My Restaurant, Melbourne (and magical cans of Milo!)

Finally my posts from a recent trip to Melbourne are getting off the ground after being taunted relentlessly by a pile of unedited photos and questions from various people of what I ate when I was south of the border.

Before I left Sydney, I was hit hard by a craving for roti canai and normally it’d be fulfilled promptly with the usual trek to Mamak in Haymarket. Hastily I put the call out to some Malay recommendations from kindred Melbourne friends and thanks to Jeroxie and a glowing review from Deep Dish Dreams, I locked in My Restaurant as a must visit.

My Restaurant is located around the quieter end of Chapel Street in Windsor (a suburb next to Prahran), an easy tram ride away from Swanston Street station. First of all, do not judge it by its simple shabby appearance and humbled atmosphere. It’s the food that shines and the service is unpretentious and friendly. I’d happily sit on milk crates in an alley to eat here, because this, my friends, is pretty much the real mamak. I say real because usually mamak food stalls in Malaysia are run by Tamil-Muslims who serve up food with a heavy Indian influence.

Never judge a book by its cover, especially when the food is good!

On a Thursday lunch it’s super quiet, but as I hear, this is a favourite with the locals (and apparently people who’d like to claim it as their ‘local’), as well as the Malaysian and Tamil clientele who come for a close-to-authentic taste of home. There is no question that tea tarik, a mamak specialty, were going to be our drinks of choice. Here, they are served steaming hot from styrofoam cups but I’m going to complain because they only costed us $2! And by god they were perfect for a chilly Melbourne afternoon. While most serve it sickly sweet, My Restaurant serves it a little more authentically with less condensed milk allowing you to really enjoy the fragrance of the tea. I sipped and closed my eyes and imagined I was back ‘home’.

At $2 a cup I could just sit and drink tea tariks all day, every day (and apologies for the shocking photo)

The value here is excellent. For $9.90 you are served with 4 large triangles of roti and 3 types of curries that packs more depth and flavour with aromatic Indian spices. Oh and lets not forget that it’s served on my favourite giant prison-chic metal tray. The chicken in one was incredibly soft and tender, the chickpea is always a delicious favourite while the sambal curry (not the Malaysian belacan chilli paste mind you) was light with a slight tang. An accompaniment of a refreshing and fragrant yoghurt raita was on hand to temper the palate from the curry assault but I can safely tell you that the spice level here was certifiably sane. The owners advised that at dinner, there are even more varieties of curries to try out – lamb, beef, goat and vegetable amongst others – and that we should revisit soon if we lived around the area.

Double damn.

Roti just isn’t roti without the chic metal prison tray!

As with any good mamak, rotis are available in both savoury and sweet. Roti pisang (banana) and roti tisu are all here but today we’re feeling hardcore so we opt for the roti bom. Cover your cavities people because this dessert is for the die-hard sweet-tooths. This a roti that’s filled with butter and sugar, rolled up and coiled and served with a cascade of condensed milk. Ye gods, my teeth are throbbing at the mere thought, but taste-wise, it’s truly exquisite. How can it not be when condensed milk is involved?

I can neither confirm nor deny that I licked this plate clean afterwards

Sweet…

I wished I had more time in Melbourne to plough through the rest of My Restaurant’s menu – the dosais, murtabaks, nasi goreng, nasi biryani and of course the array of dinner curries but as we solemnly informed them, we were out-of-towners. And to our surprise, they revealed that they were originally from Sydney but moved to Melbourne so they could open My Restaurant. At least now I know I can satisfy my mamak cravings outside of Sydney.

A hidden gem under humble appearances…

• • •

And on a side note, could this be the final push in my ever continuing considerations to move south?

Look what I found lurking in one Asian grocery store on Russell Street? Oh my god, cans of Milo! Let me clarify, cans of Milo that were imported from Malaysia. Before you raise your eyebrows, let me explain that milo is a favourite on drinks menus at hawkers and mamaks in Malaysia. Served iced or hot, it’s always the first thing I buy at KLIA when I step off the plane. They even sell Iced Milos at Maccas and food courts in giant dispensers that I just want to swim in.

Cans of gold

“Hang on, Australia sells Milo too!”

Why, yes they do but they don’t taste the same as their South-east Asian counterparts. And those mean old men at Aussie customs will never let me bring any back to Australia! Everybody must’ve thought me as insane as I violently arm swiped these cans into my shopping basket. Truly, I savoured every sip with my eyes closed imagining I was back on the humid streets of KL. Melbourne has always proved to be a better cure for my homesickness than Sydney…

My Restaurant

186 High Street
Windsor VIC 3181
(03) 9521 4100

Tagged as: Malay, Malaysia, Mamak, Melbourne, Milo, My Restaurant