Hidden Treasure...

Tucked in the corner of Jalan (more like a lorong) Hang Kasturi along Jonker street in Malacca lies an unassuming little teow chew restaurant called Teo Soon Long Chan.... From the outside, you would think it no different from a normal hawker coffee shop... but step inside and you are welcomed into this cosy little air conditioned restaurants lines with liquor bottles all around... There was only 7 tables in the room, which is why reservation is highly recommended...

To one side is a display of the fresh ingredients/seafood for the day... This uncle here takes your orders and when we asked what is their Signature Dish? His answer was simple "No signature dish, all is good. No need to ask where the source of the ingredients are from, as long as it taste good, that should be good enough!!" ..... and he was right.

On the other side was a counter and the liquor cabinet lining the walls.... That guy on the phone, is no ordinary guy. He got skills... you will know what I mean further down this post.... :)

To start of the dinner... let me introduce you to the sauces... haha!! This is a traditional teowchew tauchu with chilli sauce which is best eaten with the steam fish...

Next up is the sambal..and this is no ordinary sambal which you get at other regular restaurants... This has ikan bilis in them... plenty... It was Yum....!!!

Okay... to start the night off we had the Oyster Noodles which was highly recommended and every table seems to have ordered one... it was just yellow noodles fried hokkien style but with Oysters in them... Unless you are an oyster fan, this is nothing to shout about... Too oyster-ish for my taste....

Next we had the steam fish teowchew style... what other style can you order in a teowchew restaurant right? haha!! This was definitely the highlight for me... It was steamed just right... not over nor under done and the fish was fresh... the broth has just the right level of saltiness that made the whole dish work... It was so good I ordered another one at the end of our meal...

Oh ya... remember the guy at the counter... well he is highly skilled at cutting the fish up... he cuts and debones the entire fish in 22 precise cuts... Cool huh?

Another dish which was recommended by fellow bloggers was the fried soft shell crab... Although not a traditional teowchew dish but this was really well done... the batter was crunchy and the sweet sauce which accompanied the dish just complimented the taste of the crabs...

We were recommended the Bitter Gourd and Pork Ribs stew by the uncle and we gladly agreed... This was an extremely small dish but it tasted really good..the bitter gourd has just a slight twang of bitterness to it and it was soft to the bite... The pork ribs were small little succulent pieces of meat and the sauce was heavenly... Best eaten mixed with rice (which my eldest sis refused to the dismay of the owner)... It was thickened with yam instead of starch so it has a slight hint of yam in the aftertaste...

Next up was the fried mince pork balls.. This was pretty good... It was not spectacular but it was pretty good for pork balls... :)

Now, the final and apparently most popular dish which the uncle insisted we should end our meal with... Ohnee! Or better known as yam paste served with ginko and pumpkin... I need to say upfront that I am not a chinese dessert kinda person (especially when they are pasty) but I gave it a try since it was highly recommended...

I am now a convert... This ohnee was soooo good.. the texture was smooth and taken with the pumpkin it gave just the right balance of yammy gooey-ness and sweetness from the pumpkin... Really good.. no wonder this was their one and only dish which has been commercialised.

Look at the consistency of the yam... beautiful....

This is definitely one restaurant I would highly recommend if you are heading to Malacca... I am a malaccan and I only knew of this place recently.. How embarassing... :( Forget about the satay celup or the chicken rice balls... those are just hyped up food.. This is the real deal... just simple delicious teowchew dishes done very well...

Teo Soon Loong Chan Restaurant
55, Jalan Hang Kasturi

75200 Melaka, Malaysia

Tel: 06-2822353

Malakoff 2010

Just went for a 7km run yesterday... The irony of it was that from the day I registered for the run two months ago (after an invite from a fren) til yesterday, I did not go for a single jog... haha!! Lazy me...

The route, was treacherous.... There was too many hills to count but there were 2 which were distinctively steep and long... gosh! I wonder who picked this route... It was really killing me.. yeah there were downhill moments as well but the uphills were really bad... some I even needed to lean forward to balance myself...

Safe to say I walked up all the hills.. not run. haha!! :D

But hey, I still managed it in 56 mins considering my super unfit condition... I just told myself that I needed to get it done in less than an hour!!! Dont embarass yourself Aichin. ;)

How times have changed.

Do you remember during the good old days where many little Chinese kopitiam still existed? Then you would see many old uncles and grandpas just sit along the outside of the kopitiam with their backs facing the kopitiam?

They would stare out to the streets and chat amongst themselves.. I always wondered what were they looking at??!! Cars passing by? Or ppl walking by?

Well today I witnessed it again but under a very different circumstance. I am now sitting in Starbucks. An indoor Starbucks I must add and right in front of me sitting outside of the shop is 2 uncles sitting on either sides of the table with their backs against Starbucks looking outwards and having a chat. How times have changed from a mere streetside kopitiam to a shopping mall Starbucks but what hasn't change is the good old tradition of meeting up with your friends over a cuppa.

Think it didn't matter to them what the view was.. What's important is the companionship of a few good friends.

Looking at them gives a warm fuzzy feeling and it puts a smile of my face. I hope when I grow old I would be able to have such a ritual. Then I must have lived a blessed life filled with wonderful friends.