Geographér Café, Malacca > Reviews (1)

The Geographer Cafe is a bar/cafe/restaurant on the busy Jonker Street in Unesco Heritage status Malacca, Malaysia. It is situated right in the heart of this buzzy, bustling spot also known as China town in Malacca. It's a great place to go if you're a backpacker looking to meet people as it was full of them and is a very friendly, open place. We were on honeymoon so this wasn't really our bag but such was the charm of it, we returned a number of times anyway.

This is also the place to go for people watching. During the warm months (which tends to be most of them!) the doors and windows all open out to allow for seating to flow into the street. Inside can be quite dingy and dark but also serves as a good way to get away from the searing heat. Decor is very simple with wooden tables and chairs. It has a classically Malay feel with yellow/orange walls and green painted wooden beams and shutters. The walls are decorated with eclectic pictures and ephemera of local interest.

The food itself is a mix of western and Chinese food and consists largely of the standard fare: satay, spring rolls, pastas, noodle dishes, ramen, black pepper chicken, etc…. It is cheap and cheerful. We ate chicken satay to start, which was dry and the satay sauce itself a little watery. For our main we ate noodles, which were bland, slightly greasy and tasteless but filling and a good potion size. They claim to not use MSG in their food, which is definitely a bonus and it did seem to lack that shiny gleam food often does that contains it. We were on the whole largely unimpressed though so didn't eat there again there. I think it's important to note however that I don't think it's the quality of the food people come here for. It struck me as a popular meeting point and seemed very popular with backpackers whiling away their day over a coffee (or something stronger) and a good book. It appeared that this was the kind of place people go to meet new people such was the generally very friendly ambience. There was always a positive vibe when we visited with the constant murmurs of general chatter and laughter, but never in an intrusive way. We never experienced a distracting cacophony and it was always relatively peaceful. The fact that it is inexpensive and in a good location also helps!

We visited a few times for a drink (only once to eat) and it was always packed, no matter the time of day, with finding seating difficult but never impossible. The drinks menu itself ranges from some very basic cocktails to wine and beer. Again, given the market it caters for they don't go the whole 9 yards on elaboration.

Most nights to add to the fun, they ramp up the live musical entertainment for the gregarious punters. This consists of one man with a casio keyboard, cowboy hat and exhaustive supply of well-known western hits, and lesser well-known hits from elsewhere. His singing is dreadful, his playing marginally better put overall performance exhilarating. He also welcomes members from the audience to do a number if they wish… which they often do.

As you can imagine, this is largely hit and miss... Well, miss mostly, but very entertaining. The neighbouring bar across the narrow street seemed to offer a similar form of entertainment but kindly they never performed at the same time! As one would take a break, the other would start avoiding a terrible musical clash.

The Geographer is definitely worth a visit if in Malacca, especially on Friday or Saturday’s when Jonker Street has it’s street market. It’ll get very crowded but a great place to watch the general madness unfold. In the day it can prove to also be a quiet escape to watch the world go by. Recommended… but maybe don’t eat there.