Melaka

Apparently the thing everyone likes to eat when they visit Melaka is chicken rice balls. So, of course, we did it too. There were loads of restaurants around the town touting their rice balls but we went for a local-filled place on the same road as our hotel in Chinatown, which as it turned out served only three dishes, so we had them all: rice balls, boiled chicken, and cabbage. The rice balls are basically made with slightly glutinous rice flavoured with chicken stock and rolled into little balls.

The best thing about the restaurant was the fact it was a traditional Chinese shophouse: the back of the dining area opened onto a lovely airy courtyard and someone’s house. They seemed to be ten-a-penny in Melaka’s Chinatown, and most of them are pretty well preserved, but then history is what this city’s all about. 

Chicken rice balls