Lim's Nyonya Hut, Glen Waverley

The appreciation of food comes from our innate love for it which is nurtured and honed by the society and culture that we grew up in. Most of Yuye's friends are Malaysian and I find that every single Malaysian I know are crazy about food. They all somehow fit into the word 'foodie' in one way or another and all love taking photos of both food in restaurants and in the home. Chinese people are similar I suppose but definitely not to such an extent. My Malaysian friends will argue with me for hours about how a certain food should taste or be cooked and I find it fun to do so as it gives me a deeper insight into the lovely cuisine.

I've had so much Malaysian food in the past few weeks it's unbelievable. We made har mee (prawn noodle soup) and curry laksa at home and eaten out at Malaysian restaurants for both lunch and dinner 4 times this week. This makes me feel like I'm actually in Malaysia! The reason being I recently came across a little Malaysian restaurant that serves authentic hawker food just 2 blocks away from Yuye's house called Lim's Nyonya Hut which featured in The Age Cheap Eats Guide 2011 and for the past many years as well. Why oh why have we not noticed the place earlier, I could have been eating delicious assam laksa at just a stone's throw away! The 4 outings were also due to another restaurant in Glen Waverley which will feature in a later post.

The first time at Lim's Nyonya Hut was for lunch last week. Upon entering, I noticed the very minimalist but intriguing decorations. I couldn't help but strain my eyes to read the writing under those articles on the wall and admiring the framed clothing. I must say it goes well with the purple walls.

They have a fantastic selection of Malaysian desserts as we found out, but it might be helpful to either ask about them or look them up on your phone (that's what I did) because most are not very self explanatory for non-Malaysians. I love the green ticks for 'available' so one would always know which one is in stock and can be ordered.

Lunch

I ordered a longan drink while Yuye ordered some boring soft drink. I know it's strange but I like lychee and longan flavoured drinks or desserts, however I don't actually like eating the fruits. While I ordered this drink, it was more like Yuye's since he ate all of the longans.

I was instantly in love after my first experience with assam laksa at batasan's house, cooked by the wonderfully talented home cook bata-mum just last year. The tangy sourness provided by the assam and subtle fishiness from the dried mackerel are beautifully aromatic and oh so yummy. I absolutely adore sour and chilli flavours and assam laksa has now overtaken Thai tom yum on my favourite foods list. I almost jumped out of my seat with joy when I saw that Lim's had assam laksa on the menu and, you guessed it, I ordered it instantly. Lim's assam laksa was quite strong in fish flavour as they used a lot of dried fish. I may have liked mine with a little less because it was slightly overpowering, however, it was definitely still delicious. I loved the mint leaves and onion shreds in the soup which added that extra dimension to the dish.

Yuye's eyes were completely glued to the pandan nasi lemak for $11.80 which is advertised here as 'first of a kind in Australia'. It was a pandan flavoured coconut rice served with cucumber, ikan bilis (anchovies & peanuts with medium spiced chilli sauce) and assam squid. Yes the rice was green! It was very coconutty and we both loved it. The ikan bilis gave the dish beautiful textures and flavours.

Mabrown, Balwyn

Mabrown is a Malaysian/Chinese/Thai restaurant near the corner of Belmore Rd and Balwyn Rd in Balwyn. My friend Winwin suggested to dine at this restaurant for our 'double date' and although it was a fantastic get together and the quail was irresistible, the service was just terrible. I don't usually expect anything from Chinese restaurants since it's probably not in their nature to have great service and so we didn't really complain. I didn't see smiles on the waitresses' faces all night and when we asked one of them where our rice was, she just said in an uncaring voice to wait and then never came back! We had to ask, I believe, the owner of the restaurant for the rice again. Nevertheless, the spicy quail was to die for and was the only thing that saved the night.

It's not a surprise that Mabrown's signature dish is the spicy deep fried quail. Not being a big fan of quails normally, I was pleasantly surprised at how tasty it was. The skin was crispy but not too oily, the meat was perfectly flavoured (I can tell it's been cooked well when all the flavour of the sauce has gone inside) and was just the right spiciness. It sure was a lot of finger-licking goodness! We ordered 8 quail pieces between the 4 of us but I felt I could have eaten more than 2. :P

It is so popular with the patrons that quails can be seen on nearly every table and we were suggested to call up and pre-order them!

The beef rendang was a slight let down after tasting the wonderful quails. The beef was a bit dry and the sauce was really average as well. None of us liked it much and left it till the end to eat.

Laksa King, Flemington

It's been years since I last went to the Melbourne Show, in fact, I believe I've only ever been twice. Since I just got my 550D about two weeks ago, I decided to try it out at a slightly more crowded place to hone my photo-taking skills.

Before embarking on my first photo adventure with my beloved baby, Y, T and I decided to eat at Laksa King in Flemington for lunch. This Malaysian restaurant has been featured in the Age Cheap Eats for the past number of years and I can assure you, it is definitely worth every dollar you are paying.

Laksa King used to be situated inside a cramped and dingy little arcade at 320 Racecourse Rd. Seating availability was next to none due to their immense popularity and calling up to make a booking is generally essential to avoid disappointment. Their recent move to their new location at 6-12 Pin Oak Crescent (just around the corner from the old shop and right opposite Newmarket Station) greatly improved the lack of seating. However, even on a rainy Monday lunch time, free tables were a rarity.