Saturday, April 13, 2013

Kocik Kitchen Nyonya Restaurant

Malacca is easily one of my favorite state and I visit the state as much as I fly back to my hometown. Good food are abundance and it's considered a "cheap getaway" when you're just too tired of living in KL. My first date with le boyfriend was also here so we try to come back here as much as we could just to spend some quality time together. I'm actually typing this from my hotel room in Malacca. We're currently staying in this nice new boutique hotel that is quite far from the town. :) 


Kocik Restaurant was a place we stumbled upon when our Plan A did not work. Our initial plan was to dine in Peranakan Restaurant right opposite but upon entering, the waitress literally shoo-ed us away and repeatedly say "it's full, it's full" even though there are quite a few empty tables - granted they may have been reserved. I'm very pantang with bad service like this and we weren't even given the option to you know, wait for available table. Hmph. 


The owner here was a very nice lady and I felt she needed us as a customer much more than the other ahem, famous restaurant need us. We felt welcomed as she took the time to explain to us the dishes despite the restaurant being full on that day. The place too felt more like a home rather than a restaurant.

I had always wanted to try the "Ayam Buah Keluak" and finally had the chance to have it here. Apparently we are suppose to scrape the candle nut with the small spoon provided and mixed it with white rice.  Taste very much like fermented black bean but much more palatable. Goes really well with white rice. While the nut appears to be very flavorful I find it weird that the chicken do not carry the strong flavor of the nut. I still really like the dish though. The nut is addictive! 


We also ordered fried bee hoon to share since we didn't want to have too much rice. It was nice, edible but really nothing to shout about. You can give this a pass. 


Otak Otak here taste very different from what we normally have. The strong turmeric taste is absent and with its bouncy texture I find that it resembles a lot like fish ball instead. Worth trying though I think I still prefer the conventional otak-otak.

A typical Nyonya meal would not be complete if a good bowl of chendol is not included. They are really generous with cocounut milk but I prefer mine to be less rich and more of the gula melaka instead. I still find Donald and Lily's chendol to be the best thus far. 

There's a lot Nyonya Restaurant around in Malacca and going through all the positive reviews in Trip Advisor I would say this is one of the 'safe' restaurant to dine in if you're in the state and looking for authentic Nyonya food. I would definitely return to try the rest of their menu! 

Address:
Kocik's Kitchen Nyonya Restaurant,
100, Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock, Malacca.

2 comments:

Constance Ant said...

i'm a malaccan! but i don't usually explore the food scene in malacca :/
because whenever i'm homed, mami will pamper me with home-cooked food :P

her excuse was, we already have outside food all the time, come back sure have to compensate the nutrient lost =.=

but i'll keep this restaurant in mental note ;) thank you for sharing!

Huai Bin said...

Nice little place! :)

I remember not being able to eat ayam buah keluak when I was in Melaka last time with you.

Peranakan Restaurant is pretty good - the food I mean but I like this one - it seems authentic enough.