I did mention in my last post that this was a foodie hunt trip to our friendly northern neighbor, Malaysia, right? So our first stop is Malacca. I usually give Johor Bahru a miss because of all the scary stories I ‘ve heard my Malaysian friends tell me. Thus the nearest town I’ll usually stop in when travelling north is Malacca.
The first stop is Baba Charlie. It’s a very famous nonya kueh shop ( I mean, they even have a Phua Chu Kang endorsement that says that it is the best!). The store only opens till 3pm everyday except Thursdays when they are closed.
And if you want to check the store out the next time you go to Malacca, here’s the address.
72, Jalan Tengkera Pantai 2 75200 Melaka
My mum was really excited about the nonya kueh here because she says that it’s difficult to find really good ones these days and this is about as authentic as you can get. They even use flowers to color their kuehs instead of commercial colorings! There were so many different varieties of kuehs, I didn’t know the names to most of it. I tried the Ondah-Ondah and it was really yummy with gula melaka (coconut sugar) oozing out with every bite!
The love letters were really fragrant and every one of their products is still handmade from scratch. The kitchen is an open concept next to the little food selection area and if you are lucky, you can smell the aroma of freshly made kuehs sifting through the air.
We bought tons of kuehs, and other nonya specialties. I’m sure you can tell from the pictures, the crazy amount we bought and my very happy mummy will be bugging me to bring her back to this treasure trove of nonya kueh soon.