Malacca food trail: Ta Chi House

It’s been so long

a) since I last updated this blog, my apologies for that

b) since I last visited Malacca for a makan trip, which was about a year or so ago.

This trip was comparatively much shorter than previous year’s but no less satisfying. Because each of us are now a little older than last year, hence a little lazier and a little more reluctant to wake up early on a Saturday morning, we only arrived in Malacca in time for lunch. We called up our local host, demanding her to bring us for a Nyonya lunch. She called back, saying that she got us a table at this place in Ujong Pasir. It was a family-run place she had intended to bring us since last time, a restaurant which boasts FOUR tables, and a chef who yells at customers who don’t finish their food. Unfortunately, fate could not bring us to the restaurant for it was impossible for a bunch of 6 KL-ites without a map/GPS to find their way out of traffic-ridden Malacca town into Ujong Pasir on their own. And so my local friend had to personally cancel our booking, fortunately without having anything thrown at her direction.

We finally met up with her at the Red Square, and apologetically, requested that she bring us somewhere to whet our appetite for Nyonya cuisine. We could not go far nor wait too long, with rumbling stomachs in tow, so we ended up in Ta Chi House, slightly away from the reaches of the pedestrian tourists and just rid of the lunch crowd. While we ended up in Ta Chi House out of circumstance, the food here clearly did not disappoint. As we were trying to tame our guts, we were quite on an ordering frenzy.

We started off with the fruit rojak, presented with neatly cut fruits. But a rojak is a rojak is a rojak, moreover as I am not its biggest fan, I shall not say much other than that it tasted good. Loved the fish cracker that topped the rojak as well.

Next came my highlights of the meal, the Mee Siam and the Nyonya Laksa. The Mee Siam was not pictured here as my friends and I had devoured it within seconds of the waiter setting it on the table, and preventing them from eating it for the sake of a picture might incur an unspeakable wrath. However, I shall try to describe it in words for the sake of reliving that sweet culinary moment. If my memory serves me right (it was 2 weeks ago after all), the Mee Siam came piping hot on a plate made of woven ‘mengkuang’, lined with banana leaves, with sambal and a very fluffy omelette served on the side. I am not sure why I love their version of the Mee Siam, but I think it might be the balance of the flavours- sour, salty, spicy, fragrant- that did it for me. I didn’t even touch the accompanying sambal because there was no need for it.

The Laksa Nyonya. This was the first time I was having it, and while I have no standards to compare this with I am quite certain that this place makes the better versions of it. The broth again possessed a balanced flavour, chillies not overpowering, the ‘lemak’ effect not cloying. I have never eaten nyonya laksa elsewhere, but I like how they serve it here with 2 types of noodles- the regular yellow ‘mee’ and the white translucent ‘nai fun’ that we usually associate with asam laksa. The use of ‘nai fun’ is a good choice, given its chewy and springy texture and neutral taste to complement the strongly spiced broth. It comes with a lot of julienne cucumbers to keep the laksa light and not overly guilty, and for flavour and garnish some strips of torch ginger and a green leaf which I suspect to be limau purut leaves.

The rest of the food that came but by then I was already mentally satisfied. Still, the dishes were good overall- Lemak Prawns with Pineapple came in a very generous serving. Sorry no pictures of this dish, too busy eating it.

Ayam Pong Teh, the delightfully sweet dish which I had disliked as a child. This version with its tender meat stripped those bad memories away.

Half eaten! Taken just to capture the memory.  In the back, a  generous serving of otak-otak with genuine, flaky pieces of fish in it. In the foreground, the half eaten Pucuk Paku Sambal Belacan. We also had the Telur Cincalok, which I would have preferred if they were a bit more generous on the cincalok.

Can’t wait to bring my parents here, as my dad himself is a Malaccan who emigrated to KL as an adult. Can’t wait to come here myself for another helping of the Mee Siam and Laksa, this time without sharing it among six other people….yum.

Ta Chi Nyonya House

1, Jln Tun Sri Lanang, Melaka