Jackie M Malaysian Cuisine: Malaysian, Concord (24 Mar 2011)

85 Majors Bay Road, Concord NSW 2137
http://www.jackiem.com.au

Serving up all the classics

Years ago I previously noticed the Jackie M food stall at a weekend food market in King Cross but Malaysia Kitchen Food Market inspired me to seek out more of her dishes at her new restaurant in Concord. The seating is nice and simple yet limited and the service was friendly. Dishes took a little bit of time to come out once ordered but this made them think they were carefully prepared to order and not being rushed out. Jasmine Tea ($2) comes by the glass complete with a tea bag and the Roti Canai ($7.50) was nicely puffed up and came with Dhall curry. The Popiah ($11, 2 pieces) is quite a rare sight to find in Sydney and this version is well liked my the family — I'd happily order again. The Chicken Satay ($10, 4 pieces) is fairly decent in size and charred nicely with plenty of taste but doesn't come with the traditional compressed rice which is usually rare to find anyway. It costs extra to have the side of Coconut rice, cucumber and onion pieces ($4) but in hindsight I'd probably order without and just stick to the satay. The Hainanese Chicken Rice ($17) is served boneless which gets a tick. It's quite moist and a decent rendition that's well received. There was a delay in the side soup coming out which was probably due to being forgotten.

The Beef Rendang ($16) is flavoursome and tender as hoped. Jackie M is known for her Char Kway Teow ($12) and even though it could have done with a bit more charring for my liking it was pretty good and I'd have again. No blood cockles or clams to be found which seems to be the case for all Sydney versions of this dish — Melbourne seem to be more open to including clams. The bowl of Har Mee ($16) comes with decent sized prawns which are properly deveined. The broth is quite nice but not as full of flavour and depth as Singapore Shiok and Malay-Chinese. The Ais Campur ($6) had a decent variety of ingredients including red bean and was easily mixed up within the bowl — not like the monstrous one at Kaki Lima which required a larger bowl, but was cheaper. A compulsory visit to check the toilet, past a corridor of stored boxes which perhaps should be kept more clear, finds a sign saying 'We take pride in the condition of our restroom'. Firstly I'd probably straighten the mirror and secondly the overflowing open waste bin and old desk chair complete with crinkly newspapers on top is not the best look and needs to be reassessed I think.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Good sized prawns in har mee, Lots of classic dishes, Tender beef rendang, Simple and functional seating, Friendly service

CONS: Only open for dinner Thursday to Saturday, Limited seating, No air con, Toilet could be cleaner including storing away corridor boxes, Compressed rice not used with chicken satay

MUST TRY: Popiah, Revisiting to try other dishes

WORTH TRYING: Chicken satay, Char Kway Teow

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Jasmine Tea ($2)

Roti Canai with Dhall curry ($7.50)

Popiah ($11, 2 pieces)

SIMON FAVOURITE :-)

Chicken Satay ($10, 4 pieces) with Coconut rice, cucumber and onion pieces ($4)

WORTH TRYING :-)

Hainanese Chicken Rice ($17)

Beef Rendang ($16)

Char Kway Teow ($12)

WORTH TRYING :-)

Har Mee ($16)

Rice ($3)

Ais Campur ($6)

Seating designed for perhaps short stays

Sign says 'We take pride in the condition of our restroom. Please inform our staff if it needs cleaning. Thanks' — umm I think it definitely needs a bit of cleaning and perhaps the mirror on the wall needs to be set straight for a start. And what's a chair with magazines doing in there?

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Kaki Lima Restaurant: Malaysian, Kensington (13 Mar 2011)

Shop 3, 228-230 Anzac Parade, Kensington NSW 2033
Phone: (02) 9662 6868

Home of the ice mountain

My first introduction to Kaki Lima was at the highly popular Malaysia Kitchen Food Market where I was impressed with their beef rendang. So a visit to the restaurant located on the busy Anzac Parade was in order with the family to sample more of the menu. The Beef Rendang ($15) this time didn’t seem to be as tender as hoped but still had nice flavours. The Ayam Masak Merah ($15) was a dish of fried chicken in tangy red sweet and spicy sauce which was quite tasty. I was impressed with the Chicken satay ($12, 6 pieces) which came with the rarely seen compressed rice which even Mamak don’t provide. The chicken was flavoursome and tender and I preferred it to the smaller ones Mamak serve. The Beef satay ($12, 6 pieces) was also good and nicely tender which was also served with compressed rice and the traditional pieces of cucumber and raw onion.

The Kam Heong Prawn ($19) had a bit of a heat kick provided by the chopped garlic and shallot with curry leaves and chilli used. It was a tasty dish with prawns decently sized but the shells unfortunately were still intact which made it messy to peel and eat. I don’t mind eating the shell when crispy but thought it needed to be fried up more to achieve this option. The deveining of the prawns could have been better as well. A plate of mixed Kangkong, Okra, Long bean Sambal Belacan ($14) was maybe a bit on the oily side but tasted good although giving a Chinese soup spoon to serve it up proved a challenging task. For those into their Malaysian sweets you’ll find a display counter of some of the offerings. The Kuih Lopez ($2) with subtle pandan flavouring provided a nice sugar hit and the equally simple Sago Pudding ($4) was as expected. A reasonably priced Air Batu Campur ($4) was served in a bowl about a third of it’s mountain-size status which made it impossible to mix so we had to ask for a larger bowl to pour it all into. We had to do the same with the Chendol ($4) which I’m used to being served in a glass milkshake tumbler rather than a bowl so it can also be mixed and drunk with a straw.

The service was friendly and the décor simple but the acoustics was very noisy even with just a few people dining. With my obsession with toilets this single unisex one was cleanly kept but unfortunately was located right next to the street entrance and if the door was left open it was the first thing you see as you enter the restaurant — perhaps it needs to be on an automatic spring to close it. There’s probably a few other dishes I’d like to try which might have me returning one day.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Friendly service, Chicken satay was good and served with compressed rice, Interesting dishes

CONS: Unisex toilet which if left open is visible from the front entrance, Very noisy acoustics, Prawns have shell so messy to eat, Beef rendang could have been more tender

MUST TRY: Chicken satay, Air Batu Campur

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Beef Rendang ($15)

Rice ($2 per person)

Ayam Masak Merah: Fried chicken in tangy red sweet and spicy sauce ($15)

Beef satay ($12, 6 pieces)

Chicken satay ($12, 6 pieces)

Kam Heong Prawn-Sauteed dried prawns, chopped garlic and shallot with curry leaves, chilli and seasoning ($19)

Large sized prawns but still retaining the shell so messy to eat if you don't eat the shell and could be deveined better

Kangkong, Okra, Long bean Sambal Belacan ($14) spoon hard to serve with

Kuih Lopez ($2)

Sago Pudding ($4)

Air Batu Campur ABC ($4)

Air Batu Campur ABC ($4) placed in large bowl to mix up

Chendol ($4)

Chendol ($4) placed in larger bowl to mix up

Seating and outlook to Anzac Parade

Bird cage decor for light fittings

Clean and orderly unisex toilet

Sweets display counter

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