As I mentioned earlier, the service was a bit poor. The whole rice thing showed her comprehension of english wasn’t upto standard, and attentiveness was also lacking. We asked for water multiple times before it came, and my arm almost got tired of waving when we wanted to collect our bill - and it wasn’t because they were busy, with only ourselves and another table occupied.

Tofu Goreng - Unfortunately these were rather bland. They were crispy, but just lacked flavour. Some kind of sauce could have made up for that a bit.

Balachan Spinach - We could almost just call this stir fry spinach. You can smell a good balachan spinach a mile away, but we couldn’t really smell this at all. It needed way more Balachan (chilli, shrimp paste, etc) to have a decent flavour.

Lamb Korma Curry - This curry wasn’t too bad - the meat was almost pull-apart soft, but the curry still had a bit of that ‘curry powder’ taste. The roti was good for soaking up the excess curry as there wasn’t a great amount of lamb.

Roti Chanai - Very yummy roti. In fact, I think I buy the same ones at my local asian grocery - $4.95 for a pack of 4.

Sweet n Sour Pork - The batter on the pork pieces was a little bit fluffy/doughy, perhaps indicating the oil wasn’t quite hot enough when they were fried. The sauce tasted the same as you’d get from any bain marie sweet ‘n sour.

Claypot Chicken - This would have been a fairly decent dish if they hadn’t run the chicken through the same meat tenderiser stuff that Golden Orchids use. Putting aside the slimy feel of the chicken, the flavour of the hot pot was surprisingly tasty, and the vegetables - specifically the carrots - weren’t too crunchy (cooked just enough).

Penang Prawn Mee - Louis had this all for himself, hoping for a decent taste of home. Unfortunately it fell far short. (See his 2c)

All in all, a pretty ho-hum dinner. It wasn’t bad, but there was nothing memorable about it. It also lacked authenticity. (A proper Malaysian restaurant wouldn’t even have sweet’n’sour on the menu..)

We’re still hunting for some good authentic Malaysian food, so let us know if you’ve found some!

(And don’t forget to click an ad now and then.. thanks!)

First off, let me state that food pictures can be misleading, and in the case of Taste of Malaysia, this is very true.

It started off on a rainy night, and we had no better place in mind, so it was off to try out yet another Malaysian restaurant. If you have been following our reviews, you will know that Candid Cuisine has yet to find a decent Malaysian restaurant in Melbourne. Remember Golden Orchids? Shameful. There was no indication that Taste of Malaysia would be any different though.

The place was clean enough, and business didn’t look too good. Besides us, there was only two tables occupied. Granted, it was raining, but the service didn’t impress us either. We ordered a bunch of dishes and rice. The rice came, but was calculated at a rate of per refill (not good practice, you get charged much more unless you eat like a bulimic.) The waitress didn’t seem to understand, and seemed to show great restraint in removing all our bowls of rice and then presenting us with a new bucket of rice (don’t ask, i think she was just confused).

Let’s move on. Being a Malaysian, i owe it to my cultural upbringing and integrity as a good reviewer not to go easy on any Malaysian food that i order:

Fried Tofu: Done nicely. The catch is, at the price we’re paying, plain fried tofu just doesn’t cut it. Sure, you dip it in sweet chilli sauce, but at $4.50, i suggest picking something else if you must have an entree.

Penang Prawn Mee: This is one of my all-time favourites. I haven’t had this dish in like, the two years that i was here, and i am very happy to find it on the menu. I know this dish like the back of my hand, and this version just wasn’t what i was looking for. To rephrase it, it’s a joke to call it Penang Prawn Mee. Firstly, the stock is watered down, with no real prawn flavour. Secondly, you put boiled pork slices and kangkung (water spinach), but absolutely not BBQ pork and shallots in the noodles. Thirdly, there was no belacan served on the side (to add to the soup), and when i asked for some, they gave me some generic chilli paste.

I had a taste of the other dishes, and they were very much ho-hum and disappointing, even more so to the bunch of Malaysians gathered around the table.

Claypot Garlic Chicken: Could be so much more, but was instead let down by mushy vegetables and overly tenderized meat.

Sweet and Sour Pork: Standard fare - never been a big fan, and personally i don’t consider it Malaysian cuisine so i won’t spend too much time here.

Sambal Kangkung: I can only describe this as lackluster. I grew up on this peasant dish (another one of my all-time favourites), and i can cook a pretty mean one. Sadly, for a Malaysian restaurant, this was obviously done from a jar of paste - the intense pungent flavour wasn’t there, and i could taste no fresh ingredients.

Lamb Korma: The only halfway-decent dish - too little, too late, though.

My Verdict: Avoid at all cost if you’re a true-blue Malaysian. Otherwise, in the event that you’re stuck in rain with nowhere else to go for dinner, you can drop by but be prepared for sub-par dishes that are nowhere near the definition of “authentic”. Food prices are average but you can probably get a better quality of food elsewhere at the same price. Don’t expect too much from the service too - there was nothing cheerful or homely in the way we were served.

Ambience:
Food:
Service:
Value: