Petaling Street Malaysian Hawker Food @ Haymarket

Malaysian is slowly making its way up in all dining experiences, in terms of popularity. Mamak in Haymarket, continues to have long lines but new restaurants are slowly emerging. Petaling Street tries to provide a first hand experience of Malaysian street food. I first tried Petaling Street with my family a few months ago, where we ordered enough just to knock us off the edge and waddle out of the store. This time around, I was having lunch with a friend, and made sure I didn't make the same mistake of over ordering. The main dishes range from $9-20, which I think it very reasonable!

Rose water based drink

What a lovely coloured drink, and extremely refreshing! The combination of rose water, grenadine, water and lime. I forgot the name of the drink, but I know it is a speciality at the restaurant! I just googled the names of the drinks that were on the menu and went with the one that sounded the most irresistible. Similar to an ice tea, but not as sweet. Perfect for a hot summers day or night.

Hainanese Chicken with rice and soup

A classic Malaysian dish that does not go wrong. The chicken was cooked perfectly and dressed with a soy based sauce. There was a side of cucumber, and two sauces which accompanied the chicken and rice perfectly. The soup that accompanied the dish had a strong flavour of onion, which was way too overwhelming for my liking.

Malaysian style crispy chicken and noodles

We all love crispy chicken, and the Malaysian style wasn't any different, where it still had a crispy skin. The noodles were stir fried with a brown sauce. The serving size was huge! Should definitely fill up anyone who is super hungry.

I have yet had the chance to go to Malaysia, but if the food is as good as Petaling St, then I am pretty sure I would be on a non-stop eating adventure of the streets of Malaysia.

Good food, good times!

Temasek @ Parramatta Roxy Arcade

All food lovers should be able to relate to this "That sad moment when you are really craving to go to a restaurant and you find out that they are closed for a few weeks." Temasek  was closed for about a month over and Christmas and New Years and I had an extreme craving. So on the first day it re-opened, a friend planned for the oz tag team to go there to eat dinner. This resulted in CRAVING FULLFILLED!

Temasek is a restaurant that combines different traditional dishes from China, Malaysia and Singapore with authentic flavours. It is a popular restaurant that is constantly busy, with it expanding 2 sides of the Roxy Arcade. The restaurant gives the vibe of an Asian food market. Now to the delicious food that fulfilled my craving.


Entrees:

Curry puffs

Satay chicken skewers

What lovely starters! Both vegetarian and beef curry puffs were purchased. The cover of the curry puff was light, fluffy and crispy. The chicken skewers with the satay sauce were delightful and set our palates for the meal to come.

Mains:

Beef Rendang

Kecap Manis Sotong - Fried calamari in sweet sauce

Nasi Goreng

Sambal Chicken

Sambal Balacaan Kang Kong

Sambal = chili/spicy, kang kong = water spinach. A vegetable dish that has plenty of crunch and an ample amount of spice.

Hainanese Chicken

Temasek is well known for the Hainanese chicken and chicken rice. For those who don't know what Hainanese chicken is, it is chicken that is boiled in a chicken broth which results in a moist and succulent chicken. The chicken rice is also made using the chicken broth.

Stir fried chicken with mixed vegetable

Serai (lemon grass) pork

One of my favourite dishes of the night. The pork had a great taste of the lemon grass and I could also taste a bit of honey to it as well. It went very well with the rice.

Hokkien Noodles

Desserts:

Ice Kacang - Combination of red bean, grass jelly, pineapple and palm seeds served with crushed ice in a bowl. Toppd with palm sugar, red syrup evaporated milk and sweet corn

Sago pudding

The two popular desserts of choice. The Ice Kacang has a variety of flavours that infuse well together (despite the sweet corn on top, which added a strange texture). It is a perfect dessert after a hot summers night with relatively spicy food. The sago pudding was a sweet dessert, with a coconut taste and a soft texture. I preferred the Ice Kacang as it was more refreshing, and I love herbal jelly.


Overall Temasek is a wonderful restaurant to dine at, with friends and family. The flavours of the food are quite strong compared to other Asian restaurants, so prepare yourself for explosions of different tastes. Depending on the amount of people you go with, and how much food you order, it shouldn't cost more then $40 per person (including drinks and dessert).

Good food, good times!