Jonker 88 - the best dessert and nyonya asam laksa shop in Melaka

No doubt about it. If you are a dessert lover, esp a chendol lover, you cannot miss going to Jonker 88. I managed to snap a pic of the rather extensive menu while in the queue.

The pic below shows the dessert being prepared. Self-service all around so one is advised to have a friend go into the shop to secure seats first and have another friend queuing for the dessert.
Do not be deceived by the pic below of the interior of the shop which I took.At first, I wasn't sure if we had to queue first at the narrow entrance of the place for our dessert first before getting a seat but thankfully the heat forced me to enter the shop to see if I could get a table for my colleagues first so they didn't have to wait in the sun. And, every single blasted table was occupied with people standing around. Not a single spare table and I was desperate enough to unshamedly enlist the help of one of the servers to help me get a table.

Thankfully he pointed me to a table where the group of pp were about finishing their food and we managed to get a table. I queued outside for the dessert while another colleague queued outside for the laksa. The 5 desserts below, 2 bowls of baba chendol, 1 bowl of baba durian chendol, 1 bowl of EPC 8 precious chendol and 1 bowl of sago gula melaka cost RM13 only.

A close up pic of the famous baba chendol which is reputed to be the absolute best Baba chendol in Melaka. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. I am not a chendol fan so I have no basis of comparison. The dessert was quite sweet and should be eaten cold. As in, really cold with lots of ice (one can go back to the stall out front to ask for more ice in an empty bowl).

I have no idea what the E.P.C stands for but the dessert came with more ingredients than the baba chendol. Worth ordering? The Slog sits on the fence for the reasons mentioned above.

However, everyone agreed that the sago gula melaka (last item on the dessert list) was really good. The Slog Reviews: 8.5/10. Good stuff with the right amount of milk and sweetness.

Now, just opposite the dessert cart is the cart selling laksa and noodles. Both belong to Jonker 88 and are located at the front portion of the store. As mentioned, ideally you should go to Jonker 88 in a group of at least 3pax so 1 person can secure seats within the shop while 1 queues for dessert and the other queues for noodles. And believe me, the laksa from Jonker 88 is "solid" and should not be missed if one is there for dessert.

As we had just eaten at Hoe Kee and thankfully hadn't over-eaten, the 4 of us had capacity to share 2 bowls of laksa. First, the curry laksa. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. Very thick curry gravy with fresh fish cake and noodles. If I hadn't have to share, I would have cleaned the bowl - and oh yes, I asked for more gravy and it was free :) Excellent hawker fare.

However, what stole the limelight was the dish below. The most delicious nyonya asam laksa that I've ever tasted my whole life, or rather, the 4 of us ever tasted in each of our lives. The Slog Reviews: 10/10. Just ORDER! I'll be most grateful to anyone reading my blog if he/she can tell me where one can find such laksa or laksa 3/4 as good as the one below - the gravy wasn't thin and sour but thick and just slightly sour. How's that for starters. I have to stop writing about this meal now or else I fear that I may find myself driving up to Melaka this weekend for more of this dish!

The Slog Reviews: 9/10 for the overall experience at Jonker88. All the staff, from those preparing the food outside and those helping within were friendly and obliging. Whatever we asked for, more ice, more gravy, was given with a smiling face and FOC. Jonker88 was a great ending to our Melaka road trip indeed and anyone going to Melaka should visit this restaurant at least once for its excellent food and service.

The restaurant details are:

88, Jalan Hang Jebat,75200, Melaka.

Operating hours: 10am to 6pm (8pm on weekends)

Hoe Kee Chicken Rice at Jonker Street Melaka

The place to buy Melaka products back for the folks back home would be Tan Kim Hock Product Centre. There is no missing the place at all with its distinctive pink walls near St Paul's church.

The interior of the shop looks like this with cans of foodstuff stacked high. The shop probably has been fortunate enough not to have any accidents involving cans tumbling down and injuring customers within the shop. In any case, the shop does a pretty brisk business at all times given its very extensive range of food products.

After my colleagues had finished shopping, we went to Jonker Street for chicken rice brunch. We were prepared to go to either Chung Wah or Hoe Kee for chicken rice (with me leaning towards Chung Wah because I'd already eaten at Hoe Kee before) but when we got there about 11am, it was blazing hot and this, this was the queue we saw outside Chung Wah. I have to applaud those in the queue - it was so hot that I thought the soles of my sandals were melting yet there they stood patiently, waiting under the broiling sun to get into the coffeeshop.

We made a beeline for Hoe Kee which was thankfully far less crowded, provided shelter/shade for those in the queue and had some sort of system that moved customers along to tables pretty quickly. Thank goodness for alternatives - if Chung Wah had been the only chicken rice stall and it didn't take reservations...anyway, Hoe Kee. Despite the shop's facade per the pic below, the inside of the shop is spacious, clean and airy.

So, the lady told us they only had 3 dishes available - chicken rice, assam head and veg. I asked about the popular black bean soup and was told that it isn't available on weekends. So we ordered what the shop had. First, the assam fish. The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10. The fish was certainly fresh and cooked well - not too tough or undercooked with a fishy taste. However, I fear that my taste buds have been thoroughly spoilt by the assam fish head in Muar so this dish here didn't stand out at all. Definitely not a must-order dish but a nice complement to a meal which would otherwise be just chicken and rice.

No one goes specially to a chicken rice place at Melaka and not have the chicken rice balls. I am not sure where the chicken rice balls originated from but while it is available (though not popular) in Singapore, THE place to have chicken rice balls is Melaka. The lady asked how many balls the 4 of us would like and we didn't know so she suggested 25 balls for the 4 of us. The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10. The rice balls certainly looked delicious and 1 of my colleagues loved the softness of the chicken rice balls. However, I felt that the rice balls tasted pretty ordinary and I wouldn't go back to Hoe Kee for these chicken rice balls. The only edge these balls have over ordinary chicken rice would be that they are less oily I suppose and one would be able to measure the quantity of rice one has eaten.

As for the chicken, the Slog Reviews: 7.5/10. I'm not sure if it was the heat but the chicken wasn't particularly mouth-watering or tasty. Must try Chung Wah the next time I'm at Melaka.

The overall experience at Hoe Kee - 8/10 for the quick service, prompt delivery of meals, attentiveness of the staff and the decent food (and portions). The cost of the meal below was less than RM 50.
The restaurant's address and operating hours are:
Address: 4, 6, 8, Jalan Hang Jebat,75200, Melaka.
Off days: Wednesday of every fourth week of the month.
Operating hours: 8am till 5pm

Teo Soon Loong Chan Famous Teochew Restaurant in Melaka

When planning for this Melaka trip, my research on the net threw up repeatedly the name of this restaurant - Teo Soon Loong Chan Teo Chew Restaurant (TSLC). The restaurant even has a website which I visited and learnt that it was advisable to make reservations in advance. So I did on a Thurs afternoon and managed to get a reservation for the 4 of us at 6pm on Sat evening - the only time slot available. About 2.30pm after our lunch at Ole Sayang, TSLC called my msian hp number and emphasized that I had to turn up at 6pm or else the table would be forfeit. I assured the caller that I had driven the 2-3hrs up to Melaka and would not miss a meal at his renowned restaurant.

So after checking into the hotel about 3+pm, I arranged with the hotel to have a taxi come at 5.20pm to send us to the restaurant because I was paranoid I wouldn't be able to find the place or find parking - either of which would result us in missing a meal here. The cost of the taxi ride from The Majestic to Jonker Street was RM15 and we had to walk in still because most of Jonker Street was closed for the weekend night markets. I hadn't seen pics of the exterior of the restaurant but read that it was really erm, simple, and indeed it was. If I hadn't been looking out specifically for the restaurant, I wouldn't have known it was there.

The first point of contact was with the chef himself in a dirty apron (the dirtier the apron the better the food no?) at the open-air cooking area on the front left of the pic above. We asked whether we could take a pic of him and he was most obliging .

This is how the interior of the restaurant looks like. I counted the number of tables - 6 only. And there wasn't any space whatsoever for any additional tables to be set up.

On each table were condiments - sambal belachan (to go with their famous oyster mee), garlic and sliced red chilli in bean sauce.

Some of the dishes available are laid out along the far wall of the restaurant and the "rep" of each table goes there to discuss the dishes with the older boss. Initially we ordered soft shell crab, green veg and ngoh hiang from the array of food laid out in addition to their famous promfret dish, oyster mee, orni dessert.

However, I saw this tray laid out on the table next to the food counter and asked the elderly boss if we could have a bowl of tian ji (chicken in herbs). He said no at first on the basis that we had ordered too much. I promised him we would finish everything and he reluctantly agreed to sell us one bowl of chicken. However, 2 mins later he was back at our table telling us we really had ordered too much for 4 pp. So we asked him which dish he would recommend that we not have and he said the ngoh hiang.

The food was served pretty quickly - about a 10-15 mins wait. First, the the tian ji (chicken in herb-like sauce) I had to literally persuade the restaurant to sell to us. The Slog Reviews: 9/10. Everyone agreed that the gravy/sauce was tasty without being too salty and the chicken meat had absorbed most of the herbal taste which made for good eating. From the pic above, I gather that the restaurant had marinated the chicken for quite some time which explains why the meat was so full of flavor.

Second, the oyster mee dish with rich thick dark gravy. The Slog Reviews: 10/10. I don't take oysters but my colleagues who do said the oysters were very fresh and sweet. I think that this dish is the must-have item from this restaurant, if not anything else. The restaurant owner was very helpful in helping to distribute the rest if the noodles amongst the 4 of us and advising us to eat it with more of the belachan sambal paste.

The deep fried soft shell crab which was cut into many small pieces looked and tasted pretty ordinary when it was first served. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. That being said, we found ourselves picking at the pieces and eating the crunchy bits till the plate was bare. It's the kind of dish that doesn't impress the senses at first but tastes better the longer it is left on the table.

As for the veg, although it tasted fresh (which we all agreed tends to be the case for veg eaten in Msia), it really was nothing remarkable. The Slog Reviews: 7/10. If I had to order a veg dish again, based on the research of the net, the cabbage dish comes highly recommended and not ordinary greens like the one below.

This is how the promfret dish steamed with mushrooms and preserved plums looked like when it was first served. The fish wasn't remarkably big but the price was remarkable to me by Msia standards - RM 40! I believe that the fish itself is less than half the cost as this is one of my favourite fishes and I'd been eating it quite often last year...

1 of the restaurant owners, Ah Joo, was again most helpful and came over to help us dissect/debone the fish for easy eating. Good, polite and helpful service I must say!

I suppose Ah Joo must have lots of experience with fish becaue in less than one minute, the fish dish looked like this. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. Everyone agreed that the fish meat was fresh and that it had been cooked to perfection which is not easy for this particular type of fish - too long and the meat turns hard. Even though the price of the fish is rather steep, I think that if one drives all the way up to Melaka and manages to get a reservation at this renowned restaurant, one shouldn't forgo 1 of their signature dishes.


We also had the local mangoes (yellow skinned) which the "elderly" boss had recommended. The Slog Reviews: 6/10. Ripe but not exceptionally sweet or tasty. One should save one's stomach for more of the next dish.

The absolutely best orh-ni (yam paste) dessert that I've ever had in my own life. I love this dessert which is very very bad for the waistline and have tried many variations of the dessert at almost every Chinese restaurant I've been to. And none of all that I 've tried comes even close to the perfection of this dish served at TSLC.


The Slog Reviews: 10/10. How do I even start describing the silky smooth melt-in-the-mouth not too sweet yet just sweet enough yam paste?! This dish is a MUST HAVE if you are at TSLC. Do not, absolutely do not compromise forgoing this dish for any others served by the restaurant!

The Slog Reviews: 8/10 for the overall experience. It was a pity that they only had the 6pm slot for us to have dinner because we were rather stuffed from Ole Sayang in the afternoon. Contrary to reviews I have read on the net, the service was in fact rather good with Ah Joo and the others being helpful and friendly. However, maybe because I am not Teochew, the dishes didn't really hit the spot for me and I am not minded to give up going for satay celup for a meal here the next time I go to Melaka. Also, the cost of the dishes was rather steep by Msia standards - RM150 for the 4 of us. I would conclude that one should try the food at this restaurant at least once though - the orh ni dessert is really quite out of this world smooth. Slurp!

The Majestic Hotel in Melaka

When we were deciding on the accomodation for the trip, I half-jokingly suggested Fenix Inn which was a budget inn that had received decent reviews. Well, from the title and pic below, it would be easy to guess that I have risen from Fenix/Phoenix to something quite Majestic. Jokes aside, we were intending to get rooms at Hotel Equatorial but the hotel was fully booked. And since it was our first department trip together out of the country, we decided to treat ourselves a little better and get rooms at the Majestic Hotel. My GPS had a Majestic Hotel but it turned out to be the wrong address and we only found the carpark of the hotel (located at the back of the hotel and without any shade at all!) by keying in the address on the Agoda Voucher. The pic below shows the lobby of the hotel with the little library green area on the left side. There is also a mini bar area at the lobby of the hotel which is open till midnight daily. The only thing about the hotel that wasn't impressive was the swimming pool - this is the only other pool I've seen that is as small as my place's pool. If one has kids who like swimming, The Equatorial Hotel's swimming pool is by far much much larger. On the Majestic's swimming pool's right is the gym. On the other hand, the spa at the hotel is, according to the magazines left in the hotel room at least, a world-renowned spa. An hour's massage cost about RM200 and after a long drive up, feels very good...(according to my boss at least). I've never liked massages (paying for pain) so I gave the spa a miss. The pic below is of the room's toilet which was the first thing I saw when I opened the door to my hotel room - the bathtub is rather sturdy I must say and there is a rain shower at the shower area. Basic toiletries were provided (and even bath salts) but strangely not toothbrushes. The pic below shows the room which I had all to myself at The Majestic. As I said, 2 of my colleagues changed their minds about going at the last min and therefore, I ended up with a room with twin beds. I asked the hotel if I could have a room with a double bed like my other 3 colleagues but the hotel was fully booked for the weekend. In any case, I thought that the room was pretty impressive and comparable to the ones I'd stayed at in Shangrila, Hyatt, The Peninsular etc and even my boss who has stayed at finer places considered this hotel a truely five star hotel. The hotel promised that all the rooms had a river view and indeed, although mine was a corner room, I had a clear view of the Melaka River where the Melaka River cruises are. Each room also comes with free internet connection (but not WIFI) and a writing desk with a letter addressed to the occupant of the room. The pic below shows the room from another angle - I love the open concept toilet and am inspired to design my own house this way...except that I don't think wood and water agree much. Still, the room is impressive and comfortable in its own right - well worth the SGD 240 When we got back to the hotel room after dinner and shopping, I was pleasantly surprised to find a plate of complimentary kueh on the table :) There was also a bottle of complimentary mineral water (taken out from the minibar) and placed on the bedside table. The Slog Reviews: 9.5/10. Except for the size of the swimming pool, I would strongly recommend this hotel to anyone going to Melaka. The service by the staff is beyond outstanding and the rooms are luxurious and beautiful. The cost of a taxi ride to Jonker St is RM15 so one is better off driving there onself but the hotel can call for a taxi if you request. I think my boss is right - it will be most difficult to stay in any other hotel but this hotel if we ever go to Melaka again. :)

Ole Sayang Restaurant at Melaka - Nyonya Food Heaven

The Melaka trip with my department over the weekend was definitely one of the most enjoyable trips ever. We had planned to get a driver and MPV for the 6 of us but at the last min, 2 of us couldn't make it so I offered to drive 4 of us up. My boss took at leap of faith (in me, my driving skills and the humble vios) and by 9am, filled up with good beehoon from a coffeeshop in SG, we took the first link into JB.

I'd never driven to Melaka through the first link before and relied heavily on my GPS to get us on the highway. Traffic was really heavy (no surprise given tt it is the school hols) and we reached Melaka by 12.30pm after clearing the Msia customs at 10.30pm. With my boss in the front seat, I did not dare to exceed 140-150km/hr at any time. There was quite a queue getting into Melaka after the toll area and it was 1.30pm by the time we got to the first restaurant on the list (This was meant to be an indulgent trip filled with nothing but the best hotel and great food) - Ole Sayang.

Now, Ole Sayang was ranked No 7 on TripAdvisor's list of restaurants in Melaka and I was worried about choosing this as our first stop in Melaka because it serves Nyonya food and my boss had, the night before, expressed her desire for laksa and chendol. So it was with great apprehension that I parked my car at the first available slot opposite the restaurant (which is on the left of the road). My heart pounded even faster when we drew close because the door of the restaurant was firmly shut (see pic below) and I almost freaked that the place was closed despite my research.

But thankfully, no, the doors yielded to my desperate grasp and we entered, without reservations, into the blessed airconditioned interior. The pic below shows how the restaurant looks like and the place is rather big with more tables behind the wall on the right - during our meal, about 2 tour buses worth of tourists flocked into the place. We sat at the table near the door which was too big for 4 of us but they wouldn't let us have the smaller table which they said was reserved.
They also took some time to get us the menu and impatient me got up to get the menus myself. That got one of the more senior servers, a Chinese aunty bustling over to our table to take our order quickly. :D
I don't know if the keropok (crackers) below were complimentary because I don't have a copy of the bill. However, they were placed on the table by the servers and hungry us fell upon them so the pic below shows just the few that were left before I remembered to take a picture. Now, these crackers are so light that the wind from the fan on the wall could actually blow them off the plate - and, the table behind us filled with fellow Singaporeans ordered 2 big packets of the crackers to take home!
The picture below shows all the food that 4 of us had for our first meal in Melaka at Ole Sayang - a picture perfect start to our Melaka food trail. For an instant, we thought we had gone overboard ordering because we were so hungry by the time we arrived at the restaurant (almost 2pm when the food came) but from the very last pic of this entry, we were wrong - we ate everything and it was SO GOOD. We were also very pleased that the food did not take too long (max 15mins) to arrive and that all the dishes came together instead of being served slowly one by one. The restaurant forgot to serve us rice though and I had to go ask for the basket.
Anyway, the dishes. The dish below was the first one put on the table (After the crackers). The Slog Reviews: 10/10. We had read that the sambal ikan bilis was a "must-order" and my boss with her more refined taste-buds proclaimed that this dish was good enough to eat alone with plain white rice. Because I was snapping photos, I didn't taste it till later but when I did - it was like - O.M.Goodness. Heavenly! Now, don't let anyone stop you from trying this dish if you are at the restaurant - perfectly spicy and smooth belachan paste on top of lightly crunchy ikanbilis.

My 2 other colleagues wanted an egg dish and I'm not sure what they ordered - I only took the pic. And worse, I can't even comment on this dish because I didn't have a chance to try it at all. I should have, on retrospect, it wasn't like they devoured it at one go but the egg disappeared so fast and I was busy swooning over the other dishes. Therefore, I suppose the egg must be excellent too.

My boss wanted some beef so we had black pepper beef. The Slog Reviews: 9/10. This dish was rather oily and the meat was tough and far from tender. However, the reason for the high score is that the spice which the beef is cooked in, something light yet distinctive and unfortunately, not available in Singapore to the best of my knowledge.

We also got the ayam rendang which was a recommended dish by some bloggers. The Slog Reviews: 10/10. The gravy had us all drooling and swooning! While the meat was nothing very remarkable, the gravy of which there was plenty, was mouth-wateringly delicious. It wasn't spicy enough to prevent those who aren't into spicy food from eating it - I think it was because of the amoutn of coconut/coconut milk that went into this dish. Order if not for anything, the gravy - now I could eat that alone with plain rice for a meal! :D

And the Udang Masak Nenas - this was a recommended dish and my boss was hesitant about ordering this dish because we already had 2 meat dishes but after she had taken a spoonful of the gravy, she was nodding away in gastronomical pleasure. The Slog Reviews: 10/10. Must Order! Again, the prawns are not extremely big or sweet or very very fresh...or even cooked very well but the gravy, it was absolutely heavenly. Rich, absolutely rich enough to render send my tastebuds straight to heaven.

I'm not sure why we ordered this dish - I think my boss mentioned she wanted something instead of sambal kangkong and chap chye is a nyonya dish. Probably the server had recommended the same. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. Very good chap chye with the veg cooked to soft perfection. Gravy wasn't too sweet or salty. However, not a must-order but beats the usual sambal kangkong dishes which are a dime a dozen.

To my surprise, we had sambal kangkong served to us too. Which made me wonder if I had heard wrongly and my boss wanted sambal kangkong. The Slog Reviews: 8.5/10. Lots of stems, not too spicy or oily, definitely a different style of cooking this dish as compared to other restaurants in JB that I've been to. Ate every last bit of the dish.

And who says 4 of us couldn't finish everything - the pic below says it all - all the empty dishes (notice how the gravy has been scrapped up too) are testimony to the wonderful start of our food trip. I didn't take the photos of the chendol dessert my boss and another colleague ordered but my boss proclaimed the chendol smashing too, even better than the chendol at Jonker88 so maybe that might be worth a try too.

The total cost of the meal for 4 of us was about RM104.

I am now officially a fan of Ole Sayang. :)

As always, the restaurant's details:

198-199, Taman Malaka Raya
Phone: (606)2831966, (606)2834384
Opening hours: Lunch 11:30am-2:30pm Dinner 6:00pm-9:30pm, Closed on Wednesday