One of the best Hainanese-style satays in Malacca can be had at the six decade-old Ming Sate Hut, run by the Loi family.
The small, family-owned restaurant served a good range of satay, which included chicken, pork, pig’s intestines and pig’s liver. 85-year-old matriarch, Madam Loi, still insisted on skewering the meats and grilling them herself, as she’d been doing since she was a 20-year-old lass, although her eldest son would assist her at the grill nowadays.
I love pig’s intestines satays, but usually always prefer chicken-meat to pork satays. However, the pork satays here are so refined - cut into small pieces, well-marinated and so perfectly grilled, they’re pretty addictive.
The satay peanut dip, which consisted of spiced ground peanuts, with a pronounced cumin-coriander-turmeric scent, enriched with coconut milk, and with a sourish spike from the addition of pureed pineapple.
Standard sides in a satay meal: compressed rice or nasi himpit and freshly-cut cucumber and purple onions. The nasi himpit provided the carb for a satay meal, whereas fresh cucumbers gave that textural crunch which complemented the grilled meats, whilst the fresh raw onions’ acidic bite cuts through the richness of the meats.
Malacca’s Hainanese-style pork satays are hard to find elsewhere in Malaysia - virtually impossible in other major towns like Kuala Lumpur, Penang or Ipoh. Singapore has quite a few, but the standards do not come near the ones here in Malacca.
Address
Ming Sate Hut
Jalan Pm 4, Plaza Mahkota, 75000 Melaka
Malaysia
Tel: +606-286 3614
Opening hours: 12 noon to 5.30pm daily, except Tue.
