Where To Eat Malaysian Food In Auckland

Long after a holiday to Malaysia is over, what will forever remain in your memory are the aromatic, delectable and spicy flavours of its food.

Well, at least that’s the unassailable belief of Noorazrin Abdullah, the New Zealand director of Tourism Malaysia.

With Covid putting travel expos and tourism fairs on hold, Noorazrin had to find a new way to get Malaysia back on to the travel plans of New Zealanders in a post-Covid world.

His plan is an Auckland-wide promotion of Malaysia as a destination for culinary adventures, in partnership with 16 Malaysian eateries (including Bunga Raya, Sri Pinang, Uncle Man, Mutiara, Sim’s Kitchen and the restaurants pictured in this story). Before the pandemic, upwards of 50,000 people from New Zealand visited Malaysia annually, but that number dipped to about 18,000 last year.

Noorazrin was sent from Malaysia for the tourism job just over a year ago.

He says what struck him since his arrival in Auckland is the wide range and quality of Malaysian eateries here.

“I was truly pleasantly surprised. With this Auckland posting, I thought I’d be spending a lot of nights eating fish and chips and pizzas, but I am enjoying my fair share of nasi lemak and laksa,” he says.

“Food is what connects me to home, so I thought, ‘Well, what better way to jolt people’s memories and make people hungry to get to Malaysia than through our food?’”

A little background — Malaysia is an amalgamation of three main races, Malay, Chinese and Indian, and its culinary fare has influences from Thai, Chinese, Indian, Indonesian and Arabic.

“The reaction I have had to some of the Malaysian restaurants has been ‘Wow, I didn’t know you can get these dishes here’, and there are others that are really impressed by those creating their own signature Malaysian dishes,” Noorazrin said.

In Greenlane, Kuala Lumpur-born foodie Bretenn Kong and his wife Justina Tan, who hails from Ipoh, are shaking things up at their newly renamed Mama Kopitiam (formerly known as Mama Rich) restaurants with their own take on chilli mee pok and bak kut teh mee sua. Mee pok, flat egg noodles, is a Malaysian and Singaporean favourite and has a strong appeal factor for those familiar with this dish. Usually served packed full with ingredients from mushrooms, pork liver, meat slices and fish balls, mee pok comes with many regional variations.

So, instead of trying to find a version of the dish from home, Bretenn and Justina are serving up their own interpretation of chilli mee pok — with crunchy anchovies, minced pork, poached egg in their special chilli oil paste sprinkled with spring onions, and a side of fish balls in clear broth.

The dish, Bretenn says, is best enjoyed when the runny egg is broken and mixed with the mee pok noodles and all the other ingredients.

A trial with Facebook foodie group Chow Luck Club has proven there’s a strong appetite for the dish, Bretenn says, which will now be added to his main menu for the Malaysia, Truly Delicious promotion and beyond.

“Most restaurants want to create dishes that spark memories of their homeland, but what we want to do is create some dishes that are uniquely Malaysian, yet uniquely Auckland,” he said.

“People can make their own taste memories with our dish, and then maybe compare it when they get to try other versions when they visit Malaysia.”

A classic at Mama Kopitiam, however, is the hugely popular bak kut teh — loosely translated as meat bone tea — with mee sua (wheat flour noodles) cooked in claypot. Bak kut teh is thought to have originated from China’s Fujian province and was introduced in Malaya by immigrants from the region, which the Malaysians then adapted to suit their tastes and make it their own. The core of the dish is tender pork ribs simmered in a beautiful stock of spices, generally eaten for either lunch or dinner.

Meanwhile, in Northcote on Auckland’s North Shore, chef Lee Yew Veng is all ready to share speciality noodle dishes from his hometown of Sarawak in East Malaysia. His little restaurant, Taisumyun, which he runs with his wife Shao Zhen Zhong is the only speciality Sarawakian eatery in the city and people familiar with his food travel across town for the Sarawak laksa and Sarawak ko lo mee.

Sarawak laksa is the state’s signature dish, unlike any laksa or noodle dish found anywhere else in Malaysia. Very rich in flavour, Yew Veng makes the laksa gravy from a combination of coconut milk, candlenut, chilli, garlic, tamarind, belacan (shrimp paste) and ground coriander. The gravy is poured over a bowl of rice vermicelli and topped with prawns, shredded chicken, sliced omelette, fried tofu, fish cake slices and beansprouts — served with a side of roasted chilli sambal and a lemon wedge.

“I want to show that Sarawak is not just famous for orangutan,” Yew Veng said when asked why he chose to open his restaurant.

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Sarawak is the largest state in Malaysia, yet according to Yew Veng, few people here know about its unique language, lifestyle, traditions and food.

The Sarawak kolo mee is also another regional favourite Yew Veng hopes will be appreciated by Malaysian food connoisseurs.

First introduced by the Chinese, kolo mee resembled the popular dry wonton noodle and features blanched dry egg noodles that are tossed in lard and light soy sauce, and topped with mixed pork and barbecue pork.

At Taisumyun, it is served with a side bowl of clear chicken broth.

Over at Petaling Malaysian Restaurant on Dominion Rd, Jenny Cheng is keen to take diners back to her childhood with two dishes made with lo shi fan, literally translated as “rat tail noodles” because of its shape.

Semi-translucent, it is made from rice flour and cornflour — don’t get grossed out because of its name: no rats are used in these pin-shaped noodles.

“Lo shi fan is a favourite for many children growing up in Malaysia, including myself,” Jenny said. “One reason of course is that it is one of the only noodles that you can eat using just a spoon with no forks or chopsticks needed. Easy for kids.”

At Jenny’s Petaling Malaysian Restaurant, lo shi fan is served in curry laksa — in a broth made from curry powder, coconut milk and a host of other spices and ingredients.

The other option is to have the dish fried over high heat with prawns, chicken, lup cheong sausages with light and dark soya sauce — in a similar style to Malaysian char kway teow.

While these noodle dishes are mainly Malaysian Chinese food, one of the cuisine type Tourism Malaysia is hoping people will discover is Malay cuisine.

The culinary fare of Malays originates from a diverse heritage, with influences from Indonesian, Thai, Indian, Arabic and Chinese that have created distinct and exotic flavours.

Jom Que in Grafton is a little eatery run by Nazra and Razi Wood that specialises in Malay cuisine.

Popular Malay fare includes ketupat, rendang, satay, ayam masak merah and nasi minyak, all on offer at the Park Rd diner. Rendang is a luxuriously spiced dry curry made of beef or chicken, which Nazra says the Malays like “the spicier the better”.

These Malay delicacies are also key dishes for the festival of Eid al-Fitr, or Hari Raya Adilfitri as it is known to Malaysians, which is currently being celebrated. Eid al-Fitr, which started last weekend, marks the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan. Nazra Wood says during Hari Raya celebrations, these Malay dishes will be served at almost every home.

“We don’t really have celebrations like back in Malaysia where there’s open homes, and friends come and go, but we are really excited about sharing our Raya delicacies at our restaurant,” she says.

“Satay, mee curry, rendang and ketupat can be found at every corner and every home during Hari Raya.”

Nazra says in traditional Malay cooking, a lot of herbs, lemongrass, ginger, garlic, kaffir lime leaves, chillies, tumeric roots, galangal and pandan leaves are used.

The most famous of Malaysian dishes is probably satay — the skewered, charcoal-grilled marinated meat is also on the main menu on Malaysia Airlines. Satay is served with cucumber wedges, onions and ketupat, with a spicy peanut dip.

Malaysia, Truly Delicious kicks off this Saturday (April 29) and at Selera Malaysian Cafe owner and chef Miki Ong will be preparing $12 lunch packs as a sample of the titillating array of diverse Malaysian delights awaiting those game to embark on this food discovery adventure.

The pack includes two sticks of chicken satay and nasi lemak bungkus consisting of egg, cucumber slice, sambal, blue coconut rice and peanuts wrapped in a banana leaf. Nasi lemak is the unofficial national dish of Malaysia and is quintessentially Malaysian.

Malaysia, Truly Delicious runs from April 29 to May 14, with 16 participating Malaysian restaurants in Auckland. Find Selera at 487 Khyber Pass Rd, Newmarket. Share photos of your Malaysian dishes on social media (tag Tourism Malaysia NZ) and go in the draw to win a trip for two to Malaysia.