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Published: March 10th 2007
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Village Noodle House
Hot-and-sour, and pork spare rib. slurp. Well, what started out as just a 3-day visit has now turned into a complete 8-day pig out session. There is just way too much food in Malacca. Our time here has disappeared as we explore back alley noodle shops, roadside dim sum, and grand restaurants full of spicy Nonya dishes. With all of the options hiding in a maze of 500 year old streets, we just had to stay longer.
The Village Noodle House, right down the street from our guesthouse, was our most pleasant surprise. Looking for some quick (and cheap) eats for lunchtime, we poked our heads in and found heaven in a bowl. The super steamy bowl of soup was packed full of lttle goodies. Chinese sausage, enoki mushrooms, carrots and scallions, all swirling around a pile of handcut homemade noodles. They were more the texture of dumplings. Wonderfully chewy and heavy on the stomach. The tang of the soup was an incredible kick in the mouth. "We use Chinese black vinegar," said the waitress. "Is that OK?" I wouldn't want it any other way.
Everyone at the guesthouse was talking about a place called Capitol Satay, located in Little India. It's been around for
Capitol Satay
So many choices, it will make your head spin. 3 generations and has become so popular that if you don't go early, you'll never get a seat. Our putzing around got the best of us (again), but we got lucky and only had to wait 15 minutes to get a street-side table. It's a bit of a different process at Capitol. You order drinks, then get up and walk to the back where a giant supermarket-style cooler awaits. Dozens and dozens of different items are arranged on little skewers, with small plates of side dishes underneath. The choices are staggering (and sometimes mysterious); liver, clams, chicken, intestines, stomach (i think), beef, shrimp, tofu, crabstick, fish balls, chinese sausage, hot dogs, and all kinds of other veggie and meat combos. It doesn't help in your selection process to know that each stick only costs 50 cen (U.S. $0.12), and it's hard to keep yourself from overloading your tray. Once back to your seats, you have a boiling bucket of peanut sauce placed in a hole in the middle of the table. "3 minutes for everything" says the waitress, and we immediately overloaded the bucket with goodies. You can go back as much as you want, and if the skewers aren't
Boiling Satay Pit
Insert skewer and wait 3 minutes for deliciousness enough, you can grab a plate of 100-year eggs or some bread to dip into the chunky sauce. As an added bonus, our waitress brought out 2 skewers of giant prawns, which took an additional 5 minutes to cook, but were the same ridiculous price. We waddled our way back home.
A bit farther away, but well worth the trip, was the eating plaza in the Portuguese Settlement. The settlement is actually a neighborhood of Portuguese descendants (500 years back) who are still practicing Catholics and have a real love for seafood. They also have an affliction for spicy food. This is the place to find the famous "devil" curry, and many of the restaurants advertised that they had the best.
The place that we chose was the Restoran de Lisbon. Known for its crabs, it was the first thing that caught our eye on the menu, and we ordered them sambal style (thick chili sauce). After ordering some fried rice and mixed vegetables to go with it, we noticed that they also had otak-otak. This is a Nonya specialty that has been eluding our radar since we got here. Otak-otak is fish meat and spices pounded together
Portuguese Feast
Sambal crabs, otak-otak, fried rice, and veggies. Our eyes are bigger than our stomachs. and formed into a paste, then placed into a banana leaf and steamed to achieve a sausage-like consistency. While Malacca is supposed to be famous for it, every restaurant we've been to had run out. Seizing the opportunity, we added it to our order.
Once the food started arriving, it was painfully apparant that we had ordered way too much. The "small" portions of rice and veggies were not just side dishes, the crab was a monster, and the otak-otak was the size of a strip steak. We dug in. Carefully at first, then with wild abandon. Whenever we needed a time out, we just focused our attention to the crab, carefully picking out every piece to make sure that nothing was wasted. After the first hour we just sat there stunned, staring at the daunting pile of food. The nice old man who was taking care of us came over to boost our confidence.
"Take your time, have another beer. The food will go nowhere. It just waits for you."
Another hour later, we had killed the crab and the otak-otak, and eaten most of the rice and veggies. Once again, we waddled out the door.
Agnes and Suz
New friends on James' birthday night. Seeing as it was my Birthday, I suggested we go out for night on the town (we are usually in bed by 10:00). We headed down to Chinatown and found a man singing Simon and Garfunkel tunes at the Geographers Cafe, and I decided to treat myself to a Guiness. Malaysia actually has it's own Guiness brewery, but the taste is much more bitter and refered to as the "foreign extra stout". It also has a much higher 8% alcohol. Soon we were talking to the couple next to us, exchanging photos and stories, into the wee hours of the morning. We now have a date to meet them in a club, 70 stories up, at our next travel destination.
So it's our last night in Malacca, and we will spend it sitting on the roof of our guesthouse, looking out over this food paradise. But only after we find some Laksa, the curried noodle dish that Malacca is famous for. And maybe some Durian Celdon for dessert. It will be hard to leave such a great food town, but there is an even greater city which calls our name. A place where all cultures offer their culinary best, side by side, on every corner of every street. French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Malay, Indonesian, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, and American (to name a few). If you want it done right (and you're willing to spend the money), there is no better place to go in the world to indulge your most indulgent eating fantasies....
Singapore
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Matt
non-member comment
food is stupid
hi guys, what a good idea for the blog, this is way easier than trying to remember my snapfish login password and such. i like the layout and stuff.......i must say however, HOLY FOOD writing batman! you guys are in southeast asia remember!! there are like..... lots of orchids around and stuff too! also, people, and history, weather, and landscape......what are you writing a food novel? cuz maybe you consider it! i just got back from 3 days in the fakahatchee strand cypress swamp in south florida. i'm working with park officials there searching for 3 endangered orchids. we spent 3 full days in the field searching 85,000 acres of swamp for a meager 6 plants known to exist of one species, and the other two species are thought to be extinct. we're setting up contacts to search cuba for material for propagation and reintroduction. maybe i could start a cuban food blog or something. i'm off to costa rica next week for 8 days. i'll let you know how the freakin food is! seriously though, i'm once again jealous of your non-job havin', non-house worryin',non-bill payin', good food eatin', traveling asses!! you guys are awesome and are really taking an amazing trip of a lifetime! i'm happy for you, but also can't wait to hang out and drink a beer with you again sometime. btw- ohio state looks like they'll wrap up the overall #1 seed in ncaa tourney......bin ten title.....and now are in the big ten tourney semifinals after beating michigan for the 3rd time in one season. go bucks!! seeya!