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Friday 22 October 2010

malaymas, fitzroy north: a little piece of malaysia

It's always great to find a place that serves authentic Malaysian food in Melbourne, so I'm very happy that I found Malaymas. Located on St Georges Rd in North Fitzroy, it's a fairly unassuming little restaurant that serves up great hawker-style dishes, mostly around the 10-dollar mark. I've been there twice now, and I'm definitely planning on a third visit.

The first time we went, I got the fried kueh teow and Simon had the nasi lemak special with beef rendang curry. Simon took the liberty of tasting the fried kueh teow while I was taking photos and commented on the smoky flavour. It was at this point I knew we were on to something good. And they are: one taste of these sultry wok-fried rice noodles and I was sold. The only thing that was missing was the crispy lard - the fried pork fat that I do so adore. Then there was the nasi lemak special, which Simon thought was alright but not excellent. They did forget the peanuts - an oversight he picked up on before I did. That boy is learning fast about Malaysian food. I am so proud of him. He is, however, still immune to the awesomeness that is sambal (spicy savoury chilli paste), something I happily excused that night, as Malaymas does a mean sambal, and it was mine, all mine! I didn't get to sample much else from his plate but hey, I think I got the best bit anyway.

fried kueh teow
nasi lemak special with beef rendang
For drinks, I had the sour plum (which was probably more salty than sour) and Simon had the longan. These were cool and refreshing, a nice complement to our food.

sour plum drink and longan drink
Just over one week later, we were off to Malaymas again. Simon was keen on more fried kueh teow, so we got that. But I wanted to try at least a couple of things different to what we had last time, so we ordered hainanese chicken rice and har mee (noodles in spicy prawn broth) as well. It turned out to be quite a lot of food for the two of us!

The hainanese chicken rice was pretty good - the chicken was succulent and the chilli-ginger dip was a decent version. However, the rice was slightly on the dry side - I remedied this by spooning some of the flavourful soup over it. Meanwhile, the har mee was prawny and pleasing. I can also report that the fried kueh teow was as delicious as we remembered from the first time.

hainanese chicken rice
har mee
As you can probably tell, I'm suitably impressed with Malaymas. Not quite Malaysian perfection in all the dishes, perhaps, but where they get it right, it's splendid! It shouldn't be too long before I return for round three, and I do hope it continues to impress.

Malaymas on Urbanspoon

8 comments:

  1. I have not been for so long. Malaymas is a regular joint when we were living in collingwood and in uni. YUM... might have to head back soon.

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  2. BOO. I commented on this last night and realized it didn't take! How irritating :)

    I've wanted to try Malaysian food before, but actually never went to get any. My husband is a little more cautious than I am when it comes to unfamiliar cuisine, but I think if I show him some of your pictures he'd be way more apt to try it! Especially that har mee. That looks fantastic.

    Your pictures are so nice, too! Especially for being in what appears to be a dimly lit place. They're very very nice :) Hopefully your next time at the restaurant is even better!!

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  3. Hey Penny, it's good stuff isn't it! Nom nom nom.

    Melissa, thanks for the nice words! Hmm I should probably have described each dish a bit more, I forget not everyone is familiar with Malaysian food. Hopefully you get to try some soon and like it! :D

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  4. nasi lemak with beef rendang....make me hungry...lucky I can get it all here...hmmm....where to eat today

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  5. Lucky indeed, shazat! Enjoy your meal, whatever you have... :)

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  6. Looks authentic especially the beef rendang and har mee..

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  7. Yeah they are quite good! Hope to visit again this month. Want to try more of the dishes. :D

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  8. One of the oddest things I miss about Melbourne is Malaysian and Indonesian food. Good luck finding a restaurant for either in the UK. One of my favourite dishes is gado gado, and I always drool when I remember 'Little Malaysia' restaurant in Liverpool St. Drool!

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