Memo from Melaka: Jennifer Tan

The Mini-Interview Series

It is not easy to find someone who can articulate Melaka Peranakan food. Jennifer Tan will someday carry the torch for future generations. Follow her on Instagram and you will see some of the most beautiful visual depictions of Peranakan food. Read on and you will understand why. Jennifer’s first love is art but circumstances in life meant that she remain in Melaka to help her parents. This is a life story that commands respect - of a passing time in this famous port city, of a real hawker life spiced not just with Laksa paste, but sweat, tears, heartache and triumph. Vivacious, Jennifer beams with cheerfulness. She is an ideal girl’s best friend who pings with heart emojis, showers positive affirmations and lifts your spirit with smiles. Here’s wishing Jennifer all the best in her next step as she embarks on private dining and a whole lot more, deservedly so.

What was it like growing up in Melaka?

Growing up in Melaka then was much simpler, quiet and quaint. Melaka wasn’t like what it is now where there are tourists on every corner and traffic jam everywhere.

When I was younger , my elder brother and I would follow my parents to hawk on the streets, especially during the weekends when there was no school. My parents would sell steamed peanuts and corn to sell at the padang (field) situated by the sea at Banda Hilir ( now reclaimed ), we would wait around or play nearby the field . At times I would follow mom up St Paul’s Hill ( when I was around 5-6 years old). We would carry a basket of the steamed peanuts wrapped in newspaper like a cone tied with rubber band and sell some drinks in the box too, to sell. During the holidays like the Merdeka celebrations, business would be better. Other days, it wasn’t easy.

During the weekdays, parents would sell more substantial food like Nasi Lemak, Mee Siam and Laksa. I would follow too but this time, no field to play at… We would sit around in an air-conditioned marketplace while waiting for my parents who were selling just outside. At night my parents would sell Char Kway Teow too at the nearby area.

When I was a teenager, we had another restaurant called My Baba’s Restaurant . After school, or in the evening after completing my homework, I would cycle or walk over to the restaurant to help out till it closed. From there, I started serving more to customers while my parents cooked. Back then, Melaka was a bit dark to walk in the evenings. I would carry a hair spray in my bag just in case 😅

How did you learn to cook?

I didn’t learn how to cook till I was in my 20s. My parents were mostly out working as street hawkers or in the restaurant when I was schooling. I only managed to help out during the weekends. My mom and dad didn’t have time to teach me yet. When I was working somewhere else for nine years after high school, I joined my parents and decided that I should learn the recipes full-time at the same time working doing everything from washing to serving overall in the shop back home. From there, mom taught me slowly, starting with blanching noodles for Laksa and frying Mee Siam... then to frying kway teow and practicing while I served customers.

Tell us a bit about the story behind Donald and Lily?

Donald & Lily started from the porch of our rumah abu (ancestral home) at Heeren Street in the 70s, selling Economy Noodles* and Nasi Lemak. They even made porridge to sell to the labourers behind our house where there was the godown area. Later, they started to hawk on the streets selling Laksa, Mee Siam and Nasi Lemak. They have been survivors making and selling food to make ends meet. During that time, life wasn’t easy at all even though many people thought that people from the ‘Millionaire Street’ (what Heeren Street is nicknamed) would always be wealthy behind those doors. It was around the 90s after a few locations that we went back to our home to start selling from our back kitchen. Tourism started picking up and the crowd then knew us as we were one of the first or maybe even the first to do business from our own ancestral home back then. In 2012, I fully took over the cooking and business when the family decided to sell the home and we moved to a shop lot to continue with the business.

* Economy noodles could be egg noodles, rice noodles or flat rice noodles, stir-fried in black soya sauce and bean sprouts. Condiments were sambal tumis and green vinegared chillies. The noodles were wrapped in plastic and newspaper then. It was sometimes topped with fried egg.

What makes Melaka laksa different from the rest?

In Malaysia itself, we have so many different kinds of laksa varieties based on its rempah spices. The coconutty richness (lemak) in our Nyonya Laksa makes it different but I would say that every household recipe is unique in its own way in each family. Others are unique in their own way, more fishy, tangy or lighter in taste and spices . ( I think it depends on each hand that cooks also lah😅). Laksa Johor is eaten by hand uniquely.

What made you decide to carry on your parents’ food legacy?

As a daughter, I felt responsible. For all the years of hardship my parents went through slogging, I told myself that I should and must help them to repay in whatever way I can. In fact, I never knew that I would be ending up cooking. I’ve always loved art but never had a chance to further my studies because of lack of funds. My main aim is to also stay back in Melaka and not to leave my parents as they need help and are not getting any younger. I have decided to take on their work as I see the potential of this legacy going further. I want to ensure that what my parents have worked on so far is not wasted.

What do you hope to accomplish in the near future?

I have come up with a private home dining concept which I had never intentionally planned ( I thought that I would be be blanching noodles all my life 😅) and I am now able to cook for guests at home, create new dishes and tell stories of my parents. I’ve called this dining ‘Jennifer Tan for Donald & Lily’ to honour them for the years of survival and hardship they have gone through, for the years of me mostly learning recipes and my parents’ menu on my own. I will also be able to introduce our Donald & Lily’s Rempah Nyonya paste to the world.

If you could create a new Peranakan dish, how would you do it?

As I have never eaten or known buah keluak when I was younger, I have recently created a dish honouring my father. He used to make and fry ‘Ji Pao Kai ‘ ( Paper Wrapped Chicken ) for us when we were young. It was something I remember eating and it’s always a treat because we didn’t get to eat chicken everyday .

Recently, especially for the private dining, I’ve made a dish called ‘Ji Pao Bak Buah Kepayang’ (Kepayang being another name for Keluak). It is pork shoulder cuts with definitely some fat, marinated with buah keluak paste and our sautéed fresh rempah with some herbs of daun kadok and kunyit (turmeric), wrapped in baking paper and fried until tender. Paired with my papaya jerok ( home grown tree too ! )

What rare Peranakan or Melakan dishes do you remember?

Hati Babi Bungkus ( my dad use to cook this), also called Pork Meatballs Wrapped in Caul Lining … you don’t actually see it in the restaurants nowadays because most of them have become pork free or halal .. and Ikan Pari Kuah Lada (the green one, not red) or Stingray in Peppery Gravy. And yes I cooked the Kuah Lada yesterday too!

How do you practice speaking and writing Baba Malay?

I have spoken Baba Malay all my life when I grew up in Kampong Blanda ( Heeren Street). When my Mama ( paternal grandma was alive ) we spoke Baba Malay a lot at home as she didn’t speak English and I don’t understand Hokkien 😅. We will converse in Baba Malay a lot and that’s how I practiced naturally. I was also the person to read for her the ‘Chiam Si ‘ (fortune telling sticks ) and we had a book in Malay to translate the Chinese words. I would have to read aloud for her always when she brought back the stick writings and I would have to find a match or the Chinese words on the pages to read to her. I speak alot of Baba Malay too with my mom and some of my Peranakan friends . It’s sad and rare to find one nowadays who can speak fluent the Baba patois

What changes have you seen in Melaka? In Malaysia?

Sadly, Melaka itself has been very touristy and people who visit Melaka only know about ‘Jonker Walk’ where you don’t find anything authentic about this place anymore. Buildings with absurd signages being allowed in the historic area, posting just anything to pull in tourists . For example, many tourists rent kebayas to walk around just to take pics, not understanding much of the history and background. Even now the historic area looks like ‘Disneyland ‘ .. trishaws are also just loud, with gaudy decorations. Food claimed as Nyonya ( like a magic word ) don’t always taste like one sadly. I guess tourist and people doesn’t care anymore about the authenticity and awareness.

Name 5 dishes you recommend trying in Melaka.

-Nyonya Laksa ( of course must find good one ! )

-Hainanese Satay Babi with pineapple sauce

-Satay Chelop in Kuah Kacang (Boiled satay dipped in peanut spiced sauce )

-Hae pheah (Prawn cracker and fishball and some with fried fish eggs )

-Prawn cracker noodles (Fried crackers made from shrimp, topped on the noodles, soup or dry.)

Name 5 places we should visit in Melaka.

-Nyonya Baba Museum

-Pasar Besar Melaka ( to look at our local ingredients )

-Pantai Puteri Beach in the mornings with your ‘healing chair ‘ and coffee!

-Walking by the Melaka River in the evening or night

-For those who are braver .. to walk up Bukit Cina Hill

And don’t miss local production places such as Bukit Cina Tofu Factory in Sungai Udang!