Nancy's Kitchen @ Jalan Hang Lekir, Melaka

We could not decide which famous Nyonya restaurant to patron but our native Malaccan friend mentioned that all the yummy Nyonya restaurants are located further away from the town; the ones in the city centre are too commercialised. But as we did not wish to drive out of town, we just went to the first Nyonya restaurant that caught our eye which was Nancy's Kitchen at Jonker Walk.
      

Signboard

     

Shop front

   
From the exterior, you can probably expect what the interior will look like. The shop was quite small and a little cramped. We were seated on the upper floor and the floorboards were extremely creaky. There was this kid at the next table who kept running around the small seating room. The floorboards were shuddering with his thundering stomps but his parents didn't say anything - I kept thinking the floorboards might give way anytime, sending us all tumbling down >.< The stair steps were also narrow and steep - if you have large bones, I suggest it's best to sit on the lower floor =.=
      

Fromt of menu

 
The front cover of their menu looks really nice with a demure nyonya browsing through a book. I'm sure the proprietress herself was trying to replicate that image but...I. would. have. to. say. she. failed. =.=

      

Chicken Candlenut (RM 10)

 
The chicken and thick curry gravy was really good and went very well with rice. The chicken was moist and tender and had absorbed all the wonderful flavours and spices of the curry.
 
We asked for 1 candlenut to try as we did not know how it tasted like and it's lucky we did as it was one big nut. The candlenut was quite salty and tasted something like the canned fried dace in black bean sauce. It took some getting used to but the flavour isn't too bad. Just take a little at a time - the black nut you see near the top of the picture could feed 5 of us.
   

Fried Egg Cincalok (RM 6)

   
The fried egg with shrimp paste was quite salty and flavourful which can only mean one thing - it goes extremely well with rice! =D After a few mouthfuls, the saltiness got quite addictive and I just kept going back to the dish for more. Poor friend who wanted this as I think I ended up eating most of his share...sorry >.<
   

Brinjal with Chilli (RM 8)

   
The brinjals were grilled very well and it totally absorbed the flavours of the chilli paste and bits of chicken...my favourite dish of the lot =D
 

Nyonya Laksa (RM 6)

   
The Nyonya Laksa was filled to the brim with goodies. Its thick coconut-infused curry gravy was very fragrant but its taste was a little subdued (but then again I'm no nyonya laksa expert <shrug>). Still, our friends polished off the bowl so it must be good.
   

Pork Fried with Beancurd Skin (RM 6)

 
This dish was very crispy and its well marinated meat went very well with the chilli sauce dip which is not pictured.
   

Steamed Spicy Fish Paste (RM 10)

 
The otak-otak was extremely smooth with a strong coconut milk taste - very good.
 
Nancy's Kitchen also serves popiah with lard which is prepared outside the shop near the entrance. I was tempted to order it but decided not to after I saw the numerous flies buzzing around the staff and popiah she was making =.= That's a warning there.
 
But in conclusion, Nancy's Kitchen serves awesome (someone's) mum's cooking! Do make a trip there when you're in town even though it may be too commercialised =)
 

 
PawPoints: 4 Paws
Pawket: Onion
    

Nancy's Kitchen
7 Jalan Hang Lekir
Off Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock
Melaka
Tel: 06 283 6099

Popiah with Lard @ Jalan Laksamana 1, Melaka

I just found out that one of the famous Malaccan delicacies is popiah sprinkled with lard so naturally as with anything consisting of lard, I had to try it. We were supposed to go to the famous one at the night market at Jonker Walk but we spotted this mobile stall near Casa del Rio where we parked our car and Pariahcetamol wanted to get an early breakfast. It was a good thing we did as we were too stuffed at night to try the one at Jonker =(

     

Friendly couple

 
When asked, they claimed to be a relative of the famous popiah seller at Jonker but who knows eh?

     

Popiah with lard (RM 2.20)

 
Basically, it's just normal popiah with a generous sprinkling of lard which in the opinion of a fried-lard enthusiast, totally enhanced the taste of the otherwise normal popiah. The ingredients were fresh and the deep-fried lard cubes were crunchy. We eventually bought another roll to share as it was quite addictive.

   

 
PawPoints: 3 Paws
Pawket: Dough
    
Popiah with lard mobile stall

Intersection of Jln Laksamana 1 and Jln Laksamana 5 (opposite Casa Del Rio Hotel)
Melaka

Ko-Ryo-Won Korean Restaurant @ KLCC, KL

Ko-Ryo-Won at KLCC is actually the sister restaurant of Go-Gung at The Gardens, hence the menus are totally identical.

   

Typical Korean motive

      

Ko-Ryo-Won

   

Complimentary side dishes

   
As usual, there were complimentary side dishes for the sets. This time there were, clockwise from top, dried beancurd skin, seasoned boiled potatoes, stir-fried spinach in sesame oil, kimchi and beansprouts. My favourites were the potatoes and spinach; I found the kimchi too pungent for my liking but my brother enjoyed it very much. Neither of us touched the dried beancurd skin save for the first slice.

  

Kimchi Jjigae (RM 25)

   
The Kimchi Jjigae was tasty as usual. I doubt any Korean restaurant would get it wrong...that's like an indicator of bad-tasting dishes to follow if the cook can even get the national dish wrong. Anyway this one was full of chicken pieces, tofu and tons of slurpilicious glass noodles.

 

Seollengtang (RM 30)

   
Feeling adventurous, we decided to try something new - soup made by simmering beef bones and beef slices overnight. The end result is a milky broth, probably the essence of the huge beef bones. It is certainly a nutritious soup with thin slices of garlic, sliced dates and glass noodles. It was also totally tasteless although there was a very slight hint of milky soup. To be fair, the menu did state that salt can be added once served but none of the waitress came over to ask if we wanted it seasoned so we resorted to dipping the beef slices with lots of soy sauce. It definitely feels very wholesome and nutritious but I doubt we would ever order it again =P
   
   
PawPoints: 3 Paws
Pawket: Tomato
    Ko-Ryo-Won

418-419, Level 4
Suria KLCC

Tel: 03 2166 6189
Daily: 11am - 10pm

Pork Satay @ Kedai Satay Xiang Ji, Melaka

Pork satay was top on my list of food to try in Melaka and we headed to Xiang Ji without looking at the map. As it turned out, the shop was quite far from Jonker Walk and we did quite a bit of walking to reach there. Plus point was that it opened up our appetite for more yummy food =D

      

Shop front

 
There were a few recommendations for pork satay on the internet and I thought we should try out Xiang Ji. However, the shop did not look like the famous one I saw on TV.

     

Non-stop grilling

     

Condiments

      

Pork satay (RM 0.70 per stick)

   
The pork satay was quite good with lean meat and nicely seared bits where the fats were. We initially ordered 3 sticks per person as we were feeling quite stuffed but in the end, we couldn't resist topping up.
   
The peanut dip for pork satay is slightly different from the usual ones and here, it is mixed with a dash of chilli oil and pineapple shreds to lend it a sweet flavour. It went very well with the satay but it was quite tough to scoop up the sauce in the little bowl.
   
Not too sure if it's really the case but our friend thought the bamboo sticks looked recycled. Oh well, if you look past the hygiene factor which is usually a little dubious in coffee shops, the pork satay was quite good I must say. Next time though, I'll probably try out the other pork satay shops to see if their offerings are any different.
 
 
PawPoints: 4 Paws
Pawket: Dough
     
Kedai Satay Xiang Ji
50 Jalan Portugis
Melaka
Tel: 019 667 8868