Category: Malaysian

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Malaysian

Ipoh Dynasty 怡保山城 – Campsie NSW Restaurant Review

Ipoh Dynasty has become one of the most frequent enemies of our shared transaction account in recent times, with my partner having gotten into the practice of ordering delivery on a fairly regular basis. With her interstate on an examination preparation course, and me being at home with little motivation for cooking after working a greater than 1.5 FTE, I ate in at Ipoh Dynasty twice in the same week.

On my first visit I had this Maggie Goreng Mamak ($16.90), a really nice stir fried noodle dish with tofu, large juicy prawns, and chicken. It had only a slightly spicy flavour, and was great with the entire lemon squeezed in, which is not how I normally use lemon at restaurants. I really enjoyed this, part of why I went back for a second visit only days later.

The Ipoh Dynasty Special Curry Noodle (curry mee) ($18.90) were also quite good, this time a larger portion than could be handled by me at 8:30PM on a completely empty stomach barring a protein shake at 7AM. It was just a really huge hot bowl of a curry broth filled with tofu, again giant prawns, and char siu with only rice noodles as they had run out of egg noodles for the day. The broth was really tasty and really rich, and really just quite enjoyable. I tipped them the remaining $1.10 of my $20 note out of the shame of not being able to finish it as a full grown adult.

Other thoughts
I quite enjoyed both meals I had at Ipoh Dynasty, but I feel like they probably only merely tolerate me, which is fine, and probably my own fault for looking like I speak a decent amount of Chinese when I really don’t.

Third visit (within a week)

My partner came back home, and this time we went together, for the third time in 7 days. I essentially can never go back.

The roti canai with curry chicken ($10 or so) was a pretty solid warm bowl of curry chicken with potato and a very flaky and crispy roti canai, with a strong structure and no flop at all. The taste was good, as was the price, though I think with the relatively good sized serving of curry chicken for the price I would advise punters to order an extra roti to make maximal use of the curry sauce.


The roasted pork wanton noodle ($18.90) was a dry noodle dish that wasn’t too dry, with a good slightly sweet and salty soy sauce flavour to the noodles, kind-of harder roast pork (it’s hard to be superior to a place that actually does roast pork as a main attraction), and super meaty pork wontons. Perhaps the star of the dish were the slightly sweet and tangy fermented green chillis, which provided a textural difference and a fresh change in taste every few mouthfuls. Like their other noodles, this was quite a good dish overall.

This Hotplate Homemate Toufu ($19.90) was a combination of mushroom, tofu, and mince on a sizzling hot plate in gravy. The flavour was good, though the type of tofu used was not to my preference. It had a sponge-like texture, essentially what I would expect from firm tofu after freezing, rather than a more silken texture that I would have preferred. I have no idea what is more authentic to Malaysian cuisine, however, so I speak only from personal preference.

Ipoh Dynasty
Shop 2/43 N Parade, Campsie NSW 2194
0439 838 888

Categories
Chinese Malaysian

Hokkien Kia – Campsie NSW Restaurant Review

My visit to Hokkien Kia was foretold by both Malaysian and non-Malaysian friends alike, who knew I could not resist a strong recommendation for some good Asian food.

This Duck Egg Fried Kuey Teow ($15.80) is the thing of legends. My friend BCSY, a real life Malaysian, describes this as the closest thing to Penang-style CKT as you can find. I had an extraordinarily large amount of char kway teow during my first two years of med school from a small restaurant near to campus called Pinewood Noodle & Sushi Bar, and while that was a formative culinary experience for me at the time, this CKT clearly blew that and every other CKT I’ve had out of the water. Highlights of this particular char kway teow were the huge prawns and the excellent wok hei flavour, but the most impressive part was the addition of deep fried pork lard, adding crispy and deeply umami morsels into each mouthful. I don’t know that the duckness of the egg was a particular must have, but I’m told it’s part of it. Either way, this is certainly an impressive char kway teow and a must try from Hokkien Kia.

I’ve never had roast pork in laksa before, but Roast Pork Curry Laksa ($15.80) was actually quite good. The laksa had good curry flavour, while the crackling roast pork was of a high quality, with good crispiness to the skin and worthy to be sold on its own at any Cantonese/Hong Kong style BBQ restaurant.

The Kam Heong Pipi ($22.80) is another specialty of the restaurant, with pipis stir fried in an excellent umami and seafoody sauce of dried shrimps, curry powder, shallots, and garlic. It was very fragrant and a little sweeter than XO pipis, with a good pasty texture to the sauce that added an extra dimension.

My partner thought this iced teh tarik ($4.80) was a bit too sweet and not her favourite teh tarik ever, not that she’s had that wide experience with the drink.

COMMENTS
I really enjoyed Hokkien Kia’s duck egg fried kuey teow, with its excellent wok hei quality and the absolutely delicious deep fried pork lard making it extremely dangerous to anyone looking to avoid an early cardiovascular death. Whilst the other dishes we tried didn’t wow me so much, Hokkien Kia remains a strong recommendation from me for the strength of its char kway teow alone.

Hokkien Kia
254 Beamish St, Campsie NSW 2194
0403 889 139

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Malaysian

Nanyang Malaya Cafe – Marrickville NSW Restaurant Review

Opening up a restaurant in close proximity to other restaurants of a similar theme can be a bit of a double-edge sword. While you may very well attract patrons of your neighbouring restaurants for their next meal in the area, you will also invariably invite comparisons between you and the three other modern-ish Asian diners with whom you are lined up with in a row. This is a comparison that Nanyang Malaya Cafe handles well.

We started with the chicken wings (6 for $10). I thought that I had gotten my photo in before my partner could steal one, but this photo is clearly evidence to the contrary. These were pretty good, marinated in a spicy curry-like marinade and coated in a crispy light starch batter (which contrasts with the breading used in most Western styles of fried chicken). The meat beneath the batter was suitably moist, though probably not at the 99th percentile of moistness as far as fried chickens go. The Terasi chilli sauce was a bit shrimpy but still enjoyed by my partner, which is a success in and of itself. The pickled vegetables were welcome but would not have been missed were they not present.

The Hainanese chicken ($21) was a pretty reasonable amount of food for the price, presented in a keto-friendly arrangement of just the good proteinaceous and vegetable bits without any chicken rice or soup (it is available also as a set for those who like the classics). The chicken had quite a mild flavour but was helped along by the solid ginger and chilli sauces, and I felt this was overall quite a good option.

The curry puffs (2 for $9) are a bit smaller than at Albee’s, less elaborate in their filling, but in no way worse overall. They came with a simple filling of potato, chicken, and curry, but with good flavour with an unexpected hint of star anise. The puff pastry was light and flaky, and this was ultimately quite a pleasurable puff.

The curry fish fillet ($26) came as a large pot of ling fillet cooked with vegetables (ocra – to my partner’s dismay, beans ,onions, and tomato) in a yellow curry. The use of ling as the protein was commendable as I’m sure they would’ve gotten away with a cheaper fish like basa, though the ling did exhibit a stronger (and welcome) texture which you wouldn’t otherwise get. The flavour of the curry was thoroughly enjoyable, if not really soaked up by the fish, and I think this dish would have been even better with some rice.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
I enjoyed everything I ate at Nanyang Malaya Cafe, and had a much better time overall than when I ate at its neighbouring modern-Asian restaurant. I can recommend a visit.

Nanyang Malaya Cafe
Marrickville Metro G001, 20 Smidmore St, Marrickville NSW 2204
0422 598 037

Categories
Chinese Malaysian

Temasek – Parramatta NSW Restaurant Review

The Temasek experience is oft lauded as one of the best Singaporean-Malaysian restaurants in Sydney, as well as one of the best restaurants in Parramatta overall. I first heard about Temasek somewhere in late primary school or early high school, when my Malaysian-Chinese childhood friend JL mentioned that he had been. I had also been with my parents some time during my teens, and I’d wanted to, but not had the chance (owing to Temasek’s limited opening hours) to go back until now.

Temasek, tucked in a narrow alleyway beside the old Roxy Theatre, looks, smells, and sounds authentic. Passers-by through the Roxy Arcade are treated to kitchen noises, chatter, and fragrances that would be unexpected for the Parramatta CBD. Service is brisk but friendly from the multilingual staff, and the portion sizes are huge.

I wanted to like the Hainanese Chicken Rice ($16.50), I really did. What should’ve been a slam dunk easy dish to bring out perfectly unfortunately did not meet my expectations. The meat was unusually rubbery, and not warmed the whole way through. The centre of the chicken breast was unfortunately a bit cooler than the exterior. It was unfortunate that the star chicken protein was not as good as the accompaniments, with the chicken rice and soup both having good flavour. I enjoyed both the sweet sticky soy sauce and chilli sauce.

The Mee Siam ($18.80), a noodle dish in a hot and sour soup, with boiled egg, prawn and fishcake was our other choice. While I think it’s probably a fine and beloved dish in general, it just wasn’t to my taste. I think the hot and sour flavours were too strong, and I wasn’t a big fan of the rice noodles either. The generously applied proteins were good, though once I had fished them all out the resulting bowl of hot and sour soup and vermicelli didn’t not inspire me enough for me to eat the rest of the bowl.

THOUGHTS
I wasn’t a fan of what I had ordered, but would not be opposed to going back. The three people on the table next to us thoroughly enjoyed their mi goreng.

Temasek
71 George St, Parramatta NSW 2150
(02) 9633 9926

Categories
Asian Fusion Café Malaysian

Cafe Rumah – Surry Hills NSW Malaysian Restaurant Review

Rumour has it that Cafe Rumah is one of the top Malaysian-fusion cafes in all of Sydney. To be fair, there aren’t really that many. My partner and I ventured into the inner west one sunny Friday morning for a bit of Asian cuisine.

Mama Yang’s Pork Belly Rice Bowl ($18) was delicious. The pork belly was cooked well, with a great melt in your mouth feel to the fat and skin components. The fatty pork to lean pork ratio was just right, and neither components overpowered the other. The fresh herbs and pickles added an additional level of flavour to the soy-braised pork belly and rice, and gave it a new spin compared to the usual pork belly fare that we normally get from Chinese restaurants around the city. I can definitely recommend this dish.

While Mama Yang prevailed in her dish’s light deliciousness, the Tom Yum Chicken Congee ($16) faltered. I found the tom yum congee to be far too tasty. The tom yum and flavours were too strong, and took away from this congee’s ability to be a wholesome and warming meal. In their defense, the congee had all of the requisite ingredients, including what seemed like $5 of ginger alone, but it is perhaps this generosity that led to its defeat. Too tasty, not wholesome.

The Milo Dino ($6.50) was a surprise hit. Six dollars is a lot to pay for a glass of milo, but the taste was nice and I didn’t choke on the powdery stuff on top.

Overall I think Cafe Rumah tends towards stronger flavours, and is perhaps a miss if you are someone who has a softer palate. Personally I would still like to come back and try their roti john, so I guess it’s a recommend with caveats.

Cafe Rumah
(02) 9280 2289
71-73 Campbell St, Surry Hills, NSW 2010