It’s been a very long day for all of us Sahabat Media and as the night falls, all of our tummies growled out loud to be fed. Melaka is not only well known for historical and heritage trail, but is famous for cultural diversity and food too.

There are plenty of places where you can sample delicious food and watch cultural performances in Melaka, but there are only a handful of places where you can experience both at the same time, and the Melaka Nyonya Village is one of those places where you not only can sample fabulous food, but watch cultural performance at the same time as well.

The place is really homey, welcoming and spacious

You can opt to dine al fresco

Or dine indoor

The interior of this place is like a mini museum where they exhibit various antiquities.

Unique deco where paper umbrellas were seen ‘levitating’ around.

Authentic Peranakan dishes were served that night for our gastronomic pleasure.

Tapioca chips/kerepek ubi keledek were served as an appetizer. It was sweet, slightly salt-ish and crunchy. No excessive oil whatsoever and it was quite addictive. I found myself keep reaching for more.

Cincaluk Omelet/Telur Dadar Cincaluk is a kind of omelet where the eggs mixture was mixed with fermented shrimps before being pan fried. The omelet was fluffy, but the cincaluk taste was too mild to my liking. I would prefer it if there was more cincaluk in it. But this is a good dish to go with plain rice nevertheless.

Salted veggie soup with chicken was perfectly done. There was a balance of sourishness from the salted veggie and sweetness from the plump, juicy tomatoes and the chicken meat absorbs the natural flavours very well. This appetizing dish guarantees to whet your appetite and a wonderful meal to have during those cold nights.

Stir fried mixed veggies with foochuk was all right too. I have no complaints about it.My boy loves it very much and had a few helpings of these.

Sambal Petai with fried anchovies was to die for. Some people may require an acquired taste to be enjoy this dish, and I happen to have an acquired taste for it. Love the stinky beans and the spiciness of the sambal and fried anchovies even more.

Pajeri Nanas is a type of curry that is usually cooked with sliced pineapple as the main ingredient. The pajeri nanas was wonderful. This version of pajeri nanas was cooked with curry spices, coconut milk and juicy, fresh shrimps. It was fabulous. The curry was naturally tangy and refreshing while the shrimp was fleshy and flavourful.

Ikan Goreng Kerutuk. This dish is supposed to be saucy with kerutuk sauce drizzled onto it, but the rest at the table prefers to take it the way it is, so I can’t comment much on it apart from the freshness and the sweetness of the deep fried fish. Quite a waste actually. I wondered to this very day how the fish would have tasted like if we poured the kerutuk sauce onto it. I bet it would have been marvellous.

Ayam Pongteh is a must try Peranakan dish if you are to dine in Nyonya Village. Ayam Pongteh is one of the Baba Nyonya’s culinary pride and joy. Basically, this dish is just made from chicken pieces, potatoes and thickened dark soya sauce with some spices. This version in Nyonya Village, however have an additional ingredient which is the shittake mushrooms. This homey dish won my heart that night. Perfectly done and was bursting with flavours.

Otak-Otak is a kind of spicy mackerel pattie mixed with secret spices and grilled in banana leaf. I’m not a fan of fish, but since this is boneless, I found myself scooping up these into my plate more than twice. It was uniquely flavoured and has no fishy smell whatsoever.

Fragrant Thai Rice was served to go with all the other dishes, of course. My only grouse is that I couldn’t have enough of the rice. 😉

Sambal belacan and cincaluk was naturally served as dippings as well, but the food was tasty enough that I did not have the needs for additional sambal belacan or cincaluk to go with my rice.

Assorted Nyonya Kuih was served as dessert, and they tasted like authentically homemade. 🙂

At the end of the meal, we were served Cendol, a traditional dessert made from shaved ice topped with green flour jellies, occasional red beans,palm sugar syrup and coconut milk. This sweet shaved ice was irresistibly refreshing, and I found myself wishing for more. Thumbs up for this traditional dessert and highly recommended for those who have sweet tooth.

Dining here in Melaka Nyonya Village is an absolutely amazing experience. Not only the food was authentic and superb and would satiate even the fussiest eater, but diners were served with dazzling cultural performance as well.

Here’s a glimpse of the cultural performance performed that night, ranging from the Peranakan dance Dondang Sayang, fan dance, fashion show, mock wedding and many more. Will blog about it more once I had the opportunity to sort out the videos and pictures. 😉 Do keep a lookout for it in my blog soon.

From what I understand, Melaka Nyonya Village does not have JAKIM halal cert, but it is PORK FREE and it was promised that their dishes does not contain MSG.

For bookings of table and tickets for the cultural performances do refer to the information below:

Melaka Nyonya Village
178 Jalan Parameswara, 75000 Melaka
Tel: 606-6306999
Fax: 606-6306977
Email: [email protected]
Website: https://babanyonyamelaka.com

The trip to Melaka was made possible by MMode, Santai Travel and Malaysia Tourism.