Portuguese Square Restaurant — Restaurant in Malacca

I believe this listing isn't for one particular restaurant but for a whole set that exists around the general area of 'Portuguese Settlement'. I'm leaving what I'm hoping will be a review for a substantial experience when travelling in Malacca. After all, it is a past colony of three different countries.

With that out of the way, I think I ate at what people call 'Store 1', it's basically one part of a row of shops that all serve (generally) the same dishes.

I had the Portuguese-style baked fish, butter scallops, mixed vegetables w/ sauce, fried rice, fried noodles, Otah and the Salted Egg (fried chicken cubes / karaage-style) Chicken.

I read the reviews other people left this place and I'll try to leave a comprehensive post.

I think most importantly, you need to know two things: #1 Every review is subjective to the person. #2 Thus, my own experience: I live in Singapore and I've eaten my fair share of what this style of dining is all about, you sit down, order dishes that maybe are 'authentically local', maybe not. Often, you have white rice to accompany the dishes. Some like beer (I don't). I've done fine dining at Crystal Jade, to casual sit down restaurants , to roadside / hawker centre dining in this fashion before. Now, onto the actual review.

The price was reasonable. If you've lived in Singapore, you would know that 'ordering dishes' is near to impossible if one is trying to keep to any sort of budget. My family saves this kind of dining for special occasions, that means birthdays or nation wide holidays. The bill for what we ordered at Stall 1 amounted to ~100 Ringgit. For 3 people, the size of my family, that's 15 SGD each. In Singapore, you'd be spending up to 22 / 25 SGD each for four dishes, five, if you're lucky. Could you find even cheaper? Sure, if you've enough time to do a deep dive. Otherwise, don't think too much about it, and give it a shot.

If you're afraid of getting scammed, or you don't like being harassed, I think you should give this spot a try anyway. Hawkers tout their food all the time, and I, a socially anxious person, never got 'bad vibes' from the people here. They want people to eat their stuff, and they can't wait around for someone to walk in by chance when they're clusters and clusters of different stalls. None of them pressured me to order more than what I was ready for, and none of them physically touched me. That's a win in my book and it feels respectful yet friendly to me.

As for the food, hell if I know what you like, some people say it's too salty, some say the portion is too small. What I will go is a different route: the food here, while tasty to me, is questionably Portuguese at the core of it. I went to Google, watched some videos of what Portuguese food was like, and other than the baked fish and the coconut-chili sauce they slapped onto it - everything else seemed like basic fare that I get in Chinese dining. As with any colony, the food has been mixed for local tastes. If you're looking for something that you thought would give you a rough 'authentic' estimate of what Portuguese food is, this ain't it. Instead, if you want to eat some tasty chicken, vegetables and fish in different kinds of sauces that have some Asian / Malay flair to them, then come here. Size-wise? It's fine, I'm a big boy, I do a little exercise, I'm 1.8m with a weight of 80kg. My meals normally consist of two bowls of rice and two meat with a good helping of veggies each time. And within a party of three, I was positively stuffed at the end of it.

Environment wise, it wasn't packed around 8 / 9pm, and there wasn't any flies around the area, I cannot tell you how much I hate flies and crowds so this was genuinely a peaceful and good dining experience. I visited in June, 2025,...

There is only one thing here - seafood. There are heaps of seafood restaurants, everyone claiming they are the best and authentic. We went for dinner and chose a quieter place instead of the ones near to the sea, to avoid the tourist crowd and chaos. We tried some fish and vegetables and it was really good. It's more like a Chinese food with some Portuguese influence to me, of course because it's flooded with Chinese tourists. Apart from food I'd say that there is nothing much. There is only bar which was empty at 9 pm. They say it has live music but they will start later in the night. We were expecting some cool bars or cafes to hangout but there were none, thus a bit disappointing. And I don't think you need to go that far just for some seafood. There are some amazing local eateries near the historical area of Melaka where you'll get everything. There is a museum though if you're interested in...

Update 1 Feb 2022. Our nephew fetched us for dinner on the first day of CNY. We ordered from Restaurant Laut No.1 Seafood Terraces

An open air, breezy scentre center with a row of 9-10 shops specialising in fusion Portuguese and local cuisines. The square evokes a festive atmosphere for both locals and tourists looking toward whatever celebrations they had in mind.The first thing to take note th several seafood shops assistants will compete to invite and recommend visitors rather aggressively to patronise their places. We had already in mind to eat at no. 1 stall. We proven-baked baked crabs with several other dishes. Overall, we had an...