OUR LUNCH IN MALACCA

We reached Malacca at lunch time and we brought T to Jonker 88. It is right smacked on Jonker Street. It is, in our opinion, the default place for lunch apart from Malacca's famous chicken rice balls. This place serves cendol and noodle dishes, dry or with soup. The price is affordable and the taste is pretty authentic.

Jonker Dessert 88, most popularly known as, Jonker88.com, is a cultural entity in form of museum café, legally formed on 1997 in Malaysia. Jonker88.com is the subsidiary of Jia Seng Art Gallery which was incorporated in year of 1986 in Melaka, Jonker Street, now known as Jalan Hang Jebat, headed by Jason & Johnson Yoong, family team are Jenny and CS Yoong, all born in Melaka.

We ordered a cendol to share which T didn't like. Cendol is a popular and traditional dessert originating in South East Asia. The dessert basic ingredients consist of coconut milk, cendol (a worm-like jelly made from rice four with green food coloring ~ usually derived from the pandan leaf), shaved ice and gula melaka (palm sugar).

T ordered a Seafood Laksa and we ordered an Assam Laksa. Loved the tasted though T had a diffieult time with his chopsticks and the soup was splashing all over his berms.

Different states in Malaysia have their different takes on Assam Laksa.

Asam laksa is a sour, fish-based soup. It is listed at number 7 on World's 50 most delicious foods complied by CNN Go in 2011. Asam (or asam jawa) is the Malay word for tamarind, which is commonly used to give the stock its sour flavor. It is also common to use asam keping (also known as asam gelugor), dried slices of sour mangosteen, for added sourness. The modern Malay spelling is asam, though the spelling assam is still frequently used.

The main ingredients for asam laksa include shredded fish, normally kembung fish or mackerel, and finely sliced vegetables including cucumber, onions, red chillies, pineapple, lettuce, common mint, "daun kesum" (Vietnamese mint or laksa mint) and pink bunga kantan (ginger buds). Asam laksa is normally served with either thick rice noodles or thin rice noodles (vermicelli). And topped off with "petis udang" or "hae ko" (蝦羔), a thick sweet prawn/shrimp paste.