Kedai Kopi Chung Wah

Hoe Kee or Chung Wah for chicken rice in Melaka?

Having had Hoe Kee the last trip because the queue at Chung Wah was too long, I was delighted to find that the queue at Chung Wah at 11am in the morning was not too long on a Sunday morning in September - it isn't the standing that is the killer, it is the standing in the merciless sun. So if one decides to brave the queue, do remember to bring a brolly for shade!

Because of the relatively short queue (See pic above), we managed to get a place at the back of the crowded restaurant, from which angle I could take a picture of the "hallowed" interior of this famed chicken rice stall. It is also clear form the pic below that the sun is so bright that in the background one can barely make out the queue behind the old-fashioned gates waiting to get in.

We ordered 5 chicken rice balls and half a chicken. The Slog Reviews: 9/10 for the chicken rice balls which were soft and fragrant. Because of the oil and fat used to cook the chicken rice, the chicken rice ball kinda melted in my mouth without the least bit of grainy feeling. Definitely much better than Hoe Kee's chicken rice balls.

I am sure we ordered half a chicken but they must have gotten the order wrong because the 2 of us were served THIS amount of chicken and my CEB counted 2 small chicken thighs.

My CEB "This chicken is very special"

Me "Yeah I already know that given the queue to get in just to eat this"

My CEB "No, I mean this chicken we are eating. It is a four legged chicken since we ordered 1/2 a chicken only"

Me "?!%#$@".

Ok, joke aside, the Slog Reviews: 9/10. If one wants to have really tender and fresh chicken (and yes, it was so good that I forgot about my allergy to eating chicken), one should make a beeline for No 18 Jalan Hang Jebat which is right at the start of Jonker Street.

Philea Resort & Spa at Ayer Keroh Melaka

Based on past experience, Jonker 88 is THE place on Jonker Street to go for dessert and all other affordable nyonya food like assam laksa, nyonya nasi lemak with baba chicken, goreng goreng and seafood soup noodles etc. The only draw back is of course the limited number of seats and the long queue - self service means standing in the broiling hot sun waiting to order, and then for your food to be cooked and plunked down on a tray. And so because I was in charge of ordering (I had a brolly and didn't mind standing in the sun) and I couldn't make up my mind what to have given how delicious each item on the menu seemed, we ended up with more than we could finish - the seafood soup, the baba rendang chicken, and of course the assam laksa and curry laksa. I have reviewed the food before so all I would say is that you can't not try the assam laksa (extreme right). It is fantastic!

So after that heavy lunch, with great anticipation, we made our way to Philea Resort, touted to be Melaka's first six star hotel. We got lost along the way, having gone to Jonker Street first and ended up making several rounds around the Ayer Keroh area, only to find that Philea is situated just 500m after the Ayer Keroh exit from NS Highway (on the left).

The lobby was impressive and matched our expectations of what a 6 star hotel should be like - expansive with high ceilings and neatly-clad, well-spoken help staff ready to help with the check-in process and our luggage.

Because the rooms/villas are a distance away from the reception, it was necessary for us to climb on board one of the buggies which took us on a tour of the hotel's grounds. The staff was very friendly and knowledgeable - we learnt that philea means a type of butterfly in Russian. He also told us that the owner of the resort was buying more land around it to build more facilities.

And I think that is a pretty good idea because other than the spa, the only facility they have is this very non-impressive swimming pool which runs through the resort. It IS nice to look at in the pic above but other than its size/length, there are no slides or anything which distinguishes it from a normal swimming pool. The pic below shows how the villas are like and each villa has four rooms. Our room was on the first floor of the villa - that's us in the mirror there - I've come to realise that because my CEB is not willing to bring a tripod around, the only way we ever are going to have photos of us together will be through the use of mirrors - but anyway, the point of the picture below is to show how the entire villa is constructed out of logs.

When we opened the door of the villa, we stepped into this below - maybe because I'd stayed in Capella's seaview room before so I had similar expectations of this so-called 6 star hotel. The room while really unique (the logs and all), was unfortunately rather dark and dim within. As expected, there were no cable channels on the 32inch TV in the room but the hotel had free wifi so my CEB set up his netbook and we spent our time watching movies on the netbook - or rather, I did, because he fell asleep after a while when we were midway through the first one.

Alright, why the pic below? Because that heralds the start of my rant against this so-called 6 star hotel. According to the website, everything in the mini bar was complimentary and, 4 cans of soft drinks was all the mini bar contained. That, and 2 bottles of mineral water. It is such a far cry from The Datai and more so, from Capella which had premium food and drinks stocked in its bars. 4 cans of soft drinks is acceptable for a normal 4-5 star hotel but a 6 star hotel??

The picture below shows the left half of the bathroom. Now, my CEB likes soaking in the tub and all but this tub in Philea was so dirty-looking that he didn't want to use it. So I figured I'll just wash away the black specks by running a bath, and guess what - the water gushing from the tap was cold despite me turning the tap all the way to the max temp. I thought it was a water heater issue but nope, the standing shower on the right half of the bathroom worked just fine with lots of hot water. A 6 star hotel which doesn't even allow you to run a hot bath? Right...

The toiletries were placed on a wooden tray at the bottom of the sink and were the only items which made me feel that I was getting some bang for the buck. However, that feeling didn't last too long because of what happened in the evening - I used the toilet and flushed. And the freaking toilet OVERFLOWED and over my feet! We've stayed in budget hotels before - like Tune but NEVER in my life have I experienced having my feet dirtied with the contents of a used W.C from a hotel. Much less a 6 star hotel! I know shit happens, in this case, not just figuratively but still, to have paid this much for a room in a 6 star hotel and have this happen is just...wrong.

I wanted to raise a stinker (again, not just figuratively) to the hotel mgt but my CEB was there so I merely told them what had happened. They did not offer to have us change rooms which is what a 6 star hotel should do but instead said they would send someone over to fix the problem. We waited a good 15mins but no one came so I called them again and asked them to fix the problem while we went out for dinner. When we came back, guess what - they had fixed the W.C. but not the mess on the ground which was still soaked in W.C. water/contents. And the floor cloth which I had used to sop up some of the mess was still lying there in a crumpled heap. If you know me, you don't need to guess my reaction - but my CEB being the more easy-going of us two, managed to still make his trademark smiley faces with my sunny-side up the next morning at breakfast which brings me to my next grouse. Below is a pic of the breakfast area of the resort. The selection is...for want of better words, is limited and pathetic. Maybe it has to do with the occupancy - only 1 other table was filled but other than that, there were hardly any items for us to choose from :( It was that lousy.

Yes, lousy is the right word for the breakfast buffet spread at Philea Resort. This was my breakfast. I'm dissing the spread, the food, but not the service at the restaurant. The chef was very friendly and helpful and I could not feel sorry for him that he was responsible for facing guests dissatisfied the selection of food which he had no control over. To conclude, the Slog Reviews: 1/10 for Philea Resort if one is at Melaka. There are so many other hotels one could stay at while in Melaka and which are even more centrally located than Philea. If one does not have a car, getting to town/Jonker 88 will pose difficulties indeed. And to pay that amount of money for a mediocre room without hot water for the bath, a disgraceful breakfast spread and no facilities but the swimming pool and spa is a sheer waste. And if the W.C. does not overflow over one's feet, one should count oneself fortunate not to share the stomach-churning experience I had. As my CEB said, this so called 6 star hotel is 1 star facility, 1 star breakfast spread and 4 star customer service (the front end staff's service is excellent - can't speak for the repair staff though who left the dirty floor cloth in the toilet after fixing the W.C).

Seletar Hill Restaurant - The best braised belly pork (kong ba bao)

If I am not wrong, 95% of the posts in this blog are about places and food in Malaysia. That is not to say that I am not a born-and-bred Singaporean and darn proud of being one. And not to say that I don't travel to other places but Malaysia. Vegas, Paris, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Cairns, I've done in the past 2 years but I've never felt like blogging about these places for some strange reason - not even Cairns just a couple of months back.

When I find the time I guess - despite it being December, I am swarmed with my current workload to the point of being discouraged and despondent. And I miss my beloved boss's calm wise presence :( It sounds absolutely insane for a worker bee to count the days till her boss returns back to the office but I am. I miss her so much it actually hurts. Mad. Anyway, talking about her brings me back the original point of this post - the really good stuff that hails from Singapore, in this case, food (as opposed to a person) introduced to me by an expert foodie colleague of mine.

Because he was a regular at this haunt, we left the ordering to him. As with most traditional Chinese dinners, we started off with soup - in this case, Sze Chuan hot and sour soup. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. This soup was served piping hot and the fragrant aroma rising together with the steam made us drool even before the first spoonful. Excellent stuff.

My foodie colleague swears by the Camphor Tea Smoked Duck served by this restaurant -he has never had duck that tasted better, so he says. I am a duck meat lover - I always claim I am allergic to chicken to avoid eating chicken meat (when pressed further for details of this unique allergy, I usually reply that chicken triggers my anger management issues and the questioning inevitably stops) - and so I was really looking forward to the smoked duck he ordered. The Slog Reviews: 9/10. Alright, I confess I had to swallow a couple of times before typing because the picture below triggered off the memory of the thin crispy skin which was laced with just the most delicate layer of fat and oil, and of the firm tender juicy meat. Simply mouthwateringly good.

Despite its rather unappealing appearance below, the sambal green beans he ordered didn't stay very long on its plate either. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. Good on its own merits but can be given a miss in favor of the duck or the next item if one has limited eating/stomach capacity.

Now, I don't eat braised belly pork at all. The idea of all that quivering solid fat is simply abhorent and triggers unpleasant memories. However, my foodie colleague told me to try or regret this dish. The pork belly was served in this manner with just enough portions for the number of diners.

Because I was reluctant to pick up the belly pork with its thick layer of fats and put it between the white buns served together with the dish AND my foodie colleague was determined to have me try the dish, he ended up making the kong ba bao below for me - not much to look at but....one bite, and all was right with my world again. The Slog Reviews: 10/10. Orgasmic. Who needs a man, what does the state of my inbox matter...irrelevant. The pork melts in the mouth - I swear - it MELTS and the sweet dark gravy which seeps into the warm oh-so-tender- buns makes the entire combination a testimony to the wonders of our good lord. The 8th wonder.

Because I had been craving durian so badly, despite my foodie colleague's persuasions to have me try the chendol, I ordered the popular durian pudding (only SGD 2) and the Slog Reviews: 7/10. No offense to the dish but come on now, who was I fooling to think a durian pudding and not the real thing could actually satisfy my craving. But it was sweet of my foodie colleague though to remember my craving. Can skip.

In any case, I got to try the durian chendol because he absolutely insisted that such pleasures should be shared. The other colleagues at the table bowed to his wiser judgment as per the pic below and had that dessert too. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. I am not a chendol person but the overall concensus is that this is really good dessert and a sweet end to a great meal. Thank you so much for taking us here!

So, for those of you who can afford the calories, or who can't like The Slog but love braised belly pork, the place to make a beeline for is Seletar Hill Restaurant located at 16 Jalan Selaseh Seletar Hills Estate.

Pariss Hotel at Skudai JB

We decided to go to a different hotel for a change (from Thistle) this weekend because much of what we need to do is around the Skudai area. My CEB had noticed PARISS Hotel from the past few day trips we had made to Bukit Indah and suggested trying out this hotel for the weekend given how new and modern its facade is. We reached the hotel about 630pm and keeping our fingers crossed tt there were still rooms given the number of cars parked outside, we left our bags in the car and went to enquire at the rather decent looking reception located just next to the front doors.

Having learnt a lesson in Muar which we were at last week, I asked to have a look at the room first b4 committing a good RM124 for a night stay despite the outlook of the lobby. Talking about room rates - there was a strange kind of promotion this hotel had and one I have never encountered - without a company namecard the cost of a night stay in the superior room would be RM138. If one signed up for the hotel's membership at RM70 then the rate would be RM110. Breakfast is not included and there does not appear to be that option at all as there are no restaurants within the hotel. But the hotel is right next to Giant supermarket and there are plenty of eating places(including KFC) less than a 5mins drive away.

We were very pleased with the room as it was spacious, clean and new. There are Singaporean channels available on the 32inch LCD TV but the reception isn't that good. And there aren't cable channels like HBO and AXN. There also isn't a mini-bar in the room but at least a safe is provided (the one in our room was spoilt though).As for the bath room, there isn't a bath tub but there is a rain shower and ample toiletries are provided for guests. It is an extremely good deal for less than SGD55 an night which is probably why the lifts (there were only 2 smallish ones, 1 of which didn't seem to work) were packed. Not too bad for a weekend getaway!

Day 3 in Penang on 8 Nov 2010 - Kek Lok Si Temple

My last post on the Penang trip will be about Kek Lok Si Temple, which is probably the most, if not second most (after the snake temple) temple in Penang. As I'd mentioned, the Penang leg of the trip was planned by my CEB. My friend, P, kindly drove us from our hotel to the temple and dropped us off at the base of the hill the temple was built on.

To get to the temple, one has to climb quite a few flight of steps and along the way, many vendors have set up stalls selling nutmeg oil, t-shirts, luopans and all other sort of knickknacks. The encroachment by the vendors of their goods, on the walkway coupled with the number of people stopping to haggle over the price of the goods meant that the climb up was rather claustrophobic and tedious. Not ideal for toddlers and small kids at all.

However, being two rather large adult individuals with lots of time to spare, my CEB and I navigated the stairs in due time. Kek Lok Si is very large and spread over several stations as you will note from the picture of the comprehensive signboard below.

The next few pictures I took are of the sprawling compound and some of the beautifully constructed temple buildings.

I like the picture below in particular because it reminds me of the place where my CEB bought me some kind of 5 coin token at the shop on the first floor. Although I am not a believer at all (cradle Catholic), I accepted the token purely as a gift from him to me.


The newest and grandest attraction at Kek Lok Si however is this massive statue of Kwan Yin. It is impressive in size, if not in color. I much prefer the white kwan yin statue at the temple of ten thousand buddhas in Hong Kong, Sha Tin. This kwan yin statue appears to be almost completed and may probably be open for the public to access at a closer proximity in the future.
And I should mention too, that unless one drives or has iron legs fit to climb a hill, one has to buy a ticket (RM5 each way per pax) to take the cable ride up to view the Kwan Yin statue. The ride is worth the money because one gets to have a view of Penang Town on the way up, and is left with some spare breath to walk around to take some pictures of the garden up there.

In addition to the garden which houses 12 stone statues of the zodiac animals, there is also a small pond and another temple on the same level as the Kwan Yin statue. I wouldn't estimate one spending more than half an hour here unless one is determined to take a photograph of each stone statue, which I say, isn't too badly carved out. So here's tiger...on tiger. :D

Day 2 in Penang on 7 Nov 2010 - Sea Pearl Lagoon Cafe

I believe firmly that there is some truth to the saying that locals know where the best food is. And my friend P proved me right when she brought us to Sea Pearl Lagoon Restaurant located somewhere at the far end of Gurney Drive (not along the hawker food street area). The restaurant is apparently very popular among the locals and only accessible by car. However be warned that the ambiance of the place is rather dismal - it isn't a restaurant where you should dress up to go to - you would fit right in to the rather dirty-looking place in a pair of slippers and home shorts. But the food....I rarely say this given how much seafood I eat, the food is GLORIOUS, food fit for a seafood god.

I'll start with the best item - the salt-baked prawns. The Slog Reviews: Off the scale. Have you ever had salt-baked prawns? I've never had prawns so exquisitely fresh and sweet and baked to perfection such that the meat within remains tender yet moist. And there is just the slightest hint of saltiness that comes from the shell...the pic above shows just the first plate we had - we ordered another plate of course (500gm per plate).

The restaurant however doesn't specialize in doing prawns but rather, crabs. Pic above shows the salt-baked crabs which the 3 of us shared and were they good! The Slog Reviews: Off the scale! Salt-baked crabs filled with sweet roe and fresh firm meat. I owe P such a huge one for this sensational experience.

My CEB who likes Lala (clams) ordered a plate of clams and while they were nothing like the crabs or prawns, they were done in a different style and sauce (compared to JB) which lent the dish a unique but not unpleasant taste. The Slog Reviews: 8/10. Despite our satisfaction with this dish, I would still advocate that one should fill all available space in one's stomach with the prawns and crabs instead.

There are also other stalls at the restaurant which sells other type of food. Like satay. Mediocre at best so the advice above holds still - don't waste good calories or stomach space on these.

Alright, alright...I know. The table below is one of the few pics I'll post which shows the aftermath of The Slog's encounters with good food. My CEB likes taking pics like these which I feel are pretty gross and a testimony to our gluttony. But facts are facts, and so, we three gluttons polished off everything on the table - prawns, crabs, lala and satay.

After dinner and after meeting P's boyfriend who let slip that there might be durian ice cream at Penang's local ice cream parlor, we dropped by one of Maxim's outlet but alas, there was no durian ice cream. P bought us ice cream which was really sweet of her given how she had been driving us around most of the day. Although there was a sign board explaining how the ice cream in the shop was special (something about what ingredients went in and how it was made), I thought it was rather over-priced and unremarkable. Give me my favourite Haagan-Daz anytime!

We ended the night at Batu Ferringhi where there were loads of night markets and hawker food but being stuffed with the prawns, crabs and satay, we could not eat a bite more. There were lots of fakes and pirated stuff being sold at the very touristy stretch but as we didn't have much time to explore this area of Penang, when we go back there in a few weeks time, I'll have more to write about.

In any case, take note of where the best salt-baked crabs and prawns can be found:

Sea Pearl Lagoon Cafe
338, MK.18 Tanjung Tokong, 10470 Penang
(Next to Tua Peh Kong Temple)
Tel: 04-8990375

Day 2 in Penang on 7 Nov 2010 - Penang Street Famous Food

There is a really popular local food street in Penang located within a stone's throw from Gurney Plaza at Gurney Drive. This was how the place looked like at 6pm on a Saturday evening and it was tough finding a seat not only because of the crowd but also because many stores reserved the tables in front of their store for their customers.

My friend from Penang, P, who had dropped us off here told us that the stores towards the start of the street were more popular and even so, to help narrow down the bewildering array of choices before us, my CEB and I decided to order only from the stores with the longest queues on the assumption that these were the best. So he got in line at the "Cantonment Road Famous Char Koay Teow" stall (this is how it was spelled). The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10. Nothing too extraordinary about the char kway teoh really save that it was light, non-oily and went down the throat most easily.

He also ordered the Ikan Bakar (BBQed stingray) which turned out to be done in a very different style from that which we are used to. The Slog Reviews: 4/10. There was very little meat to the fish and the sambal/chilli sauce was bland and unremarkable. Not worth ordering.

I had a craving for carrot cake but he couldn't find any and ended up ordering fried oyster. The Slog Reviews: 7.5/10. I don't eat oysters so I can't comment too much about the freshness of the oysters but my CEB ate all of the oysters with great relish. As for the egg, I found the consistency a little too heavy for my liking.

The conclusion I drew after our experience at Gurney Drive is that Singapore's hawker food easily gives the street food there a serious run for its money. Not so though when it comes to Penang Laksa. Never, and I mean never, have I heard of any place in Singapore selling penang laksa that is able to rival the penang laksa sold in Penang, esp the penang laka sold at this very old run-down 1960s coffeeshop along Penang Road.

I don't know what the name of the shop is and neither does my friend who had earlier posted pics of this place and the penang laksa on her facebook page but if you walk along the main Penang Road, and ask the hawkers there (Even those selling penang laksa themselves) where the famous penang laksa is, they would point you in the direction of this coffeeshop which sells this.

Despite its appearance, and despite my having an aversion to sour-tasting laksa, I have developed a craving for penang laksa (even now as I type this) ever since having a bowl of this penang laksa. It is that good. The Slog Reviews: 10/10. Don't, don't ever give this laksa stall a miss if you are in Penang. It is worth the wait, worth the crowd and the walk to get there. While my CEB downed his second bowl of penang laksa from the shop, I had him get me a bowl of the chendol from the stall outside the shop (Had to pay an extra 50ct to the penang laksa seller to eat the chendol in his coffeeshop)

But before you diss the appearance of the chendol above or the fact that I had to part with 50ct just to eat this sitting down comfortably, take a look at the picture below of the queue for the chendol and the people standing around in the broiling hot Penang sun enjoying the chendol.

The name of this chendol stall is "Penang Road Famous Teochew Chendul" (yes, spelt this way). Now, if you have folks back home whom you pity for missing out on all the smashing great food in Penang, you can go to this famous shop called CHEE HIANG Penang to buy back some biscuits for them. Take note though of the long queues and impatient attitude of the staff behind the counter - although it is ridiculous that the choices of biscuits isn't made available to one while one is queuing, one is expected to know exactly which boxes of biscuits one should buy upon being served.