Malay-Chinese Takeaway, Sydney (6th November 2013)

Su Wei felt like ‘hor fun’ for lunch so we headed over to Malay-Chinese Takeaway around 11.45am for an early bite. I decided to get the Combination Hor Fun as well since I've never had it here before; Su Wei had ordered the dish on several of our visits to Malay-Chinese Takeaway but I would always stick to my good old favourite laksa :) The Combination Hor Fun comes in two sizes - $8.90 for the small or $9.50 for the large. I got the small only to learn that Su Wei ordered herself the large. Is small not the regular size?? Well, too late to change my order now!

We found ourselves a table in the busy diner and it didn't take very long for our meals to be called out for collection. "Green chilli yah?" asked the auntie (in Malaysia, everyone is your auntie or uncle so long as they are much older than you, including people who serve you food – it’s a Malaysian etiquette to respectfully address someone other than their given names, even if they are not related to you) and I nodded. Yes please - pickled green chillies are A MUST with the dish! Unlike the other chillies which you can self-serve from the condiments area, the pickled green chillies were only given on food collection and the amount determined by the auntie. I suppose if you ask nicely, they would happily give you another spoonful; what I got was pretty generous and more than enough for my dish.

I should have just gone for the large – looking at Su Wei’s, hers was way more substantial than mine for the extra 60 cents. My small was not quite enough to fill me up though the large seemed a little too much (well, better too much than too little when it comes to food, I reckon). Frankly, they should just have the one size and scrap the small altogether. The Combination Hor Fun is made with rice stick and rice noodles fried with a little dark seasoning to give it the brownish colour combined with ingredients of chopped choy sum, seafood (slices of fish cake, couple of large shelled prawns and pieces of squid) and slices of chicken, drenched in a starchy sauce and topped with fried shallot and optional pickled green chillies. Good flavour though it didn’t impress me as much as their laksa did. The gleaming sauce was too gooey for my liking and the pickled green chillies needed more pickling – it tasted more spicy than sour. There were also bean sprouts in the dish which was unexpected. I think I’ll stick to my laksa when I’m next here…

Combination Hor Fun (Small) ($8.90)

A more substantial looking Combination Hor Fun (Large) ($9.50)