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

Steamed Yam Cake (Taro cake)

One of My 'Must-ask-mum-to-prepare' food

Steamed Yam cake is a traditional Asian savoury cake (known as kuih) that is made with fresh yam (taro) and served with ground dried shrimp, fried onions(shallots), spring onions and fresh chilli/chilli sauce (optional). This has been one of the local's favourites among the Asian countries and it is also one of my 'Must-ask-mum-to-prepare' food when my mum is around.While typing up this post, my mind is filled with all kind of local kuih that I could devour back home. But this purple colour cake should satisfy my craving temporarily.

  The Plain Steamed Yam Cake

The difficulty of preparing this cake is getting the right texture, it should be just firm and slightly sticky (it can't be too soft nor too hard). Mum's version of yam cake always come with her homemade chilli sauce that goes perfectly well with the cake.

 Ground Dried Shrimp (Pan fried)

Homemade Fried Onions (shallots)

I always wonder how mum always get it right because her recipe is always based on estimation only. I guess it all comes with experience. Finally, the easy and fun part is assembling the cake. First, place the cake on the plate then garnish it with generous amount of ground dried shrimp, fried onions(shallots), spring onions and chillies/chilli sauce. 

I need to apologise for not posting the recipe, because mum's recipe is all based on estimation, so if you are interested in savouring this mouth watering cake, why not try googling it online. I'm sure there's plenty of recipes available for you to try =)

After assembling the cake (without the chilli sauce)

After assembling the cake (with chilli sauce)

Hope this post will give you some inspiration for your next visit to the kitchen!

Next time, I will try to prepare this cake myself too.

Sinma Laksa House (Revisited), Kingsford

Food That Touches My Heart

Even tough I wasn't born in Malaysia, but Malaysian Food is one of the food that really touches my heart. So on Friday, I was back to my most visited Malaysian restaurant at Kingsford. This restaurant never fail to satisfy my hook for Malaysian food, whether is their hawker style noodles or their main dishes. Not only this is our favourite place, it's one of our friends favourite place too, who enthusiastically picked us up straight after his flight landed from Brisbie. So, we three hungry people headed to Sinma for some authentic Malaysian cuisine.

This time we had their famous Singapore Chilli Crab. The sauce was just right, not too spicy, a little sweet and sour. Best part was dipping the chilli crab sauce with the pan fried bun (they have steamed bun as well). It was just delightful! We actually ordered one more portion of the pan fried and steamed buns.

Then, we had the Guinness Chicken. This is the only place that I found that offer this chicken in Sydney. There was no noticeable taste of the beverage, however the chicken just turned out very well, the chicken pieces were really crispy and deliciously covered with the sweetness of Guinness sauce.

We also ordered a very popular asian vegetable, the Sambal Belacan Kangkung (Water Spinach). This is always the good one to have while having Malaysian dishes. It is probably most asian's favourite vegetable dish. Lucky, Sinma cooked it right.

Then we had my favourite KL hokkien Mee. Just like the one I had on my last visit. 

This noddle is famous for its dark fragrant sauce and its secret ingredients, the fried pork fat.

 I had their Char Kway Teow (below) few weeks ago, but I thought I just include it in this post. 

 I found that Sinma has the most authentic Penang Char Kway Teow in Sydney. I like mine extra spciy.

Absolutely love Malaysian cuisine and will always do!

Sinma Laksa House

3/391 Anzac Parade

Kingsford 2032

NSW

(02) 9313 7663

Lee's Malaysian Prawn Mee, Sydney CBD

“Do not be afraid to talk about food. Food which is worth eating is worth discussing. And there is the occult power of words which somehow will develop its qualities.” (X. Marcel Boulestin, chef, food writer , 1878-1943)

Could this be the best Prawn Mee in Sydney?

Prawn Mee (also known as Har Mee) is a local malaysia hawker food made famous by Penang (known as Hokkien Mee in Penang), it's originated from  Fujian Province, China.

The most important thing in Prawn Mee is definitley the broth. A good prawn mee should be filled with the flavourful essence and sweetness of prawn and pork ribs. Lee's Malaysian certainly got it right. You find generous amount of crunchy halved prawns, deliciously marinated slices pork, egg and crunchy kangkung (chinese spinach), probably the most generous prawn mee you could find in Sydney and not to mention the soup is so prawn pungently good. Add you own dosage of chilli paste to get that desired kick to keep you going, until you reach the climax! 

Prawn Mee (Har Mee) $9.00

This bowl of noodle will bring you thrilling sensation, make sure you have some tissues and a glass of ice-cold water handy, as you will probably ended up in sweat. So far this is the best prawn mee I have tasted in Sydney, but my friend has been recommending me to David's Kitchen in the city, will definitely give it a try to compare.

Pavilion Food Court

580 George Street

Sydney 2000

(02) 9262 7771

Sinma Laksa House, Kingsford

When I’m at a Chinese restaurant having a hard time with chopsticks, I always hope that there’s a Chinese kid at an American restaurant somewhere who’s struggling mightily with a fork. ~Rick Budinich

Sinma Laksa House is probably my most visited restaurant in Kingsford. Having spent three and a half years living in Malaysia, Malaysian food has been a part of me. Sinma Laksa served varieties of Malaysian and Singaporean Hawker food, but of course without the heat and humidity. The interior of the restaurant do resemble a typical malaysian restaurant back there, especially with the Batik table cloths.

The food tasted really authentic, some of  my favourites here are the Penang char kway teow (fried rice noodle), Mamak mie goreng, fried turnip cake, prawn noodle soup and their 3 choices, where you pick 3 dishes of your choice with steamed rice. One of their famous dish there is the Singapore Chilli Mud Crab. Food is generally pretty good, serving is pretty big too. However don't expect a good service here, this is the kind of restaurant you walk in, make an order, pick up your own cutlery and water, enjoy your food and leave.

 3 choices with steamed rice (we picked chicken curry, green vege and soya pork)

Price with 3 curries $9.00

The curry chicken is really good, it's always one of our choice.

KL hokkien noddle 

(sorry I forgot the price but if I'm not mistaken, is $9.50)

I have lost count the total no of times I had this noodle, it's my favourite order in Sinma Laksa House, it cooked in a black sauce, with chicken and some seafood inside. The secret of this noodle is the deep fried pork fat pieces (also callede pork rind), although not really healthy for the body but it really defines the taste. 

I guess no harm to have it once in a while =p

Sinma Laksa House

3/391 Anzac Parade

Kingsford 2032

NSW

(02) 9313 7663