[FOOD] 20141106 Amy Heritage Nyonya @ Melaka Raya, Melaka

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Nyonya cuisine is very unique to Melaka (Malacca) due to the blend of cross cultural marriage between the local Malay community and the Chinese way back during the Melaka empire history. The men are known as Baba while the ladies are known as Nyonya. The cultural blend has also create a fusion of the culinary of both cultures that creates a unique cuisine known as Nyonya cuisine.

There are many Nyonya restaurants around Melaka and you will probably have a hard time to choose which to try, especially when you do not have the luxury of time to try one by one in a short trip. Many will recommend to try the award wining Amy Heritage Nyonya restaurant, where the chef, Mdm Amy Koh has won a few competitions and also represented Malaysia to cook Nyonya food in the USA under the invitation by the Malaysia Tourism Board, which she proudly exhibits on the wall of the restaurant.

Amy Heritage Nyonya is a small cozy restaurant with no fancy interiors that's located at Melaka Raya, away from all the tourist hotspot. Some even recommends to make reservation as the restaurant would be normally packed during lunch hours, given the limited tables available.

On a recent visit to Melaka, I opt to dine at some other places than the usual famous spots and Amy happens to be in one of the list. Apologies on the limited pictures as I didn't intend to blog about it back in 2014.

75, Jalan Melaka Raya, Taman Melaka Raya, 75000 Melaka
Telephone: +606 286 8819
Opening Hours: 11:30am until 02:30pm;  06:00pm until 10:00pm (Closed on Monday)

TO GO



It's a bit tricky travelling along Melaka's streets due to the one way traffic policy. The nearest landmark will be the Mahkota Parade or the Mahkota Medical Centre, where the restaurant is actually visible from the main road behind Mahkota Parade. It's same row as Alliance Bank but not the same block. It's not easy to spot the signboard as it's rather...err not outstanding.




SPECIALITY


I would recommend to go in larger group in order to sample more dishes and unfortunately for me it's only two person with limited dishes to try. I arrived rather early before the lunch hour and the restaurant was rather empty in a normal weekday. The menu was rather limited but sufficient with most of the common Nyonya dishes available such as Pongteh Chicken, Ikan Chili Garam, Rendang, Curry etc.


I ordered the traditional Pie Tee (Top Hat) for a start. The crispy hat is made of roux that is deep fried using an angled mold to give it the angled shape. The hat is then topped with stir-fried turnip strips with tamarind and other ingredients. Finally garnished with omelette, coriander and chilli. Every Nyonya restaurant has their very own interpretation of Pie Tee and personally I felt that Amy's Pie Tee during my visit was mediocre, predicated on the oily hat that has strong presence of used oil and the pastry was overcooked with slight bitterness. The turnip filling was ok but not generous enough, I had high expectation on Amy but this dish turns out bad.


I also ordered the Fried Chicken Wings which was recommended online. The taste is very similar to typical Chinese fermented bean curd style fried chicken wings. This dish is also another disappointment as the drumlet was uncooked with traces of blood near the bones, probably didn't thaw enough before frying. Not to mention the chicken was not well marinated and felt the dish was prepared in a hurry.


Next would be the Cencaluk Omelette, which is also a very unique dish as no other places will use Cencaluk to prepare dishes. Cencaluk is actually fermented baby shrimps and is an unique cooking ingredient for Peranakan dish that is prepared in Nyonya cuisine. No complains about this omelette as it was well prepared, probably more cencaluk needed.


Last but not least, some greens for the bowel movement. There are a few typical vegetable dishes like sambal paku belacan, sambal kangkung, jantung pisang etc. I ordered the rather healthy steamed ladies fingers topped with a blend of ginger flower, lemon grass(?) and chili.


Not forgetting to try a bowl of cendol in every Nyonya restaurant. I would rate Amy's cendol at 6/10 with the rather dull taste. Something is really wrong today. Maybe Amy was in bad mood?

SUMMARY


Amy's style is more towards home cooked food instead like other restaurants who are more commercialized. I'm not sure what happened during my visit as my experience was bad. I was somewhat disappointed with Amy's offerings, given all the good reviews about this restaurant especially with all the awards and pride Amy has on her food.  Not to mention the price is on the high side given the small (and pathetic) portion served, probably to conserve quality of each serving? For the benefit of doubt, I probably need to give this restaurant a second visit to try some other dishes to give a fair comment. As for now, I would recommend some other Nyonya restaurants in Melaka like Nancy's Nyonya or Aunty Lee.

Taste
 ☆☆☆
disappointing
Value
 ☆☆☆
small portion with high price tag
Service
 ☆☆☆☆
hmm..
Cleanliness
 ☆☆☆☆☆
Opening Hours
11:30am until 02:30pm 
06:00pm until 10:00pm 
Daily. Closed on Monday
Wifi

Parking
Ample
Website
N/A

GPS: 2.186038, 102.253352

farscope

Malaysian lad, engineer by background, banker by profession whom passionate in photography, food and travelling.

1 comment:

  1. ZachSaMe21 July 2023 at 00:17

    planning for melaka trip next month and i'm gonna include this into my visit spot other than the rest of the nyonya food place in melaka that i found :)

    ReplyDelete

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