I’ve stumbled upon a hidden gem lately, and I feel it’s my public duty to share it with you. Firstly, it involves food (of course). Secondly, it involves possibly the best food in the world (did I just write that? Just going with my emotions here)… Malaysian cuisine.
Omg… the food of Malaysia… sigh. The flavours! The passion! I’ve never seen such a divided country united over their unbridled passion for food. It really is a beautiful thing, and was one of my favourite parts of living in Malaysia. I admittedly had pretty much no idea about Malaysian cuisine before moving, and of course Gav educated me on the Indian, Chinese and Malay populations of the country, and the beauty this melting pot can bring.
I had the best char kuey teow of my life in Penang, cooked outside by an OG little old lady in a red hat (apparently she’s famous and I absolutely understand why). I remember her cracking the eggs with one hands, and throwing in the noodles with the other. Other ladies stood around her in deference and wonder. What she served up was the stuff of my dreams (and it still haunts me that I didn’t get a second serve, lol).
When visiting my midwife a few months ago, I happened to pop into the downstairs cafe with my daughter and get a snack (obviously). They had a fridge with ready meals, but they’d sold out. It was probably another 6 weeks until I visited again, and this time we were earlier — and the fridge had options. And oh my, what options they were.
This was my first experience with My Colonial Cafe… and it definitely was not going to be my last.
I picked up a nasi lemak which came with a chicken curry. For the uninitiated, nasi lemak is the Malaysian national dish (and Gav’s favourite), and it’s a unique one at that. Fragrant rice accompanied by curry (which has a number of variants), peanuts, cucumber, anchovies, boiled egg and of course, sambal. Yum. It’s flavour town, that’s for sure!
So this chicken curry was just what I needed. Succulent chicken, soft potato, and all the accoutrements hit just right. I actually visited my friends after nearby (in Kew) and they were gobsmacked I found good Malaysian food in Kew, lol. Leave it to me to suss out something succulent… what can I say, the nose knows.
I brought one back for Gav, and of course he loved it. I eventually looked online and was prepared to make an order (as they deliver every Sunday for a flat fee of $15). And then I clicked a bit more and saw they had a number of stockists… and that just sealed the deal.
They’re stocked at Colonial Fresh in Doncaster and the Glen, and let’s just say… we’ve been making very regular visits for their curry mee (laksa) and beef rendang. It’s actually become my comfort food/closest thing to a craving I’ve had this pregnancy. Of course, now I’m in my second trimester I’m getting some heartburn and shouldn’t be eating too much spicy food… but I just have to. I just. have to.
Oh and I forgot to mention… the price? $10 a pop. Seriously. For home cooked, authentic tasting laksas, nasi lemaks, even the nasi lemak bungkus (the little pyramid which comes wrapped in paper and I think are only $6.50)… it’s an amazingly reasonably priced dish with no fuss. The curry mee is better than most I’ve had at restaurants, and it’s ready to go when I get hungry at 10 in the morning (lol, this has happened a few times recently — no ragrets). If you’re a foodie or want to branch out a little, I would strongly recommend sussing out your latest My Colonial Cafe stockist and buying up a laksa immediately. Thank me a later lah!