The Malaya – King St Wharf, Sydney
I feel cheated… after finding out that the usually kind and friendly Billy can lie to our faces… to our faces!! Lying makes babies cry /tear. Nah just kidding, Billy is a champion and a very good fooding friend along with Jen and Karen.
A little while back, back in the days of March where 33 dora Merivale dinners were available, we had planned to check out Ash St Cellar but the ever-hungry blogger meant that a half an hour wait for a table was 30 minutes too long. We quickly had a meeting right outside the elevators going up to the wonderful meat haven of Mad Cow, to discuss our options. We were punting suggestions left and right but Billy eyes sparked and then slyly asks the rest of us with a smirk on his face ” what do you guys think about mussels 
?” (emoticon included!). We were all entranced by the fact of all-you-can-eat immediately set off.
Destination: Bungalow 8, Mission: eat them broke, Mission status: FAIL because now they only allow all-you-can-eat for booked patrons. We ended having another emergency meeting with more suggestions being punted and we ended up walking along King St Wharf until we reached The Malaya.
Yay for open kitchen! Food sans mucous kthx!
Initially we were interested in The Spice Room at The Malaya but we found out that it was actually just a room for bigger bookings. I am always up for trying new restaurants and since we had all entered the restaurant and we were starving our dinner fate had been decided. The long stretch of kitchen was what initially caught my eye and then the rest of the place revealed a comfy and warm atmosphere.
Knowing full well that we are on King St Wharf and the food here would burn our wallets dry we ordered anyway with only aim which is to satify out ravenousness. I apologize for my noisy photos since it was quite dim, so check out the others for better ones ^^!
Here Comes the Food
Jens’ cocktail
Billy and his beer showing his pro pouring skillz
Roti Canai with Chicken Curry Sauce ($12)
We had to wait a fair while for the food but the first to arrive was the roti. How I craved the roti at Mamak as soon as I sawthis hit the table. Their roti was crispy and the chicken curry was very good and flavoursome but the roti lacked the fluffiness and texture we get at Mamak.
Chicken Satay ($18)
Recently, after reading everybodys posts on the Easter show I had the biggest craving of eating food in stick-form and now I realize I can easily by gorging on satay sticks! The satay sauce here is truly amazing without being overly sweet and right amount of peanutyness but the chicken was in dire need of beefing up in size 
Popiah ($13)
I am not Malaysian like 50% of the table that night so I had no idea what true authentic Popiah tastes like. The one here did taste very similar to Vietnamese spring rolls which to me was quite tasty especially with a sticky, sweet and peanuty sauce ^^! Oh how the Malaysian foodblogging community must be shaking their heads at me now…
Kwai Du ($22) – Flat rice noodle stir-fried dry style with chicken, prawn, beansprouts, onion, shallots, chilli and egg
I found this dish pretty ordinary so not much to say about it. I like the flat rice noodles and the combination of flavours but for 22 dora this was definitely not worth it.
Kapitan King Prawn ($29)
The prawns were tasty, the curry was exxttraaa tasty but the fact that the batter was soggy and quite a turnoff. The curry was really good though and I wouldn’t mind trying the fish version like what we originally ordered haha.
Us bloggers doing our thang!
+1!
There were 3 dishes I didn’t get good close up so they were the Chilli Kang Kung ($18) bottom left, Beef Rendang ($25) middle and the Szechuan Chicken ($25) top right
The chilli kang kung was a big disappointment as I was expecting the delicious mincy belacan paste that I have had at other Malaysian restaurants. This one ended up sweet for some odd reason :S
The beef rendang, on the other hand, was total awesome! I think it is the best rendang I have had in Sydney ^^! The tender and soft chunks of beef just fall apart in the mouth and then give way to the mild but flavourful curry.
The Szechuan Chicken was also pretty decent and I enjoyed its sweet undertones but for sezchuan there was not hit. Needs a bigger chilli injection to truly obtain the title of Szechua imo.
The Malaya has pros and cons but in the end for me, the cons outweigh the pros. Being on the viewy part of town means ridiculous prices for the food and the only dish that really had me going YAYYY was the Beef Rendang. One major con was there was no Ice Chendol wtg!?!?!? That is like no sashimi in a Japanese restaurant (and I mean a Jap restaurant in Austraia) well for me at least haha. Ahh well maybe one day I will come back for the Beef Rendang (because it was realllllly good) but not anytime soon.
It was awesome to catch up with the others and we must do it again soon ^^! But next time we must have a plan B AND a plan C just in case hee hee.
Other Malaysian goodness:
To’s Malaysian Gourmet – North Sydney, Sydney
D’s B’day: Temasek – Parramatta, Sydney & Boobie Cupcakes
Bonta Vita – Sydney CBD, Sydney
Langkawai – Island in the Sun ^^ day 1
Malaysia Festival – Darling Harbour, Sydney (Part 2)
Malaysia Festival – Darling Harbour, Sydney (Part 1)
The Malaya
29 Lime St
King St Wharf, 2000
Ph: (02) 9279 1170
FFichiban
April 23rd, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Plan A, B and C…haha good idea! I loved your B+W photos of bloggers btw. And you sneaked my tatt in lol! (I mite use it on my blog if that’s alright with you!)
April 24th, 2009 at 8:31 am
Hmmm I don’t think I will be visiting this place…give me mamak roti canai anyday over this! The popiah makes me sad, that is not what popiah looks like!
At least the rendang was good!
April 24th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Hehe, “the chicken needs beefing up”!
I’m glad the rendang was good, but it’s a shame it’s so pricey.
April 24th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
my experience was similiar. did you notice any other Asians in the restaurant or was it all Anglo businessmen. I ordered the Kapitan King Prawn without batter which sounds like a better option and thought the Beef Rendang was one of the better dishes. they obviously have a market in Sydney but any Malaysian/Chinese foodies please be pre-warned about the overpriced food which seems to not deliver the goods.
simon
April 24th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
oh whay a long journey just to end up somewhere not that great. So frustrating. I’ve found myself in that exact situation many many times. At least you got to try some awesome beef rendang
April 24th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
I’ve heard terrible things about this place and this post confirms it. I hate being ripped off/rip off venues in general:(
April 24th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
aww I am malay and I don’t think I’ve ever tried popiah!
It still looks very tasty with its sweet peanutty sauce
especially since you love peanut butter so much haha =)
and is that char kuay teow for $22!! woooah you could get 3 and a half huge steaming plates at the dixon st food court instead lol ahh at least u get an awesome view
April 25th, 2009 at 11:22 am
I love the malaya! yes Its my favourite malaysian restaurant in the city. I usually go here for business lunches. Its a typical business restaurant especially during lunch time. I think its a billion times better than Chinta Ria. ^_^
I wanna go back there and try the banquet menu #2 with the scallops! MmMmM awesome shots too! I
April 25th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
Karen – Yup sure sure ^^!
Steph – Yeah I’d rather hit up Mamak but it was good to finally try this place for myself
Arwen – XD hee hee yayyy yeah but for the atmosphere and view as well I guess.
Simon Food Fav – Yeah you are right, most of the other patrons were Caucasian from memory… kinda like Wagamama I guess
Maria – Oh nooess
Start planning B and C with me 
?
Miss Honey – Yeah me too boooo
haha but the rendang…mmmm
Grace – HAHAHA Grace -___- gogogogo! Ooh dixon st food court you sayy hmmmm
Smileona – :O realllyy?! What do you normally get there? Isn’t Chinta Ria Indonesian? I think I’ll stick to Mamammamak haha but it was good to try out this place
April 26th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
I haven’t been here for years but I do remember liking the Kapitan prawns when done well-when the batter is soggy all bets are off though!