Jostle down Jonker – Malacca’s Super Sedap Makan Street
You know Jonker Street as the place for chicken rice balls and durian cendols. But EVERY weekend, the moment dusk hits, Malacca’s most famous street transforms into an incredible market.
Just a few minutes walk from the chill bars along the Malacca River and Hard Rock Cafe, eat your way through this market before washing them down with Happy Hour drinks. And you’re paying in ringgit, so everything here is extra cheap!
The outdoor performances on the public stage, stalls selling everything from knock-off bags to imitation Lego. And of course the tantalizing street foods. We’ve narrowed down the most interesting eats.
1. Watermelon Handbag
For just RM10 your bae’s can make his most outright declaration of love to you with a 我的美人 (watermelon) handbag. After two holes into a melon, an electric cake-beater is inserted to grind the insides into juice! Insert two straws, rafia and voila – there you have this thirst-quenching fashion accessory!
Price: RM10
2. Coconut Ice Cream
True to Bangkok’s Chatuchak market version, is the Malaccan rendition of the Coconut Ice Cream. Enjoy the lemak-y goodness of Thai coconut in ice cream form to cool you off in the Malaysian heat. The best part is that the toppings are self-service, so you can add as much sweet corn, red bean, corn flakes, peanuts and desiccated coconut as you want!
Price: RM10.50
3. Deep Fried Ice Cream
Take your pick from six flavours of ice cream. These guys have got your favorite classics, from yam coconut to cookies and cream. And it’s encased in bread – the way ice cream should be eaten. In your face, Buzzfeed.
These frozen nuggets go straight from freezer to fryer so you get a warm crusty outside with a cold frosty centre!
Price: RM4
4. Jonker Walk Quail Egg
Takoyaki has never got cuter than this! This is the Jonker Quail Egg – tiny balls of filled with Nyonya Curry Chicken, sweet corn, crabstick or chicken sausage with a carefully cracked quail egg on each each of them.
Top these babies off with a combination of mayo, cheese, black pepper or barbecue sauce, and you’ll be popping them non-stop.
Price: RM4 per stick or RM10 for 3 sticks
5. Light Bulb Drink
This light bulb drink would make for some awkward tension if you came with your couple friends. But for this professional third wheel, the sweet mango juice was more than enough to get me through.
They’ve got blood bags and syringes too and juices in a wide variety of flavors like blueberry, lime and strawberry. Relive the nostalgia of drinking from medical equipment on nights when Singapore still had that hospital themed bar (The Clinic) at Clarke Quay.
Price: RM6
6. Liquid Nitrogen Korean Snack Food
The cold wispy fumes emerging from these sweet corn-puffs will remind you of those special birthdays where you got to play with the dry ice that comes with ice cream cakes. The smoke comes not from dry ice here, but from a whole load of liquid nitrogen blasted onto this Korean inspired corn-puff snack.
Really you aren’t buying this for the taste (it’s tasteless) but more for novelty’s sake. Because having billows of smoke come out from your mouth and nose with each bite makes for one hell of an Instagram photo.
Price: RM10
7. True-blue Peranakan Popiah
If I’d to develop an app, it would be Popiah-Go! And Jonker Street would be one of the popiah-stops. Scrambled egg, fresh prawn and crunchy sprigs of bean sprouts really make for one delicious roll, but the magic is really in the filling. Crispy bits of pork lard add that extra “oomph” to the turnip, setting it miles apart (pun intended) from the ridiculously peppered versions you get at Singaporean food courts.
Price: RM3
How to get there
Address: Jonker Street Night Market, Jalan Hang Jebat, 75200 Malacca, Malaysia
Opening Hours: Fri – Sun | 6PM – Late