Family Self-Drive Trip to Malacca: The Journey & Jonker Walk

The first family self-drive trip to Malacca started at dawn. While majority of Singapore was still sleeping comfortably in their beds, we had to tear our sleepy bodies away from the bed to prepare for the long day/drive ahead. After a quick stop-over at PIL's place to sort out the logistics, we made our way to Woodlands Custom and arrived at 5AM. Crossing the custom was a breeze and we cleared it within an hour. We drove straight for Muar, with the occasional stops for toilet break. After spending half a day in Muar to visit the relatives, we headed to Malacca. I relied on my trusty iPhone map for navigation and brought us safely to Malacca. 

Once again, we stayed at Courtyard @ Heeren for its excellent location and breakfast spread. I felt totally at home the moment I stepped in through the front doors.

  

We stayed next door to PIL on the ground floor while BIL took the family room on the 2nd floor. The corridors on the first floor is littered with antiques. I felt ancient as I sat on the chair opposite our room. There is even a real well in the middle, left behind from olden days.

We booked the superior room which comes equipped with LCD TV (I spent the night watching K-concert on cable), basic toiletries and complimentary coffee/tea/mineral water.

Courtyard @ Heeren
91 Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock,
75200, Melaka, Malaysia
Tel: +606 281 0088  

We made our way to Jonker Walk. Every Friday-Sunday from 6PM onwards, the street is blocked from traffic and turned into a night market. We walked aimlessly while keeping a lookout for yummy food to fill the tummies. Even though people normally come here for food, there are a lot of tourist attractions along the street too *mental note to visit at least a couple during my next visit*

This was also Leecher's first visit to Malacca, so we are taking this as momento to celebrate this special occasion. 

First stop: Taste Better, famously known for their delicious custard durian puffs. The best way to enjoy it is to put the whole puff into your mouth; which is pretty easy since they are known as one-bite puffs. Besides puffs, there is also soft serve ice cream in durian, cempedak and dragon fruit.

Leecher distributed the puffs while I was snapping pictures. He conveniently took the last puff and put it inside his mouth w/o sharing with me! He tried to justify his action saying the instructions on the box said 一口一粒. 

Taste Better @ Melaka Unesco 
Jonker Street 96
Opens daily

I led the way to the food street for dinner. As usual, it was crowded and it wasn't easy getting a table to accommodate a big group. The boys were in charge of ordering food and came back with curry fishballs, stingray, lala, fried kway teow, curry noodles etc. The rojak was such a disappointment - it was full of random fruits with a pathetic chunk of you tiao. Garlic oyster was the hit of the day!

Doing touristy stuff with the niece before we ended the night :) Stay tuned for the rest of our journey! 

 ******
Read our Malacca adventures here:

❤ Malacca 2015: 5 things to do in Malacca

❤ Family Self-Drive Trip to Malacca: St Paul's Church and A' Famosa Fort
❤ Family Self-Drive Trip to Malacca: Nadeje Mille Crepe and Jonker 88 
❤ Family Self-Drive Trip to Malacca: Christ Church and Heading Home 

Korean Feast Weekend - Red Pig Korean BBQ Restaurant

I started to crave for Korean food 4 days after we came back from Korea. Leecher decided to cook kimchi jjiage for dinner to satisfy my cravings, yums! The hubby is simply amazing in the kitchen, whipping out dishes after dishes to feed my hungry stomach. Even though it was his virgin attempt, Leecher did a fabulous job that we gobbled down (almost) the full pot and truly deserved 2-thumbs up!

 

The next day, lil bro texted me and asked us out for dinner with mummy dearest for she was craving for korean food too! Haha, mother-daughter-telepathy at work? After a round of brainstorming, we decided to head to Red Pig Korean BBQ Restaurant, located at Amoy for dinner.

 

During the weekends, the CBD area is usually a ghost town but boy, I was so wrong when we walked along the shop houses. Most of the Korean BBQ restaurants were filled to the brim, some with a queue forming outside waiting for their table. When we reached Red Pig, the whole restaurant was crowded. I was half cursing myself for not reserving a table in advance. Thankfully, we managed to get a table within minutes.

 

Cute cashier, very appropriate for the restaurant too. 

Leecher flipping through the menu while we waited for mummy dearest & lil bro to join us. Well, there isn't a wide variety of food items on the menu. For dinner, there are 2 pages of food items that you can choose from - ranging from BBQ meat, spicy stews or other side dishes.

We ordered 3 plates of  meat to kick-start the meal - Bbalgam Doiji (Red Pig, $20), Bbalgam Dak (Red Chicken soy sauce marinated, $18) and Galbisal (Beef rib meat without bone, $28). Lil bro can't wait to start, lol! They served pretty decent banchan (반찬) & my fave goes to corn with mayonnaise (one serving per table, additional at $5).

Makgeolli for the alcoholic us. We even got mummy dearest to try this, but she gave up after 2 sips. The 2 酒鬼 (Leecher & lil bro) shared the bottle between them while I sipped on brown rice tea as I wasn't in a drinking mood.
 
Out of the 3 types of meat we ordered, the best goes to Bbalgam Doiji (Red Pig, $20). For the pork lovers, there is another option of Ogyebsal (Pork Belly, $15). I strongly recommend the Red Pig version, since it is marinated with chilli+other ingredients and tasted more flavourful when BBQ-ed.   

 

Mummy dearest enjoying her egg roll & kimchi. Being her virgin trip to a Korean restaurant, mummy dearest was excited that she finally got to eat the food that she saw in K-drama, lol! Looks like I should start training my mum more, so she can come along for our Korea trip next time, heehee!

Seafood pancake ($18) which won praises from both mummy dearest & lil bro. This dish made it to the table twice, lol! The first plate was crispy and filled with a lot of ingredients. When we ordered the 2nd plate, it came slightly soggy and filled with more spring onions than seafood. Quite a disappointment but the rest still enjoyed it.

    
The must order for me in all Korean restaurant, Tteokbokki! I wished this came in a spicier version though - this version is too mild for my liking.
   
  With lil bro, who graciously paid for the meal! Wa, it's not everyday he offered to pay so must whack more, haha! 

Mummy dearest lamenting that she still needs to "cook" for us during her off-days, lol! Well, can't be helped since she's the best & most experienced cook :)
 
Enjoying her first BBQ-meat-wrapped-with-lettuce-experience (^^) & she really loved it!
 

  Mum really had a good time & most importantly, we all got a free meal thanks to lil bro! 

Red Pig Korean BBQ Restaurant
93 Amoy Street
Singapore 069913
Tel: 6220 7176

Crab in da Bag

 

Finally I had time to sit down in front of the computer table, load+edit the pictures for this entry. A couple of weeks back, we brought parents-in-laws out on a weekend and decided to head to Crab In Da Bag for some seafood. Located at Big Splash (East Coast), this restaurant is a Southern Louisiana and Asian influenced seafood restaurant which serves seafood in plastic bags. 

Leecher with his parents outside the restaurant, which was hard to miss judging by the huge signage that can be seen across the car park.

 

Crews dressed in sailor uniforms greeted me at the door step, how cute! The whole restaurant was decorated in nautical theme and I absolutely adore the decorations at the bar counter! Maybe this will be the next theme of our house if we ever get to change to a new place.

 

The essential tools for a meal!   

   

At Crab in da Bag, be prepared to keep your phones and devices in your bag as your hands won't be clean enough to touch them! In order to document this entry, I had to eat with one hand while keeping my other hand clean to capture the pictures. Leecher, on the other hand was kept busy for he now had 2 mouths to feed.

 

Before we kicked start the meal, we ordered Somersby Apple cider for the ladies ($9) while the guys headed for beer ($9). They do serve wine, bubblies and spirits. I was tempted to try the sparking moscato mini ($17/200ml) but felt that it was way too early to start drinking. So I settled for apple cider instead.  

 

When truffle fries is missing from the  menu, the next best alternative would be sweet potato fries ($7). I tend to convince myself that this is a healthy snack given that it's made from sweet potato, just like how some of the guys drink coke light/zero and thought that they are consuming less sugar. 

 

Crinkled cauliflower ($8) - I ordered this for parents in laws and they found it tasty! Mummy-in-law replicated this recipe during one of our weekly dinners after the meal and it tasted yummy! 

 

  Nothing fantastic about CiDB wings ($10), just regular chicken wings.

 The highlight of the meal finally arrived at the table. Served in plastic bundles, they arrived one by one of the table. 

The hearty spread :) 

 

Since this was our first visit to the restaurant, we ordered a variety of their seafood to try. First up, we had tiger prawns ($25) tossed in Louisiana Garlic Butter.

 
Glad that parents-in-laws enjoyed this different dining experience. 

   
 King Crab Legs ($38) seasoned with their signature Caboodle mix, which was a secret combination of local and Louisiana spices, cooked with garlic and unsalted butter.
 

 They ran out of cray fish, so I had to replace my order to Loligo Squids ($18) tossed in Mum's special, which was a home-made recipe of sauteed onion rings and garlic, in a savoury sweet and sour brown sauce.

 Lastly, we had Sri Lankan Crabs ($50) seasoned with their best selling Ultimate Curry - signature curry mix, stir-fried with aromatic curry leaves and chilli padi. 
   

Grandpa's bread ($1.50) for dipping into the various seasonings. Besides bread, you can also order spiced rice (new item on the menu!) and 3Cs (includes carrot, celery and cucumber sticks with home-made tangy mayo dip) as side dishes. 

  

 As this was our virgin visit, the crew member taught us the proper way of eating rice @ Crab in da Bag. First, scope some rice on the table and pour a spoonful of your desired seasoning over it. For this demo, I paired rice with ultimate curry.

Next, squeeze some lemon over it to enhance the taste.   
Lastly, mix well with your fingers and popped it inside your mouth.
 
Wow, rice never tasted so good! Looked like I'll have to start accumulating more lemons in my fridge next time, heh. Overall, it was an interesting experience and I can't wait to try Cajun Kings next :)

Crab in da Bag

902 East Coast Parkway, Big Splash

Block D Unit #01-25

Singapore 449874

Tel: 6440 0083

Opening Hours: 4pm till 11pm (Tues till Fri), 12pm till 11pm (Sat till Sun). Closed on Mondays.