what he keeps saying in class), “It’s too long.”
Other than that… Everything seems A-OK..
So sorry, dear cousin.. I tend to be very analytical.. Don’t hate meeeee!!!!
January 23rd, 2007 11:53
Wow! U really went and interviewed each and every one of them? U were lucky they didn’t ‘chase’ u off.
Didn’t notice dat there’s a ‘yam coins’ stall. When I visit M’cca the next time, I’ll sure know where and what to eat. Jonker Street seems to have it all!
January 23rd, 2007 17:11
Vien : It is pasar malam, actually. Just with a different name.
Surfnux : 2 hours and still not enough for you to walk Jonker Street? What are you doing there? Visiting every single shop ah? -sweat- I can walk finish in less than 30 minutes, but then, that’s because I don’t buy stuffs there. Haha!
Tien Soon : Fixed it already la. Haha! Join me another time?
Giovoni : Write it here or you can email me, would love to read more about your opinions.
Ivan : You’re welcome. Will let you know.
Pelf : Yeap, ask their names loh. If not, how to write the story ah?
Deng : That’s a typo? Hmm, I didn’t know that. Will look into it. Hehe, don’t know, usually, my introduction is less than 3 sentences, at least, that’s what my editor told me lah.
Tracy : They won’t chase you off because they scare you publish their face and write bad things about them in the newspaper. Haha! Psstt… The yam coins, don’t try. LOL.
January 24th, 2007 12:36
Well, its enough to finish the whole stretch of the road, but I normally like to hang out at the Geographer or Ringo for few hours, drinking, enjoying music looking at the crowds. Hohoho that was fun. :p
January 24th, 2007 19:57
You know what… you could add some quotes.
Some ppl have short attn spans, so quotes would be great.
January 25th, 2007 23:27
Surfnux : Ah, icic. I never really drink at Geographer during Jonker Street day. :D Should try it one time.
Hwey : I know that, but don’t you realize if you put quotes inside, the whole story is kinda distorted? This news is more like an insight of a person traveling down Jonker Street and briefly mention what is there to eat. And if I want go into details for each and every stall, this news will be FREAKING long. Haha!
Che-Cheh : Perhaps you should stay over the weekend instead of going back on the same day. :) Malacca has much more to offer than just a day trip.
January 25th, 2007 13:09
I always miss the Jonker Street pasar malam coz I need to go back KL in the evening. Never stay for long in Melaka. Pagi pergi Petang balik. Looks like I need to stay a night in Melaka to taste all these yummy food. Good job.
January 26th, 2007 13:44
When I first started to read your article, I thought the whole thing happen during the daytime. But it slowly dawned upon me that it happened at night – some description on the nocturnal ambience and atmosphere would really complement the pictures.
If you can (and I know that you can), try to personalise your articles with the special Jason’s touch (what you think about the whole experience) that no one else can copy, then people would seek to read your articles. At this point, it lacks ‘rempah-ratus’ that Malacca is once so famous for….
Regarding the name change from Jalan Hang Jebat to Jonker Street, you could enlightened the readers on the reason behind the change. Does it have anything to do with tourism? or World Heritage Site Listing? And the hawkers – pick the special ones out and add some colour, character and quotes, then your article will come out alive.
Jason you have so much potential in you – like a rough diamond that needs to be cut and polish in order for its brilliance to shine. It’s a bit tough starting out as a rookie but the more you write AND READ, the more you’ll improve.
Tip: After writing, do a spell-check, then print it out. Let the article ’sit and mature’ for some time while you do other stuff. Then reread it and edit it once more.
January 26th, 2007 21:51
Giovoni : I am going to do some touch up on the article some time later since the story is now being held back as my editor wants to concentrate on Chinese New Year stories now.
I forgotten to mention about the difference between day and night time’s Jonker Street. Thanks for mentioning. Jonker Street doesn’t sell herbs and spices leh. Haha! Those are what we learned form history books. As for the name changing, I don’t know. Should I put it inside? But my article is about food. Hmmm…
When I wrote the news, I only wanted to feature what Jonker Street has to offer and not concentrating on just a few or selected ones. Hmm, maybe I should look into it again and see what I can do.
January 27th, 2007 18:21
wahhh i like many things at jonker ^_^ esp the fishballs and taiwan sausages..
btw is it a requirement to have the name and age of the owner of every stall mentioned? coz it can sound quite repetitive at times.
January 27th, 2007 22:28
Munkit : Yaloh, its a requirement. As long as you mention a person, full name and age must be included.
May 2nd, 2007 23:27
[...] Jonker St Makan Food Guide [...]
September 6th, 2007 14:29
Jason, could u please tell me more on Nyonya food? Heard those in Taman Melaka Raya are very good. Which one is better? We r visiting Melaka soon, would appreciate ur tips & advice!
September 6th, 2007 20:05
Feng Shui : Nyonya food in Malacca are generally over rated and expensive to eat. I usually won’t recommend eating Nyonya food for meals. However, if you insist, one of the few good ones are in Melaka Raya are Bibik Neo and Ole Sayang. There’s another one near Jonker Street, called Best Cafe / Chin How Cafe, which serves cheaper and more value Nyonya Food at RM14 per pax where you will get vegetables, curry chicken, pongteh chicken, cincalok omelet, sambal sotong, otak otak and etc.
Another thing is that, if you don’t provide a working email, I can’t reply to your mail directly. :)
November 27th, 2007 20:28
Hi, am planning a trip there soon.. weekday though… so am wondering will this night bazaar and all the glorious food you mention happen on weekday nights? Will be there on mon and tue….
Also, am wondering if you happen to know any comfortable hotels ($$ no issue) that’s within walking distance to Jonker? Am driving to malacca but if can dun drive so much, then can really spend more time at Jonker and not driving around finding the place…
Hope to hear from you via email soon… have not book hotel yet…
November 27th, 2007 20:30
Yin : I shall reply you in the email.
March 31st, 2008 16:12
Hi,
I found your posting on Jonker street really interesting and am just wondering whether the food bazaar is on on Sunday night? Originally am planning to go to Malacca during the weekedays but now am thinking of rescheduling in the event that the night bazzar is on on Sunday night.
Have been looking through some of the accomodations and am wondering whether you can recommend any guesthouses? We are a group of students so basically working on a tight budget….
Hope to hear from you soon!
March 31st, 2008 16:15
Yue Ming : The bazaar is available throughout the weekends, Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. Accommodations? What are your budgets? There are many hotels in Malacca that is decent enough for RM88.
February 23rd, 2009 17:16
Hi .. nice post and nice pictures of the food .. makes me feel hungry :)
I visited Jonker Street last December and I was staying in the middle of Jonker Street (Number Twenty One). The street is amazing and the food is so nice. Especially the small stalls the pics that you posted.. love that food .. my GF ate a lot :)
I have posted few pictures of Jonker Street on my blog as well:
Have Fun Everybody!