It was our first day back in Melaka, and it was time to get down to business. And by getting down to business, I mean satisfy our laksa craving, of course.
We braved the street heat to a previous laksa haunt of ours on Jonker Street, but sadly it was closed. Devastated and fading fast in the sun we asked the first local friendly face we saw where we could find some laksa.
Though the precise directions were mangled in translation, we were able to make out the phrase “mango tree upstairs” combined with needing to go straight ahead and make a right. After a few minutes of looking up for a possible restaurant in the trees, we spotted a small set of stairs right by some greenery that led up to a most unassuming cafe. The cafe was Donald & Lily’s Nyonya Food, laksa was on the menu, so we went with it.
Once inside, we noticed several newspaper clippings about Donald & Lily’s, pictures of the owners with local celebrities (always a good sign) and even a blurb about Donald & Lily’s getting a shout out from the New York Times. Their Nyonya Laksa was ordered, eaten, and I’m happy to report that it was amazing. Creamy and “coconuty” but not too spicy with fresh cut herbs, tofu, bean sprouts, fish balls, chili sauce, cockles, and noodles.
On the way out, we asked a gentleman out front what type of trees the ones by the front door were, and he of course said Mango trees. Now those directions make delicious sense, don’t they?
If you follow in our foodsteps:
- Donald & Lily’s is located behind Hereen St on Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock , right across from the Casa Del Rio hotel, a 2 minute walk from Jonker St. Look for a yellow building.
- Try to go mid-week, as they have been known to run out of items and the weekends in Melaka can be packed.
- They are closed on Mondays
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