The Malaya, I'm sure you've all heard, has been around for YEARS, and years and YEARS. My father used to enjoy meals at the Malaya in its early days (I think it may have been at North Sydney back then) and I'm talking
at least 20 years ago, probably 30. I used to visit regularly when they were down near Central, and had many a great meal, and used to buy the ready made Laksa sauces to replicate the experience at home. What a feat, to have been going for that long and only getting bigger and better because of the consistency of the quality served and the growth in popularity. Amazing for Sydney really. Now, I was to meet the girlies down at King Street Wharf for dinner and I was absolutely gobsmacked by the sheer size of the dining room when I walked in. There was literally thousands of people in there (or so it seemed). I wondered how they would manag
e to dish up good food to such a large amount of people. Immediately on arriving I was met with a familiar face, I remembered the owner from the last location so I was pleased to see the continuity and the same smiley welcome I had remembered. The restaurant overlooks the shiny lights of Darling Harb
our, and has a high glass 
wall with an opening at the top to allow for the sea breezes to waft in. It was a beautiful balmy spring evening so it added to the ambience (if you can call a bustling restaurant of noisy diners ambient). There was tables set for large groups, and romantic tables for two, and even though half of Sydney was in there tonight, we managed to hold a lively conversation without yelling at each other. It was quite comfortable surprisingly. Now my two girlies were regulars here, so had the menu sorted before I arrived. When the trainee water came to take our 
order , a cute young frenchman, we were ready with out entree order. Only one thing was missed, and our extremely capable back up waitress (she was incredibly efficient and on the ball), sorted the issue and fast tracked it for us and we didn't even realise the blip at the end of it. I must say that for such a huge place, the service was really on the ball. Pleasant, efficient and really sharp. Quite a surprise but obviously is a big part of why it works. The other is of course the food. The open kitchen is huge, and the staff are hard at it from wo-to-go churning out great curries and stir fries. Every so often a dramatic big flame ignites and is put out quickly, whatever that dish is, the chef probably has less eyebrows than he originaly set out with each night! So, what we ate for Entree was : Seafood Rolls (minced scallop, king prawn and shallot deepfried in pastry with sweet chilli sauce, I was also pleased to see that Otak Otak was still on the menu. This is one of my all time favourites, it is white fis
h fillet minced with chilli and spices (and quite hot), wrapped in banan a leaf then bbq'd. They look great and taste great too. My friends hadn't tried this one before so it was a treat to have it again. Then we shared the Spricy Prawn Cutlets (no picture..we ate them so fast I didn't get time!) which was prawns coated in curry spice and breadcrumbs then deep fried. That out of the way, we moved on to mains
. Prawns steamed with ginger, shallot and soy sauce servied with asian greens. This was the STANDOUT for me. Sweet, gingery and beautiful. I couldn't have eaten this all nigh
t with nothing else. Nasi Goreng - sensational is all I can say, Chicken, but now I'm not sure which one we ordered, Singapore Curry with fish and as the menu says, using the same recipe since 1963 using tomato and eggplant. I guess when you're on a good thing stick with it. This wasn't my favourite flavour of the evening but was certainly nice. I think that it was the last dish of the night and we were all so full, it didn't get fair attention. Once we had finished, we didn't really have room for dessert but as I'd been told there was little ice cream surprise balls (or petit fours) available we decided to have 2 each to finish the meal. It was a great surprise to have a bite and discover what flavour was inside each, you can never tell until you break through the chocolate coating. Coconut? Cinnamon? Vanilla? Strawberry? All were yum, so I look forward now to having them again in the future. Although I have to say that when I used to come, every meal was a hit, this time one or two of the meals didn't quite hit it for me, but were still nice enough. Still a great experience, just a more WOW one these days and I managed to get parking in the city street, but I think that may be discouraging for some as its a busy end of town. The Malaya can be found at 39 Lime Street, King Street Sydney.
at least 20 years ago, probably 30. I used to visit regularly when they were down near Central, and had many a great meal, and used to buy the ready made Laksa sauces to replicate the experience at home. What a feat, to have been going for that long and only getting bigger and better because of the consistency of the quality served and the growth in popularity. Amazing for Sydney really. Now, I was to meet the girlies down at King Street Wharf for dinner and I was absolutely gobsmacked by the sheer size of the dining room when I walked in. There was literally thousands of people in there (or so it seemed). I wondered how they would manag
e to dish up good food to such a large amount of people. Immediately on arriving I was met with a familiar face, I remembered the owner from the last location so I was pleased to see the continuity and the same smiley welcome I had remembered. The restaurant overlooks the shiny lights of Darling Harb
our, and has a high glass 
wall with an opening at the top to allow for the sea breezes to waft in. It was a beautiful balmy spring evening so it added to the ambience (if you can call a bustling restaurant of noisy diners ambient). There was tables set for large groups, and romantic tables for two, and even though half of Sydney was in there tonight, we managed to hold a lively conversation without yelling at each other. It was quite comfortable surprisingly. Now my two girlies were regulars here, so had the menu sorted before I arrived. When the trainee water came to take our 
order , a cute young frenchman, we were ready with out entree order. Only one thing was missed, and our extremely capable back up waitress (she was incredibly efficient and on the ball), sorted the issue and fast tracked it for us and we didn't even realise the blip at the end of it. I must say that for such a huge place, the service was really on the ball. Pleasant, efficient and really sharp. Quite a surprise but obviously is a big part of why it works. The other is of course the food. The open kitchen is huge, and the staff are hard at it from wo-to-go churning out great curries and stir fries. Every so often a dramatic big flame ignites and is put out quickly, whatever that dish is, the chef probably has less eyebrows than he originaly set out with each night! So, what we ate for Entree was : Seafood Rolls (minced scallop, king prawn and shallot deepfried in pastry with sweet chilli sauce, I was also pleased to see that Otak Otak was still on the menu. This is one of my all time favourites, it is white fis
h fillet minced with chilli and spices (and quite hot), wrapped in banan a leaf then bbq'd. They look great and taste great too. My friends hadn't tried this one before so it was a treat to have it again. Then we shared the Spricy Prawn Cutlets (no picture..we ate them so fast I didn't get time!) which was prawns coated in curry spice and breadcrumbs then deep fried. That out of the way, we moved on to mains
. Prawns steamed with ginger, shallot and soy sauce servied with asian greens. This was the STANDOUT for me. Sweet, gingery and beautiful. I couldn't have eaten this all nigh
t with nothing else. Nasi Goreng - sensational is all I can say, Chicken, but now I'm not sure which one we ordered, Singapore Curry with fish and as the menu says, using the same recipe since 1963 using tomato and eggplant. I guess when you're on a good thing stick with it. This wasn't my favourite flavour of the evening but was certainly nice. I think that it was the last dish of the night and we were all so full, it didn't get fair attention. Once we had finished, we didn't really have room for dessert but as I'd been told there was little ice cream surprise balls (or petit fours) available we decided to have 2 each to finish the meal. It was a great surprise to have a bite and discover what flavour was inside each, you can never tell until you break through the chocolate coating. Coconut? Cinnamon? Vanilla? Strawberry? All were yum, so I look forward now to having them again in the future. Although I have to say that when I used to come, every meal was a hit, this time one or two of the meals didn't quite hit it for me, but were still nice enough. Still a great experience, just a more WOW one these days and I managed to get parking in the city street, but I think that may be discouraging for some as its a busy end of town. The Malaya can be found at 39 Lime Street, King Street Sydney.
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i'm glad you had a good meal although i'm not a real fan of this place. basically overpriced Malaysian food which i didn't find particularly good http://simonfoodfavourites.blogspot.com/2009/04/malaya-2-april-2009.html i'd be willing to try again but only if someone else was paying. when i dined i actually didn't notice any Asians dining at the time which is usually a tell tale sign for authenticity and pricing. but the decor and space was nice though.
ReplyDeleteI'm told this is a Sydney institution but have never made it there yet! Ahhh, something to look forward to!
ReplyDeleteI don't mind the Malaya, we've had some pretty good meals there although sometimes it's a bit hit and miss. The service there the last time we went was rather poor - there was a severe woman that we called the "dragon lady". She must have been rather bad if I can remember her! hehe
ReplyDeleteooh balls! of icecream! awesome i think i would go just to try that dessert!
ReplyDeleteHi all, come to think of it Simon,I didn't see any Asians either! I wouldn't know if it was authentic or not, but have ALWAYS had great food there IN THE PAST. This time there was two meals I could have lived without and though could have been done better whereas on the multiple times I visited their last location (about 10 years ago now) there was never any misses. Can't fault the service this time NQN, that impressed me coz with a place so big I was SURE the staff would lose us. It was exxy..but I'd go again.
ReplyDelete