Roughly 3km east of Dutch Square, this seaside square populated by seafood restaurants is the focal point of Melaka City’s Eurasian community. Many of the residents are descended from marriages between the colonial Portuguese and Malays some 400 years ago and many of them speak Kristang, a Creole language that mixes Malay with archaic Portuguese. The square, styled after a typical Portuguese mercado, wasn’t completed until the late 1980s.
The very easy-going kampung (village) is unexceptional and the square is often empty, except in the evenings when people come here to down a beer at the pub and scoff seafood. The sea breeze is lovely even if the views are being marred by construction of the new Harbour City development. Bus 17 from Dutch Sq will get you here.
