Though it was but a short (church) camp of 5 days, there was still time to explore the nearby Jonker Street - a Chinatown of sorts with surroundings which are a fine fusion of tradition, and heritage intertwined with hip and innovation. With Malacca (Melaka) being awarded World Heritage status by UNESCO in 2008, Jonker Street (being in Malacca) is one street not to be missed.
On route to
Jonker Street from our hotel (
Hotel Equatorial Melaka), there were interesting sights and it was about a 10-15 minute walk. Upon reaching
Jonker Street, it was a sight to behold with both the traditional (architecture) and some shops which have been there for some time blended with the moderns that occasionally pops up (Hard Rock, Star Bucks, boutique clothes shops anyone?).
Over our two (half) days exploration, we ate quite a bit. On the first day, we were on a quest, a food quest. But as most of us were already exhausted from the morning’s activities, we decided to just take in the sights and sounds and have a bite or two. Even so we managed to eat quite a few things. It was a blur of food activity as we walked, looked and ate (in the scorching afternoon heat). As a result of that, I can’t remember the names of the places we ate at (same goes for the second day as well haha).
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| Chicken Rice Balls and herbal jelly and... |
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| ... even more food! |
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| And the walking |
On the second day, we had the whole afternoon to ourselves yet again. It was a flurry of activity as all of the groups (which is a lot if you break down the full strength of about 500 into smaller groups of about 20) as it was lunch time. Scores of people scurried towards places to have lunch, and every corner we turned we could see the other groups already eating or queing up (what can I say, we took a leisurely walk down).
My group wanted to have lunch at this (apparently) famous Peranakan restaurant called “Nancy’s Kitchen”. From the outside the aroma of the food was tempting, but unfortunately for us (in a big group) the place was packed to brim, forcing us to look for an alternative.
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| Nancy's Kitchen even had Tripadvsior stamp of approval. Too bad we were not able to try it this time |
And an alternative we did find. It was another Peranakan restaurant (can’t remember the name) that had practically no crowd.
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| Peranakan Culture and Heritage |
Famished from all that walking, we went in and made our order, which was recommended by the owner consisting of:
- Ngoh hiang (a five-spice meat roll)
- Nonya Chap Chye
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| Cabbage stewed with vegetables such as carrotsm dried beancurd skin, dry lilybuds, small black fungus & tanghoon in taucheo (blackbean) gravy. |
- Chendol
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| In-house made and served with kidney beans, shaved ice, coconut milk and gula melaka. The shaved ice was soft and melt in the mouth. |
- Chin Cha Lok Sauce (Accompaniment)
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| Made with fermented small shrimps paste |
- Ayam (Chicken) Ponteh - Homely chicken stew with potatos, Otah and Prawn Curry
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| The spread! Well, part of it... :p |
On the way back to the hotel, we passed by Christ Church, an 18th century Anglican Church, in its trademark red with a tinge of brown (paint).
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| The interior of Christ Church |
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| The souvenir shops outside Christ Church and the ongoing construction |
There is even a museum with a man-made mini brown dinosaur on the way to the hotel (which we passed by every time we made our way to Jonker Street from the hotel).
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| Rwar!!! |
Overall,
Jonker Street is an interesting place to visit for the food, culture and architecture. If you are a foodie and around the area,
Jonker Street is one place to put on the list to visit! If you have visited
Jonker Street before, where would you recommend for food and would souvenirs one should get? Do share! ^^
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| Vibrant and super decorated rides! |
When travel collides with a byte, a unit of information made up of bits, TravelBytez is formed: snippets of ramblings on travel, food, shopping, living and anything else that comes to mind.
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