The Hungry Bunny

Malacca was a Portuguese colony up to the 17th century and that unique history has resulted in a marriage of the Malay and Portuguese cultures and cuisines. The Portuguese Settlement is a Kristang (creole Eurasian ethnic descendants of the Portuguese and local Malaccans, usually Malays, Indians or Chinese) community in Malacca. This is where you find the highest concentration of the Portuguese descendants, together with most of the Portuguese restaurants and pubs in Malacca. We visited the Portuguese Settlement on Good Friday, but we should have known better. The Portuguese are known to be devout Catholics. So there were only 2 restaurants open for business that night. Still, we managed to have dinner along the stretch of 10 restaurants facing the sea. Although the seafood was fresh, the dinner wasn't anything we couldn't get back in Singapore. We first got the Sambal Baked Fish (RM4 per 100g), a signature Portuguese dish that could be seen on almost every table that nig...

This was a late-night dessert that we ordered off the room service menu. Sago Gula Melaka (RM12) served cold with a cheery strawberry on top. This was really good, the coconut milk was delicately creamy and the gula melaka ( palm sugar ) was smoky and sweet. We would have preferred more gula melaka though. The dessert got a little dry towards the end because the coconut milk and gula melaka was not enough. Holiday Inn Hotel, Melaka Jalan Syed Abdul Aziz 75000 Melaka, Malaysia Tel: 06-285 9000

Many would say that KFC chicken in Malaysia is better than the one in Singapore, and it is absolutely true. The chicken used is juicier, more succulent and fresh. No frozen crap used here. There IS a notable difference between fresh and frozen meat, and people who can't tell the difference should not be called food critics (in a bid to encourage the masses to buy cheaper frozen meat instead of fresh meat, the newspaper once did a taste test between fresh and frozen meat for some food critics and they mostly said that the frozen meat dishes tasted better! I found it incredulous that people who call themselves food critics could not differentiate between fresh and frozen meat.). Frozen chicken should only be used for deep-drying or curries, dishes that use heavier styles of cooking or very strong spices, which will mask the fact that the meat has been frozen for the past 6 months. That's why when I first started cooking at home, my mom got on my case for using frozen chicken for...

Ever since the BF tried Root Beer Float for the first time in Seah Street Deli , he's been wanting to try the real thing at A&W in Malaysia. So, first chance we got, we headed to Dataran Pahlawan, the biggest mall in Malacca to get the Double-Scoop Vanilla Ice-Cream Root Beer Float (RM4.90). The BF also tried, for the first time, A&W's signature Curly Fries (RM3.60). This was uniquely spiced and crispy. There has been imitators in the fast food market, but no one else compares. We also had the Black Pepper Hotdog (RM4), loved the hotdog, hated the mayonnaise-based black pepper sauce. A&W Restaurant Lot no. BD-007 & BD-093a Dataran Pahlawan Melaka Megamall Jalan Merdeka Bandar Hilir Melaka Tel: 06-286 4413 Open daily from 10am to 10pm

Chendol or Cendol is a must-try dessert in Malacca. Some will argue that the best Chendol can be found in Penang but detractors will argue that gula melaka (palm sugar which is a product native to Malacca) which features in good Chendol makes Malacca the hotbed of this dessert. One of the more famous Chendol stalls along Jonker Street is No. 1 Kopitiam Famous Nyonya Cendol . It serves the best Chendol (RM2) we've ever had in our lives, hands down. I love how the smoky, caramel and butterscotch accents of the gula melaka balances the creamy coconut milk. The green jelly is chewy and refreshing and the red beans are sweet and nutty. This was brilliant on a hot sunny day. The exterior of the stall. It's opposite Hoe Kee . The interior is a narrow row of tiny long tables, very musky and smoky (smoking is allowed in the shop). No. 1 Kopitiam Famous Nyonya Cendol No. 1 Jonker Street (Jalan Hang Jebat), Tel: 06-335 7443 / 013-680 4473 Email: koe4860@streamyx.com ...

Jonker Street, aka Malacca's Chinatown, aka Jalan Hang Jebat is a must-visit when in Malacca. It's like the Gurney Drive of Penang. You can't walk 10 metres without stumbling upon a food gem of a find. Taiwanese Fried Chicken in Malaysia is different from the ones in Singapore, in that the bones are left on, and thigh meat is used instead of the usual boneless, pounded-till-flat breast meat that you find in Singapore. We stopped by Arisan Fried Chicken along Jonker Street for a late-night snack after dinner one night. The Choppo (RM6) was fragrant, thick and juicy, moist on the inside and crispy on the outside. The Nuggetto (RM6) was the nugget version of the Choppo, bite-sized for convenience. This was equally succulent and tender. The store front. Arisan Fried Chicken Jalan Hang Jebat Tel: 019-262 1695 / 016-284 6368 Open daily from 11am to 12 midnight

While Malacca is a multi-racial community comprising Malays, Chinese and Indians, most tourists are still attracted by the rich Peranakan and Portuguese cultures unique to Malacca. Apart from Penang, Malacca is the other city with the largest community of Peranakans in Malaysia. No visit to Malacca is complete without eating Peranakan food. Peranakan food is a marriage of Chinese and Malay cuisine, due to the large number of Chinese traders who settled in Malacca and married the Malays. So you get food that utilises Malay spices and Chinese styles of cooking and ingredients. The food is spicier than Chinese food, but milder than Malay food. Also, you get pork dishes in Peranakan cuisine. Restoran Ole Sayang is one name that most hotel concierges (The Professor and Mr J too) would recommend to try. It's halal so they don't serve pork here. However, we didn't think it was that great. In fact, we thought it was pretty ordinary fare. I've personally tried better Peran...

Satay Celup is also another dish that's almost exclusive to Malacca (the other one being chicken rice balls). It's like steamboat, but with satay gravy instead of some flavoured broth to cook a variety of skewered meats, starches, vegetables and seafood. Also, a trademark of satay celup is the unique pot of bubbling satay gravy is sunken into a hole in the centre of the table for easy access. Capitol Satay and Ban Lee Siang are the 2 most famous (and arguably the best) satay celup joints in Malacca, each with its pros and cons. Having eaten at both establishments, we both prefer Capitol Satay. Capitol Satay ostensibly replaces the satay steamboat pot with a fresh one for every new table of diners (Disclaimer: I wouldn't know if they just changed the pot and reused the satay sauce at the back of the restaurant) but this also means you've got to be prepared to wait for at least 45 minutes for a table (for off-peak hours, and it's a more than an hour ...

We took a road trip up to Malacca over the Good Friday long weekend. The trip was strictly a food recce to try the best of the best in Malacca. I mean, we had 4 lunches, 1 dinner, 1 supper, all in a single day(desserts did not count as a meal). The only time when we weren't eating was when we were driving from one restaurant to the next, or when we got lost. Before you think that we're one of those celebs who claim to eat lots and never grow fat due to high metabolism (which in my view is absolute crap and a complete lie, by the way), we balanced out the 6-meals-a-day diet with hour-long runs at the gym, twice a day. Seriously.  Malacca is known for, amongst other things, Chicken Rice Balls . There are a few big names that will invaribly be mentioned, namely Chung Wah, Hoe Kee and Famosa, so we tried all 3. They're all located within 100m of each other at Jonker Street (Jalan Hang Jebat), the Chinatown of Malacca. Very accessibl...