Petaling Street – Haymarket, Sydney CBD
When there are foodbloggers argue which restaurants has the best roti, rendang and CKT, you know Sydney has been taken over by Malaysian restaurants. It is like measles, they just pop up everywhere! This sudden trend only remind me of an old Malay proverbs, “hangat-hangat tahi ayam“, and without too literally translate it, I worry this trend can be just a short flash in the pan and will not last.
Sydney now even has its own Petaling Street, the fourth franchise of a Malaysian restaurant chain from Melbourne has set its foot on George Street near Haymarket. It is located at the non-busy side of Haymarket, I even find it all too ironic to be located right next to an adult shop to reflect the seedy side of Petaling Street in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I follow the Hinds and their friend from South Africa who is here visiting into this pokey one-narrow-lane restaurant, we squeeze our way to the back and seated at the last empty table.
Roast chicken with rice - 10.50
The A3 laminated menu is impressively extensive, from hawker food to a proper Chinese meal which can be a dilemma when comes to decision making as we struggle whether we should stick to individual hawker food or have bigger dishes to share over a bowl of steamed rice.
The roast chicken with rice set is a generous side for one. A pile of roast chicken with a glossy sheen of caramelised skin is not so crispy after after having soy dressing being poured all over. The duo dipping sauces of chilli and garlic ginger are simply not enough to accompany the whole plate of chicken, we scrape to the last drop of the sauce while there is still half of the chicken meat left on the plate. Nevertheless, the chicken is tender and succulent, but the biggest let down is the rice, it is a dome of undercooked gluggy mess.
Cham - 3.50; Ribena Sprite - 3.50
To drink, the Hinds go for the whimsical Ribena Sprite, well it is a fizzy mix of Ribena cordial and Sprite. My ‘cham ice‘ comes in a metal tankard, a tea-and-coffee mix with condensed milk is an old school favourite of mine, but the cham here is not as thick as I’d hoped for.
Marmite pork spare ribs - 18.80
I have lay my eyes on the Marmite pork spare ribs since I picked up the menu. This dish is an early invention derived from Malaysia and Singapore back in 90s, deep fried pork ribs are smothered in sticky sweet and salty Marmite sauce. You either love it or hate it, just like Vegemite, but for me is a winner.
KL Hokkien Mee - 10.50
As soon as this dish arrives at the table, I flinch. “This is not a KL Hokkien Mee.” Despite of lacking its authenticity, this dried-saucing egg noodle dish is a pleasant staple at the table with plenty fish cakes, prawns and squid curls swimming in the sauce.
Roti canai with beef curry - 10.80
The roti canai is little bit disappointing here. Store bought or not, I will never know, but it will be very hard to beat the other Malaysian restaurants in town where rotis are being tossed up high in the air and fried right in front of you. The roti arrives at table neither flaky nor fluffy, chopped up into bite sizes which defeats the pleasure of tearing it apart and douse them in the curry sauce with both hands. The beef curry that comes with the roti is a saviour nonetheless, tender hunks of beef briskets in a spicy hot curry sauce. We loved the beef curry, the roti not so much.
As we about to pay our bill, a plate of Char Kueh Teow arrives at the table next to us and it looks promising and wish we’ve made the right decision.
Petaling Street Malaysian hawker food restaurant 760 George St Sydney NSW 2000 P: (02) 9280 1006 Opening Hours: Open 7 days, 11am till late
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A Table For Two (ATFT) is Billy Law's food blog that features best eats in Sydney and around the world with drool-worthy food photography to salivate your appetite. I also throw in a smidgen of my food and travel photography for good measure. Billy Law also happened to be a contestant on MasterChef Australia 2011. 
I hope I get to go here soon – I’ve been hearing all the bloggers rave about the Asam Laksa (which I’ve never tried) & I want to burst my Asam Laksa bubble. I’ve been stalking their menu too…
the marmite pork spare ribs looks really good! i dont think anything would be as bad as vegmite though
I think it depends what you order in this place. Chicken Rice and Char Kway Teow have been good for me and the Asam Laksa is worth having too.
But my chicken rice was average with a very soggy rice.
As a melbournite who lives near a petaling street, I agree, the place is bit hit and miss sometimes. However I can definitely vouch for the yummy char kwei teoh; it has lovely breath of wok to it.
PS: I’ve been reading your blog for the past 3 years but have never commented; keep up the good work, your photos are absolutely glorious!
bastardization of epic proportions.
The assam laksa here is very decent and the claypot noodles is pretty good too. But personally I think the CKT here is MEH (sorry but I’m extremely bitchy when it comes to my beloved CKT). It takes more than a little ‘wok hei’ and a few scattered cockles and pork lard to make it truly authentic.
Speaking of which, how the heck is that KL Hokkien Mee?! It’s just generic chinese-style fried noodles in gravy, it’s def not a proper KL Hokkien Mee grrrr.
As a Malaysian I find it quite embarrassing that the plate of non-KL Hokkien mee and torn up roti canai were served such. If this is the standard of Malaysian cuisine being represented in Sydney I’d rather the fad fade off quickly.
Billy, you were certainly the expert out of us four, so I’ll trust your thoughts on the meal, but I thought that it was a reasonably good feed.
Certainly the best was the marmite pork, but I also enjoyed the hokkien mee even if it wasn’t authentic. That said I do think I’ve made better myself with the help of the recipe of TFP’s Mum.
You’re right, the roti was a bit disappointing, but the beef was indeed it’s saviour.
As far as CKT goes, we’re off to Jackie M this Friday, and I’ll be having that there for sure.
Thanks for meeting us. It was a nice evening, and great to see you again!
Im sure there will be more outing together in future! I think the meal at Petaling Jaya was decent enough but nothing to rave about.
I love the idea of a Ribena sprite! Will try that one at home.
Havent really heard that much good about this place. I will go somewhere else Malaysian since they keep popping up like flies
Love your honest review of this place, however I am really intrigued by the Marmite spare ribs…maybe I will attempt this one at home!
Hi Billy,
I think Malaysian restaurants popping up everywhere in sydney are a good thing. It’s just a matter of time before the standard of Malaysian food here gets better. At least roti canai (prata, as they’re called in Singapore) can be bought here now…I remember it wasn’t that long ago that it was pretty much unheard of.
That said, I still prefer to make my own roti prata. Please have a look and see what you think. http://www.the-home-food-cook.com/2012/02/roti-prata.html
uuuhhh….. I miss Malaysian food. Looking forward to my next travel to Sydney.
i’ve tried their nasi lemak in melbourne, nothing to shout about also..but the portion is huge