Traveling in Melaka, Malaysia? Try Nyonya Food!

Have you ever heard of Nyonya food?

Nyonya food is a cuisine that blends Chinese cooking styles, ingredients and techniques with the flavors, spices and seasonings of Southeast Asia mainly Malaysia. Foodies traveling in Malaysia should absolutely savor the unique and delicious Nyonya cuisine.

This post is all about Nyonya food!

What is nyonya food?

Nyonya food originated over 1000 years ago when Chinese settlers arrived in the Malaysian port cities of Melaka and Panang and Singapore. After settling it became common for the male settlers to marry the female locals.

The Chinese settlers taught the Malay women new techniques like wok frying and slow braising to build deep, intense flavors.

The integral flavors and ingredients consist of:

Lemongrass
Cinnamon
Star Anise
Cincalok (fermented shrimp)
Buah Keras (Indian walnuts)
Belacan (fermented shrimp paste)
Gula Melaka (palm sugar)
Tamarind
Coconut Milk

where to try nyonya food in melaka (+what to order)

baba nyonya food melaka — Peranakan Curry Chicken

While traveling in Melaka, Malaysia you must visit Siew Tin’s Nyonya Kitchen. Especially if this is your first experience with Nyonya cuisine because it’s beginner friendly and incredibly delicious.

What We Ordered: We opted to order two traditional chicken dishes that were recommended by our waitress. The Peranakan curry chicken was spicy and flavorful, while the gula melaka chicken wings were sweet and coconutty.

Gula melaka is a type of palm sugar that specifically originates in Melaka, Malaysia. It’s a dark, rich and almost smokey tasting version of palm sugar. The chicken wings are coated in a delicious sauce made of this ingredient.

I would recommend trying these two dishes because both are very representative of the region, of traditional Nyonya food and they pair nicely together to balance out the sweetness and spiciness.

How Much it Costs: For these two dishes and that could feed ~4 people we paid $15.87 USD or 74.20 Malaysian Ringgit.