Entree Kibbles: Original Melaka Cendol - Gula Melaka is the key! @ QQ Ice 86 [Jonker Street]

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Original Melaka Cendol - Gula Melaka is the key! @ QQ Ice 86 [Jonker Street]

I mentioned before that a trip to Malacca would be incomplete without digging into a plate of chicken rice balls. What i neglected to add then was that there is a dessert that a visitor also die-die must have in that UNESCO world heritage site.

Cendol (otherwise known as chendol in the Singapore context). For more information, kindly refer to the wikipedia page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cendol.

The top priority of my long delayed visit to Malacca (it was already nine years since my last visit) was to check out the numerous stalls selling Cendol with the signature gula melaka. According to friends and colleagues, the good ones are all along Jonker street!

In case you are wondering, the queue that appeared in the previous photograph originated from Jonker 88, a famed eatery selling Peranakan food. Queuing is not something the Gang of Four would do overseas as time is usually far too limited. Hence, the shop we eventually chose was the less crowded QQ Ice 86; Jonker 88 next door neighbour.

Wanton Noodles

First up was a plate wanton noodles! As a die-hard pork lard fan, i was totally pleased to find sprinklers of them in the noodles and David Sng would be as happy to know that the noodles' kee-taste was almost non-existent here. Having said that, the Great Kon thought otherwise. In his opinion, noodles must have noodles taste!

Traditional Cendol

What do you look out for in a bowl of traditional chendol - richness of coconut milk, density of gula melaka, flavour of the green worm jellies or even to the extent of comparing the texture of the crushed ice?

Personally, gula melaka matters the most! And it's not just banking on the sweetness of the palm sugar. A perfect gula melaka must be fragrant, of a thick consistency and have a very subtle, barely discernible burnt aftertaste.