Nasi Goreng – ohdenny

Famili Ria

August 11, 2017 Posted in Food Reviews, Indonesian, Restaurant Reviews, Surrey HillsLeave a comment

Famili Ria is a highly rated Indonesian eatery in Surrey Hills. They serve traditional Indonesian dishes such as Bakmie Ayam, Curry Chicken, Grilled Chicken and Nasi Goreng.

The Bakmie Ayam is basically dry egg noodles, with your choice of add ons like chicken, beef balls, wonton, tofu and mushrooms. We ordered the one with chicken and beef balls and it comes with a chicken soup as well. Overall, it was a light and tasty dish.

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Their Ayam Bakar Pedas (Grandma’s Charcoal Grilled Spicy Marinated Chicken with Rice), is pretty good. I liked the charred on the chicken, and the sambal has a nice spiciness to it.

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Famili Ria’s Nasi Kari (Curry Chicken with Rice) was not as great as the others. The curry needed to be a bit more spice to add depth of flavour.

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We also ordered Baso Goreng which is a fried meat ball (chicken and prawn), with a dipping sauce. It had a subtle prawn flavour to it, and thought it was quite interesting. Not sure if I’d order it again though.

Last words

Famili Ria serves a great selection of Indonesian dishes and you can see why it’s so positively rated.

Famili Ria
1115 Riversdale Road
Surrey Hills VIC 3127

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M Yong Tofu

July 28, 2017 Posted in Flemington, MalaysianLeave a comment

While Laksa King and Chef Lagenda are the known entities around Newmarket/Flemington, M Yong Tofu is another Malaysian eatery just minutes walk from the others and located on the busy Racecourse Road.

One of the things that M Yong Tofu does differently is that it offers ‘Yong Tofu’ which is basically your choice of add ons such as eggplant, wonton, fish stuffed tofu, prawn dumplings, fish balls with your choice of soup (Curry soup/Chicken soup/Tom Yum soup) along with your choice of noodles (Hokkien noodles/rice noodles/egg noodles/rice vermicelli). However, while they do this they also offer the more commonly known Malaysian dishes such as Laksa, Mee Goreng, Char Kway Teow and Nasi Goreng.

Their Mee Goreng is almost perfect, but a bit too wet and a bit too much tomato flavour. It needs that extra wok flavour to make it excellent.

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As mentioned before, their Yong Tofu has all these different additions to it that make a nice change to the more traditional curry laksa as it uses a very similar broth. I quite like the curry soup in M Yong Tofu, it’s probably not as creamy as you’d find in either Chef Lagenda or Laksa King but it’s not that different either.

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The Assam Laksa broth needed a bit more sourness to it but overall it’s a decent Assam Laksa.

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Their Iced Teh Tarik needs to have a slightly stronger tea flavour and it’s a tad too sweet but it’s pretty good.

I quite like the Ice Kacang here and it has everything you need for a great Ice Kacang, except lacking in shaved ice.

Last words

All three Malaysian restaurants have their strong points and M Yong Tofu’s is in its Yong Tofu.

M Yong Tofu
314 Racecourse Road
Flemington VIC 3031

PappaRich Glen Waverley

March 6, 2015 Posted in Food Reviews, Glen Waverley, Malaysian, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

I’ve dined at most of the PappaRich stores in Victoria and the Glen Waverley and Chadstone stores I would say are the best of the bunch. Although, I’ve heard from numerous people the Doncaster outlet is above all, I have actually yet to try it even though it’s now the closest one to me. Go figure.

Malaysian cuisine has almost become part of the Melbourne dining experience with Nasi Goreng or even Laksa as commonly known dishes to most. What isn’t as well known is probably the more Indian or Malay influenced Malaysian dishes such as their Nasi Kandar style dishes which is usually rice served with curry and side dishes.

PappaRich has a decent selection of menu choices such as beef rendang or curry chicken or even prawns and eggplant for instance. Generally, I would say you can’t go wrong with it and the Biryani offerings I would say are pretty darn tasty.

Their Har Mee (Pappa Prawn Mee) is one of my favourite Malaysian dishes. Some restaurants tend to water down their prawn soup base, but here it’s still full flavoured. My only con is that it’s just overly oily. Otherwise it’s something I can probably rely on being satisfied with.

Impressions
As mentioned before, PappaRich Glen Waverley is one of my preferred PappaRich outlets and both service and food quality is above average. Although finding a table during peak times can be the most challenging issue of it all. Queuing is almost the norm there. However, to be honest I would probably prefer to dine at Petaling Street for my Malaysian fix at Glen Waverley. Though, you’re really spoilt for choice with Kitchen Inn, Straits of Malacca and O’Town all within walking distance from each other.

Highlights
Ipoh Koay Teow Soup with Steamed Chicken, Pappa Prawn Mee, Pappa Special Nasi Lemak

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

Petaling Street

April 27, 2011 Posted in Food, Food Reviews, Malaysian, Restaurant ReviewsLeave a comment

Petaling Street is one of the newer entries to Kingsway, Glen Waverley. Replacing the Kowloon Cafe, a Hong Kong style eatery. When they first opened, it was shockingly terrible. Horrible service and the food wasn’t too flash either. I believe a year and a half later, they are doing fine. One of the more popular places because of it’s variety of dishes, cheaper prices and great portions. It has turned itself around.

I believe they have another store in Hawthorn but according to some friends, it’s not as good. The image above is of a Crispy Noodle Combination, it’s actually pretty good. Maybe just as good as The Grand Tofu’s offerings.
I always come back here for their Nasi Goreng Pattaya, it looks pretty cool and well it tastes good too. Here it is below. The sweet chilli sauce and the really thin egg layer gives this Nasi Goreng some added flavour and texture.

Below are some other dishes they have. I think the first one is a Combination Hor Fun and I can’t remember what the second one is, maybe a Spare Rib Noodles or something but it wasn’t that great.

Even on weekdays, Petaling Street at around lunch time can get full. People always come back for more and you can see why, the food is good and their portions are reasonable. The only real negative is that the service is still kinda lacking. Sometimes they are quick but most of the time you have to go out of your way to get them to take your order and the wait for your food is a whole other issue. If you do want to try it out, probably it’s your best bet to try it ‘off peak’ either before 12pm or after around 2pm.

Petaling Street

111 Kingsway
Glen Waverley VIC 3150
(03) 9561 1388