#xiang ji satay house

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xiang ji satay house, melaka.

i remembered coming here a few years back and the satay was good, so visited again few weeks ago when i was in town again. they offer both chicken and pork satay, also has inerds for those who likes it and their otak otak is great too.

i visited during odd hours so we were the only customers, i like to eat satay as snacks instead of main meals, haha.. anyway i like that their satay has very little to no fats, and the pineapple satay sauce is very appetizing, and i enjoyed it. might peanut lovers would prefer the more common peanut sauce, but i really like this slightly sweet and sour combination with grilled meat.

their satay portion is smaller though, compared to other places, probably cos there’s less fatty parts? i’m not sure, but i don’t really mind that much as i’m not looking to stuff myself. satay was grilled upon order so it’s hot when served, which is another good point as well. if you are interested to try a different sauce, this is worth checking out.

[zenovyap]

Flew to Subang last weekend for C’s wedding, which was held in The Saujana Resort. The plan was to take the chance to unwind by having an extended weekend.

Firefly In…

We flew in to Subang via Firefly FY3125, which was flown on a 72-seater propeller plane. It was the 2nd time I flew on a turbo-prop, though nothing compared to my virgin turbo-prop experience from Kathmandu to Pokhara!

Since the plane was small, we flew rather close to the ground (the pilot said 25,000 feet), so the landscape could be viewed for the whole journey, only if the sun wasn’t that glaring! And due to aircraft limitations, the trip took about half an hour longer than if we were to fly on a jet plane, at 1h20m.

As a budget shuttle, we didn’t expect much from the service, which was why it was a surprise when we were offered a choice of peanuts or Curry Puff F.O.C. Curry Puff! In contrast, SQ only serves drinks for Economy passengers and MH served peanuts only.

Subang Airport (it has a longer name, in honour of some royal, that I could not remember) was an airport so small, we cleared immigration about 10 minutes after touching down. If one has no check-in luggage, he could have been out of the airport in 15!

The Saujana Resort

The Saujana Resort is a sprawling complex just next to Subang Airport. 4 accommodation blocks lined one side of a lake, overlooking the golf course on the other side.

Each 4-storey block houses a category of rooms which were arranges around a square courtyard. We stayed in an Executive Deluxe room, which was far from the main reception, but was quieter in comparison.

      The whole place felt more like a student hostel/chalet than a resort/hotel, so I was rather glad that our room was more towards the latter. Yes, we only had a tree view, the walls looked tired with its stains and cracks and the staff refused to give us more than 2 bottles of mineral water, but we had a couch, spacious room and bathroom. Not bad for a chalet-standard.

  Breakfast was at its restaurant called Charcoal, which served decent food. My favourite was its Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaf, which had more ingredients than what we would usually find in Singapore, with a little bit more greens! The best thing of course was that the place was never really full and crowded, even though it looked small and the resort was almost full over the weekend.

Another favourite item available was their Chicken Curry, which reminded me of my childhood haha! The Curry Chicken scene in Singapore has evolved to 2 types of Chicken Curry: one type is super sweet and coconut-y, and the other where the chef spams chilli till there’s no other layer of taste to the dish.

The Chicken Curry at Charcoal harked back to the old days where you could still taste the spices while enjoying the kick from the chilli. It was so nice I mixed it with the Japanese rice and Roti Prata just to savour the curry!

      Service wise, the staff embodied the stereotype of “Malaysian service staff”. Waiting time to check in was long; the reception staff could not answer queries about their cake-store which was literally just steps away from the reception. Our classic encounter came from returning to our room after an afternoon out of the resort to find an extra bed in our room.

And we already turned on the “Do Not Disturb” sign!

Guess our parents’ advice to lock all our valuables when we’re not in our rooms rang real true in this instance!

We had one of our dinners at the in-house Italian restaurant, Senja.

The atmosphere and setting felt like a top-grade establishment, minus the heart-stopping price found in Singapore! I had Oven Baked Chicken Breast, while N had Grilled Chicken and the others shared at 1kg T-Bone Steak.

My chicken was great initially, as I liked how the skin was baked to a fragrant, even crisp. But as I dug on, I found that the chicken was too dry and tough and I gave up near the end. N said the same for his grilled chicken.

The others were raving about their steak, though and promptly cleaned up their plates even though I thought the serving was darn huge!

The joke of it all? Only 1 person ordered Rissoto, the only Italian food ordered for the night!

And so there was a little celebration for 3 of us November babies, though I it suddenly dawned on me I was The OLDEST among them…

  The Wedding

The wedding dinner itself was held at one of the function rooms. It was a small, intimate affair, with about 20 tables for guests. Having eaten dozens of Singaporean wedding dinners, C’s wedding was both familiar and novel.

Familiar, because it was still a Straits Chinese wedding, so the 10-course meal featured regulars like steamed fish, cold platter and Asian desserts (like Tang Yuan (rice dumplings) in Soya Bean Milk and Salted Egg Buns). Novel, because of the slight twists in the food.

For example, their Salted Egg Buns were like Chilli Crab Buns with the filling of Tau Sar Pau (Green Bean Paste Bun), which was my first taste of such a fusion food! They also had Curry Chicken, Hong Kong style, meaning the chicken was pan fried to have crispy skin before being served in a bed of curry.

Even the cold platter was slightly different. Other than the familiar Salad Prawn and Ngor Hiang, there was this item that was a fusion of 活佛飘香Huo Fo Piao Xiang (Yam Ring) with 宫保鸡丁Gong Bao Ji Ding (Kong Pau Chicken Cubes). It was quite a good dish, though it was darn sinful! One of the items was also Glutinous Rice in Lotus Leaf (remember that dish I praised earlier this post on the breakfast experience?). This version was actually different from that served during breakfast! Yes, they didn’t just simply “copy and paste” their food items from breakfast to wedding dinner!

  Malaysian wedding dinners are also more interactive; Singapore wedding dinners tend to be a one-way communication event, with the organisers pushing videos, march-in, cake cutting ceremony one after another. At C’s wedding, there were games and the emcee didn’t read from scripts that were shared and passed down from wedding dinners that took place 20 years ago.

Yes, it was less structured and at times lost me (but ermmm… I surfed IG even at Singapore wedding dinners), but the casual, DnD like atmosphere made up for a great time to catch up with folks.

  Around Subang

The Saujana Resort is unlike Downtown East, the latter being a self-sufficient resort. We ended up Grabbing our ways to nearby shopping malls to shop and eat during our free times.

For example, we spent a lot of time at Centrepoint in Bandar Utama.

Alright, to be frank, we were there for massage at Healthland, which was just beside Centrepoint, but we roamed the shopping mall in between waits for the massage.

The non-airconditioned mall was like a typical Singaporean heartland mall, low-rise and had mostly offices and tuition centres. It also housed White Elephant, which some of us went to because Healthland was full.

The F&B options were a mix of franchise and local brands, but being the typical Singaporeans, we chose to have our first meal at Pappa Rich.

We were not disappointed, though. My Fried Rice came with Chicken Satay that was well-caramelised and tender to the bite. The rice was yummy, though it was a tad too oily at the end as the oil all settled at the bottom of the pile. My drink, Cendol with Red Beans was the most gratifying, albeit sinful, item I had! It was like the Southeast Asian milkshake, with the milkshake replaced with blended coconut drink and the bubbles of bubble tea replaced with red beans and cendol. Sedap!

What made the others happy was how cheap the meal was… Each of us only paid like SGD10 for what we would have paid SGD20 for in Singapore. Can we not be laughing at the end of our lunch??

N and I also spent a morning at Citta Mall, which was deceivingly 2 roads away from The Saujana Resort. Like Centrepoint, it was also a low-rise commercial development, but with bigger brands like Harvey Norman and Village Grocer. Needless to say, we shopped at those 2 places and went back with ermmm… At least 3 bags of stuff. Hurhur…

We wanted to sing KTV at Citta Mall, but the KTV was only open after 12, which conflicted with our schedules. We also had our lunch Marrybrown (my virgin experience!).

To be continued…

My weekend in Subang when I attended a friend's wedding. Flew to Subang last weekend for C's wedding, which was held in The Saujana Resort. The plan was to take the chance to unwind by having an extended weekend.

[kanasite]

🐷satay #pork #satay #foodiegram (at Xiang Ji Satay House)

[lagycart]

long weekend in melaka - day 2.

our second day started with heavy rain, grey clouds covered the whole place but we were quite lucky that the rain stopped when we head out to jonker street. our hotel offers free shuttle to the stadthuys area, which is so convenient~ no parking issues to worry about. and it’s only a minute walk away from the main jonker street.

went to the daily fix cafe for breakfast. this is kinda the cafe to visit whenever you’re in melaka, so it’s super popular. we waited for a while for a table and also waited longer for our food to arrive after we ordered. but it’s all good as the cafe ambiance is really nice. the traditional setting gives off a nostalgic feeling and it’s perfect at this historical town of melaka. their breakfast food is really nice, lots of options, mainly western style, with a mix of some local ingredients like gula melaka for their desserts.

we walked around the area for a bit to chill and take photos while waiting for the shuttle to pick us up. really enjoyed the chilly weather for some reason, ehehe.. went back to our hotel around noon and then depart to pick up some yummy pineapple tarts from bee bee pineapple tart house. the pineapple tarts here is the best i have ever tasted, the crust is slightly salty and very fluffy, the pineapple filling smells awesome and isn’t overly sweet, the taste is very natural and they goes so well together, i’m totally addicted. it is advisable to call and order in advance since there’s only so many they can make each day.

our next stop after a quick lunch at a nearby chinese hawker store is huskitory. we made the reservation last night, so this time we won’t be disappointed. we get to order a drink each from their menu, it’s either tea or coffee, hot and cold options available. after everyone is seated and ready, the staff sent all the huskies into the cafe area. they were super excited and active, running all over the place, i was pretty surprised at how fast they are lol.. then a couple of them decided to hide under our table to take a nap and they are soooo cute! it was really hard to take photos because they are fast, it’s easier with treats. lots of kids enjoyed playing with the huskies and there were soooo many of them, it was kinda fun.

after spending an hour and half with huskies, it’s time to eat again! xiang ji satay house sells very very delicious pork satay and otak otak, which are perfect for afternoon snack. the pork satay is grilled to perfection, mixture of meat and fat is just right and the pineapple satay sauce is awesome. otak otak here is very good as well, fragrant with a hint of spiciness, it’s really quite addictive.

with a satisfied stomach, we took a walk to the river area to get pork lard popiah at bunga raya popiah. this is a stall along the busy bunga raya street which sells popiah that contains pork lard. it’s so unhealthy yet so tasty.. it’s definitely worth trying as this is something unique.

before continuing our adventure, decided to head back to the hotel for a quick rest and to refresh ourselves. two of my friends went to the hotel spa for the traditional massage which is quite good. the staff here is really attentive and friendly.

decided to visit the night market at jonker walk for dinner, and we took a grab car instead of driving to avoid traffic and parking issues, ehehe.. there’s so much food here.. ate fried carrot cake, fried oyster and clam omelette, tomyam soup, chawanmushi, watermelon juice, fresh clams (lala), grilled tofu (tofu bakar) and spinach and cuttlefish with satay sauce. everything is really yummy~ truly enjoyed the hawker food here, but it is definitely pricier because it is a tourist attraction. regardless, it is still a good place to discover the various hawker food melaka has to offer and get some souvenirs or local products.

after spending quite a few hours here, it’s time to call it a night and head back to the hotel for a good night sleep. it’s such a fun and enjoyable day, so much nice food and exciting random things that we did. XD

more photos in my facebook album.