Where should you stay in Melaka? How about setting base at an upscale neighborhood that offers an amazing view of the Strait of Melaka? You can be neighbor to a 5-star hotel and swim at an instagram-worthy infinity pool, which in my opinion, qualifies as an attraction on its own. All for a very affordable price, ya know? :)
Today’s post is part of the 3D2N Melaka Getaway series. You’ll read about what we did in Melaka on Day 2, such as having breakfast at a top breakfast cafe in Melaka and enjoying a romantic dip in the gorgeous infinity pool. I’ll also share how bad the parking situations can be at Melaka Malls during weekends.
As you know, we were travelling with an elderly who couldn’t walk for an extended period (nothing more than 15 minutes at any one go). Therefore, this 3-Day weekend getaway was designed to be mobility-friendly, and which may differ from our usual style. Still, we managed to make it fun and fulfilling for everyone – young and old. Read on and see how we did it – lots of tips included as usual.
An Eat-in Breakfast Experience at Silverscape Residences
(10am)
Older folks tend to wake up much earlier than younger ones. Our dear elderly has the tendency to be up by 5am. As such, we “tabao” (do a takeaway of) Nonya dumplings and random snacks from Jonker Street Night Market the night before. This arrangement ensured that our elder folk got her timely breakfast while we younger people could sleep more and recharge. Heh! ;)
The Five-Spice Rice Dumplings was said to be nice and filling, but a tad too salty (rm6.50 from Jonker Street).
TIP: If you travel with elderly folks who can’t or no longer enjoy moving around too much, it’s good to store plenty of ready-to-eat food in your apartment, including snacks and next-day’s breakfast. This makes sure they don’t starve if they wake up early (which they likely would) while you get plenty of time to recharge or engage in young-people activities such as swimming or gym-ing.
The great thing about a relaxing holiday is the luxury to wake up naturally. We did just that and woke up at 10am to a stunning blue ocean view right before our sleepy eyes. That’s the perfect way to get up. :)Â
I made myself a cup of coffee and ate the Nonya Kueh, which turned out to be so much nicer than what I was expecting. As I’ve mentioned in the previous post, I couldn’t stop raving about it the entire trip.
God blessed the elder couples at Jonker Street who sold such yummy kuehs (snacks) from a humble-looking stall, and at super reasonable prices. I’ll definitely visit them again the next time I visit Melaka.
TIP: You can find many Silverscape Residences units listed on Airbnb. I highly recommend you to give it a try. We paid only S$75 per night for a 2-bedroom unit. Um, actually we paid less because I got S$45 off when I helped my man apply for an Airbnb account. :) You can also get $45 off your first Airbnb stay through my special link.Â
Breakfast at A Popular ‘Eggxtra Cafe’ Near Elements Mall
(11.20am)
The mister needed more food, and so we walked out of our Silverscape Residences in search for a second-round breakfast. Our elderly stayed in the apartment, mastering her multi-tasking skill of playing her iPad Mahjong game and watching Chinese slapstick movies. We’d set the Android TV box to the “right” movies before leaving the apartment.
TIP:Â If your elderly folk is like ours who is interested in TV and App game, you may consider bringing along an iPad or staying at a unit with a wide selection of TV channels. Ours didn’t have any moments of boredom when we engaged in activities, such as a swim.
On Day 1, we’d walked past EggXtra and saw how popular it was (see location). Therefore, we were able to decide quickly to have our breakfast at this western casual cafe. Once again, it was well-patronized – the cosy cafe with indoor and outdoor seating was fully-occupied. Based on what we read later off their menu, EggXtra is known as the top 10 breakfast cafe in Melaka. Aren’t we lucky?
We were even luckier to get a table after a short wait. Having seen many restaurants near Elements Mall being less than half-filled, EggXtra really stood out as a well-liked cafe.Â
“The food at EggXtra must be awesome,” I’d thought.
Still full from my round-one breakfast, I didn’t even bother flipping through the menu. The item on the first page – ‘Choose-any-3-items for rm10+’ – seemed suitable as I could opt for non-carbo items such as sunny side up, ratatouille (stewed veggie) and beef bacon. I topped off the order with a cup of Americano (rm3+).
After placing the order, I browsed through the menu while waiting for the food to arrive and soon experienced buyer’s remorse. Oh no! I’d missed an entire page containing Keto meal options. This was the first time I’d seen a restaurant offering Keto Meals and I would have ordered that anytime. For info, Keto focuses on a high protein and low carbo diet.
INFO: EggXtra is operated by a third-generation chicken farmers. Therefore, their main selling point is the freshness of their eggs. This cafe is also affiliated to Sunshine Inn Malacca, a budget hotel located just beside it. Perhaps, this explains the ready customers.
Food Review of EggXtra Cafe in Melaka
So, how’s the breakfast or the eggs from this “farmer” cafe?
Well, mine was alright. I honestly couldn’t differentiate a fresh egg from a normal egg. When cooked, they taste the same, don’t they? :) But that’s just me. I’m never really a foodie.Â
The second item – Ratatouille was a tad disappointing because it was just a small portion of capsicums and onions cooked in what tasted like a normal tomato-based pasta sauce. The beef bacon was alright except that the portion was tiny.
How about my partner’s Club Sandwich (rm13+) which I managed to steal a bite? Both of us agreed that the fried chicken sandwiched between the slices of bread was too tough and dry.
All in all, it was an okay breakfast at EggXtra. I liked the cozy setting, free WIFI and affordable pricing. But as far as the taste goes, it wasn’t exceptional. Since this place is so popular, I believe there are other gems to be discovered – maybe we had chosen the wrong food to order. :)
A Cool Afternoon Swim at an Amazing Infinity Pool in Melaka
(12.30pm)
We would be doing ourselves a disservice if we didn’t swim at the gorgeous infinity pool located on the 13th floor of Silverscape Residences (see location). Yes, the afternoon sun was raging hot. But that’s not going to deter us from taking in the beautiful strait view and enjoying a relaxing swim.
The pool was 1.2m deep which made it comfortable for a poor swimmer like me. There’s also a white button towards one end of the pool that we could press to activate the Jacuzzi. Lovely!
Avid swimmers would be pleased to know that the pool is really long – so long I couldn’t complete a lap without stopping. And that’s rare because I have quite a healthy pair of lungs. :)Â
While we were frolicking in the water, our dear elderly was watching us from the balcony and enjoying her red bean soup and coffee. As you see, our Airbnb unit was located near the pool which made it easy for our elderly to “be with us”. We waved at each other all the time.
TIPS: Where should you stay in Melaka? If you take public transport, you can choose to stay near Jonker Street which is near to where most tourist attractions and dining places are clustered in.
If you drive, then parking near Jonker Street may be an issue, due to limited lots. You may consider staying near the waterfront like us. Many Airbnb units can be found there. Ours was at Silverscape Residences and was about 10 minutes’ drive to Jonker Street.
Avoid Late Lunch in Melaka City
(2.30pm)
Did you know that many restaurants in Melaka take a mid-day break between 2pm to 5pm? We knew it a little too late.
After the swim, we dilly-dallied and set off for our late lunch. Upon arriving at the pre-shortlisted restaurant, we realized that it was closed for a mid-day break. Nevermind, we would visit another restaurant in our list. Alas, the second restaurant was also closed. By now, my stomach had started growling quite indiscreetly.
TIP: Avoid late lunch in Melaka especially if you want to dine at restaurants located outside of touristy spots and the malls.
“I don’t think restaurants in the malls would take a mid-day break. Let’s go there and take a look,” I said while pressing my stomach hoping to reduce the noise that came from my noisy intestine. And so we drove to Dataran Pahlawan Mall, the biggest mall in Melaka (see location). Urgh! We couldn’t even enter the mall because the parking entrance was barricaded – it was full.
Darn! It’d appeared to me that the mall is a very popular destination among the locals during weekends. We honestly didn’t know getting lunch off the normal meal hours would be this difficult. Lull period, no?
TIP: If you are driving and want to visit the malls on a Sunday, you may want to consider arriving early to secure a parking lot.
Parking Woes in Melaka’s Shopping Malls during Weekends
(3.30pm)
Reluctantly, we drove further from the central to Aeon Bandaraya Mall (see location) thinking that it would be less visited. Well, what can I say except that it was equally crowded. We drove multiple rounds through the carpark and had to resort to stalking people with our car, i.e. tailing behind people who just stepped out of the mall.
Finally, we found a parking lot after 15 minutes. Stalking proved to be very effective. Heh! :)
Guess what we had for lunch? I’m blushing already. We drove all the way to Melaka to have lunch at Pizza Hut. Ha Ha. Sigh! :(
And I can’t believe we visited Aeon Mall in Melaka when there are so many Aeons in Johor Bahru, just across the border from Singapore. The consolation was how non-touristy this mall was. Many locals were seen loading up their grocery carts.
How was lunch at Pizza Hut? Well, if you are interested, service was ultra-slow even during the lull period at 3.30pm. It took 25 minutes to get served and 15 minutes to make payment (while standing at the cashier – no queue). We’d ordered Hot Cheesy Chicken Pizza, Chicken Pie and Chicken Wings. I honestly couldn’t see any chicken on the pizza.
After digging and lifting the veggies off the dough, I did spot one tiny and flat strand of chicken shred per slice. The strand was so tiny it was like a few strands of hair put together. You probably need a magnifying glass to see it. That’s quite unexpected as food in Malaysia often offer more value than those found in Singapore. Well, maybe they ran out of Chicken on a Sunday. LOL!
30 Minutes of Speedy Solo-Traveling in Melaka
(5.30pm)
I’m not proud to say that I’d ‘covered’ ten touristy spots in Melaka within 30 minutes. But we learn to make do with circumstances.
If lunch didn’t pose a problem, I was supposed to have two to three hours for a proper tour of the touristy spots in Melaka. The consolation is that since it wasn’t my first time to Melaka, I was okay to just ‘touch and go’ on the touristy places. My purpose was more to capture some photos so that I can share them with you here.
TIPS:Â If you are a tourist in Kuala Lumpur, you can either join a day tour or rent a car to explore Melaka, an UNESCO World Heritage Site about two hours’ drive from KL.
Don’t forget to book your 4G Sim Card online at an attractive rate. You can choose between Malaysia Airport Pick-up or Singapore Pick-up. Many who have used these cards found the experience cheap and fast.
My partner dropped me off at the carpark off Menara Taming Sari (see location), a tower that brings you to a height of 80 metres for a panaromic view of Melaka (admission: rm21.80). From there, we parted our ways. He accompanied the elderly to a cafe in Dataran Pahlawan Mall to rest while I embarked on my super duper short and rushed solo tour. :)
I brisked-walk towards the touristy Dutch Square in Melaka (see location) and began my speed-touring of Melaka’s top touristy spots. My partner was supposed to meet me at Queen Victoria’s Fountain at 6pm – so I had exactly 30 minutes of free time. Okay, why don’t we take a break here? I’ll share in the next post the Top Touristy Things to do in Melaka. Stay tuned!
Essential Info:
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Related Posts:
- Day 1 (Pt 1) – Getting to Melaka, Silverscape Residences and Food Around Elements Mall
- Day 1 (Pt 2) – Melaka Jonker Street is one of the Best Night Markets in Southeast Asia
- Day 2 (Pt 1) – Where to Stay in Melaka that offers Spectacular Seaview? (Plus Parking Woes in Melaka Malls)
- Day 2 (Pt 2) –Â Melaka Itinerary: How to Visit 15 Melaka Attractions in 3 Hours
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