Have You Ever Eaten Malaysian Food?

Malaysian Food

“If you can’t stand the heat stay out of the kitchen”
Traditional Saying

I was stoked when Malaysia Kitchen asked me to be one of their merry team of hot bloggers. As you know, some like it hot and I definitely do so I was delighted to become a Malaysia Kitchen Insider.

In case you haven’t heard of it yet Malaysia Kitchen is a global campaign to help people find out about how tasty Malaysian food is and get more of us sampling it.

My first port of call was the Old Town Kitchen restaurant on Brunswick Street in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane.

I have to admit that, as planned, I was starving when I got there.

Normally me and the Mucho Man eat with the kids at 5.30pm. Sad I know, although it is supposed to be good to eat early – it gives you more time to burn it off before bedtime.

In a happy turn of events, the Mucho Man and I had the opportunity to spend one night in Brisbane sin ninos, sans enfants or without kids. This was a first and we were excited.

We caught an early movie but when it ended it was late (by our standards) so we didn’t eat until 9pm.

When we finally arrived at the Old Town Kitchen Malaysian restaurant I was starving which was perfect because I wanted to try as many dishes as possible.

But despite the fact that I’d collected a menu earlier, taken prolific notes about Malaysian food on the internet and carefully studied the pictures of dishes in the window, I still couldn’t decide what to order.

Malaysian food is amazingly diverse with influences from Chinese, Thai and Indian cooking and Old Town Kitchen have over 150 items on the menu. I wanted to try them all, so cutting it down to three things that we could reasonably eat was tough.

But I finally did it. We chose:

  • Malaysian Sizzling Fish Fillet in Sambal Sauce
  • Assam King Prawns
  • Char Kuey Teow

The Char Kuey Teow arrived first. It was hotly recommended in online reviews but it’s not a chilli hot dish. Just delicious. Nasi Lemak is wide noodles with seafood, green beans and bean sprouts. You can tell I’m not a food writer but trust me it tasted great so it didn’t take us long to hoover it up.

Next came the Assam King Prawns. I love prawns.

If you ever want to curry favor with me please send flowers, chocolate or prawns. Ideally all three.

The assam king prawns didn’t disappoint. Eight lovely prawns floated in a spicy sour curry sauce along with tomatoes and green beans. The sour flavor comes from tamarind which I also love and in case you didn’t know I like it hot so this was always going to be a winner. It had just the right amount of chilli to give you a kick without bringing tears to your eyes.

Finally the sizzling Malaysian fish made our fellow diner’s heads swivel. I’m sure they all wished they’d got what we had. This dish is super temperature wise but not chilli hot though it is aromatic and spicy.

Malaysian Food

Malaysian Sizzling Fish Fillet in Sambal Sauce

Next our smiley waitress brought us some complimentary fruit followed by glutinous sticky black rice pudding. It’s a lovely sweet treat cooked in coconut milk which we devoured with gusto.

Malaysian Food

A palate refresher

Malaysian Food

Black glutinous rice pudding

As you can see in the photo up top by the end of the evening we’d polished off every single dish.

I’d do it all over again too.

Does Malaysian food sound good to you?

Malaysian Food

Many thanks to Malaysian Kitchen who kindly paid for our meal. It went down a treat.

Old Town Kitchen is at: Mcwhirters Mall, Shop 221, 247 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley QLD 4006 or phone (07) 3252 2866.

Find out more about Malaysian Kitchen Australia at their website which has a handy restaurant finder.

The global Malaysia Kitchen site has lots of recipes so you can cook up a storm at home.

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14 Comments

  1. Roseli A. Bakar August 26, 2011 at 5:02 pm - Reply

    Hi Annabel,

    Awesome to see you post something about my country. Malaysia is a great country with lots of delicious food. You should visit Malaysia and try all the street-food first hand.

    I just like to point out that the “Nasi Lemak” that you write about is not Nasi Lemak. Nasi Lemak is a rice dish. I believe what you’d eaten are “Char Kuey Teow” or Fried Flat Rice Noodle.

    All the food featured here are my top favorites, especially “Char Kuey Teow” :)

    • Annabel Candy August 26, 2011 at 6:18 pm - Reply

      Hi Roseli, I have visited Penang:) Lots of happy memories there. Thank you so much for the correction. I’ve changed it. Hmmm, I guess that means I haven’t tried Nasi Lemak yet. Better put that on my list to try next time!

      • Roseli A. Bakar August 27, 2011 at 4:51 am

        Hi Annabel,

        Next time you are in Malaysia, give me a buzz. I’ll show you around. I’m staying in Kuala Lumpur.

        Penang have delicious street-food. Hope you have try them all :)

        You should try Nasi Lemak next time you are here. Find those wrapped with banana leaf ( Taste and smell better ).

  2. Teresa Long August 27, 2011 at 3:23 am - Reply

    Oh my God…my mouth was watering when I read this! Where do I sign up? haha If bloggin leads to free food then I’m starting now hahahaha

    • Annabel Candy August 27, 2011 at 12:50 pm - Reply

      Hi Teresa, wow I knew it would have to take something huge to get you into blogging. And you can’t get much better than a free curry:) If you were here in Aus I’d take you with me for the next yummy meal!

  3. Malaysian food is wonderful, a great hybrid of Indian and other eastern cuisines. I spent some time in Malaysia ages ago. I now live in Moldova, Eastern Europe, and there is no Malaysian, Thai or even a Chinese restaurant that I know of, but there is an Uzbecky restaurant, but the food is not at all like Malaysian food, but pretty good for a change ;)

    • Annabel Candy August 27, 2011 at 12:51 pm - Reply

      Hi Miss F, what amazing experiences you’ve had. And Uzbecky food, I’ve never even heard of that:)

  4. seana smith August 27, 2011 at 11:58 am - Reply

    Ah, yummy. Malaysia was the first country I ever went to outside Europe and I can still remember the joy of eating at the hawker markets. Fantastic grub! Eating on the streets didn’t work so well when we lived in Karachi – dire consequences for the tummy!

    I had a look at the websites, lovely recipes, we’re so lucky in Sydney to have great Malaysian eating out options.

    • Annabel Candy August 27, 2011 at 12:53 pm - Reply

      Hi Seana, yes, big cities like Sydney are blessed with an amazing diversity of food. I agree, we never got ill in Malaysia or anywhere in SE Asia:)

  5. Sonia Marsh/Gutsy Living August 27, 2011 at 12:52 pm - Reply

    Now you’re a food reviewer, what next?
    Loved the photos and descriptions of what you ordered.
    I wrote a post on what I ate at a one-star Michelin restaurant in south-west France for Dad’s 85th birthday last year. Not easy to describe.

    • Annabel Candy August 27, 2011 at 12:59 pm - Reply

      Hi Sonia, well, not quite but we all love food don’t we:) Mmmm, I bet that was a divine experience.

  6. Dave Doolin August 28, 2011 at 2:23 am - Reply

    Strangely, I don’t know of any Malaysian places around the Bay Area. Will look around and report back.

  7. Penelope J. August 28, 2011 at 5:39 am - Reply

    Annabel,
    Thanks for this taste of Malaysian food. Now, where do I find a good Malaysian restaurant in my area? S. California is dotted with ethnic Asian restaurants, but sad to say that in San Diego, often “real” cultural flavor is nothing like what is served up here where cooks cater more to local taste buds.

  8. Roxana August 29, 2011 at 1:50 am - Reply

    Do not recall ever having Malasian food. That picture of the prawns had me hoping we had smell-vision in computers. It looked delicious. Keep these interesting topics coming.

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