Motormouth From Ipoh – Asian Food & Travel Blog

Asam Pedas – A Minangkabau style of spicy and sour dish usually served with fish or seafood. At Hajjah Mona Asam Pedas, you should also try their Asam Pedas Daging Tetel (tender beef with chunky bits of fats, tendons and bones). The madly piquant dish is usually served with steamed rice with blanched bean sprouts and half a salted egg.

No doubt there are 101 Nyonya cuisine restaurants available for dinner in Melaka. And the snaking line of people waiting patiently with dripping saliva in front of Capitol Satay Celup. Teo Soon Loong Chan usually needs reservation prior to arrival especially on weekend evenings. While family members are not keen on having tandoori chicken with (extraordinarily) fluffy naan at Pak Putra.

All that and the fact that I have only tried one Asam Pedas place before in Melaka (Asam Pedas Selera Kampung @ Plaza Mahkota near to Nadeje Patisserie) which was quite honestly; disappointing, led us to Hajjah Mona Asam Pedas off Heeren Street/Jonker Street in town centre and opposite of the majestic Casa Del Rio Hotel. 

Each plate of Asam Pedas is tailored for individual serving; and priced rather reasonably at about MYR5 or less. A plate of steamed white rice with bean sprouts and half a salted egg goes for MYR2.

We arrived early at around 6 pm for dinner while the sky was still bright. The place was still relatively empty, though I’ve seen how the crowd built up past 8 pm before. Not one to take the risk, and trying to maximise time for Jonker Walk and possibly supper much later, we dug in earlier and it was probably a good choice for dinner since the portion for one was barely enough for a heavy eater, but just right for us.

Clockwise from top left : Asam Pedas Ikan Tenggiri (Mackerel), Asam Pedas Daging Tetel (Beef), the worker scooping out platefuls of Asam Pedas from the large wok filled with fillets of fish and beef continuously heated, and the rice with bean sprouts, red chillies and salted egg.

Service was fast, though the workers there have this certain air of arrogance surrounding them. This particular young chap manning the satay stall for one, was clearing a few tables without waiting customers while I tried to request for him to clear ours first. He glanced at me and immediately looked away like it was none of his business. Not a very clever way of managing customer relationship, really.

Anyway, the food arrived relatively quick, understandable since none of them was cooked from scratch. They have these boiling cauldrons (or large woks) with pieces of fish in them, and another one with beef that are being perpetually heated to a boil. So, they only need to scoop your preferred choice – Ikan pari (stingray), Ikan tenggiri (mackerel), Ikan parang (saito/wolf herring), Ikan kembong besar (large mackerel?) and fish head, or Daging Tetel (softened beef with fats and tendons).

The most common and palatable (more on that later) was the Asam Pedas Ikan Pari (stingray); made for the extremely spicy and sour gravy.

The gravy was of the extreme ends; very spicy and very, very sour. Concocted from a blend of ingredients and spices; tamarind (asam), garlic, shallots, chilli paste, lemongrass and ginger, you definitely need the rice to soak up the gravy or at the very least, tamper the heat and balance the acidity. Be careful not to scald your tongue by slurping on the gravy or gorging on the fish immediately upon served though.

Although I was enjoying the gravy (taking small breaks from the heat – both the temperature and the spiciness level), the stingray and mackerel we tried were underwhelming. Maybe the  continuous process of heating made the flesh turned rubbery and lost its natural sweetness. The beef (daging tetel) was okay, the gravy was more curry than asam pedas, and the continuous boiling made the meat even softer and palatable, yet one might not enjoy the generous bits of fats and tendons affiliated.

The crowd swelled later into the night at Hajjah Mona Asam Pedas

There are two other places that I intend to venture to the next round; Asam Pedas Claypot Kota Laksamana (further down the road, same row with Hakka Zhan) and the many stalls patronised by locals at Pasar Borong Taman Merdeka. Well, with annual and sometimes several visits in a year, I guess my Ultimate Melaka Food List should be up anytime soon. Happy Weekend and Happy Eating folks!

HAJJAH MONA ASAM PEDAS (Halal)
No. 6, Taman Kota Laksamana
75200 Melaka
Opposite of Casa Del Rio Hotel
Opens from 6pm until late night
Tel : +6012-601 3676
GPS : 2.194308, 102.245682
*You can also park here and walk to Jonker Street for the night markets over the weekend