Malay Restaurant

Malay Restaurant was opened recently in Newmarket – very near to T Mark and Archie’s restaurant. It’s a fresh competitor for Malaysian food in the Newmarket area, competing against Selera, MyStop and Laksa House. My first impression was good – from outside I think it shows a lot of promise, quite nice decorations and appears to have authentic Malay food. So, it was harmless to give this place  a try – samples below:

Prawn Noodle Soup.

Mee Goreng.

Curry Chicken on Rice.

If I can remember, each dish was $9.90. The food was not horrible but not that great. It’s still an alternative Malaysian food place and well situated as well. Parking is not that hard to find especially at night. But I thought some of the dishes had too much MSG. Hopefully, someone can recommend something else they tried here and was great, but for now I am not sure if I’ll be back.

Rating = 7/10.

Great North Express – KL Cafe

Based on a recommendation from a reader, I tried KL Cafe in Kelston. It’s a bit of a drive to be honest, but I think well worth the visit. First you get to try a different place, and second, you get to see West Auckland. =) KL Cafe to me looks like a 2-in-1, quasi-takeaway-malaysian-cafe-hybrid. It works. Several samples below:

Char Kuey Teow.

Wonton Noodle.

Mee Goreng.

Prawn Noodle.

I didn’t manage to note the price unfortunately, but it’s standard price. Nothing that will blow you away. Out of these 4 dishes above, I quite like the Prawn Noodle. Apparently quite authentic. The people who served us are quite friendly and seem to recognise the locals.

My rating 8/10. Good try if you’re willing to go for a ride (assuming you’re not in West Auckland).

But someone did say to me, if you assume, you make an ASS out of U and ME. =)

Bing’s Authentic Malaysian Restaurant & Cafe

This is a strange place to find a Malaysian restaurant. It’s located in the Auckland Hotel on Hobson St. It’s almost impossible to find, in fact, it was a work colleague who told me about this place. I’m surprised how they manage to put a place like this in a hotel, but I guess it must work for both parties. The environment is a bit strange. The pricing of the meals are above average, all above $10 if I can recall, but the portion is huge.

Char Kuey Teow.

Wat Tan Hor.

Mee Goreng.

It’s not a bad place, the meals aren’t the best I’ve tasted. The portion is huge but that’s reflected on the pricing. The staff is friendly, but the environment is a bit different.  My rating is 7.5/10. It’s a good place for a Malaysian food if you want portion, and if you’re in the vicinity of the Auckland Hotel.

Food Junction – Tastes of Malaysia

If ya’ll didn’t know, today is the Malaysian National Day (Hari Kebangsaan), so I will post something Malaysian.

I found this place thanks to a friend of mine. We keep in touch in the strangest ways; random texts at odd times of the year but hardly meet up. He’s probably a better reviewer and writer than me. Anyway, this recommendation of his is quite a pleasant surprise. My first thoughts of Food Junction – it’s in friggin’ Manukau! That’s far!

Although far, the Food Junction is located at the Te Irirangi off ramp on SH1, very accessible if you think about it. It will take about 10-15 mins from the city. The Food Junction is a food court with a lot of a variety, but for this occassion, I am targetting the Malaysian store – Tastes of Malaysia. The first thing I spotted is the fresh roti they make – which is the second time I’ve seen (after the Sri Lankan place at East Tamaki).

Samples of some of their dishes below:

Mamak Mee Goreng.

Roti Telur.

Murtabak.

The Mamak Mee Goreng is pretty good, and costs $9.50 It’s… dare I say it, better than the one at Sri Puteri in Panmure. It’s not wet, but not dry – just right and flavoursome.

The roti is probably their “flagship” product – the roti telur costs $9.50 and the murtabak costs $10. Both rotis are great, but I preferred the roti telur as it is not “heavy”. The curry sauce was fantastic, with at least one drumstick in there.

My rating for this occassion is a favourable 9.5/10. I am definitely going back again!

Sri Intan

My apologies for the long, long update. I have been pre-occupied with work. Yes, I do have a day job which I surprisingly enjoy. There are the odd weirdos at work, but not as bad as my previousy employer.

I am a bit shocked that it took me a month to update. Anyway, today’s post is a Malaysian place in Mt Albert called Sri Intan. If you know where Momo Tea is, it’s further down the road going towards West Auckland.

They have a mixed cuisine, personally, I’d say Chinese, Malaysian and Vietnamese. I only try their Malaysian stuff and they do have one unique dish, the popiah. A few dishes were sampled as shown below:

Popiah.

Salted Fish and Diced Chicken Fried Rice.

Mee Goreng.

Char Kuey Teow.

Obviously the above dishes are generic Malaysian, sorry about that. Their service is great and friendly owners. Apparently, they now have a buffet. The fried rice was a bit wet but not bad, the other dishes tasted good. I would say the popiah is the dish to try, mainly because I haven’t seen much of them around. Their pricing for the dishes is above $10, I can’t remember exactly.

It’s kinda unfair to rate them since I totally forgot their exact pricing! But based on taste and environment, they get a generic mark of 7.5/10. I feel that their pricing is a bit on the high side, maybe because of the recession or something. But I can find Malaysian places that charge cheaper than them. Good to try out and let me know what you think.