Arrow Foodie: Review - Straits of Malacca

*April 2012 Straits of Malacca has closed at the venue @ 188 Little Bourke St, Melbourne. Petaling Street taken over this venue.
*July 2012 Straits of Malacca has taken over the Petaling Street venue @ 162 Swanston St, Melbourne

24 January 2012

Straits of Malacca
1st Floor, 188 Little Bourke, Melbourne
Cuisine: Malaysian, Japanese, Asian

Remind me never to blog about a buffet again. I need a shoulder massage after loading 41 photos!

This is a new restaurant which opened about 1 1/2 months ago. Our group of 12 persons went for lunch on a Tuesday. The restaurant is large enough to comfortably hold several large groups of diners. It was about a quarter full on this day.

The lunch buffet costs slightly less earlier in the week: $19.80 Monday to Thursday, $22.80 Friday to Sunday.

Check their website for the current prices http://www.malaccaasianbuffet.com/

They are also on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MalaccaBuffet

Have you ever tried sampling from over 50 selections while attempting to take photos and maintaining a conversation with friends! I gave it a go but it was impossible to try everything.

To give you a general idea of the layout: there is a small selection of yum cha food, a Japanese food section, a roast duck and belly pork station, handmaking of Peking duck in crepes, a noodle soup station, a main buffet table with Bain Marie food warmers, a side dishes section, a large dessert section and a bar which doubles as an ice kacang stall.

The Bain Marie food warmers contained: Braised Vegetables, Deep Fried Prawns with Special Sauce, Beef Rendang, Ma Po Tofu, Green Curry Seafood, Lotus Leaf Fried Rice, simple Fried Koay Teow, Braised Chicken with Mushrooms, Hong Kong Style Steamed Fish Fillets, Deep Fried Celery and Roast Pork Belly, Sweet & Sour Pork Belly Ribs and Braised Crab Meat Soup with Mushroom. I tried the prawns (good), rendang (good), tofu (good), green curry (good), fried rice (didn't quite like this), koay teow (good), chicken with mushrooms (good) and steamed fish (just okay). I found the green curry not overly spicy but one person did, which was surprising as they had an Asian background and are used to hot spicy food.

There are three varieties of noodle soups: Curry Laksa, Ramen, Udon. You don't select the ingredients as these are pre-determined (see photo below). I tried the Curry Laksa -the soup was quite nice. Again, I was okay with the spiciness level of the laksa but a couple of people with Asian background found it too spicy. The ingredients were simple and the serve was small, but this is adequate for a buffet situation.

The Peking duck in crepe was reasonable. I did not get a chance to try the side dishes.

The desserts looked attractive but overall, we found the taste did not live up to the looks. The colourful jellies, especially the blue ones, looked really nice but tasted fairly ordinary. I managed to get one piece of nonya kueh as the tray was not refilled - the flavour did not stand out. Neither did any of the creamy mousse-type desserts. If I had to pick one dessert cake, it would be the Napoleon slice.

We had the ice kacang last. It was interesting to see this being prepared at the bar where the staff member did a great job assembling the ice kacang. The taste was good but we were surprised to find the kidney beans was so undercooked that they were hard. This was the only letdown to what would have been a nice refreshing dessert.

The service was good. The staff were attentive and promptly cleared empty plates from the table. There was usually one staff member to keep an eye on the main buffet table to make sure it was in order.

The general consensus was we were impressed with the large variety of food on offer, and for a reasonable price of under $19.80. There was something for everyone and no one left hungry.

Taste Rating: 7/10 Value Rating: 8/10

Click photos to view larger image