nyonya style chicken – sixthseal.com

peranakan restaurant melaka

Restaurant Peranakan is the aptly named place known for it’s Peranakan cuisine. It’s often been cited as the #1 place to go for Nyonya food in Melaka. Peranakan (or Straits Chinese) is a distinctive racial group in Melaka – it comes from Chinese settlers marrying locals and is an entire culture unto itself, the hotbed of which lies in Melaka.

peranakan restaurant

Nyonya food is conglomeration of Chinese and Malay food, but there are some really unique dishes they call their own. I had lunch here while on a road trip to Melaka.

restaurant peranakan

Peranakan Restaurant has a really nice décor which reflects the heydays of the Baba Nyonya clan.

Ayam Buah Keluak

ayam buah keluak

This is perhaps the most well known Nyonya dish. It’s chicken cooked with kepayang tree nuts. Buah keluak is actually poisonous before being prepared for cooking. It prompted a lot of Googling when I mentioned that coz someone ate the inside of the nut.

buah-keluak

I like this dish – it’s a very rich and flavorful one due to the buah keluak. I ate some of the insides of the nuts too – it’s sourish and contributes to the flavor of the chicken. Peranakan Restaurant makes the best ayam buah keluak I’ve had.

Ayam Pongteh

ayam pongteh

I’ve had this at Donald & Lily’s Authentic Nyonya Food too but that pales in comparison with Peranakan Restaurant’s version.

Ikan Tenggiri Asam Pedas

ikan tenggiri asam pedas

This is a really good and spicy fish dish that I found worthy of mention – it’s cooked with brinjals, tomatos, and ladyfingers and has a sweet, spicy and sour (more towards the latter) gravy that goes very well with rice.

Udang Lemak Nanas

vivid prawns

This is a very rich dish of shrimp cooked with pineapples and lots of oil. I set the camera to Vivid and it almost hurts my eye to look at it.

udang lemak nanas

Here’s one that’s easier on the ocular devices. 😉 It’s also one of the dishes I’ll recommend at Peranakan Restaurant.

Nyonya Chap Choy

nyonya chap choy

It’s mixed vegetables, nothing special here.

Kangkung Belacan

kangkung belacan

This dish has strayed into mainstream Chinese cooking that a lot of people forget it’s Nyonya origins. If you want the most authentic version, I guess here’s where you go.

Taufo Peranakan

taufo peranakan

I’m not a huge fan of tofu but it disappeared pretty quickly so I’ll hazard a guess and say it’s pretty good if you like the stuff. 😉

Fo Yong Tan

fo yong tan

I think this is the egg omelet unless I’ve completely messed up my bearings. Forgettable.

Sambal Bendih

sambal bendih

Okra with a splash of sambal on top. Simple, but good.

peranakan restaurant food

I spent the whole time piling my plate with all the different stuff so I could take a photo. Their flagship dishes are really good, while some are mediocre, but IMHO, Peranakan Restaurant is the place to go for authentic Nyonya food if you’re in Melaka.

nissan almera

I was there on a the Eat, Play, Drive road trip with a bunch of other bloggers. We drove down on several Nissan Alameras. I had the opportunity to drive the IMPUL tuned one (which is my main ride, with a very auspicious plate too – WXN 6330). Simon, Joshua and Kelly (another group) was kind enough to let me drive the stock Nissan Alamara for a stretch.

nissan almera eat play drive

I prefered the Nissan Alamera tuned by IMPUL that was issued to my group – there’s keyless ignition and the specs are pretty decent. I found the acceleration to be a bit lacking, but as they say, it’s not a sports car, but a sedan that’s surprisingly affordable for its class. I was quite impressed by the price of the car for it’s specs.

nissan almera impul

Thanks for the invite Hui Ping! 🙂

auntie koh cendol

This was also where I had the famous Klebang Original Coconut Shake and while we were driving there, we also stopped by Aunty Koh’s Cendol. This place churns out really good cendol – perfect for a hot day!

auntie koh

It’s primarily manned by a single woman – the aforementioned Aunty Koh. Cendol is a shaved ice dessert with squiggly green jelly and kidney beans (we use red beans in Sarawak).

aunty koh cendol

Gula Melaka (caramelized palm sugar) gives it that distinctive sugary sweet taste, which is tempered by santan (coconut milk).

melaka cendol

You’ll be amazed by how many people come here for the RM 3.50 (large) cendol.

aunty koh

I was tempted to have two (and I think I did have two) but I also heard that this place is famous for it’s taibak (RM 1.50) – which is a very simple shaved ice dessert made with red and white flour squiggles. I found the taste very similar to something we have in Sibu called “wu wei tang” (5 taste soup) which is another shaved ice dessert that has dried apples and other misc ingredients among it.

taibak

It’s simple but refreshing.

cendol melaka

However, I still prefered the cendol at Aunty Koh Cendol. They claim to be Melaka’s best cendol and I’m inclined to agree. I’ve had cendol in lots of places from Penang to Kuantan (click on the tag cendol) and this is among the top ones I’ve had the pleasure of eating. 😀

li bai fusion cafe

Li Bai Fusion Cafe is the latest eating establishment in the Padungan district. The Padungan area is fast becoming a catalyst for concept gastronomic outlets and Li Bai Fusion Cafe just opened its doors to the public less than a month ago. I went to check it out with Yie Hui last night after meeting her at bing!

li bai fusion cafe shop

Li Bai Fusion Cafe (sometimes spelled Lee Bai) has a great signboard at the establishment – it features a caricature of Li Bai (a famous Chinese poet) followed by the Chinese characters spelling out his name and the words fusion cafe is small font at the bottom. It is owned by Grick Liew from Kitchen Asylum Sdn. Bhd. – a friendly guy who told us about the operations of the place.

li bai fusion cafe alcove

Li Bai Fusion Cafe has a small glass encased alcove at the ground floor which has nice bamboo features (the bamboo theme is central to the Li Bai Fusion Cafe decor) and a cohesive theme which includes Chinese style wood paneling and cordons as well as Chinese style tea ceremony seating. The open ground floor area is a smoking zone and there are waitresses to seat you upstairs at the no-smoking air conditioned dining area.

li bai fusion cafe interior

The dining area on the first floor is much larger and features a lot of Li Bai (the Chinese poet) writings on the walls and bamboo shoots in a glass feature at the center wall. The seating arrangements are similar to the Chinese style tea ceremony seating at the ground floor and there’s a small staff area which includes a dumb waiter for the kitchen downstairs to deliver the food up.

li bai fusion cafe lighting

Li Bai Fusion Cafe has bright florescent lighting (and even a streetlamp!) with halogen lights angled down to feature the writings of the Chinese poet which the place is named after. The bright florescent lighting feels cold, but it imparts a feeling of sanitization and cleanliness (which is next to Godliness, or so I hear).

li bai fusion cafe vip

There is also a VIP seating area (or private dining area) at the back of the eating establishment – and the unusual aspect about Li Bai Fusion Cafe implementation of this space is that it’s semi-open. The dining area is built inside a wooden structure with sliding doors and the patrons and tables are visible from the outside.

li bai fusion juice

Fresh Juice (RM 3.80)
I think this is apple juice. Yie Hui ordered this one and she said it was good.

li bai fusion chicken

Nyonya Style Chicken (RM 10)
This is the main dish that the waitress recommended. The fusion cafe moniker is very apt in this case – Li Bai Fusion Cafe serves up Chinese cuisine with influences from a lot of other disciplines of cooking. It tastes great – the chicken is spicy and sweet at the same time.

li bai fusion yin yang

Yin Yang (RM 6)
Yin Yang is a dish which comprises flat noodles (kueh tiaw) and rice vermicelli (bee hoon) mixed in equal parts (which gives it the name). The rice vermicelli is deep fried before being soaked into the flat noodles (kueh tiaw) gravy so it maintains its crunchiness at the beginning and becomes soggy towards the end.

li bai fusion yin yang macro

The Yin Yang dish has a mixture of ingredients such as chicken, prawns and crab sticks, as well as vegetables. It was rather bland – that’s the verdict from the both of us.

li bai fusion rice

“Jin Zhen Tou” (RM 7.50)
This rice based dish has heavy influences from Indonesian cuisine – it’s basically a version of nasi pattaya (fried rice wrapped in an omelet) served with a side of orange chicken (chicken cooked with orange). I like the orange slices arranged on the dish…it gives it a bit of presentation flair. The rice dish is not just topped with an omelet but completely wrapped inside a large omelet.

li bai fusion rice macro

This is what the dish looks like inside – you can definitely tell I wasn’t the one who started eating it from the clean break. 😉 The fried rice has oatmeal mixed into it and that gives it a sweet texture at times. I like the orange chicken too, it tastes great, but Yie Hui is not a big fan of sweet gravy with rice. I am though. This comes highly recommended from me.

li bai fusion snow frog

Snow Frog (RM 10)
This is one of the desserts we ordered – it’s a traditional Chinese herbal drink that’s supposed to be “cooling”. It tastes sweet.

li bai fusion dessert

Fresh “Xi Mi Lu” (RM 10.50)
This dessert is a milk based concoction with an assortment of ingredients inside. The desserts at Li Bai Fusion Cafe is available either chilled or hot. This is the chilled version.

li bai fusion dessert macro

There is an assortment of fruits and jellies inside this dessert and that distinct evaporated milk taste which predominantly dominates the dessert. I like evaporated milk (a thick and creamy milk) so this went down really well with me.

li bai fusion cafe end

Li Bai Fusion Cafe is worth checking out if you’re around the Padungan area and is interested in Chinese style dining with influences from other cuisines. Li Bai Fusion Cafe also has a large repertoire of dishes on the menu from double boiled soups to fish.

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Restaurant Peranakan, Aunty Koh Cendol, and the Melaka road trip

Li Bai Fusion Cafe review