Restaurant Malaysia (Flushing)

[Pan]

I like the egullet dinner idea. We can wait till you come back. :)

Would you want to do Queens since the places seem to be better there?

Yeah, probably.

The Malaysian friend I was thinking of lives in Astoria, but I don't know how many Malaysian places in Queens she's been to. After all, she can always cook the food herself.

Anyway, when I get over this damned cold, I'll call her.

[foodgeek]

Well, keep us informed. I'm definitely interested, especially in Queens since the malaysian places seem better there. :)

Sorry you didn't show at the fair yesterday. I was there. :)

[Pan]

I'll keep everyone informed, Jayask.

I'm glad everyone had a good time at the food fair, and I'm feeling a good deal stronger today, fortified by echinacea and goldenseal. Those herbal remedies really are helpful. What would I do without them?

[foodgeek]

Hey Pan:

I just realised through Amazon menus (neat!)that Taste Good (Malaysian) has a Chinatown branch. Is it as good as the Elmhurst branch? Ordering suggestions?

http://www.amazon.com/exec....ew_York

[tommy]

i just looked at this amazon thing for the first time.  i'm at a loss for words.  why didn't anyone tell me about this!?

[Pan]

I am still very pleased with this restaurant.

I went there repeatedly for dinner this past semester, usually by myself but once or twice with one friend. I still think it's the best Malaysian food I've had in the U.S., but I still haven't been to Malaysian restaurants in other parts of Queens, nor out west.

They make delicious asam laksa and very rich curried beef (really rendang) noodle soup.

Try their char kway teo, too, and their asam and sambal belacan dishes and roti canai. Heck, try anything. It's possible you may find something unexciting, but go several times and try different things.

The waitresses are friendly, and it's unlikely that anyone will argue with your order based on the idea that "white people don't like that." Only once did a new waitress who didn't know me ask me whether I _really_ wanted asam laksa. Yes, miss: I've been eating it since before you were born. :-) Also, I got some kaya jam (very rich, very eggy coconut custard jam) there for a birthday present for my mother, along with a wish that her life be rich in years and happiness (kaya means "rich" in Malay). It costs $4 for a plastic container, and was very much appreciated.

[foodgeek]

Also, I got some kaya jam (very rich, very eggy coconut custard jam) there for a birthday present for my mother, along with a wish that her life be rich in years and happiness (kaya means "rich" in Malay). It costs $4 for a plastic container, and was very much appreciated.

So the kaya buns I get at the asian bakery on 63rd drive in Rego Park (Goodies Bakery) are actually Malaysian? Ah. They are good. :)

[Pan]

So the kaya buns I get at the asian bakery on 63rd drive in Rego Park (Goodies Bakery) are actually Malaysian? Ah. They are good. :)

[snausages2000]

Pan, I caught your recommendation of Restorant Malaysia on the "Best Non-Fancy Dining In NY" thread (thank you for the referral), but thought it would be better to revive discussion here. I'd also like to hear people's recent impressions of Malaysian in general in the city. I'd like to go to Taste Good II next.

I took three friends to Restorant Malaysia last weekend.

First impression was pleasing. All the trappings of 'authenticity': fluorescent lighting, cafeteria like decor, packed with asians (though, I suppose any OTB in Queens boasts the same). I enjoyed the big mural of Malaysia, complete with provincial flags. I think the entire (very accommodating) staff was Chinese, though. And I've noticed the same thing at Nyonya and Baba. Are Chinese-Malaysians from Malaysia or are most of these places stocked with Chinese cooks doing renditions of Malay cooking? Not sure it makes much of a difference in the quality of the food, but I'm not sure I've ever seen a Malaysian person in the kitchen of a Malaysian restaurant, though maybe I'm way off...

Unfortunately, since I found Pan's recommendation elsewhere, I hadn't realized this thread existed and thus didn't go in with a gameplan for ordering. Just went with trial and error, but here're the results:

Roti: Roti was solid. The dipping bread was gummy and chewy. A nice alternative to the flaky, less dense version at Nyonya. The curry was good. More coconutty and spicy than Nyonya's.

Asam Laksa: Was looking forward to this. The only catch: they never brought it. We were stuffed by the time we realized they'd forgotten (or decided for us that we wouldn't enjoy), so we didn't follow-up on getting it.

Whole Steamed Tilapia in Special Sauce: Tilapia's not a particularly flavorful fish, but they did a nice job with it - juicy, tender. Seemed very fresh. The 'special sauce' was pretty weak. Basically seemed like ketchup mixed with red peppers. "Home cooking" in the bad sense. Next time I'd go for a fish served in a curry sauce.

Baked Yam: Probably the best dish. A big ring of taro breaded and fried with a mild, grayish stew of chicken and vegetables poured in the middle. I love taro (had a taro bun and a taro bubble tea after lunch), so I'm biased, but this was great - sweet, dense taro worked nicely with a crunchy fried, but not greasy, coating and the meat paired nicely. Probably the one dish I'd order again next time, other than the obligatory Roti.

Steamed Baby Bok Choy in Garlic Sauce: Huge plate of little whole bok choy. Nice to look at and vegetables seemed fresh, but they had a slightly unfortunate taste/smell of dirty or stale water. Seemed like maybe they'd been soaking too long in less than fresh water.

A Mee Noodle Dish, the name of which I forget: Thick brown noodles, seemed promising. But this was not a pleasing dish, at least my group. At first we just thought it was bland. Upon further exploration one unlucky companion but into a big chunk of liver. This was just sloppy noodles and liver.

I also forget the name of the big plate that comes with rice, peanuts, chicken, and curry sauce and you mix it all up together. It's basically a full-sized version of the roti. Good, but for the sake of variety, we shouldn't have ordered.

Overall, the food was good, but I was a little disappointed that none of the dishes were assertively, knock-out flavorful or spicy. I'd like to go back a few times and keep ordering different dishes until I could amass a solid roster of 5-7 choices.

Also, I was surprised to find that Nyonya held up rather well in comparison. Totally different atmosphere, but I find Nyonya's dishes tend to be more cohesively, fully flavored. Price difference between Nyonya and Restorant Malaysia is not significant.

Has anyone made any Malaysian finds recently?

[Pan]

Snausages, I'm surprised that you had a mediocre experience at Restaurant Malaysia.

For what it's worth, I spoke with one of the chefs, who told me she was from Ipoh, a Malaysian city with a large Chinese community and one that's well-known in Malaysia for good food.

I don't think I've had any of the dishes you got, other than Roti Canai.

I've enjoyed everything I've had there. Here are some recommendations, off the top of my head:

Asam Laksa

Curry Mee with Yong Tau Foo

Satay (beef or chicken)

Kangkung (or any other vegetable you like) Belacan

Nasi Lemak

The curry soup with beef or the special mixed one.

Ipoh Bean Sprouts

I also like their Rojak, but it's not for everybody.

It's been a while since I got a full-sized curry or asam dish, but I wouldn't think you'd go wrong with any of those.

I've been there by myself much more often than with friends, so I usually get something relatively small.

[SG-]

Does anyone know of any place that serves "Malay" Malaysian food vs. the predominant "Chinese" Malaysian food?

[Pan]

Make the distinction, please. To me, roti canai, satay, dishes with belacan, asam and curry dishes, nasi lemak, tom yam soup, and Hainanese chicken rice are all well-established as dishes Malays make for Malays, regardless of their origins. What are you looking for that would differentiate Malay and Chinese-Malaysian cooking, other than perhaps an absence of pork and use of all halal products at the former?

[SG-]

For example Lemang, nasi ulam, ayam masak merah, paru goreng, kerabu jantung pisang. kerabu perut, ikan masak lemak, sup kambing non-excessively sweet sambal nasi lemak

i.e the stuff you find in the warungs, pasar tani, PAS dominated regions etc.

[Pan]

OK, I understand what you're talking about. Nasi Ulam, for example, is something I really think of as East Coast cooking. I had some Sup Kambing in Petaling Jaya this past August, but it was in a restaurant that said it cooked Kelantan-style food, I believe (it was on the MPPJ square). Terengganu was my adopted home for 2 lovely years of my childhood, and I love the East Coast, but I don't think we'll find these things in New York - perhaps not ever.

[Pan]

I think tonight may have been my first sort of mediocre meal at Restaurant Malaysia, but I think that's because I ordered something they don't make interesting: Mee Goreng (fried noodles). I also ordered the Ipoh Bean Sprouts, which were good as usual, but the Mee Goreng was just OK and not something I'm going to rush to order again. It came with a sweetish sambal udang (udang=shrimp; sambal is a kind of sauce that includes some shrimp paste and hot pepper, but this was a red sauce, not just a belacan sauce) and actually reminded me somewhat of the mee goreng (or was it nasi goreng [fried rice]?) they served for breakfast at the Shah's Village Hotel in Petaling Jaya, where I stayed last summer. And that is not a compliment, as the breakfast at Shah's Village was insipid and uninteresting compared to most any other eatery you could go to in the area (that is, the Petaling Jaya and Kuala Lumpur area of Malaysia, to put things in perspective). So snausages2000, you can consider this as corroboration for the proposition that there are dishes that aren't really worth ordering at Restaurant Malaysia. I don't feel deterred from returning, but I did take a little walk and noticed some other interesting restaurants I haven't been to yet. Spicy and Tasty came in for high praise on this forum some time ago, and it's on Prince just north of Roosevelt, and a block and a half further north is a Thai restaurant called I think Green Papaya.

[snausages2000]

Pan,

I'd return to Restaurant Malaysia (why did I think it was "Restorant"?) as well, but I think it's the type of place that I need a pre-planned ordering strategy in order to better navigate the menu. Unfortunately, Flushing is a bit of a trip for me, so the stakes are a little higher when I eat out there - to justify the trip, it better be good! Nonetheless, Rest. Malaysia is still a treat and exciting in the sense that there's so much to discover about the menu. There's probably 30 more dishes I want to try there before passing real judgement. Also, any spot in the city serving competent renditions of Malaysian food is a valuable neighborhood asset. I wish there was a Malaysian option in Brooklyn (Heights). Even counting Smith St., we don't have a single good option for Chinese, Korean, Indian, Vietnamese, let alone Malaysian. (There's a Cambodian cafe in Ft. Greene, tons of Middle Eastern and some ok sushi, but it doesn't make up for the bleak state of Asian food in the Atlantic Ave area).

[Pan]

Pan,

I'd return to Restaurant Malaysia (why did I think it was "Restorant"?) as well, but I think it's the type of place that I need a pre-planned ordering strategy in order to better navigate the menu.

If you want to meet up some Thursday around 7:30, let me know.

They used to spell their name "Restorant Malaysia." The word for restaurant in Malay is "restoran."

[vienna]

Have you guys tried Ipoh on Elridge St in manhattan near the F train East Broadway stop? I heard good stuffs about it and wondering what's your opinion. Thanks.

[Pan]

I can't remember whether I've been there. I'll walk past sometime soon.