Clayton – ohdenny

Taste of Singapore

December 7, 2011 Posted in Clayton, Desserts, Food Reviews, Restaurant Reviews, Singaporean1 Comment

Taste of Singapore is located on Clayton Rd, not too far away from Monash University’s Clayton Campus. If I’m craving Malaysian food and can’t find it anywhere, Singaporean cuisine will satisfy my cravings. What I’ve noticed between Singaporean and Malaysian cuisine is that Singaporean food is usually slightly sweeter but of course that can depend on where you frequent.

What I found with Taste of Singapore is that it had fantastic flavours and yet wasn’t that sweet like most Singaporean food I’ve tried.

Taste of Singapore serves quite a few well known dishes along with some not so famous dishes such as Nasi Lemak, Murtabak and Nasi Briyani. They also offer some sweet treats like Kueh and Teh Tarik!

Murtabak, as shown in the first image, is similar to Roti Canai but has a meat and onion filling. Usually this will be either lamb or beef. I’d probably go for their lamb but I know a few people who can’t quite stomach the lamb flavour.

Their Murtabak was very good, I do enjoy a crispy thin roti to dip into a spicy curry sauce and this dish met all my requirements for a great Murtabak. You also hardly ever can find a restaurant that sells Murtabak in Melbourne. So luckily it didn’t disappoint!

Taste of Singapore’s Nasi Lemak was surpisingly decent. Along with their cheaper than average, their serves are proportionate to their price. The Beef Rendang was cooked well and not too tough like some Rendang’s I’ve tried and the sauce had great authentic flavour to it too.

What was the biggest surprise was their chilli sauce/paste. I was expecting something sweet and not very spicy but this packed quite a good punch along with its sweetness so it balanced out nicely.

The usual assortment of egg, cucumber, anchovies and peanuts are mostly standard with what you get in any Nasi Lemak. I don’t think you can really go wrong with that.

Overall their Nasi Lemak is probably one of the better offerings I’ve tried in Melbourne.

I was pleasantly surprised at how nice the flavours are from the Nasi Briyani, while the rice looks plain enough it has good flavours to it. Although their serving size is less than desirable and with only one skinny chicken drumstick, I don’t think it’s value for money to be honest.

Oh Teh Tarik, how I love thee, and especially a good one. Taste of Singapore’s offering is one of the best I’ve tasted, probably up there with Chillipadi. It has a nice frothy top and it’s also not too sweet. A definite must try.

Here is one of their Kueh offerings on my Saturday visit. It was so-so. What I didn’t like about it was how sweet it was. It just overpowered any flavour that the Kueh was supposed to have. The one upside is that the texture was quite nice, it was slightly chewy but mostly soft like jelly.

Taste of Singapore has great flavours and although there are some cons with a few of their dishes, it does have a lot of upsides so I’d recommend you give it a try. The Singaporean chef is also quite friendly to chat too, so it has a great atmosphere to boot. However, I’ll admit the decor leaves a little to be desired.

Taste of Singapore

162 Clayton Rd
Clayton VIC 3168

Kotaraya – Elsternwick

November 9, 2011 Posted in Elsternwick, Food, Food Reviews, Malaysian, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Kotaraya used to be our go-to Malaysian restaurant. We used to frequent their Elsternwick store, and then on occassion, their Clayton store maybe every few months but then we stopped going there. Not because it was bad or anything, the food stayed pretty consistent of the many years we ate there but only because it got too busy for our liking and you’d be hard pressed to find a table on a Sunday after 12pm.

So instead we opted for the many restaurants in Glen Waverley so you didn’t have to play the waiting game. Earlier this year we noticed it wasn’t particularly busy so we jumped at the chance to revist Kotaraya.

Kotaraya has all the standard Malaysian dishes. Laksa, Nasi/Mee Goreng, Char Kway Teoh but also a selection of Thai and Chinese dishes too.

I always used to order their Char Hor Fun (Combination), and to be honest their Char Hor Fun has pratically stayed the same as I remembered it. It still has the same tasty egg sauce and the slightly wok stir-fried noodles. Of course the price has gone up, but that has been consistent with most restaurants so it isn’t a real negative.

Their Char Hor Fun as all the essentials, calamari , bok choy, and chicken and just enough sauce. You can’t go wrong with this dish.

Check out their menu on the official website and see what you like! There is something for everyone.

Kotaraya – Elsternwick
237-239 Glenhuntly Road
Elsternwick 3185

Telephone: 9523 6720
Fax: 9523 1792

Opening hours
Open 7 days (Lunch & Dinner) Lunch 11.30am – 2.30pm
Dinner 5.30pm – 10.30pm
Closed: Saturday Lunch
Public Holidays: Open

Sue’z Delights

August 16, 2011 Posted in Clayton, Food, Food Reviews, Malaysian, Restaurant Reviews1 Comment

Sue’z Delights is a popular Clayton eatery on Dandenong Road because of it’s close proximity to Monash University. It also has nice food to boot.They serve a variety of Malaysian cuisines but their selection of dishes varies by day and by month so some dishes are only cooked on specific days or dates. Some dishes they cook are Mee Rebus, Char Hor Fun, Laksa, basically a big selection of the popular and sometimes not so common Malaysian dishes known in Australia today.

We ate there on a Sunday, the first Sunday of the month, and they had a couple of dishes on offer but I can’t remember the other ones. The one I ordered was their Nasi Briyani.

Their Nasi Briyani is a Indian/Malaysian dish served with salad, fried egg, fragrant rice, fried chicken and a sauce. Sue’z is run by a husband and wife team, and with the wife cooking most of these dishes so service and food delivery can be slow. Actually, it’s expected to be slow.

The Nasi Briyani is nice, it has all the flavours and added extras too, but the flavours aren’t as strong as I would have liked it to be. The rice didn’t pack a punch either but their runny egg was great. This dish is definitely cooked a different way then I am used to and there are many ways to cook Nasi Briyani so this is just one of them. I probably wouldn’t go out of my way to order this but it’s still good.

Sue’z Delights also has a few snack boxes that you can order. These look like tiny curry puffs but they are filled with chopped peanuts and sugar. It was quite pleasant to eat, I might add.

Their also have a few drinks you can order, like Milo, but their Ice Cendol is what I was after. I would say their actual cendol was a bit hard, probably because it wasn’t freshly made and left in the fridge but it wasn’t bad. Also when had their cendol, their syrup mixture was too hot! So even with the ice, it was a mild room temperature dessert. With added ice, it would have been great. It had nice sweet flavours to it, and overall it was still something I would order again (provided I’m patient enough to wait)

Sue’z Delights serves authentic Malaysian cuisine and if you can stand the long wait, their food usually reaches expectations.

Sue’z Delights
1915 Dandenong Road
Clayton, VIC
3168
(03) 9548 8700