Ayam Chef

67 Coventry Street
Southbank
VIC 3006

We were invited to dine at Ayam Chef on Coventry Street Southbank. The restaurant is at the base of a large block not far from St Kilda Road. There were a few tables under bright yellow parasols outside on a warm autumn evening.

Inside the fit out is modern, featuring plenty of wooden along with a few hints of Malaysia.

Early in the evening it was quiet, but it filled up surprisingly rapidly. Along the back wall were reminders of the rainforest and some feature lights. The menu covers a range of dishes, most of which were familiar, with a few new options.

We kicked off sharing a few entrees, including a great chicken San Choy Bao with its minced chicken and spring onion in lettuce topped with an appealing combination of sesame seeds, crispy enoki mushroom and hoisin sauce.

The roti looked quite small but packed many light and flaky layers and the mopped up the slightly sweet peanut sauce well.

We both enjoyed the 'Original Recipe' school prawns with their homemade chilli lime sauce. Crunching through the crisply coated shells dipped in the lightly spiced sauce was really satisfying and moreish.

The mains we also shared included the Sambal Fish, featuring deep fried cod cutlets on a banana leaf in the sambal sauce. It was well worth pulling the fish apart to extract the bones before tucking into the perfectly cooked flesh, beneath the crunchy coating in the chilli based sauce.

Hogan who had got in touch with me had mentioned that the "San Low Fried Bee Hoon" was a new dish which can't be found anywhere else in Melbourne, it seems to be a speciality of Johur Bahru as mentioned in a post by Cavin Teo. The combination fried rice vermicelli, with egg, choy sum, pork slices, prawn and fishcake aren't a visual stunner, but the flavours are great! As Calvin mentions the smokey 'wok hei' flavours leap out, the phrase translates apparently as wok heat or ‘breath of the wok’ and is familiar from wok fried dishes from the region. It is always great to find a new dish to enjoy and this mix of well cooked seafood, meat, veggies, egg and noodles brought that.

We may have been greedy adding garlic spinach to our meal, but it was good to add the greens with their different texture, moisture and vibrant colour!  

We didn't have to pay for our meal and the restaurant hasn't had any influence over this post.

We deffinately enjoyed our meal, and the staff were friendly and helpful all evening. Ayam Chef will certainly be high up on my list next time I'm dining in Southbank!

SugarBun

205 Russell Street
Melbourne
VIC 3000

I'd failed on my only previous attempt to visit SugarBun, heading there on a Monday when they are closed. It sits next to the Exford Hotel, near the corner of Little Bourke and Russell streets.

Inside you enter via a corridor, which ends in a doorway into the main dining room, with stairs to another area, both had modern clean fit outs.  When we arrived downstairs was full and we were given menus to read while we waited for for a table. In the end we were directed upstairs, along with a couple of other groups.

We were able to order soon after we were at our table, and didn't have to wait too long until being served our meals. Merry went for the seafood hotpot featuring wok-fired prawns, squid, fish and vegetables simmered in seafood broth which was bubbling as it arrived. It was served with mixed grain rice and seemed to go down well. 

I had the Laksa which is inspired by the Sarawak version and was loaded with prawns, shredded chicken, strips of egg, beansprouts and vermicelli noodles in the house-concocted spicy broth.The flavour was good, especially after topping up with the extra paste and lemon, but I missed the tofu and veggies found in the versions from Laksa King and Chef Lagenda in Flemmington.

The meals were satisfying and good value at between $11 and $14 each, there were also lunch specials on offer with sweet Malaysian hot drinks included. The service was a bit haphazard, but still amiable. It certainly not a bad option if you want to get a taste of Borneo on Russell Street.

Kota Kinabalu Night Market, Sabah

Jalan Tun Fuad Stephens

Kota Kinabalu, 

Sabah

We made two visits to the night market while we were in Kota Kinabalu.

It is right on the sea front, with sunset views across the fishing boats.

It is a hard location to beat, just a few meters from the vessels that brought in your dinner!

The first time we visited this was our menu.

The fish had been what tempted us, both cooked...

... and fresh out of the ocean.

This was our silver snapper, which was well cooked with enough flavours to compliment the fresh flavours.

We also had a few local greens.

On our second visit we ate at Nadirasa Resipi, although most of different eateries were fairly similar.

There was plenty on offer on the menu....

...and more on the bbq.

We had some good grilled sweet corn.

The greens were served with onion, chilli and fried shallots.

Our fish took a bit longer than expected, I think that was just because it was cooked to order. It was covered in a layer of a sambal like paste and served on a banana leaf, and was worth the wait.

The night market is a great spot to head down to in KK, the location, sights and sounds make the experience special and the food is great and well priced.

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Roti Road

189-193 Barkly Street
Footscray
Vic 3011

After reading Lauren's post about Roti Road (and more on Facebook) when we felt like a a bite in Footscray for lunch on Sunday we decided to give it a try.

We'd only been to the former incarnation Yummie Yum Cha once or twice and I'd noticed there was a refurbishment under way, but hadn't been around town to witness its completion.

I couldn't find the menu online so here you go... there are still some Yum Cha options available until 5pm, and beyond that there are plenty of Malaysian options.

We started off by sharing the roti canai. The roti was great, super light and fluffy, and hot when it arrived. I didn't get much of a chance with the curry sauce, as it was the better half's favourite, the sambal and dhal were good to though.

Soon after we scoffed our way through the roti, the 'background' dance music was turned down and a new tune pumped up...

Out came one of the flying roti chefs with a fantastic display of roti spinning and throwing whilst moving all around the restaurant. There's no need to stand up to watch, he makes his way to most corners!

We were sat right outside the window into the kitchen and the chef's all seemed to be having a good time throughout our meal, and were spinning the roti in there some of the time too. As you can see there have been a few changes to the decor since the Yummie days with a modern look with a bit more wood and plenty of roti road branding.

We didn't have to wait much longer for our mains arrived. The vegetable curry laksa was packed with tofu, eggplant, tomato, broccoli carrot and beans sat atop the noodles and bean shoots.

I had the chicken laksa which also featured tofu and eggplant with thin strips of chicken breast which were easy to eat with the chop sticks. The mint and gave some extra brightness along with the lime, and the shrimp paste which came in a separate little dish which added depth to the already tasty broth.

It was pretty busy on the Sunday lunchtime after the Friday grand opening, but the team seemed to have things under control. The bill came to $27.90 although there's currently an opening 10% off! It's great to have more variety in the 'scray and I'm sure we'll be regular visitors, the question is will it stop our occasional forays to Flemmington?

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Chef Lagenda, Flemington

16 Pin Oak Crescent
Flemington
VIC 3031

We spotted Chef Lagenda next to the famed Laksa King on a previous visit to Flemmington, but it wasn't until after reading an article on Melbourne's best Laksas in the Melbourne Broadsheet that we decided to pay it a visit. It is operated by Thomas Lee who has worked in Malaysia, Melbourne and Taiwan and was born in Ipoh, a town in central Malaysia not far from the Cameron Highlands, which we've visited.

From the outside it looks pretty small with just a pair of doors and a small wall with the menu showing, but it is modern and well presented.Inside there are several areas, with a few tables just inside the door, a rear section on the ground floor and stairs up a level.

The first floor has another couple of area's inside and a small terrace, which was covered and heated on our visit on an autumnal Thursday evening. Most of the indoor tables were taken and we were offered a spot outside, which was fine with us. The decor throughout was stylish and modern.

Our tea came in a pot/jug a nice upgrade from the 'traditional' flask and even the teacups were branded.

We shared the plain roti which was light and not quite as buttery as sometimes, which kept me happy and came with a satay sauce that was more spicy than a Thai style satay, which we enjoyed.

We both ended up choosing the curry laksa which featured tofu, chicken and prawns, as well as a few veggies and egg and rice noodles. It was fantastic with the rich flavours we'd hoped for and just the right amount of heat from the chilli.

We didn't have to wait too long for our meal and the service was friendly if chaotic. We ended up waiting a little while for our bill, which we needed before heading downstairs to pay (cash only). The atmosphere was good and the various areas made it feel more intimate than its  slightly cavernous neighbour. I think we've found a new a favourite laksa spot, and I'm sure we will be making a return visit soon. The bill was around $30.

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Mamak

366 Lonsdale Street
Melbourne
Vic 3011

Just up the hill from Elizabeth street on Lonsdale, Mamak is situated away from the cities other Malaysian eateries. It has gained a bit of a reputation and we'd been looking forward to trying it out.

The open kitchen is the first thing you notice, right at the front of the restaurant.

The roti dough was being flung around and stretched out super thin!

On a Sunday around 6:30 it was busy, but we didn't have to queue for a seat. The feel is modern with wooden tables, stools and bench seats.

We shared the roti canai, which we were going to have as an entree, but arrived with our mains. It was served with two curry dips, one dahl like and a spicy sambal sauce. The roti was crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, super light and not fatty or greasy.

A couple of the chicken dishes weren't available, so the better half ordered the nasi lemak with curry chicken. The coconut rice was mildly flavoured and accompanied by sambal, peanuts, crispy anchovies, cucumber and half a hard-boiled egg. The couple of pieces of chicken disappeared quickly.

I had the kari ikan, a fish curry cooked with fresh tomatoes, okra and eggplant. The fish was some of the boniest I've ever eaten, and strongly flavoured, the eggplant and curry sauce were the highlights of the dish!

The service was pretty efficient although it was frustrating when one the dishes we originally ordered turned out to no longer be available. The bill was just over $30. I'd be interested in trying a few of the other dishes on the menu, especially the veggie curry and maybe even a sweat roti...

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