“A fascinating tour that have me so much insight into both the history & current day life of Melaka as well as the food.”
— Rosie, 2025
01 Food tours
Original food tours, curated with our local tastemakers to showcase the neighbourhood kitchens, markets and family-run eateries that define Malacca.
Rempah Routes
Malacca
Explore Melaka's oldest Peranakan table — Nyonya laksa, chicken rice balls and satay celup.
Melaka Meals
Malacca
Discover the peninsula's oldest Peranakan table — Nyonya laksa, chicken rice balls and cendol.
02 Meet the tastemakers
The local food experts who help us research, refine and lead every A Chef's Tour.
Nyonya curry laksa, chicken rice balls, cendol drenched in gula melaka, satay celup fondue. Malacca cooks the oldest Peranakan table on the peninsula.
04 The pantry
- Gula melaka, dark palm sugar unique to the state
- Blue pea flower, bunga telang for colouring nyonya rice
- Belacan, shrimp paste at the base of every Peranakan curry
- Candlenuts, ground into curry pastes for thickness and richness
- Assam gelugor, dried sour fruit for nyonya assam gravies
05 In the kitchen
- Pounding rempah titek Peranakan spice paste in a granite mortar
- Simmering ayam pongteh chicken and tauchu bean paste for hours
- Colouring nasi kerabu blue with butterfly-pea flower steeping
- Shaving gula melaka palm sugar for cendol and kuih
- Grilling satay celup skewers dipped into a communal peanut hotpot
06 Eat this first
- Chicken rice ball, chicken poached Hainanese-style with ball-shaped rice
- Satay celup, communal skewer-fondue in a peanut sauce hotpot
- Nyonya laksa, coconut-curry laksa with cockles and rice noodles
- Cendol, shaved ice with pandan jelly and gula melaka syrup
- Ayam pongteh, Peranakan chicken and potato stew with fermented bean paste
What happens inside a hammam kitchen
A morning with the cooks who feed the neighbourhood before dawn. Charcoal, dough, the smell of a bakery working its second oven.
09 Recipes
A collection of authentic recipes we couldn't leave behind.
Egg noodles and rice vermicelli in a deep, orange prawn-shell broth topped with poached prawns, hard-boiled egg, water spinach and fried shallots. Penang's most-loved noodle soup.
A folded pancake stuffed with crushed peanuts, sugar, sweetcorn and a slick of butter. Malaysia's night-market half-moon, cooked to order in a heavy pan.
Slices of crackling-skin roast pork belly served on a bed of steamed rice with dark soy and a scoop of pickled greens. Penang's coffee-shop lunchtime plate.
Soft white steamed buns filled with slow-braised char siu pork, chicken curry or red bean. Malaysia's dim-sum-and-kopitiam staple.
Triangular pastries filled with spiced potato and peas, deep-fried until crackling. Malaysia's mamak-stall snack, always with mint chutney.
Silky rice noodle rolls in a dark sweet-shrimp sauce with a scatter of toasted sesame seeds. Penang's morning-market breakfast, cousin to Hong Kong's cheung fun.
10 Field Notes
Quick field notes to help you get accustomed to Malacca.
Weather
Tropical — warm and humid year-round (24–32°C), with rain more common October to March. The Straits breeze helps in the historic centre.
Currency
The Malaysian ringgit (MYR); cash for hawkers and small purchases; cards in restaurants and hotels. e-wallets widely used.
Language
Malay is the national language; Peranakan / Baba Malay heard among Chinese-Malay families; Mandarin, Hokkien, and English all common.
Etiquette
Modest dress at temples, mosques, and churches. Bargain gently at Jonker Street market.
Getting around
The historic centre is compact and walking-only along parts of the river; Grab and cheap public buses cover the wider town. Trishaws (elaborately decorated bicycle taxis) are a Malacca specialty.
Prayer
A crossroads of faiths — one of the oldest mosques in Malaysia sits blocks from Cheng Hoon Teng (Chinese), Sri Poyatha (Hindu), and St Paul's Church. Sundays fill the churches; Fridays quiet the mosques.