Mods Cafe Melaka

Mods Cafe

Sometimes the best places are discovered by chance, not the long queues spotted from a mile away.

I am sure most will not disagree.



And this rare gem of a find is in Melaka, it's actually a quaint historical shoplot called Mods Cafe. We stumbled upon it when we were doing our usual 'touristy' Jonker Walk-around. Mods Cafe is not exactly along Jonker Walk though, one needs to get out to the street branches and look for one that shows Jalan Tokong.







What attracted us and prompted us to 'have a look' is the brightly coloured VW van parked inside the shop! Next to it are tables and chairs, so we'd figured it's a cafe. The decorations are as retro as you'd imagine - those spinning barber lights, old skool tv and stereo sets, miniature figurines of Vespa scooters, and adorning the wall is about 200 empty beer cans from different parts of the world! (Oooh love the red switches too)

Now, how can anyone not like it here?


Cafe Latte (RM8)


Cafe Mocha (RM9)

We had the Cafe Latte and Cafe Mocha and they're both nicely done with the right amount of froth and beautiful latte art. Believe the guy who served and brew our drinks was Albert, the owner of Mods Cafe (I later googled about it and discovered many who also likes and recommends Mods to be a must visit).

Mods Cafe has become our favourite coffee place in Melaka, and we will surely return when we're in Melaka the next time! We would strongly recommend to skip all the touristy places and be adventurous to find your own gem.



Mods Cafe
14, Jalan Tokong,
75200 Melaka.
Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/modscafe


* Visuals by iPhone 3Gs and iPhone 4

[Disclaimer: The opinions expressed here are based on my personal views, tastebuds and preference and may vary for others. Please don't sue me, I don't have money. Kthxbye.]

The Final Episode of Malacca

Jonker Walk

Malacca is dubbed the historic state of Malaysia. Well besides being a land rich in historical buildings and nolstagic feel, Malacca is also known as the Land of Good Food (LGF- Other LGFs include Ipoh, Penang and some of the outskirt areas).


Takoyaki stall- I love this snack!

Jonker Walk or Jalan Hang Jebat is inarguably the most famous (and probably overrated) but it is the one place everyone will go to appreciate the historical buildings, antique scouting, food searching and souvenir buying. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, Jonker Walk will transform into a night market, except you won't see any vegetables or poultry being sold. There are traders lining along the pedestrian street selling knick knacks, souvenirs, street snacks, crafts, jewellery etc.


Curry Laksa

Whenever we are in Malacca, Jonker 88 will be a sure drop-by for their curry laksa and durian cendol. I am not a fan of this artery clogging but colour inducing bowl of noodles but my makan partner in crime gives his thumbs up all the time for this! Mmmm mmmmmm.

I am an assam laksa person :)


Durian Cendol

I headed for the durian cendol instead. Durian + cendol, can the equation get better than that? Although this has been weeks ago, can't explain the sudden cravings for cendol these few days though, still hasn't got my fix of it yet. Any good cendols around PJ- preferably near Section 19?


Putu Piring

I'm ashamed to say I have never seen, ate or even know what putu piring was until I was shown the 'light'. Putu pirings are steamed rice flour filled with gula melaka and topped with grated coconut. Hot, fluffy and packed with sweet offerings, these traditional sweet cakes sells at 80¢ per piece and even Jason (aka Ah Xian) from Astro approves of it (click here)!



Jonker 88
88, Jalan Hang Jebat,
75200 Melaka.

Putu Piring
252, Jalan Tengkera,
75200 Melaka.
Tel: 06-282 1505
Business hours: 6.30-10.30pm, closed on Sundays

[disclaimer: the opinions expressed here are based on my personal views, tastebuds and preference and may vary for others. please dont sue me, i dont have money. kthxbye.]

Mille Crepe @ Nadeje

Original Mille Crepe- RM8.50

Still on the Malacca episode, today's post will be on the famous Nadeje Mille Crepe. In KL, the only place you will probably see this (or at least the one I know) is at Food Foundry and I have heard and read too much about the standard and quality of the food not as good as it used to be. True enough, my first encounter with FF left quite a bit of impression on me that I vowed to revisit when I can finally drive and find my way there. Fast forward, think the food now is overrated and pricey... and the supposingly special Mille Crepe cakes are not that good anymore.

Haven't tried Nadeje before but read so much about it being more 'original' than FF's. So here we are at Nadeje!


Calpis Hisbiscus- RM8.50, Cafe Mocha- RM8.50

I have to admit, the cake here is better. Not too sure whether I've been psychologically hypnotized to think Nadeje's version is better from all the reviews, but the cake does taste good, and creamier. A little too pricey for a piece of cake though methinks. The drinks are ok, though really the Calpis Hibiscus is meant for those with an acquired taste :/

Overall a good place to have a teatime/evening tea break :)


Nadeje
G-23 & 25, Jalan PM4,
Plaza Mahkota,
75000 Melaka.
Tel: 06-283 8750

[disclaimer: the opinions expressed here are based on my personal views, tastebuds and preference and may vary for others. please dont sue me, i dont have money. kthxbye.]

Malay Style Seafood @ Crystal Bay, Malacca

Pick me! Pick me!

Seafood is always synonymous to Chinese/Western style of cooking- the lavish kind you can find at big but sometimes overpriced seafood restaurants? When in Malacca few weeks back, a kind local friend of ours took us for seafood- Malay kampung style seafood.


Cook me! Cook me!

This seafood place is located quite far from the Malacca city centre (by small town standards, I think it is far) and the place is called Crystal Bay. Quite a nice name but the actual on site location begs to differ, ha ha. Anyway, that's besides the point. There are a few stalls, all in the seafood business so naturally we picked the stall with the most people. There are a variety of catches for you to pick your dinner from. We picked our fish, prawns, squid and kupang.


Warm Nasi Lemak- RM0.50 per pack

The style of eating here is with nasi lemak, small but warm and fluffy. An average person can probably gobble 3 or 4 of this at one sitting. But of course, we're not here for nasi lemak, so we shall leave space for the main dishes!


Udang Bakar (Grilled Prawns?)- RM4.50 each


Butter Prawns- RM4.50 (each)

We picked 6 prawns, 3 done in butter style and the rest purely grilled to taste the freshness. The prawns are big and fresh, I think they are fresh water prawns. Bakar style of butter style, both were fresh and tangy.


Ikan Jenak Bakar (Grilled Jernak Fish)- RM19.50

For our grilled fish, we chose the Jenak type. This was fresh too and the grilled aroma was too good to be resisted!


Sotong Bakar (Grilled Squid)- RM10

While the sotong bakar was nothing fantastic to shout about, it was fat and tangy which will surely send the cholestrol level rocket high! Oh and grilled crispy tentacles are yums!


Kupang (Local Mussels)- RM8

Surely, there's got to be something soupy among all the grilled dishes right? We ordered the kupang which are also known as local mussels (not as big, fat, and orangy as the western ones) done in sweet & sour style. For RM8, I think the dish was quite a steal!

The total bill came up to RM66.45 for 3 persons inclusive of nasi lemak and coconut water.


Warisan Aroma Kita Stall No.2
@ Crystal Bay, Melaka.

[disclaimer: the opinions expressed here are based on my personal views, tastebuds and preference and may vary for others. please dont sue me, i dont have money. kthxbye.]

'Best Pork Satay in Melaka'

Besides being quite annoying when they can't locate the satellite, GPS is actually quite a useful tool especially for those on a makan trip! We located this pork satay shop (captioned as the best pork satay in Melaka) through the GPS point of interest function.

Let me bring you the 'Best Pork Satay in Melaka'!



Now, to be honest, I love pork and all things porky (except char siew pao's fatty lard, as publicly announced in my FB few days ago, with much objection from certain csp lovers and a few support from anti-csp fatty lard members), so naturally I should LOVE pork satay right? Wrong! I like chicken satay more... hehe.

Anyway, I can't deny that this 'Best Pork Satay in Melaka' is tasty, with the grilled fatty bits in between and grilled flavours, it is quite addictive. We went in with the objective of trying "2 sticks" and ended up having 20 over sticks! There were also grilled intestines (yums!) and grilled coagulated pork blood (yuck!).



The satay is at 55¢ a stick.


Kedai Satay Xiang Ji
50, Jalan Portugis,
Off Jonker Street (Jln Hang Jebat),
Melaka.

disclaimer: the opinions expressed here are based on my personal views, tastebuds and preference and may vary for others. please dont sue me, i dont have money. kthxbye.]

Restoran Manis Sayang, Malacca Nyonya Food

Good food and big cities usually don't come hand in hand. It is in the small outskirts, kampung terpencil that you find cheap tasty food. Malacca, Ipoh and Penang would be the usual suspects when it comes to small town, good food but of recent years, these places have gone on a rocket high inflation- all the supposedly famous eatery outlets have compromised the taste for higher prices. Le sigh.


Sweet potato crackers?

Therefore, on my most recent visit to the historical town, makan partner-in-crime and I decided to skip the famous commercialized overrated places in search of other Malaccan food.

We heed a fellow Malaccan's recommendation of Nyonya food- Restoran Manis Sayang, which is actually quite famous as Jalan-Jalan Cari Makan and even the Thai Deputy PM or something/someone have been there!


Cendol biasa- RM2

Can't seem to run away from having a good bowl of cendol when you're in Malacca... I like mine rich in santan and gula melaka.


Nyonya Chap Chai- RM10 (small)

Colorful nyonya plate of cabbage, carrot, tomato and black fungus with fried beancurd skin provide a balanced meal.


Cincaluk omelette- RM7 (small)

Overheard from a dear colleague and supplier singing praises of the Malacca cincaluk omelette and was thus thrilled to find this on the menu! Slightly salty but makes a good accompaniment to white rice!


Udang Lemak Masak Nanas- RM18

This was recommended by our Malaccan friend. The prawns were fresh and no, those are not potatoes but pineapples, hence the name of the dish ;-) Contrary to what you see, it's not spicy at all! The pineapples do give a different flavour to the dish.


Ayam Pongteh- RM10

Ayam pongteh is also known as miso soy chicken. It is braised and and usually comes accompanied with potatoes and mushrooms. The gravy is excellent on white rice and the chicken is tender and flavourful. If there's any word to describe the potatoes, it would be 'bonus' to a homely dish.

See, this time we didn't kickstart our Malacca food ventures with chicken rice balls!


Restoran Manis Sayang
618, Taman Melaka Raya,
75000 Melaka.
Tel: 06-281 3393

disclaimer: the opinions expressed here are based on my personal views, tastebuds and preference and may vary for others. please dont sue me, i dont have money. kthxbye.]