The Malaya, Lime St, King Street Wharf

The Malaya, Lime St, King Street Wharf
Saturday 3 June, 2006

Tonight I was having dinner with some old Uni buddies who were visiting from Canberra. They had selected the restaurant and I was thrilled with their choice - the last time I had eaten at The Malaya it was located on George St.

The Malaya offers views over Darling Harbour and serves contemporary asian cuisine. The restaurant space is large with dark carpets and quirky chairs and you can sit outdoors on the balcony or inside.

On arrival the first thing you notice is the noise - you almost need to shout to be heard. We decided to order some cocktails to start and our waiter had to stand next to each person ordering drinks so that she could hear the order. From the extensive menu which comprises set menus, signature dishes and the usual entree, mains etc, we opted for the Vegetarian set menu for $39 pp. This included:

- Samosa (A mixture of potato, carrot, onion and spices wrapped in a light pastry skin and deep fried)
- Vegetable San Choy Bow (Water chestnut, onion, mushrooms, carrots and shallots stir fried and served in a lettuce leaf)
- Sayor Otak (Silken tofu topped with a blend of eggplant, mushroom, tomato, lemongrass and chilli paste, wrapped in a banana leaf and barbecued)
- Salt and Pepper Cauliflower (Cauliflower lightly battered, deep-fried and tossed in fresh chilli, salt, cracked black pepper and shallots)
- Szechuan Eggplant (Marinated eggplant stir fried dry style with shallots, cashew nuts and dry chillies. Served on a bed of English spinach)
- Vegetable Singapore Noodles (Vermicelli rice noodle stir fried dry style with Asian green vegetable, beansprouts, onion, shallots and chilli)
- Fresh Seasonal Vegetables (Asian green vegetables stir fried with garlic, soy sauce and fresh chilli)
- Sayor Masak Lemak (Malay style vegetable curry cooked with fresh chilli, lemongrass and coconut milk)

It was a feast and everything was very good. My favourite dishes were by far the salt & pepper cauliflower and the szechuan eggplant.

The restaurant was packed and the noise levels continued to raise over the course of the evening. To compensate for the cold weather outside the restaurant was toasty warm inside - so much so that most people were removing their layers down to t-shirts and singlets. You would have thought it was the middle of summer....

The Malaya, Lime St, King Street Wharf

http://www.themalaya.com.au/index.html