Melba At The Mansion, Malacca

Melba At The Mansion (9 August, 2017)


Melba At The Mansion is a celebrated restaurant at The Majestic Malacca. It derives its name from being on the first floor of the building that was once the mansion of local tycoon Leong Long Man. And the name Melba refers not to the dessert, but rather to the celebrity chef running it, Chef Melba Nunis, a Malacca Eurasian who has an award-winning cookbook under her belt.

For anybody who is keen to appreciate good Kristang cuisine, this is the place to be. My wife and I had the wonderful privilege of being guests to Chef Melba during our stay at The Majestic Malacca. Being food lovers, we welcome the opportunity to talk food with various people, particularly where they bring to the dining table specific culinary expertise which greatly invigorates the conversation.

During our visit, we had Chef Melba herself at our table. This gave us the opportunity to ask her everything we wanted to know about Kristang cuisine. We had an animated conversation over the buah keluak, a fruit that we couldn't get in Penang, but is practically de rigueur in Malacca Peranakan as well as Kristang cuisine. Incidentally, I managed to record part of that conversation, which I will play back on this page. Chef Melba had lived for many years in Penang, and so she could relate to Penang cooking.



We enjoyed a few meals during our stay at The Majestic Malacca. The following are some of the dishes we tasted. These are from the three meals we had at Melba At The Mansion. The first meal we had was the lunch. We had just arrived at The Majestic Malacca after a long journey from Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur, and were hungry. So it was to our great delight that Chef Melba had prepared a wonderful meal for us. It started with an appetizer, which were the Cincalok Fretu. It was aromatic and crispy, and it arrived hot on our table. What a marvellous start!

Dish after dish emerged from Chef Melba's kitchen, each one a delight in itself. Even by their appearance, you know that they were delicious, and were created by someone with a passion for good food.

We met up with Chef Melba again that evening for dinner, and again she arranged for us to sample another selection of her Kristang cuisine. This trip to Malacca has provided me an unparallelled insight into Malacca Eurasian cuisine. As I enjoyed the food, the entire history of the Portuguese heritage unfolded in my mind. I could appreciate the various influences that went into Kristang cuisine, not only the local Malay influences, but also that from the Chinese and Indian traders who made Malacca a cosmopolitan melting pot. Chef Melba spoke of how distant Kristang cuisine had gone, in comparison to authentic Portuguese food as found in Portugal, which she described as being much more bland. We discussed Bacalhau, the Portuguese salted cod fish, as one of the essentials in Portuguese cuisine, but is absent from Kristang dishes.

My wife and I were immensely grateful to Chef Melba, the entire staff of Melba At The Mansion, who were incredibly hospitable to us, and to YTL Hotels for having arranged for us to enjoy this culinary experience.

Cincalok Fretu, crispy fried fritters infused with cincalok. (10 August, 2017)


Obu Bateh Fretu - egg omelette infused with cincalok. (9 August, 2017)


Another view of the Obu Bateh Fretu. (9 August, 2017)


Kari Malayu Kung Nanas, which is simmered prawn with pineapple in a fragrant coconut curry. (9 August, 2017)


Sambal Terung, lightly fried aubergine in spicy dried prawn sambal. (9 August, 2017)


Inchimintu Karangezu, baked stuffed carb with vegetables, chicken and prawns. (9 August, 2017)


Kari Keluak, braised chicken and nutty black keluak in a fragrant curry. (9 August, 2017)


Karing-Karing Fretu, crispy fried silver threadfish. (10 August, 2017)


Kaldu Laksa Malaka, rice vermicelli in spicy coconut broth topped with chicken and seafood. (10 August, 2017)


Mixing up the Kaldu Laksa Malaka. (10 August, 2017)


Aros Fretu Cincalok, wok-fried rice with fermented shrimp and vegetables. (10 August, 2017)


Sagu Kung Sukri Malaka, sago pearls in coconut milk with melted palm sugar. (10 August, 2017)


My wife and I with Chef Melba Nunis, along with YTL Hotels' Marketing & Communications Executive, Miss Lynnie Abdullah. (9 August, 2017)


Chef Melba Nunis with her book A Kristang Family Cookbook, which won the Gourmand award. (9 August, 2017)

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Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.

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