Heeren House, Melaka

During my stay at Melaka I had lunch at a very quaint little hotel on Jonker's Street, called Heeren House.

From the outside, the place does not look like much, but the moment you step in, you would have thought that it was a souvenir shop. It was interesting to browse as everything was laid out very uniquely, as with many shops on Jonkers Street. Then as you walk further to the back, its a small cosy cafe. Decorated tastefully Malaysia, with marble kopitiam tables, I could not resist deciding to have my lunch here.I was greeted by the not so friendly owner, a Mat Salleh lady. I asked if they were opened for lunch as there was patrons there at that time, she curtly said yes. She gave me the menu and I took my time to pour over it. Up on the walls were cute little chalk boards highlighting their specialty and noticed that Mediterranean Quiche was one of them. It was not what I was expecting to have in Melaka, but it sounded light. I decided to accompany it with a hot cappuccino. I usually have low fat milk with my coffee and pushed my luck with the not so friendly lady again, by which she replied with an equal curt, No.

While waiting for my meal I took the opportunity to glance around the room. It really was a tastefully decorated cafe cum souvenir shop.Upstairs I guessed, is where the accommodations were. While waiting also, several phone calls came in for room reservations. It was fully booked that night, and the nights after that.

Later when I came back to KL, I decided to google Hereen House and it turns out that it is listed on the Lonely Planet guide book, which explained its popularity and snooty owners. Online was also reviews on this hotel, which many were not so positive. One of it was that it had a problem with bed bugs, where a tourist was severely bitten and the owner refused to aknowledge the bed bugs or even give a refund.

Well shows the typicall business where when you are popular, no need to upkeep your services!

My quiche soon arrived and I dug in, as I was sooo hungry. It was delicious. The cappuccino was surprisingly good too.

Would I go back to Heeren House? I don't think so, though the food was not too bad.

From Melaka with love

I'm blogging from our "ok lah" hotel in Melaka. It was a HOT HOT day, was tired of walking around in the heat, so I decided to head back to the hotel to relax.

I just LOVE Melaka. I LOVE Jonkers Street. It has an old charm but modern touch to it. I love how the old shop houses are restored with modern touches. I love the art cafe's where the food is great and the ambience is just so cosy. 

I also love Melaka because there are plenty of things to shoot. Needless to say the old buildings are definitely great subjects not to also mention its people bustling about. But because it was a HOT HOT weekend, my photowalk was short and most time was spent indoors, browsing in the shops, which also has very cheap dresses for sale:)

For dinner you would have thought that I've already digged into ikan bakar and such. But nope, last night we ended up at Harpers, where they served gourmet Mediterranean food. The food was excellent and the price was not too bad. Harpers is by the river on Jonker's Street with its balcony over looking the calm river waters. Very nice! Very so often a river cruise boat will chug by with happy tourists waving at Harper's patrons. Harpers also serves a variety of beers, which I did not try.

Today, I explored the Melaka Zoo. I love animals and I do make an effort to visit the local Zoo wherever I am. It was quite impressive for a little town like Melaka! The animal enclosures are interestingly designed and its animal don't look skinny and under nourished like the ones at Zoo Negara, which if you ask me, a National shame. 

Ok so I am back at the hotel, enjoying the air conditioning and wifi :)

Perhaps I will have a short snooze before hubby returns from the Cup Prix race, where I hope tonight, we will have ikan bakar.

Pictures from this trip will be posted as soon as I get back to KL.