Mamak, Haymarket (27th April 2013)
After 3 hours of excitement on the BridgeClimb, it's time to get some food in the belly! Jono suggested we go to Mamak for dinner tonight so once we got changed and sorted out the souvenir photo purchases at the BridgeClimb centre, we walked to Wynyard train station and hopped on the next train to Central, followed by a short walk to the restaurant. It was around 8ish when we arrived and I was really hoping there wouldn't be a queue but no such luck :/ We chatted as we slowly shuffled along the line and some 20 minutes later finally got ourselves a table. Managed to skip the queue a little since there was just us two; some larger groups that were ahead of us were still waiting to get a table.
We had talked through want we wanted to have during our wait so it didn't take us long to order. Probably went slightly overboard tonight, getting ourselves a roti canai and ayam goreng each, and kajang panjang belacan and mee goreng to share, with drinks of teh tarik and teh halia for Jono and I respectively. Service was always very fast at Mamak and soon after we ordered, our table was filled with food :) It has been over a year since we last ate here and the food seemed a lot better than I remembered. Their roti canai (original plain roti that is crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside) is still by far the best roti I've had in Sydney. I've tried several other Malaysian restaurants in town but they somehow can't quite get this dish right - either the roti is too thick, or the curries that accompany it lacked flavour. Of the two curries and sambal that came with my roti, I loved the sambal most. It was spicy but strangely addictive and reminded me so much of the cuttlefish sambal we use to have for Malay rice breakfast back in Batu Pahat...
Since Jono's not a big fan of water spinach, we got the kajang panjang belacan (stir-fried long beans with chillies and shrimp paste) instead. The dish was laced with plenty of spice and garlic, and I can definitely taste and smell the shrimp paste. It was a sizeable serving for what I would have ordered as a side though it is served here as a main. My lips were burning from the heat of the spice and with each drink of my hot teh halia (teh tarik or "pulled milk tea" with a hint of ginger), it just further adds to the burn. Spicy but so delicious that I couldn't stop myself continuing this vicious cycle...The mee goreng too was fantastic, a generous serving of spicy wok-tossed hokkien noodles with eggs, prawns, fish cake slices and fresh bean sprouts served with a wedge of lime on the side for you to squeeze its juice over the dish. Mmm, I'm in food heaven!
I was pretty full but we still haven't got the ayam goreng yet. "Yah, the ayam goreng takes more time, but it's coming," said the waiter in his Malaysian Chinese accent when I enquired. Frankly I was happy to tell him to cancel the order but before I could get his attention again, another waiter came by and plopped the two pieces of Malaysian-style fried chicken on our table. I'm not sure if it was because we were both feeling rather full thus didn't enjoy the chicken as much - though the menu states that the chicken is marinated with herbs and spices and is full of flavour, the chicken wasn't very flavoursome at all. The crispy skin was what seemed to hold all the flavour but once it was eaten, the meat was just plain. Everything else we've had so far had its own distinct flavour so in comparison, the ayam goreng did not really impress us. I vaguely remember having tried the chicken on one of my earlier visits and didn't think I liked it very much then. Still not a favourite now.
Cost us $51.50 all up for dinner and boy, I could hardly walk when we left - ate too much!
We had talked through want we wanted to have during our wait so it didn't take us long to order. Probably went slightly overboard tonight, getting ourselves a roti canai and ayam goreng each, and kajang panjang belacan and mee goreng to share, with drinks of teh tarik and teh halia for Jono and I respectively. Service was always very fast at Mamak and soon after we ordered, our table was filled with food :) It has been over a year since we last ate here and the food seemed a lot better than I remembered. Their roti canai (original plain roti that is crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside) is still by far the best roti I've had in Sydney. I've tried several other Malaysian restaurants in town but they somehow can't quite get this dish right - either the roti is too thick, or the curries that accompany it lacked flavour. Of the two curries and sambal that came with my roti, I loved the sambal most. It was spicy but strangely addictive and reminded me so much of the cuttlefish sambal we use to have for Malay rice breakfast back in Batu Pahat...
Since Jono's not a big fan of water spinach, we got the kajang panjang belacan (stir-fried long beans with chillies and shrimp paste) instead. The dish was laced with plenty of spice and garlic, and I can definitely taste and smell the shrimp paste. It was a sizeable serving for what I would have ordered as a side though it is served here as a main. My lips were burning from the heat of the spice and with each drink of my hot teh halia (teh tarik or "pulled milk tea" with a hint of ginger), it just further adds to the burn. Spicy but so delicious that I couldn't stop myself continuing this vicious cycle...The mee goreng too was fantastic, a generous serving of spicy wok-tossed hokkien noodles with eggs, prawns, fish cake slices and fresh bean sprouts served with a wedge of lime on the side for you to squeeze its juice over the dish. Mmm, I'm in food heaven!
I was pretty full but we still haven't got the ayam goreng yet. "Yah, the ayam goreng takes more time, but it's coming," said the waiter in his Malaysian Chinese accent when I enquired. Frankly I was happy to tell him to cancel the order but before I could get his attention again, another waiter came by and plopped the two pieces of Malaysian-style fried chicken on our table. I'm not sure if it was because we were both feeling rather full thus didn't enjoy the chicken as much - though the menu states that the chicken is marinated with herbs and spices and is full of flavour, the chicken wasn't very flavoursome at all. The crispy skin was what seemed to hold all the flavour but once it was eaten, the meat was just plain. Everything else we've had so far had its own distinct flavour so in comparison, the ayam goreng did not really impress us. I vaguely remember having tried the chicken on one of my earlier visits and didn't think I liked it very much then. Still not a favourite now.
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| Roti canai ($5.50) |
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| Kacang panjang belacan ($14) |
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| Mee goreng ($12) |
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| Ayam goreng ($4 per piece) |
Cost us $51.50 all up for dinner and boy, I could hardly walk when we left - ate too much!
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