On the way to Singapore for Oasis concert last Sunday (which was awesome!), we made a pit stop by the historical town that is Melaka to refuel our stomachs.
When it comes to Melaka, there are a few types of food unique to the town: chicken rice balls, satey celup, popiah with lard, and cendol with gula melaka. We planned to make the most of this very short stopover by stuffing ourselves with as much as possible.
there’s a perpetual queue in front of the restaurant
I have previously tried two other chicken rice ball places in Melaka (all within walking distance), Chung Wah was the first I went, and while tasty, the place rather warm and a little too busy. On the other hand, my experience at Famosa Chicken Rice Ball was just not really good enough for me to write an entry about the restaurant.
Among the 3 places, Hoe Kee has the best and most comfortable seating areas (some sections air conditioned). While we had to wait for some 10 minutes to get a table, food was served within 5 minutes, so the overall waiting time wasn’t long at all.
chicken rice balls, cabbage, asam fish
Since it was already 1pm and we haven’t even had breakfast, we basically ordered everything the server suggested. Chicken rice balls for 5 person, asam fish, vegetable, 4 coconuts, and extra 15 rice balls (RM 6).
The half a chicken (RM 16) we got was very smooth and the meat really tasty, there were also plenty of chicken gizzards and liver which provided a different flavor to the chicken that goes very well with the soft but firm rice balls. Poor man’s pate, anyone?
Kim, Gareth, Horng, Amanda, KY
The Asam Fish (RM 30) came quite a bit later, which proved to be a nice timing since the very strong tasting curry wouldn’t work well with the milder flavored chicken if you have them in that order. The hardcore sourness and spicy nature of the dish might not suit everyone, but I really liked it.
Hoe Kee Chicken Rice is located at Jonker Street (Jalan Hang Jebat)
We ate so fast and so much that there wasn’t any stomach space left except for a bowl of cendol at Jonker88. It was dilemma looking at the popiah stall while being absolutely full, but alas, we made the decision not to have the possibility to puke in the car on the way to Singapore.
Lunch came to RM 77.20 in total, including the 4 coconuts (RM 16). That works out to be around RM 15.50 per person, pretty decent price for a very satisfying lunch at a comfortable environment.
Address:
Hoe Kee Chicken Rice
4, 6, 8 Jalan Hang Jebat,
75200, Melaka
GPS: 2.195441,102.247943
Tel: 06-283 4751 / 012-623 8431
love them gizzards but hate them cholesterol.. ๐
thanks for the coordinates, will have to note them down in my GPS. HAHA!
oohhh~ i miss this one… nak sebijik! hehe~
Hmm.. talking about pate, I just had a foie gras pate with crackers, foie gras with scallops and foie gras half boiled egg yesterday! lol.. maybe your chicken liver pate with rice balls more awesome!
i’ve never tasted sate celup nor chicken rice ball before.. i’m such a sad case. wuwuwuwu T_T
Angie Tan,
GPS for the win! ๐
Jade Zheng,
Hahaha mari la mari. ๐
eiling,
Oh you cannot beat the authenticity hehehe ๐
Robb,
Make it happen, go to Melaka already!
chicken rice ball and a hot chick, literally..nice..
I saw you guys but I was on my way to work that time. ๐
And yes, I prefer Hoe Kee over Chung Wah. Famosa should be banished for good.
locals always say that the other shop near the bank tastes better. not too sure bout that, havent been to malacca for ages now.
anyway, you were lucky with the fish head. the last time i went, it was stated as RM30 for the dish.
the bill came and the fish head was RM45. when asked….”uhhhh….this fish head we gib you ah, much bigger le….”
i wasted 1 ball ๐
Yah the fish head was the nice, I think it was the smallest size there were RM40 and RM50 portions too.
The chicken rice balls were much nicer than the other places, soft and moist rather than dried out and hard.
i looooove hoe kee chic rice ball… much better than chung hwah one, hehe…
Yatz,
I noticed hot chick is plural. Emmmm
Jason,
Ooo why never yell out loud? hahaha
kevin,
I think you really got a big head. ๐
Myhorng,
Teruk la you! Hehehe
ShaolinTiger,
Yah it was all very satisfying. ๐
serena,
I think I have to agree on this. ๐
i went to melaka last Christmas, but the shop hvnt open. It still under renovation. I jz go to the shop at the corner, beside the river. their food also very nice.. hehe
u didn’t try the assam laksa/chendol shop tht was juz a few shops down fmr the chicken rice ball shop?
oh hai! XD plzzzz do the mememememememeememememememememe that mell wants u to do hahaahha instead of posting food that makes me want to go on rampage cos i can’t have them T_T”
OMG my plea actually worked? AH-MAZING. I LOVE IT. Thank you, mX! :X
Hoe Kee is good rather than the other outlet that always don’t have place to sit and the taukeh is like very snobbish!
bean,
Ooo so tragic! But at least the other one’s good too. ๐
panda aka racoon,
Stomach completely filled to the brim by then! We did have the cendol tho. ๐
mX,
Ok soon! ;P
Mellissa,
Hahhaa ok you win :S
JD,
Haha true, at least the service at Hoe Kee is much better too. ๐
Horng, huh? what happen to your ballz?! ๐
wah…chun chun…i like this stall too….i frequent makan melaka food cause wife hometown is melaka…lots of nice food to explore in this state…
I’ve always wanted to eat them chicken rice balls. I need to do so one of these days.
sotong,
You’ll have to find out from him. lol
vialentino,
Ooo lucky you! ๐
Huai Bin,
Yah, and it’s one straight road! ๐
My hometown homemade chicken rice balls 2 times bigger ๐
walau … you didn’t go the one ah xian promoted ar? good choice coz they really cheat on you man!!! my last trip our chinese society kena cheat like shit and the rice balls are like smaller than ever lar… satay celup rocked man!!!! and so sad my scouts 40km, we had to survive on sweetie bun~T-T
this is not the one that’s the good restaurant right!
where is melissa hometown? next time u also can visit her hometown to taste their local food as well…
vernice,
Ooo, so big how to eat! ๐
binn,
I think this is the one ahxian promoted? I think. :S
aud,
This is better than the “good restaurant”, the “good restaurant” has a perceived goodness only cos it’s older. But older doesn’t necessarily equates to better, I learn it the hard way. ๐
vialentino,
Her home town is in KL. lol
malacca food tends to get a bit bleh if u have it more than four times in a year… for me. once in every quarter is enough heh.
Y come Melaka nv call me along?
Yiling,
Cos they aren’t penang food! ๐
ruiten@hotmail.com
Hahah it was a very short 1-hour trip. ๐
Hi KY,
Would you be interested to do a food review on Tony Roma’s latest steak and fish promo?
If you are, please do not hesitate to contact me at my email.
Many thanks!
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Hey KY, I been craving for chicken rice ball for weeks..had it like 2 yrs back in Melaka. Will be goin to melaka next week. So u reckon that the Hoe Kee is much better than Famosa one?
Jacklyn,
Currently at Melbourne now but let me get back to you when I go back to KL ya. ๐
Irene,
Yah Hoe Kee is much better!
Good to go so many place to eat eat see see walk walk…
DSvT,
Best maa
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the best genuine non-commercialized chicken rice balls in melaka I think tastes better and WAYYY cheaper is at batu berendam ๐
dezmond,
Haha, nothing is non-commercialized other than mom’s cooking ๐
great post here. i have been a great fan of chung wah until this trip (11 april 2010) which i decided on hoe kee hearing all the good review on the food. n of coz peer pressure as one of my mate is a fan of hoe kee. However, this will be MY first n definitely OUR LAST trip there.
5 of us queue patiently with a great heart to try out the food there n ordered half chicken, assam fish, fried vege, coconuts n of coz the chicken rice ball. first disappointment was the mixture loose rice and chicken rice ball we were served with the reason that they could not prepare enough chicken rice ball. fine…we proceed with the table and our greatest FEAR came.
We were eating happily when suddenly 1 of my friend shouted and it was because we found MAGGOT crawling in the gravy of our assam fish. we were SHOCKED and called for the boss. to our surprise, the boss (i would assumed, whom called Tan Hin Kit, as he handed us a name card) denied itรขโฌโขs their problem and giving us excuse that the maggot could be dropped from the ceiling and definitely is not because of the food. We were furious and worry we may not be well due to the รขโฌลunhygienicรขโฌย food which we just consumed. However, the boss did not do anything to help; rather replied us harshly and loud telling us that should we fell unwell, just give them a call and complain thereafter. We were speechless, paid the bill and walk off helplessly.
I just wanna share this bad experience with all and watch out while heading for any food in Hoe Kee.
siewmun,
that’s horrible! service industry in m’sia is really a bit of a bleh. even if maggot’s from the ceiling the restaurant should still be responsible for it.
much better compare to Chung Wah, i prefer much to this resturant
Enqvist: I’m glad you like it. ๐
don’t go this shop during busy days, the service is soso. now they don’t serve full rice balls, only 60% rice ball and 40% normal chicken rice.
james: that’s a disappointment
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