Food@Melaka – Capitol Satay Celup

July 31st, 2007

Coming to Melaka, if you’re a non-Halal visitor, satay celup is another must-eat. In fact, till now, I still believe good satay celup can only be found in Melaka, and nowhere else, unless I’m proven wrong one day. Never leave Melaka without the savory satay celup

There are a number of satay celup shops in Melaka. But, with Capitol Satay Celup at Lorong Bukit Cina and Ban Lee Hiang (万里香) at Jalan Ong Kim Wee being the 2 most talk-about ones.

If you ask me which is the best satay celup in Melaka, my personal ultimate preference goes to Capitol Satay Celup, the pioneer of satay celup in Melaka, and remains good until today. I’m reluctant to go Ban Lee Hiang, even if Capitol Satay Celup is crowded with long queue.

What is Satay Celup?

No surprise, there are still a lot non-Malaccan Malaysians who are uninitiated about what exactly satay celup is. I’ve got a number of friends visited Melaka, and asked me how satay celup looks like, before I brought them to indulge the savory and to-die-for delicacy.

With layman descriptions in Malaysian’s context, satay celup is served and eaten like lok lok and steamboat, except the main difference in sauce. Instead of boiling pot of soup, satay celup is cooked by dipping or dunking sticks of raw foods into boiling pot of aromatically rich and spicy peanut sauce.

There are a wide variety of raw foods available for selection, such as prawns, vegetables, pork, chicken, beef, fishballs, quail’s eggs, cockles, squids, pig’s liver, braised pig’s ears, Taiwanese sausages, and many more to complement the terrific sauce.

Choose Your Foods, and Pay for What You Ate

You’re given full flexibility and freedom to choose any type of foods, and only pay for what you’ve eaten.

Each stick of foods only cost RM0.50 RM0.60, regardless of what you take. This is freaking cheap, considering the lok lok in Klang Valley and Subang could easily cost RM1 each; and yet Melaka satay celup tastes heavenly great.

Some of the foods, like century eggs, are served in small plates instead of stacking with stick. Foods in plates are priced differently, according to the plate colour.

Things I Like at Capitol Satay Celup

At Capitol Satay Celup, the shrimps taste exceptionally sweet! Whenever I’m there, I will surely eat at least 15 sticks of shrimps. It takes a simple rule-of-thumb to preserve the natural sweetness of shrimp, even after it was cooked. The fact that shrimp doesn’t take long time to be cooked in boiled water, I will only dip shrimps into the satay sauce for about 2 to 3 minutes. And I don’t cook too many sticks at a time, just as much about 2 sticks of shrimps per person. With 2 minutes, the shell-peeled-off shrimps are just nicely cooked, and yet natural sweetness is preserved. “uuuuhhmp…” simply drooling.

Peanut sauce is a killing factor for satay celup. No matter how fresh the raw foods are, if the peanut sauce is not nicely blended, everything will be turned down. The boss and his staffs at Capitol Satay Celup are very customer-oriented. Realising the importance of the peanut sauce, the crew will consistently go to each table to blend the sauce with sufficient amount of savors and peanuts. They are very skillful, and the sauce will consistently stay at the satisfying level of thickness throughout your meal. Just nice.

Besides, you will also be given “mystery gifts” when your table has consumed a certain amount of foods. The crew will constantly bring out some seafoods like big prawns, and distribute them, while charging the same flat rate of RM0.50 RM0.60 each.

With advantages as a pioneer, and flock of food lovers dedicating great testimonials, Capitol Satay Celup has gotten a comprehensive media coverage over tens of years. Part of these media exposures are featured on their wall of fame.

Expect to Queue

Capitol Satay Celup is always full of crowds, especially during weekends and public holidays. Thus, you should always expect to queue, even at 10pm.

Some people, who are not willing to queue or wait for their turn to be served, might be frustrated.

Business Hour

Capitol Satay Celup opens at 5.30PM, till late night when the last customer left, and closes on every Monday.

Capitol Satay Celup Location Map

Click on the image for a full-sized map

Address: Capitol Satay Celup, 41, Lorong Bukit Cina, Melaka

GPS Coordinate: N2.19548 E102.25252

Related Previous Posts

• 1 Day Trip at Melaka
• WMW’s Travelogue
• Food@Melaka – Yong Tau Foo at Malim Jaya
• Melaka Nyonya Kuih at Tengkera
• Food@Melaka - Hainanese Chicken Rice Ball at Chung Wah Kopitiam

Entry Filed under: Foods

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