People and Places: Wien, Austria

Linke Wienzeile No. 40 - fine testament to the Viennese Jugenstil Art Deco era

I am taking some time off from Melaka to share my thoughts about one of my favourite cities in the world - Vienna, capital of Austria. Together with Vancouver and Melbourne, it has been voted the top 3 best places to live in.

Over the centuries, the city has been residence to some of the world's most important and famous people such as Mozart, Beethoven, Haydn, Schubert, Mahler, Freud, Klimt, Hundertwasser, Otto Wagner, Gerhard Fuchs and many many others.

Why do so many people gravitate towards Vienna and choose to make it home? The answer is simple - Vienna is refined and delicate, artistic and cultured. The city and its people, its palaces and buildings, even its streets and pavements exude an air of Romanticism.

Sipping tea in a London tearoom transports me back to the classic days of Jane Austen and E M Forster. Dipping into a dish of ice cream in a Rome gelaterie energises me and I feel exuberant. Whereas, savoring a piece of torte in a Viennese cafe transforms me into a complete Romantic (with a capital R).

When in Vienna, you don't need to do very much to be happy. I could spend the better half of a day just standing in front of Klimt's 'The Kiss' and be totally mesmerised by it. And the other half of the day can be spent having a tete-a-tete  with my darling wife as we sip tea and enjoy a wedge of Sacher Torte. Just like that, a day passes us by in Vienna leaving me with a decided sense of accomplishment.

Vienna is, at the same time, a city of contrast.

Karlsplatz Stadbahn Station - best in Art Nouveau architecture

Strolling down its wide boulevards, you will get to admire different architectural forms from the classicist to the Modernist. Some of my favourite buildings are the Karlskirche (Baroque), Stephansdom (Gothic), Karlsplatz and Kettenbruckengasse Stadbahn stations (Art Nouveau), Linke Wienzeile 40 (Jugenstil Art Deco), Kunsthaus Wien and Hundertwasserhaus (Modernist).  The city is like an architectural encyclopaedia.

Hundertwasserhaus - leading example of the Modernist Movement in Vienna

People ask why I keep going back to the Austrian capital.  The answer is obvious ... Vienna drips with culture, finesse and good taste!

Food for Thought: Carnation Milk Crab

Restoran Lee's signature dish - Carnation milk crab

Restoran Lee serves crab in many different ways. However, the towkay neo is sure to recommend her signature dish - the carnation milk crab. Since we were there we thought we should try something new and different instead of the usual steamed or BBQ crab (my fave) or pepper crab.

To be honest, I didn't like my crab cooked in milk. The taste of the carnation milk was, in my opinion, too lemak and overpowering. It completely drowned the flavour of the spices and other ingredients used in the dish. The end result of which was none too satisfactory, at least for me. Fortunately, the crab was fresh and meaty.

Anyway, I still walked out of the restaurant a happy man since the other dishes were all good.

Let me start with the Black Pepper Spare-ribs. They came, not in huge pieces, but in little bite-size morsels. Each morsel is coated in a rich dark sauce (which gladly wasn't too sweet) with a healthy amount of black pepper. The taste was sublime to say the least.

Black pepper Spare-ribs

For a Hakka like me, a good meal is incomplete without the wholesome tofu dish. And I must say that Restoran Lee's claypot tofu is one of the best I have tasted. The silken tofu is not sweetened like the ones available in our local supermarkets. The vegetables used in the dish are all very fresh. And the gravy in this claypot dish is not thick and starchy like the way that most cze char stalls in Singapore do it. Darling wife and I enjoyed this dish very much.

Claypot tofu

The last dish we had was voted the best dish by the two ladies (darling wife and daughter-in-law San Kyi). A good vegetable dish can only be as good as the freshness of its raw ingredients. This statement holds true especially for the Ti Wang chye, a vegetable plant that is indigenous to Malaysia. The method of cooking was simple - it was stir-fried in oil and garlic. Yet it satisfied our taste buds far more than the complicated concoction that is their signature dish.

Stir-fried ti wang chye

Restoran Lee
155 Jalan Bendahara (across the street from Bayview Hotel)
Melaka

Ambiance: 5/10
Service: 6/10
Food: 7/10
Pricing: $-$$

Recommended dishes: Black Pepper spare-ribs, ti wang vegetables stir-fried in garlic, claypot tofu.

Food for Thought: Yung Lai Siang Hokkien Prawn Noodles

Try not to bother him - he's always too busy to talk!

Tucked in a quiet corner of Jln Bunga Raya where it meets Jln Bendahara is an old coffeeshop that must have been around for quite many years. Since our last visit, the shop has been given a new lease of life with a brand new looking signboard and extension to the next unit.

Unless you are an inveterate food explorer who takes the time to burrow through the town's nooks and crannies in search of good food, you may (like so many others) inadvertently give this place a miss.

What brings me back to this dinghy coffee shop time and again is its delicious Hokkien prawn noodle. Unlike the Singapore version, Lai Siang's soup has a rich reddish tint and is really hot and spicy to the taste. Besides prawns and kang-kong, there are also tiny strips of crispy deep-fried cruellers.

Yung Lai Siang is also famous for its home-made Grandpa's chicken and curry puffs, as the newspaper reports hanging on the walls attest.

My favourite prawn mee soup in all of Melaka.

Yung Lai Siang
Jln Bunga Raya (where it meets Jln Bendahara)
Melaka
 
Ambiance: 6/10 (if you enjoy the good old days)
Service: 6/10
Food: 8/10 (for its Hokkien prawn noodle soup)
Pricing: $
Recommended dishes: Hokkien prawn noodle soup and home-made curry chicken puff

Food for Thought: Kafe Bulldog

Kafe Bulldog has been featured in various food reviews and more recently, on local television as part of the Little Nyonya series. But the reason why we specially made the trip there was because it came highly recommended by my good friend of more than 20 years, Paul Lim.

The name certainly doesn't sound anything like a place that serves Peranakan cuisine. The owner explained that they decided to continue using Kafe Bulldog since it was already well known by that name, even though it had actually been renamed. But do not let the name deceive you for you will be in for a very pleasant surprise.

On entering, you will be impressed (as we were) with the way the owners decorated the place. There is a koi pond right beneath the air well, paraphenalia from days gone by adorn the walls, and interesting keepsakes are artistically placed all around the dining room. Some of the interesting items include an old-fashioned gas oven (just like the one my dad used for baking his famous butter cakes), manual typewriter with ribbon cartridge and a Singer sewing machine.


Even if you do not have time for a meal at Kafe Bulldog, it is worthwhile dropping in just for a drink. They have a good selection of fresh fruit juice at half the price of what you would normally pay in Singapore.

Choose from their long list of different fruit juices

The best thing about Kafe Bulldog, of course, is its food. What you get here is food prepared the same way mama or neo did.

Of the dishes we had, two stood out and left an impression on me. The otak-otak is prepared using fish meat that is freshly scrapped, without adding too much flour, thus giving it the right texture. You actually get to savour the fish and its sweetness and not just the taste of flour and rempah. The rempah used in the dish also has the right mix of herbs and spices.

Nyonya otak otak

The other dish that is outstanding is its nyonya pohpiah, for which it is famous. Unlike some Peranakan food outlets which, for convenience, uses the Hokkien-style pohpiah skin made of flour, Kafe Bulldog remains true to Nyonya tradition by using egg skin. To me, this is a plus point. More importantly, they took the effort to stew the turnips until soft in a light brown gravy. Also they kept the turnips moist instead of squeezing it completely dry; this way you get to taste the juicy goodness of the bangkuang.

Nyonya style poh piah

Another dish that deserves mention is the sambal udang petai. The prawns are fresh and the chef was careful not to overcook it. We were also quite pleased that they put in the extra effort to devein the prawns. I did not detect the use of sugar in the sambal which to me, is another plus point.

Sambal udang petai

The other dishes we order were Ayam Pongteh, Chap Chye, Ikan Bakar and Oyster Omelete. All of these were of acceptable standard. The chap chye was tasty but not done to my liking. I prefer it to be stewed until the cabbage is mushy and all of its ingredients have fully absorbed the flavour of the taucheo. As for pongteh, I much prefer babi to ayam. However, the pongteh gravy was good.

Oyster omelete

Chap chye

Ikan bakar

Ayam pongteh

For dessert, we had ice kachang and chendol. We were happy with both. In fact we prefer the chendol here to the famous Chendol 88 at Jonker Street. The santan is more fragrant and the gula melaka is less thick.

Ice kachang

Chendol

Kafe Bulldog (Restaurant Flavours Nyonya & Asian Cuisine)
145 Jalan Bendahara (opposite Bayview Hotel)
Melaka

Ambiance: 8/10
Service: 6/10
Food: 6.75/10 
Pricing: $

Recommended Dishes: Otak-otak, Nyonya Pohpiah, Sambal Udang Petai, Chendol

Food for Thought: Teo Soon Loong Chan Teochew Restoran

The family (darling wife, godson, daughter-in-law and I) have just returned from a 3-day makan adventure in Melaka which we all know, is famous for its rich Peranakan heritage and nyonya food. However, on this trip our gastronomic discovery went beyond the nyonya tradition. We tried 2 local Chinese restaurants which came highly recommended by various foodies who had posted in VirtualTourist, TripAdvisor as well as in their own personal food blogs.

The first of these is a Teochew restaurant located in the vicinity of Jonker Street which goes by the name of Teo Soon Loong Chan Teochew Restoran. It is owned by the proud patriarch of 9 children - 3 daughters and 6 sons - who is even more proud of his culinary creations. Old towkay single-handedly steered his restaurant to fame and success. When he first founded his restaurant more than 40 years ago, believe it or not, he didn't know how to cook.

A family portrait with the patriarch of Teo Soon Loong Chan

It may be useful at this stage to forewarn readers that Old Towkay adopts quite a dictatorial approach. Do not attempt to challenge his recommendations. When I asked for a noodle dish (celebrating godson's birthday), he immediately suggested oyster noodle which he claimed to be an original recipe that is famous all over Melaka. Innocently, I asked how it was prepared and he delivered a tirade which made me realised, in humility, that I shouldn't have tested him. At the end of it, however, he assured me that he wouldn't charge me for any of the dishes that I was not satisfied with. Also, do not decline his offer of dessert (orh ni), something which he is exceedingly proud of and which he claims to be the best in the world. Accept the dessert or face his wrath!

Since the restaurant has no printed menu, Old Towkay will personally attend to you. You just have to point out to him what you like from a display of vegetables and meat that are available for the day. Old Towkay will decide how it should be prepared with the guarantee that you will like and enjoy the food. My advice is not to question his suggestion!

Select what you want from the buffet

True to Old Towkay's assurance, we were not disappointed with his recommendations. In fact, we highly enjoyed our meal.

The oyster noodle didn't look very appetising at first glance. We ate it without any garnishing and it tasted bland and ordinary. Old Towkay came along and (well practically) instructed us to eat it with a generous helping of chopped garlic and vinegar. These garnishings transformed the otherwise ordinary tasting dish into something quite out of this world.

Oyster noodle - best eaten with lots of garlic and vinegar

The next dish that arrived on the table was the duck which was braised to tender perfection. Although the pieces of meat looked intact, it was far from chewy or tough. The skin was soft and had a 'jelly-like' smoothness. And what I really liked about the dish was that the bones were not removed (as I am never a fan of boneless duck). One of the joys of eating fowl is chewing the meat off the bone. Also, the twa-kua that accompanied the dish was of the old-fashion type with little 'bubble holes' in them.

Braised duck Teochew style

The next dish is one that should not be missed when dining at a Teochew restaurant - the veritable prawn roll. Old Towkay has made his quite different from the usual which uses ngoh hiang skin. Instead, his version resembles more of the popular Cantonese meat roll with a crispier skin and contains more ingredients like egg yolk and crab roll.

Prawn roll in crispy skin

The final dish, and my favourite, is the stewed bitter gourd with spare-ribs in taucheo sauce. The bitter gourd is so well cooked, it melts in your mouth. Equally tender are the little morsels of spare ribs, buried under the heap of bitter gourd. Old Towkay came around and again instructed us to finish the gravy and not waste it as it was a special recipe known only to him and his family members. So, savour it while we can!

Stewed bitter gourd with spare ribs

For dessert, Old Towkay suggested fresh mango followed by his famous Orh Ni or yam paste with pumpkin and gingko nuts. Once you have tasted Old Towkay's orh ni, you wouldn't dispute his claim to be the best in all of Malaysia and Singapore. The yam paste does not look or even taste greasy even though he had followed strictly the orginal method of preparation which requires frying the yam paste with oil or lard. The trick is in turning and folding the paste repeatedly during the frying process to ensure that it fully absorbs all of the lard or oil. Also, less sugar has been added to cater to the taste of his new breed of health-conscious customers.

Yam paste with pumpkin and gingko nuts

Fresh mangoes

A meal at Old Towkay's restaurant is an experience. Besides the good food, it was for me a journey back in time. The decor is reminiscent of restaurants in Singapore way back in the 50s and 60s. And then there is Old Towkay himself who is aggresive in defending his place as the best Teochew restaurant in Melaka town (and all of Malaysia as he claims). But, at the same time, he can be quite hospitable in his own unique fatherly but domineering manner.


Teo Soon Loong Chan Teochew Restoran
55 Jalan Hang Kasturi (off Jonker Street)
Melaka


Ambiance: 7/10 (if you like reminiscence or retro)
Service: 7/10 (as Old Towkay was extremely hospitable towards us)
Food: 8/10
Pricing: $-$$

Recommended dishes: Stewed bitter gourd with spare ribs; braised duck; prawn roll, yam paste with pumpkin & gingko nuts