Petaling Street & OldTown Kopitiam Mamak, Melbourne

Having spent my teenage life in Malaysia for three and a half years, I've definitely built a strong bond with the country. Not only the people and culture that attach me to the country, but it's also my love to Malaysian food. Malaysian food has become a part of me since then.

I always think among all the cities in Australia, Sydney probably has the best selection of Malaysian restaurants to choose from. But I was wrong, I must admit Melbourne is now the place to go for Malaysian cuisine. Especially when there are two authentic Malaysian restaurants opened up their branches in Melbourne, i.e. Petaling Street and Old Town Kopitiam Mamak.

My first meal after touching down Melbourne was Petaling Street. It was around 9 when we arrived and we were worried that the restaurant is already closed, but my bro in law told us no need to worry because this restaurant open until 3 AM. The real malaysian style! When I reached the restaurant and looked at the menu, I felt like home.

Malaysian Food is never complete without their chilli condiment - Sambal and to soothe your burning mouth, a cup of icy cold Teh Tarik (Milk Tea) will do the job.

We had the delicious Petaling Street Style Steam rice roll ($5.80), served with the perfect sweet dark sauce.

 Then, we had the Herbal Chicken Soup, it was rich with ginseng flavour. It's perfect to warm up the body in Melbourne's freezing weather. (Sorry I forgot how much this soup cost)

The Mamak Mie Goreng ($8.90) was so good and it's really authentic. Back in Malaysia this is a very popular Hawker type spicy egg noodles. What you'll find in this plate of noodle are seafood, chicken, bean curd and bean shoots. We ended up ordering one more plate of this yummy fried noodle, because one is just not enough.

We also had their Asam Laksa ($9.90). Another popular hawker food in Malaysia. The thick vermicelli noodle is served with cucumber, red onion, pineapple in hot sour fish soup. Even though, the flavour was there but we found the soup too thick and overpowering.

Lastly, we had the Cuttlefish Salad. I have not seen this dish in Sydney. This is a very unique salad only to be found in Malaysia. The boiled Cuttlefish was served with water spinach topped with peanuts and dark sweet sauce which I have no idea what it's made of, but it was really delicious, taste exactly like those back in Malaysia. So glad to find it here in Petaling Street!

Next day while walking around the Melbourne city, me and my husband found another Malaysian franchise restaurant purely by chance. Nested inside QV square is the Old town Kopitiam Mamak. Famous for their milk coffee, milk tea as well as their traditional Malaysian food, my husband and I made a stop here. Even though we were still feeling full from lunch, we just couldn't go pass this place.

My husband had their special Old Town Teh C Special 3 Colour tea ($3.90). The drink consists of layers of tea, milk and brown palm sugar

I tried the Ice Cendol ($6.00). Ice cendol is a refreshing drink with a blend of brown palm sugar, red bean, green jelly coconut milk and shaved ice. But this cendol was quite dissapointing, the coconut milk was too thick. I guess we can never find cendol that is as good as the one in Malaysia, because the coconut milk in Australia is mostly packaged, where in Malaysia they serve it with fresh coconut milk which taste so much lighter and fresher.

Finally, one of my favourite food - Roti canai ($4.50). The roti canai is definitely the best I've had in Australia, my husband actually thought it is even better than the one he had in Malaysia. The bread was crispy and it had the perfect texture and flavour. We were not surprise it's this good, because it's made by the real Mamak (Tamil Muslims of Malaysian nationality), who is known for their specialty in making roti canai.

I couldn't be happier with our meals in these two restaurants. Now, the question is "When are they going to open a branch in Sydney?". I'm highly anticipating for the day to come!

Petaling Street

600 Station St, Box Hill 

Melbourne 3000

Ph:(03) 9890 0972

 

Oldtown Kopitiam Mamak

Level 2, Shop 11, QV Square
QV Building

Melbourne 3000

Ph: (03) 9654 2682