Malacca 2015: 5 things to do in Malacca

From a simple fishing village to a UNESCO site, Malacca has come a long way since 1377. Malacca is also a popular place for weekends getaway with both Singaporeans and locals. Within the span of 1 year, I headed to Malacca twice - once with the Jitches and most recently, with the in-laws. Here's the 2015 edition of 5 things to do in Malacca: 

 1. Ride on the rickshaw

 

Hop on for a ride in these elaborately decorated rickshaws, which even came equipped with a stereo system blasting the latest songs. Top marks for the amount of effort taken to dress each rickshaw, which has now become an icon of Malacca.

 2. Stroll along Melaka River

Evening is the best time to stroll along the Malacca River, which was once a vital trade route during the heyday of Malacca Sultanate in the 15th century. Restaurants, bars and shops are scattered on both sides of the river, so you can hop in for a rest or a quick bite before continuing the rest of the journey.  

3. Nadeje Mille Crepe 

Before Lady M invaded our shores, Nadeje was the to-go place for mille crepe. They pride themselves for using quality ingredients to make their crepes/cakes, which probably explains the ridiculously long queues for both dine-in and takeaway.

4. St Paul's Church

 

Catch a glimpse of St. Paul's Church, the oldest church building in Malaysia built in 1521. Located at the summit of St. Paul's Hill, this roofless church was originally a simple chapel before it became a burial ground.

5. Shop at the Malls

Escape the scorching sun and head to the malls instead. Shop at either the iconic Mahkota Parade, which was recently refurbished to embrace a younger crowd or Dataran Paulawan, home to some of the most exciting entertainment, such as the cinema, skating rink or archery. 

Psst .... detailed posts will be linked once completed, stay tuned!  

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Read our Malacca adventures here:

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

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! 

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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 

The Jitches Adventure in Malacca: Breakfast, Chicken Rice Balls and Heading Home

I'm back with the final entry of our Malacca adventure *sense of achievement unlocked* The week has been busy but I'm taking things slow over the weekend by ..... doing nothing. Okay, I did some work after doing nothing for the whole day. Guess my body is not adapting well to doing nothing, lol.

Despite having our girly chats till the wee hours in the morning, I was amazed that we still managed to wake up for breakfast. The breakfast hall is located in another shop-house across the street, within 5 min walk. The shop front sells all sort of peranakan styled goodies - such as beaded purses, shoes and outfits. This sliding glass door is the doorway to the magical breakfast room, lol!

   
It didn't take long before the other guests started pouring into the hall for breakfast.

We lost count on the servings that we had, but I really loved the chicken wings. The spread consisted of both Western & Asian, ranging from bread to nasi lemak. I have already made a mental note to wake up earlier during my next visit, so I can try everything on the menu:)

 

We headed back to pack our bags for check out. Thanks for the wonderful hospitality, can't wait to be back!

Courtyard @ Heeren

91 Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock,

75200, Melaka, Malaysia

Tel: +606 281 0088

 

We had to have chicken rice balls before leaving Malacca. However, there was a super long queue at Kedai Kopi Chung Hwa and we weren't ready to queue for 1h under the sun. Thus, we detoured to Malacca Jonker Street Chicken Rice Ball, across the street from Chung Hwa. 

 

The ordering was done via a smart tablet, but the downside was you can't have any special orders as it will cause confusion in the kitchen. We ordered a plate of mix chicken (steam and roasted) at RM$35 & 10 rice balls for sharing. Skip the otah though. The whole bill came up to be RM$82, which was considered quite decent for the 4 of us.

Our last meal in Malacca before we head home :) Till the next Jitches trip!

Malacca Jonker Street Chicken Rice Ball

17, Lorong Hang Jebat,

75250 Melaka, Malaysia

Tel: +60 6284 7377

Read our Malacca adventures here:

Malacca 2014: 5 things to do in Malacca  

The Jitches: Journey to Malacca

The Jitches Adventure in Malacca: Hotel Courtyard @ Heeren and Asam Laksa at Jonker 88

The Jitches Adventure in Malacca: Snacks & Pastries in Malacca
The Jitches Adventure in Malacca: Conquering Jonker Walk

The Jitches Adventure in Malacca: Geographer Cafe  

The Jitches Adventure in Malacca: Geographer Cafe

We completed round #1 with a table lined with hawker food at Jonker Street. Our tummies were highly satisfied, hence we searched for a place to begin round #2 - either desserts or drinks. We walked around, half shopping while keeping a lookout for a suitable place to chill. At a corner, we spotted Geographer Cafe and promptly got a table.

See how crowded the place was! It was purely by sheer luck that we even managed to get a table. Thankfully the 4 of us were petite enough to fit into a tiny table which was meant for two. A cafe by day and a bar by night, head to Geographer for a meal during day time and chill out with a drink or two at night.

A pint of Horgaarden (RM$21) for cooling down. Normally I'll order half pint but the weather was so hot and humid so I headed for full pint instead. 

 Fling joined me for hoegaarden too. While surfing the net about Hoegaarden, I came across that they produce Hoegaarden Rosee - a pinkish beer made of wheat with a slight tinge of raspberry. So pretty, I should buy some to try next time.

 

Across the table, Qian & Miao ordered Geographer's Delight (RM$25) which was one of their specialty cocktail.

No selfie stick and Qian became the defacto welfie "hand" since she has the longest hand, lol!

        

The live band was really good, so we sat there listening to music while chit-chatting. While the band took a break, we were entertained by music coming from Ringo's Bar, which is located directly opposite Geographer Cafe. I heard Ringo, the owner of the bar, does his own music which was a mixture of Canto R&R, English and Mandarin. You'll see uncles and aunties dancing to his music and/or joining in his singing. It was a wonderful end to the night!

Geographer Cafe
83, Jalan Hang Jebat
75200 Malacca, Malaysia
Tel: +60 6281 6813
Opening Hours: 10am till 1am (Mon - Sat), 8am till 1am (Sun)

 Read our Malacca adventures here:

Malacca 2014: 5 things to do in Malacca  

The Jitches: Journey to Malacca

The Jitches Adventure in Malacca: Hotel Courtyard @ Heeren and Asam Laksa at Jonker 88

The Jitches Adventure in Malacca: Snacks & Pastries in Malacca
The Jitches Adventure in Malacca: Conquering Jonker Walk
The Jitches Adventure in Malacca: Breakfast, Chicken Rice Balls and Heading Home 

The Jitches Adventure in Malacca: Conquering Jonker Street

Before we switch over to gloomy Monday again, I'm back with another Malacca entry and also updated 4 other K-dramas under the list *pats back for being so hardworking over the weekend but ignoring the pile of to-be-ironed laundry, heh* Hunger pangs hit us as night approached. We headed over to Jonker street, which came alive during evening as the entire street will be lined with vendors paddling their goods. 

  

We were so hungry that we literally ran to the first food stall and bought 2 mini durian puffs to calm the tummies before they started to protest in union. One bite and it was gone. Nevertheless, nothing fancy to shout about as the durian filling was more watery than creamy.

Deep fried squid which was so yummy; best for sharing. We roamed the street with snacks in hand while taking in the sights. There were a lot of stalls selling cheap accessories, especially earrings. Qian started to rope everyone in to buy so we can hit the quota, lol! 

 

Towards a corner of Jonker street, there is a food street selling lots of hawker food - zi char, noodles, fried kway teow etc. We managed to grab a table, ordered lots of food from various stalls and ate to our hearts' content.

Besides the above, we also ordered spicy lala and stingray. We asked for extra chilli but the end product was still not-so-spicy, much to our disappointment. Nevertheless, it was quite satisfying to see the table filled up with food and us polishing it clean a couple of minutes later. #eatingmachinesontheloose

 

Let's eat & grow fat together, Jitches! 

Jonker Street
Jalan Hang Jebat, 75200 Melaka, Malaysia

 Read our Malacca adventures here:

Malacca 2014: 5 things to do in Malacca  

The Jitches: Journey to Malacca

The Jitches Adventure in Malacca: Hotel Courtyard @ Heeren and Asam Laksa at Jonker 88
The Jitches Adventure in Malacca: Snacks & Pastries in Malacca
The Jitches Adventure in Malacca: Geographer Cafe 
The Jitches Adventure in Malacca: Breakfast, Chicken Rice Balls and Heading Home