Baba Freds Nyonya Restaurant in Melaka, Malaysia

This place is smack in the middle of the tourist district, complete with a parallel brand called Jonker Street Chicken Rice Ball next door (15 Lorong Hang Jebat, 012-633-3449). It thus wasn't anything to get one's hopes up about, but we needed something convenient and local.

And it satiated those needs, especially with things like those small chicken rice balls, which were almost polenta-like in texture with hardly a sign that there were distinct grains previously. The chicken and char siew in our set did the job, as did the tofu, steamed lady fingers, and soup.

Actually, the most notable highlight for me was their udang lemak nanas. It was a Peranakan way of serving prawns in a pineapple-based curry, but this one was pleasantly spicy. All of this set a good comparison base for what we else we might encounter later this week.