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La Vie En Rouge

Also known as ‘Sayeed’s Place’ or ‘The Lebanese’

A tiny sidewalk cafe tucked into a lane that runs off Jalan Hang Kasturi. As this is a sidewalk cafe (or cafe trottoir as the owner calls it), there is no inside seating; just four small tables in the laneway. It is very picturesque and tourists will often stop and sit at the tables to pose for selfies.

The menu is a Lebanese / international fusion, and the owner cooks, serves and cleans everything himself in a tiny kitchen, so things can take a while to arrive. The sole operator is also responsive to customer requests, so if you like the shawarma bread crispy - just ask. Drinks are not listed on the menu, but Arabic coffee is served on request. Sayeed will pop out to a nearby store to get anything else you might want to order (100+, coke, water, beer).

I generally stick with the chicken calzone when I eat at Sayeed’s place, but looking around at what other people eat, the salads look fresh and tasty and the hummus servings are larger than I would expect. Next time I go, I’m going to try the lamb, coconut and pineapple curry.

My Iranian friend had heard about this place from local shopkeepers, and wanted to try it for herself, but she always walked past it because she thought that all the red lanterns hanging outside meant it was a Chinese restaurant.

Beyond the hole in the wall kitchen is a bohemian budget backpacker lodge, so there is a lot of shoulder-rubbing with the younger baba cool traveller-types. The menu prices reflect the shoestring budgets of many of the backpacker guests, so not only is it tasty, cool and trendy - it’s also cheap, tasty, cool and trendy.

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Take the Quiz!

 A food quiz for non-foodies. Ten out of ten for everyone!

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Balcony garden

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Restoran Gulf

One of my favourites

I used to drive past here on my morning commute (until I found a better route), and sitting in traffic looking out at the row of shops on Jln BBI1, I’d notice the Gulf sign, and think “there’s a restaurant I wouldn’t want to go to”. Well, I was wrong. I love going to Gulf. The naan is crispy and the chicken is plump and juicy.

The seating is a bit lacking; there are tables inside, but it’s a bit cramped and dingy. Outside is more vibrant, but you have a choice of either sitting over the drain, or in the way of the oncoming traffic - up to you.

It’s worth it for the food, though. The chicken breast (they call it ‘chest’) is generously proportioned, and the tandoori coating is tasty (last night’s offering was a little saltier than usual, but I’m not complaining - I like salt). The tandoori chicken is served with generous sides of cucumber, lime and onion.

They have introduced a new dal since my last visit. This one is a drier, more lentil-y type than they had before (excuse my non technical language); it’s quite nice, but I didn’t need two dollops of it. The lemon coriander dipping sauce was nice (if you like that kind of thing - I don’t). Drinks are normal fare.

Naan, chicken and tea will cost you RM10. Nothing to complain about there!

Jalan Bukit Beruang Indah 1, Bukit Beruang.

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Tappers

Not expensive, and they’re cool with large parties splitting the bill. What’s not to like? (apart from the french toast)

Jalan Ixora in Bukit Beruang has loads of restaurants. There is pretty much something for everyone from mamak to western-styled franchise eateries. I hardly ever go there, though, because I can’t be bothered crossing Jalan Bukit Beruang.

I have been to Tappers a couple of times recently for work related dinners, and the food, service and ambiance is pretty amazing considering the cheap prices. Whenever I say ‘Tappers’ to colleagues or friends, they get all excited and think we’re going to a Spanish tapas restaurant. Ha! Ha! Not!

The menu is pretty extensive and some things are tasty and fresh, and some things are not. The broccoli pasta is fantastic! It’s the kind of place where there are pencils and order pads at the table, and unlike other self-order restaurants, the cashier is very accommodating when people want to split the bill.

On Saturday morning, when Subway didn’t have it’s act together (still no bread ready by 10.30 - really?) I went to Tappers for a breakfast. The cheese on toast looked tempting, but I can make that at home, and then I spotted french toast and hot chocolate. just like my OldTown favourites. so I ordered them for a taste comparison...

...and the results are: OldTown wins in the french/toast/egg bread category, but only because I don’t like condiments; the OldTown egg bread tastes better without kaya than the Tappers french bread tastes without ‘maple’ syrup (make sense?). The Tappers french toast comes with a generous single-serve pack of Heinz ‘maple’ syrup. i would have poured it on, but I read the ingredients list first (corn syrup, water and sugar were the top three, and the rest was a bunch of chemicals). The french toast was OK, but without the syrup is was a bit bland. A bit oily, too. I think that there is sugar added to either the bread or the egg mix. The OldTown egg bread can be a bit oily as well, but it lacks the slightly unpleasant sugar taste of the Tappers’ version.

The hot chocolate was lovely, and possibly slightly better than OldTown’s, but that might be because I haven’t seen the ingredients list for the drinking chocolate powder that they use.

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Lucky Everyday

I think we did it wrong

When I came here to get my key cut, I was impressed by the piles of food on everyone else’s tables, so I came back the next weekend with some friends to chow down with the locals. Except, it didn’t work quite like that.

No one was selling duck, so my friends went to the buffet section and piled up with fried fish pieces, rice and veges. I wanted to expand my repertoire a bit, so I tried something different. Different for me, that is. Hor fun noodles are a bit like fish and chips (or nasi goreng); you can get it everywhere, not very exciting, delicious when done well, but usually quite ordinary.

I took a small bowl (RM4.50), but I could have got a big one for RM5. It was definitely cheap, but was it delicious?

I’m not a hugely adventurous eater, but I had been expecting something a bit more exotic than a bowl of wet kuey tiao, so I was initially disappointed (I discovered later that hor fun is just Cantonese for kuey tiao, so I have had it before!). The chili / soy condiment helped a bit, but it did taste a bit bland at first. However, once my mind got over the fact that I was looking at a boring noodle soup (I normally avoid noodles for some reason), and I started slurping it down, and my taste buds started doing their job, I began to enjoy it (slurping - that’s it; that’s why I normally avoid noodles, I remember now).

In fact, it was delicious. I still feel a bit cheated, though, that we ate such normal workday lunchtime fare when I was expecting something more of a brunch banquet.

If you look on Google maps, Lucky Everyday is listed as Jalan Delima, but if you really look at Google maps, you will see it is nowhere near Jln Delima. It’s on the other side of Jalan Intan (main road) on the Jln Emas block. Lucky Everyday is on the bottom right-hand corner of Jln Intan / Emas where the Wednesday night market starts.

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Lucky Everyday

Get your keys cut while you have lunch.13 Jalan Delima, Bukit Beruang.

It was Sunday afternoon, and I needed to get a few chores done. Finding an open hardware store on a Sunday in Bukit Beruang is not easy (I knew that, but I still tried). I asked around about key cutting, and a few people pointed me toward the bottom of Jalan Intan - to a restaurant. I hadn’t realised it, but Lucky Everyday restaurant (which I’ve often passed, but never visited) actually has a key cutter working from a small booth inside.

I ordered a strong coffee while I waited, and that was what I got. Most of the other customers were ordering vast amounts of food to share for lunch. There are several booths offering different dishes, so you can choose from rice, noodles, soup, whatever. I’m not sure how easy it would be to order a single serve of something, as most people were ordering in large groups, but next time I get some friends together, I’m going to give it a try.

Because of the excitement of finding a key cutter in a restaurant, I managed to leave my newly cut keys behind when I left. I went back after work on Monday, and although they had closed up for the evening, there was still someone there - and they had kept my keys hanging on a convenient nail for me. Lucky Everyday!

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Kumari Curry House

Classic banana leaf in Ayer Keroh

There are a lot of ‘classic’ banana leaf restaurants around, so it’s hard to stand out from the crowd. Kumari has the advantage of being a small, family-run business, and this family is very confident of the freshness and quality of their mum’s cooking.

We usually eat there a bit after midday, and I get the feeling that the day is about done by then as far as the restaurant is concerned. It’s good at lunchtime, but it might be even better if you get there earlier in the day.

I like to eat the baked fish with a little rice and dal. The uncle dishing out the vegetables is very generous, as are all the family members. Larger portions are freely given if you ask. The dals and curries are self-serve. Depending on the side dish(es) you choose, and your drink, the price will vary. The banana leaf with baked fish and iced lime water is RM10.50, but other side dish options would be cheaper.

This is not a foodie blog, but the home-cooked, ‘fresh is best’ attitude of the cooks is definitely the main attraction here. 

Kumari Curry House, 77 Jln TU 41, Taman Tasik Utama, Ayer Keroh

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Hungry Bear

(Next door to OldTown White Coffee)

I have been here before; they gave me a voucher for a free something or other on my next visit, but I didn’t rush back, so the voucher expired. It’s not horrible or anything, but it just doesn’t have the pull of OldTown next door.

I ordered a coffee while I looked through the menu. The macchiato had a hell of a jolt, and definitely gave me a kick start. I was surprised, because I’d already had three cups of brewed coffee at home, so I’m pretty immune to caffeine. But, wow.

Unlike OldTown, there’s no Asian food safety net here. At Hungry Bear, everything is western. From a coffee point of view, that’s a good thing. The food though is western in name only. The ham and egg croissant caught my eye, but then so did the no pork, no lard signs everywhere. So you can cross off ‘ham’ and eggs if we don’t have ham.

I ordered the scrambled eggs, and it came with a free drink, so I chose brewed coffee. The eggs also came with ‘ham’. I scoffed down the eggs no problem (they were nice), but I didn’t feel like eating any of the lettuce, and the bread was floating on some kind of mushroom sauce or something, so I left that too.

Hungry Bear has an extensive menu and lots of specials. Tuesday is pizza night, and two large pizzas come in at under RM50. A lot of their meals come with some kind of special deal, and the prices are reasonable (to say the least).

Definitely worth a follow up visit to find a favourite pizza or pasta (but I’m pretty sure I won’t find any ‘favourites’ on the all day breakfast menu).

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OldTown White Coffee

The perfect place to start a non-foodie restaurant blog.

I love OldTown. It’s reliable, and you know exactly what you’re going to get. I do, at least, because I always get the same thing...every time. 

In restaurants like OldTown, where the menu has western and Asian options, it’s probably best to go for the Asian option. The people who make the menu are going to have a much deeper understanding of what makes a good nasi lemak or Ipoh-style shrimp noodle soup than any of the offerings in the western section. Chicken chop is not a western dish, and lamb chop is not what you think it is (not just looking at you, OldTown ).

Anyhow, that’s my advice, but you don’t have to take it.

I personally avoid the Asian menu items. Actually, I avoid everything except the egg toast and the enriched hot chocolate. I love those. 

OldTown is a great place to go if you want to chill for a bit. Most branches have veranda areas looking on to the street, and the Bukit Beruang OldTown is no exception; the outdoor seating is spacious, cool and nicely set back from the traffic. Inside is good too; with lots of booths, and a lot of the seating has a power outlet nearby (or at least where I usually sit does).

Next time I go, I will stop being a wuss, and I will order something completely different.

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How can it be?

A restaurant blog, and I’m not even a foodie. How crazy is that? Not as crazy as it sounds. I eat out several times a week, and I have something to say about the places I like to eat at. I’m hoping that writing about restaurants will encourage me to be more adventurous, and to try some of the many, many food options around Melaka.

I want to write honestly about my eating out experiences, but I don’t want to use this as a place to vent my spleen over cold dishes, sloppy service or any of the other bad things that can happen when you eat out in Melaka (or anywhere). If it’s really horrible, I just won’t write about it.

First rule broken (already)

Know your audience, right? Well, I don’t know you, sorry. I think I’m writing for me, but if you are reading this, then I’m writing for you, too. Feel free to leave comments.

Enjoy! (as servers like to say, but I’ve never heard it said in any restaurants around these parts)