Malacca Day 2, Famosa Chicken Rice Balls, Dataran Pahlawan, Mahkota Parade, Tong Sheng Restaurant

We woke up and wanted to check out the buffet breakfast in Hatten Hotel. As usual, we had to wait a really long time for the lift and it was always crowded when it reached the 16th floor which we were on. When we finally reached the buffet breakfast, the place was so crowded! There was a long queue waiting for tables and there was a large crowd milling around the lobby waiting for the lift. There were just so many people around, kids running about, and parents running and screaming after their kids. Just looking at it gave me a headache early in the morning. We decided to forfeit the buffet breakfast and head to Jonker Street for breakfast instead.

Our original plan was to have the famous Chicken Rice Balls at Kopi Chung Wah which is right at the start of Jonker Street, next to San Shu Gong. However, an extremely long queue greeted us at Kopi Chung Wah when we reached. The queue extended way beyond Kopi Chung Wah and stretched out in front of Hard Rock Cafe as well. I'm not much of a morning person and having to join such a long queue early in the morning was not a terribly ideal way to start my morning. So we decided to venture into Jonker Street searching for alternatives.

We found Famosa Chicken Rice Ball along Jonker Street and decided to give it a try. We ordered the chicken rice balls, roasted meat (char siew) and half a white chicken. It was my first time eating chicken rice balls so I cannot really comment whether the Famosa rice balls were good but they tasted decent. The char siew was fabulous! A good mix of lean and fatty parts, slightly charred on the outside and tender inside. The white chicken was not that good though. It was really tough and hardly juicy at all. The chicken was probably overcooked which resulted in the loss of moisture and tenderness. 

We decided to walk around and explore the two malls near Hatten Hotel - Dataran Pahlawan and Mahkota Parade. They were pretty regular malls with the same stuff that you see in our local malls so nothing really exciting. The most exciting part came when I found the Iron Man cap which I had been researching for a long time! I found it in a small shop in Dataran Pahlawan and it was quite amusing how I stumbled upon it. I really just caught a glimpse of something shiny and decided to go in and take a closer look. And there you have it, the Iron Map cap which resembles the one Haha wore in Running Man! I'm such a Running Man addict.

We went back to the hotel to watch some movies and rest in the afternoon before heading out for dinner at Tong Sheng Restaurant. Steph recommended the cheese beehon at Tong Sheng Restaurant and I wanted to try it since it was near Hatten Hotel. From Hatten Hotel simply exit from the main entrance, turn right and then turn right again into the small lane adjacent to Hatten Hotel. Walk down the small lane till it reaches the main road and turn left. Continue walking till you see Tong Sheng Restaurant with its colourful green sign board.

On our way to Tong Sheng Restaurant, we saw the sun setting in the horizon behind the Holiday Inn Hotel. It was a really beautiful sunset with hues of deep orange and red.

It is quite tricky trying to get a table here because there is no obvious queue and people just stand around waiting. Nobody comes forward to ask you if you need a table and it is not immediately apparent what you are supposed to do. This problem is exacerbated with the large crowd that throngs this place during dinner. In the confusion, we decided to head to the counter and ask for a table for 2. The lady asked if we would like to order first and told us that we were allocated a table outside. She recommended the cheese prawn bee hoon, sweet vinegar fish and stir-fried vegetables which we subsequently ordered. 

Thereafter, we proceeded to linger around the allocated table, waiting for them to finish. Whilst we were waiting for the table, people started streaming in and began to stand around the table which we were allocated as well. They were obviously under the impression that it was a case of Fastest Butt First and whoever managed to plonk themselves on the chair first would get the table. Fortunately, the lady managed to secure the table for us the moment it was available and the crowd waiting for the table dispersed quickly to target the next table. 

The cheese prawn beehoon was really good! I like the soft beehoon in the yummy cheese sauce and the super fresh tiger prawns. The prawns were really fresh and juicy and the cheese bee hoon had sufficient wok hei. 

The sweet vinegar fish was so good! The fish was cut into nice chunks and arranged in a roll. It was crispy on the outside and super soft and tender within. The sauce had a tangy sweet and sour taste and went very well with the fried fish.

We took a nice stroll around the area and returned to check out the hotel pool. Night view from the pool of Hatten Hotel was pretty nice.

Check out Day 1 of our Melacca Trip!

Malacca Day 1, Bei Zhan Restaurant, Hatten Hotel, Jonker Street, Geographer Cafe

The boyfriend and I decided to take a short break before he started work so we booked a 3D2N trip to nearby Malacca (Melaka/Melacca). It's my first holiday with him that does not involve a carefree beach retreat and I was curious as to how that would pan out. We are both really lazy people so our usual definition of a good holiday is one whereby we laze around on the beach enjoying the sun, sand, and sea, watching movies in our beach resort, sitting around in a beach club drinking something cold and alcoholic numerous times a day, and finally enjoying the glorious sunset. 

Anyway we chose Malacca because it is the closest Malaysian town (excluding Johor Bahru). We booked a coach ride with Grassland since Grassland is always prompt, efficient, and responsible. I took Grassland coach rides to KL a couple of times previously and they were all good experiences so we decided to go with Grassland again. The ride took 6 hours (!) because of a massive jam at the Malaysian customs so we reached around 2pm. This caused us to bust our reservation at 12:30pm at Bei Zhan as we thought that the ride would only be 4 hours at most. We decided to try our luck and entered sheepishly at 2:15pm. Even though their last order is 2:30pm, the staff graciously allowed us to enter and took our orders quickly. Thank goodness for that!

I have to say that the architecture in Malacca is exceedingly quaint and beautiful. Bei Zhan is not an exception and this massive restaurant is housed in a large colonial bungalow.

We ordered braised pork, Seaweed and Seafood Soup, and fried eggplant. The braised pork was excellent. The meat was very soft and tender which could only mean that it was likely to be braised for a very long time. The fatty parts were soft and melted in my mouth immediately. It was a fantastic dish.

The seaweed soup was normal but they were very generous with the seafood in the soup.

Oh the fried eggplants! I still think about it till today. The slices of eggplant were crunchy and tasty, completely soaking up the extremely tasty sauce that they were tossed in. I cannot tell what sauce it was but the sauce was incredible. I was also very fond of the yummy minced meat and slices of mushroom that came with the eggplant.

The meal was very affordable and definitely a fraction of the price of what we would pay in Singapore. Service was impeccable and the lunch was great!

We had a hard time trying to get a cab at Bei Zhan. Not exactly the most accessible area in Malacca definitely. We managed to flag down a cab finally and it took us to Hatten Hotel. Cabs are exorbitant in Melacca. They do not run by the meter and the short 10 minute ride from the Grassland stop to Bei Zhan cost us RM 20. I tried bargaining but it was absolutely useless. The next short ride from Bei Zhan to Hatten Hotel was supposed to be RM 12 but we lacked small notes and the taxi uncle kindly collected only RM 11 from us. In any case, we stopped taking cabs after that and resorted to walking everywhere because I hate being ripped off. 

The location of Hatten Hotel was awesome. It is a 15 minute walk to Jonker Street and right beside the two large shopping malls Datara Pahlawan and Makota Paradis. In fact, Hatten Hotel has two link bridges leading to the two shopping malls.

The lobby was nice and grand but the crowds at the check-in counter was really oh my goodness. There was a snaking queue to check-in even though we came really late at around 4pm. It took us awhile to check in and get our keys and another long wait for the lift. The lifts are really the biggest bleah-point about Hatten Hotel (even though the crowd in general and the amazingly crowded breakfast buffet also top the list of whine factors regarding Hatten). We had to wait about 10 minutes for a lift only to find it completely packed with people from the higher or lower levels. Even taking the lift from the lobby was a difficult affair. There were so many people around and the lifts were always full. I don't even know why the lifts were full on the ground level!

 

We had a deluxe room since Agoda was having a sale and it was the same price for both the normal and deluxe rooms so we chose the deluxe room. We had two television sets, one right in front of the couch in the small living room area and one in front of the bed. We only used one television though and hardly sat on the couch. So much for a deluxe room.

We asked for a room with a seaview and indeed we had one! The view from our room was awesome. We could see all the shop houses nearby, the sea in the distance, Holiday Inn hotel on the other side, and it was such a clear unobstructed view.

We put our stuff down and decided to take the short walk to Jonker Street. To walk from Hatten Hotel to Jonker Street, simply take the link bridge on the third floor of the hotel to Hatten Square/Dataran Pahlawan. Exit from the shopping malls at Jalan Kota and continue walking. You will see a large monument, a whole string of museums and a train parked in the middle of the pedestrian pathway. Continue walking and you will see the iconic red church. Turn left and you will reach the start of Jonker Street where Kopi Chung Wah and San Shu Gong are.

San Shu Gong is the popular shop selling local delights and the shop is packed all times of the day. There are so many people buying local delights! I was truly shocked to see so many people milling around, grabbing boxes of crisps, biscuits and snacks and tossing them into baskets.

There is a bubble tea shop opposite San Shu Gong. It's Ochado and I tried it for the first time in Kuala Lumpur. I am not sure whether they have an outlet in Singapore but I did not have the opportunity to try Ochado's bubble tea in Singapore thus far. I love Ochado's Roasted Milk Tea! It's truly marvelous, so marvelous that I would make a special trip to the shop in KL whenever I am there to grab a cup. The taste of roasted tea makes the drink exceptionally tasty. The pearls are not fantastic though. Damn happy with Ochado's Roasted Milk Tea!

The walk down Jonker Street was very interesting. I was honestly amazed by the preservation of these historical buildings, the intricate designs of the buildings, and the wide variety of items on sale there. There were the usual shops selling gifts, clothes and food items. There were also makeshift stores that started appearing in the evening for the night market. It was truly bustling!

We settled at Geographer Cafe for dinner. We both ordered fish dishes, fish and chips for him, and a grilled lemon fish for me. Both were average. But the truly amazing things about Geographer Cafe are the alcohol and the incredibly awesome live singing. I had the apple strawberry mojito which was strong yet sweet at the same time. It was delicious. The live singing started at around 830pm and the lady's voice was deep, mellow and so soulful. It started to rain during our dinner and it was very enjoyable sitting there in the little cafe, sipping a cold delicious drink, and listening to her deliver numerous love songs that belonged to a long forgotten era.

After the rain stopped, we walked back to Hatten Hotel in the strong chilly wind. It was really hot in the day, but the weather cooled rapidly after the evening rain and the night was cold and chilly. 

Check out Day 2 of our Malacca trip here!

Old Hong Kong Legend, Raffles City

My friend in office suggested dim sum at Old Hong Kong to celebrate my birthday so we went there with two other friends. Much thanks to Elgin and Steph for the treat! Old Hong Kong is tucked away in a little corner on the 2nd level of Raffles City. I've never noticed a dimsum restaurant in Raffles City until Steph brought us there. But it could honestly be just because I'm very unobservant. The restaurant was crowded during lunch but we managed to snag a table. The food was really yummy and unexpectedly good!

We went on a dimsum spree and ordered so many yummy dimsums. The prawn cheong fun was good. I like the soft skin of the cheong fun soaked in excess sauce. 

Pan-fried carrot cake in XO sauce. This was really awesome. The carrot cake was crispy and very fragrant, beansprout was crunchy and fresh, and the egg was very well-fried.

Deep-fried prawn dumpling. I'm not a super big fan of deep-fried stuff but this one is good because of the fresh crunchy prawns within! The prawns were truly juicy and succulent.

The glutinous rice in lotus leaf. Moist, delicious and very soft. The glutinous rice was pretty good and came with a generous serving of ingredients.

Elgin's 3 egg porridge which came with century egg, normal egg and... salted egg, I believe. I'm not entirely sure what the 3rd egg is but salted egg sounds like a pretty logical assumption. The porridge is really smooth and sweet, the way good Cantonese congee should be. I tried their plain dried scallop porridge. It was really really good! Super sweet, fragrant and really smooth even though there is no ingredient within.

The steamed shrimp dumpling and siew mai were both good because of the fresh crunchy prawns and thin soft "skin". The siew mai was also good because of the fresh juicy minced meat.

All in all, I find the dim sum at Old Hong Kong very enjoyable. Service can be a little slow during lunch hours due to the crowd but still generally all right. I would return again for another dimsum spree!

#02-18/19 Raffles City Shopping Centre