Chill out at the historical town of Melaka Day 1

Sep 12, 13 Chill out at the historical town of Melaka Day 1

Melaka is one of those nice laidback town where a lot of Singaporeans usually go for a weekend trip! Largely because of it’s cheap food, and historical sights, I suppose it’s usually parents that bring their kids along. I guess that’s more friendly than say Bangkok, Hong Kong or Macau.

My family recently managed to get some 1st year anniversary tickets at Hatten Hotel, which is probably one of the newest big hotels in Melaka. So off we go for a short 3 day weekend trip!

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Our group was around 11 people, with 2 other people who lives at Melaka. We left at around 7am, in an attempt to beat the jam. But apparently everybody thought the same thing, so by the time we crossed the causeway, it was already 9am or so.

Day 1 itinerary:

  • Travel from Singapore to Melaka
  • Pit stop at Pagoh
  • Lunch @ Restoran Keng-Dom
  • Check in to Hatten Hotel
  • Free & Easy
  • Dinner at Aunty Lee
  • Jonker Street

We had a quick roti prata breakfast at Pagoh rest stop, which was already 200km from Singapore or so. Nothing exceptional, besides the much needed toilet break.

Another 40 minutes or so, we’re finally in Melaka!

Arrival time, 11.40am and since hotel check ins are typically 2pm onwards, we decided to go grab lunch first.

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Lunch choice was a chinese style steamboat restaurant called Restoran Keng-Dom. One of their speciality was a beef steamboat. However, you need to preorder hours before, so that they can marinate the beef slices. On top of that, we ordered quite a number of the usual chinese ‘tze char’ style dishes.

 

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13 people is quite a sqeeze on this table for sure!

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The first dish was a pastry crust curry chicken. In my opinion, it’s largely a gimmick, since after you remove the pastry on top, it’s just really curry chicken. The pastry does seem like roti prata though, so it’s used as a dip. In term of the curry, it’s not that fantastic. It lacks the spiciness and bite of Singapore style curry, and in fact it felt quite dilluted instead of the usual creamy coconut milk types.

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The Cereal prawn wasn’t all too great either, as the ‘cereal’ felt a little more like tempura batter instead. Lacking the taste and texture of good cereal I suppose. The pork on the other hand was pretty good! It’s a little like char siew, but in huge chunk pieces of pork belly meat. Rich and flavourful. The tofu, well, is tofu *grins*

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The main highlight was the beef steamboat. I have to say the broth is pretty decent! Most of them had it with the vegetable that went into the soup, but I prefer mine pure. Just the meat. We each had 3 huge bowls of this, and I would have gladly taken another 3 more bowls!

And as you can see, there isn’t much food left!

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After lunch, it was time to check in! Hatten hotel essentially have only 1 room type. Though it’s segregated to Junior Suite and Deluxe Suite, I understand they are actually the same size and all. The main difference is if they face the sea/city view, or the pool view. If you booked through Agoda, I suggest you just go with the Deluxe Suite. There are 1 to 3 bedroom suites. But that’s more for family stay. I hear the 3 bedroom suites are fully booked most of the time though. Heck, from what I see, Hatten hotel tends to be fully booked most weekends. So try to book at least 3 weeks in advance. One of the main reason is that Hatten is really one of the newer hotel at Melaka, and the price range is still rather affordable for most tourist.

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Once you get to the room, the size will amaze you! At around S$80-90 per night, you would expect a smallish type of room. But once you open the room doors, a compact living room area greets you first! Every room is essentially equipped with 2 TVs, and the sleeping area can be somewhat separated from the living room area with a roller blind.

If you wanted to get away from Singapore and live in comfort, perhaps Melaka is a good choice.

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And after you’re done with the room, check out the views! Given that Melaka is still a relatively quiet town, the views are really quite expansive!

A few more views of the hotel, and then we’re off to the night activities!

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