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!

Kang Nam Station 2

I have this in my draft for a bit too long, so it’s time I took it out for the world to share.

Kang Nam Station 2 is somewhere near the Auckland City Library and SkyCity Cinema. That probably didn’t help as there’s probably like 3 to 4 Korean restaurants around there. It’s not the one directly opposite Borders or the library, but in between those two, right around the corner. It’s not hard to spot and they apparently have two parkings available.

Kang Nam Station has an original (no. 1) which is quite nearby I believe. Actually, I don’t know where the original one is, but I’m thinking somewhere near the row of Korean shops on Upper Queen St. It’s a weird restaurant because when you enter the place, there’s a pokie machine section on the right hand side. I don’t know why, maybe it’s like some Korean dual business thing. But pokie machines in a restaurant can be a bit weird, and plus, those machines attract a different kind of crowd.

Some samples of the food are shown below:

Steamboat package.

Bulgogi.

Bibimbap.

The price of the Bulgogi and Bibimbap are $12 each, and they were pretty good. I do, however think they’re getting a bit stingy with the side dishes. But otherwise, for the price, they have good meat dishes.

The steamboat package from memory comes in three or four types – I can’t remember what they were. This one above cost $35. For this one, I got everything, vegetables, meat, rice, soup and also noodle. It’s very filling and tastes great on a cold winter night.

My rating is a decent 8/10. The pokie machine section can be easily ignored and the slight stinginess is bearable (as most Korean restaurants are going that way unfortunately). However, the positive is relatively cheap, great tasting Korean food.

Angie’s Kitchen

I got recommended to this place and heard lots of good things about it. Angie’s Kitchen is located very near to AUT in the CBD. Parking is quite a pain to find, but on the weekend it’s alright. The place is also a halal restaurant which is pretty good.

Samples below:

Kapitan Curry Chicken on Rice.

Braised Beef Noodle Soup.

Teh Tarik less sugar (with a free apricot biscotti).

Kopi  less sugar.

I thought the Kapitan Curry Chicken was very good, but the braised beef noodle was plain. The mistake was probably not selecting “traditional” Malaysian food, i.e. Nasi Lemak, Laksa or whatever.  The price of the food was above average, I don’t remember it being less than $10, so not a cheap option. The coffee and tea drinks didn’t taste that great.

My rating is average, 6.5/10. The pricing didn’t help.

Eat Asian Food Hall @ East Tamaki

The East Asian Food Hall is one of those noticeable food court when you go towards Botany Downs. It’s on the right hand side when going towards Botany Downs. Most of the shops in the food court are standard i.e. Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Vietnamese etc. But this one has a Sri Lankan shop which makes roti!

The Sri Lankan and Indian shops were sampled. Pictures below:

Roti Delight.

Lamb Madras on Rice.

The Sri Lankan Rotti Shop sells a range of roti and for Malaysians, it does feel quite at home.  The Indian shop is right next to it, but I can’t remember the name. Funnily enough, the Indian shop also sells kebabs.

The Roti Delight which was $8.50, came with some curry and had mutton filling. The Lamb Madras ($9.00) was not bad, the meat was tender. I have to admit, the standard is quite good. I wasn’t disappointed at all.

Usually I don’t give ratings if I can’t remember the price but for this occassion, overall they get an 8/10. Highly recommended, especially the Sri Lankan shop.

Wagamama (Newmarket)

Fusion is overrated. It’s a good excuse to charge double the price of a typical Asian meal. But that’s what I think. 🙂

Wagamama seems quite popular as I see the Link Bus ads all the time (brainwashed?). This particular one I popped into is on Nuffield St in Newmarket. There are others in the CBD and Sylvia Park. Anyway, samples below:

Koumi Chicken.

Ramu Kare Lomen.

Tori Kara Age.

Pricing-wise, the Koumi Chicken was $18 and Ramu Kare Lomen was $18.50. Note, first choice for the chicken meals weren’t available for some reason, so selection was limited for that night (not good).  The Tori Kara Age was $10. The Koumi Chicken was very plain, which was very disappointing. For the price, it was not worth it. The Ramu Kare Lomen was not bad, as I was a fan of coconut-based curry. The Tori Kara Age was also not bad. Overall, taste-wise, nothing to worship about.

I thought their pricing was a bit too much but they were fusion, so they could do anything they want in terms of price. Perhaps the environment was the reason to go to Wagamama, but I didn’t feel it.

My rating is 6/10. Wagamama ain’t worth it unless you have a voucher to burn, or you really can’t find anything else open (they seem to open quite late).

Neighbour’s Restaurant

Neighbour’s Restaurant is not affiliated to the Australian drama – but it’s quite a nice place to go to . I found this restaurant next to Pho Vietnamese Restaurant on Lorne St. They are located “underground” but have a menu just before you go in. The menu with pricing helps differentiate if it’s cheap or expensive compared to places nearby *ahem*. I have to say, it’s kinda cheap, $10 or less unlike some places. =)

A couple of dishes were sampled on a cold winter night:

Pork Chop on Rice.

Sesame Oil Chicken Noodle Soup.

The place serves Taiwanese cuisine and first impression, I like it. In terms of pricing, it’s cheap and flavour-wise, it’s on-par with another one of my favourites, T-Mark. The place is also clean and green (I mean literally).

My rating is a biased 9/10.