Believe it or not i’ve never been to Melaka my whole life. It’s only 2 – 3 hours drive from KL but i just have never taken the time to visit the state which is so well known for its food.

I’m glad 2011 ended on a nice note with a one day trip to Melaka… yes finally!

So let’s greet 2012 with some Melaka food!

Satay Celup!
 

There are quite a few Satay Celup stalls all over Melaka but one or two being more popular than the others; perhaps because of superior tasting peanut sauce?

One of the Satay Celup restaurant that is most frequented by visitors is Restoran Ban Lee Siang which is situated at Jalan Ong Kim Wee. Actually we were determined to visit Capitol Satay Celup (which we heard is less crowded) but we got lost for a bit and found Restoran Ban Lee Siang instead.

All the tables were occupied when we arrived; they even had to make space at the back of the shop (behind the kitchen) for the stream of customers. Fortunately we managed to grab a table at the front of the shop after the previous customers had left because i would have left without tasting Satay Celup if i were to be seated behind the kitchen with no proper ventilation, only rotating fans and the weird smell permeating from the kitchen where the raw food is prepared. Having to walk pass the toilet every time i had to fetch the skewered food to the table would have been a real put off too.
 

Silly me had actually thought Satay Celup was just ordinary satay with the difference that you actually dunk or ‘celup‘ into boiling peanut sauces to cook instead of the normal readily grilled satay that you dip into peanut sauces before eating.  So when the boyfriend came back with a tray of fish balls, sausages, otak-otak, squids and etc, i went “Where’s the satay?!”.

Now i know very well that Satay Celup is just an assortment of food on bamboo skewers that you select yourself from the big refrigerators then dipped inside a pot of satay sauces to cook. It’s like eating lok lok with peanut sauces. There is no grilled meat involved.

We had a total of 46 sticks of Satay Celup between the two of us; the boyfriend had most of it of course. Guys have a love affair with lok lok so naturally they love Satay Celup or so it seems. 

As for me, Satay Celup is not my kind of thing. It doesn’t taste as great as real satay, it’s just like eating steamboat which i prefer to this, it’s not cheap (RM0.60 per skewer) and i find it hardly hygienic that we share the same pot of peanut sauce with so many other patrons before us (fyi, they don’t give you a fresh pot of sauce so you have to dunk your food into the same pot that had been used before this).

That being said, it is a must-try even if you swear you will never ever eat it again in your life after the first session because it’s a quintessential Melaka experience after all.
 
 

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Restoran Ban Lee Siang Satay Celup
45E, Jalan Ong Kim Wee,
Melaka (near Jonker Street)

Tel: +606-2841935
Business Hour: 5.30pm till 12.30am
Off Day: Tuesday