Nancy’s Kitchen – the Best Nyonya Cooking in Malacca

Malacca (Melaka) is arguably where Malaysia began. Positioned on one of the most important shipping routes in the world, the Straits of Malacca, it rose from an island fishing village supplying passing seafarers with dried fish, to the epicentre of the spice trade, the first Malay sultanate, and a jumpoff point for European colonisation of Asia.

Today, the city not only has a mean line in disco pedicabs and (at the time of writing) a UNESCO World Heritage listing — but it’s one of Malaysia’s most-tipped food destinations.

For Malacca is an even better place than Penang to try Perenakan, or Nyonya, cooking – a unique food style that originated when early Chinese arrivals to the area that’s today Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia inter-married with locals. Put simply, Perenakan or Nyonya food is a hybrid of Chinese cooking techniques with Malay ingredients – most obviously spices, but also nuts and vinegar.

The best place for Nyonya food in Malacca? According to a resident Malacca expert, Kent of House of Kittito, “Nancy’s Kitchen. Turn right at Geographer Cafe on Jonker Street, and she’s the only Nyonya restaurant in Malacca that still cooks the old way, with pork.”

Even at brunch o’clock on a Sunday, this little place is busy, with pilgrims coming from Singapore and KL to worship at the Nyonya altar. And, looking at the menu, it’s easy to see why: all the Nyonya classics are there, as well as Chinese and Malay options should you fancy it. We over ordered.

First up? Popiah, a giant, vinegary spring roll, packed with pickled veg, tofu, chilli and spices – very moreish, especially with Nyonya pickles on the side, though probably even better made with Vitamin P.

Next? Curry Dabel (Devil Curry). The signature dish of Malacca’s “Portuguese” community – Roman Catholics who still speak a type of Renaissance Portuguese intermingled with Indian and Malay vocabulary – it’s absolutely stunning. Vinegary, tangy, replete with chilli, peppercorn and fresh spices, and studded with potatoes and carrots, it’s curry, Spock, but not as you know it.

Also? Perenakan Braised Pork, an overload of cinnamon and long-cooked pork goodness, served on a bed of tofu (bewilderingly) and accompanied with a gorgeous chilli-vinegar dipping sauce.

And, finally, Ayam Buah Keluak – or black nut chicken curry. Keluak nut, the defining ingredient, is a large, rocky solid nut that grows on kepayang trees in the mangroves and is poisonous unless correctly prepared. It gives the whole affair a subtly mushroomy, earthy, lightly bitter flavour that balances the curry spices perfectly.

And, no, we didn’t have room for dessert.

Nancy uses her grandmother’s recipes to recreate authentic Perenakan home cooking in her kitchen. The presentation isn’t fancy, but the flavours are big and bold, and as a place to explore the food of a city for which the cliché “melting pot” could have been invented, it takes some beating. Note that Nancy’s Kitchen is only open during the day (11.30-17.30).