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Yet Another Melaka Food Guide – What’s Good & What’s Not?
Feb 10th
So I was at Melaka again over the last weekend for yet another food hunt.
The mission remains the same: to provide good alternatives to the overcrowded makan places so that you won’t have to queue to eat, as well as weeding out the bad ones (yet highly recommended by various sources) so you can avoid them.
For this round, I also made the effort of including more Halal places that did not open in my last visit due to the Hari Raya celebrations. To make things simple and clear, I will be listing the places according to my own rating instead of the time I visited them. Now lets get started with the good ones:
1. Sin Yin Hoe’s Fried Oysters – This is so much better than that lousy O Chien at Bunga Raya Food Court which I still can’t believe people are actually lining up for. The omelette is void of preserved turnips, nicely cooked and not tore into tiny, miserable pieces. Oysters are fresh and although not big in size, the generous amount makes up for it.
Sin Yin Hoe Coffee Shop
135 Lorong Hang Jebat
GPS Coordinates: N2 11.685 E102 14.942
Business hours: 4pm onwards until midnight (closed on Tuesdays)
2. Kingtu Satay Celup – Tastes as good as the ‘famous ones’ minus the queue, reasonably priced (70 cents a stick, some items have multiple sticks on them) and the ingredients are fresh. Good consistency on the peanut sauce and the taste is just right without being overly sweet. And what’s better, there are no dozens of eyes staring at you, hinting you to give up your seats.
3D2N Stay @ The Villas, Sunway Resort
Jan 5th
To celebrate the recent New Year, we checked into The Villas for a short stay. First time visitors will be surprised to find this private sanctuary within the lush tropical garden of Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa, which is only minutes’ walking distance away from Sunway Pyramid via some ‘hidden’ paths. This would be the perfect place for couples who seek to celebrate special occassions with utmost privacy – no babies, no families so no noisy kids running around. And with only 17 villas around, there would only be a maximum of 34 guests at anytime.
Just to be clear, I am not ‘invited’ to stay here and then write this post to promote them whatsoever. We actually own a SIVC (Sunway International Vacation Club) membership that we signed up with when we just started to work. Yeah we were young and stupid. Frankly speaking if not for the membership, I don’t think I would even consider staying here. But it is good to experience nice things once in a while, we gotta enjoy life sometime.
Anyway, this building behind the small pond is actually a restaurant-cum-reception of The Villas called the Pavillion. You can also think of it as your very own private restaurant, where you will be having most of your meals – breakfast, evening cocktails and romantic set-dinner (if you booked one).
Since The Villas is pretty much off limits to everyone except the guests and staff, you have to be driven in by the butlers. The best spot to park your car would be at The Duplex‘s car park. There are plenty of parking space here and it is free of charge as well. If you are not familiar with Sunway and could not locate The Duplex (it’s pretty tricky to find this place) you can also park your vehicles at Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa. Then from the hotel lobby, you can take the hotel’s swimming pool, walk across it and follow this staircase which will lead you to The Villas.
If that is still very confusing, then the easiest way would be to tell Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa’s reception that you are checking into The Villas. They will know what to do and send someone to pick you up. Don’t worry about the parking ticket, you will given another one that looks like a room card that will let you get out for free later.
Introducing SixCents – A No Frills, Free Voucher Website
Dec 9th
What if you could get a free beer by showing a printed voucher, or just by flashing it from an iPhone app? For those without an iPhone you don’t have to fret, as the voucher can still be displayed on any mobile phone as long as it supports a browser. What if I tell you this is real and the best thing is the voucher is absolutely free? Yes, free as in zero transaction and no purchase required, which essentially means you got nothing to lose but everything to gain. If I have got your attention then you need to check out SixCents.
But first, I know what you are thinking so let me just clarify that SixCents is not yet-another-group-buying-website. Instead, SixCents is a voucher website aimed at providing exclusive dining experiences for everyone to enjoy minus the unnecessary frills. One perfect example is that you don’t even need to have an account to use SixCents!
Most of the chosen restaurants at SixCents are handpicked by the website owners themselves based on the criteria of quality and service, where some of the prominent ones are like Tom, Dick and Harry’s, Souled Out, 7atenine and Senjyu. Different restaurants have different vouchers. For now, you will find most of them being discount based, buy 1 free 1, and buy five, pay for four kind of vouchers. As time goes by, the number of restaurants and vouchers will grow as well, giving you more choices in future.
Among the list of outlets, I have chosen to try Fat Spoon first, a pork-free cafe at Damansara Uptown that serves Asian and Nyonya influenced food. They are currently running a Jus for Juice promotion exclusive only to SixCents users. After presenting the voucher, you just have to play a game of One Two Jus with the owners (and winning it of course) and a bottle of freshly squeezed orange juice worth RM6.90 will be yours for free. And yeah, there are some terms and conditions that apply but they are so easy to meet they are negligible.
A 48 Hours Food Guide to Eating in Penang
Nov 17th
Penang is world famous for its abundance of hawker food. But sometimes having too many choices might not be a good thing because you will have a hard time to decide which to savour, especially if you are not a local. Here’s a Penang food guide for 48 hours from breakfast to dinner, carefully handpicked by vkeong only to feature the best of Penang has to offer!
Day 1, Breakfast (Seow Fong Lye Chee Cheong Fun):
Begin your day with Chee Cheong Fun at one of the oldest food stall in Penang with over half a century of experience at preparing these steamed flat rice noodles. The special prawn paste has a unique flavor second to none and is made by adding their own secret ingredients and then recooking it.
Chee Cheong Fun (since 1955)
Seow Fong Lye Cafe
94C, Macalister Lane, 10400 Penang
7:30am to 12:30pm.
GPS Coordinates: N5 25.022 E100 19.741
