Malacca Eat: Ah Ma Ho Liao (巷.阿嬷好料) Coffee-Toasts-Eggs @ Taman Kota Laksamana

Ah Ma Ho Liao (巷.阿嬷好料) is a two-year-old setup located in an "alley (巷)" — or what looks like an alleyway between two housing units — at the edge of Melaka Old Town. The open-air alley is pretty spacious but tables become limited when it rains.

Ah Ma Ho Liao serves classic fares, such as traditional breakfast set with half-boiled kampong eggs and toasts, gula melaka soya beancurd (豆腐花) and kampong-taste chee cheong fun (猪肠粉), with a range of traditional beverages. There are main dishes as well, which include their signature nasi lemak and mee siam with curry chicken or rendang chicken, etc.

For beverages, they have hor ka sai (虎咬狮) on the menu which is a Taiping-specialty where traditional coffee is added with Milo (a brand of cocoa powder). Another beverage is called sai ka hor (狮咬虎) which is tea added with Milo — really interesting. Traditional coffee added with tea is called cham, which is Hokkien for "mixed" (参), in Malacca but commonly known as yuan yang (鸳鸯) in other places.

The traditional breakfast set with traditional coffee, charcoal-grilled butter-kaya toasts and half-boiled kampong eggs is the most common breakfast preference — I swapped the coffee with a cup of hot hor ka sai.

The grilled toasted with a slab of thick butter and kaya is really good. It is crispy outside, soft inside and tastes yummy with the thick butter and not-too-sweet kaya.

The two kampong soft-boiled eggs are very nicely done and look really beautiful. The usual way to eat them will be to put one of the egg yolks in the mouth, burst it with the tongue and savour the taste of its molten freshness. Then puncture the other yolk and use it as dipping sauce to coat the toasts, adding to it a rich and smooth texture.

The kampong-style chee cheong fun is added with pieces of fishcake and something like sotong cakes and topped with sesame seeds, fried onions, mild-sweet sauce and chilli. This old-taste chee cheong fun has more textures than the usual plain or stuffed chee cheong fun with red-dark sweet sauce.

I have tried most of the classic breakfast items on the menu (except soya beancurd) and will go for their signature main dishes on the next trip.

Address:

Ah Ma Ho Liao (巷.阿嬷好料)

183, Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock, Taman Kota Laksamana, 75250 Melaka, Malaysia

Opening Hours:

8:30am ~ 1pm | Closed on Wednesday

Next: Malacca Eat: Andalus Kitchen Nasi Arab @ Melaka Old Town