[Melaka] Urban Food Hall @ Dataran Pahlawan

Unlike other food court which operating by stalls, the Urban Food Hall at Dataran Pahlawan is operating by restaurants. This means, there are a few restaurants within the food hall and you are able to order from any of the restaurants in a single seating. 

The Urban Food Hall is located inside the same building as the cinema on the second floor. 

Currently, the restaurants serving at Urban Food Hall are:

• Johnny Rocket
• The Library Coffee Bar
• Franco
• The South East
• Quiznos

And coming soon, Ichiban - The Izakaya.

The open concept dining is the first in Melaka. We love the flexibility of ordering from different restaurants which allows a laidback dining experience. It is a good place for casual meet-ups or for family to sit together and enjoy variety of foods. 

The food hall uses a centralized ordering system where each table is given an iPad to order your food and track the progress of your order. Although the system improves efficiency, there are some shortages. For example, the order form does not come with a "comment" or "remarks" section. Diners are unable put in remarks such as "less sugar", "less spicy", etc. There's no description on the food listing too which directing you to refer to the menu and make the order on the iPad.

Here are some of the food that we have tried from various restaurants. No bad experience, but some are better than others.

Franco (previously known as Miam Miam) is a Japanese-French fusion restaurant. The Yumeina pasta from Franco is a huge bowl of spaghetti cooked with shitake, onion and sausages. The base sauce for the pasta is soba soy sauce. For something different, you can try this.

Green curry chicken from The South East restaurant, which is the only Asian restaurant in the food hall currently. The broth of the green curry chicken is rich in spices and the texture is creamy. It was superb and you can devoured it all within minutes if you are a fan of Thai food. Totally recommended. 

Quiznos serves pizza, deli sandwiches, sub sandwiches and salads. For a test, we ordered the honey mustard chicken pizza. The crust is crunchy and the ingredients are fresh. The serving is perfect for one person. Although it tasted decent, it is not exceptionally great.

 The one which we highly recommend is a dessert from Franco, the Cheese Souffle. Bake to order, the cheese souffle is served hot. The texture of the souffle is fluffy and airy. Scoop after scoop, we couldn't get enough of it. If you happen to be there (or any Franco outlet in fact), do not miss it. 

Overall, the dining concept is unique and convenient. The price is reasonable, expect to pay around RM20 for the mains. Separate review on each restaurant coming soon.