The best Malaysian restaurants in Melbourne right now

Located on the quiet end of Hardware Lane, Lulu’s Char Koay Teow is a fast-paced, hawker-style eatery specialising in the restaurant’s eponymous dish. Their take pairs thick, chewy rice noodles with prawns, eggs, Chinese sausage, pork lard, chives and chilli, which all get stir-fried over high heat until smoky. Optional add-ons include blood cockles, duck eggs or razor clams. Or try the vegetarian option, which is a steal at just $11. If you’re after a sweet to end your meal, head a few doors down to their sibling venue Pandan for Malaysian-inspired desserts like pandan pudding or penang cendol, made with rice flour noodles and sweetened coconut milk.

Mamak began as a Sydney market stall and has since grown into a thriving operation with five locations around Australia. Their Melbourne flagship has been pulling crowds since 2012, largely thanks to the flaky, buttery, paper-thin roti that gets stretched by hand in the restaurant’s front window. Get it fried into an omelette, transformed into murtabak (a parcel of cabbage, eggs, onion and chicken or lamb), or on its own with sides of curry and sambal. If you need something to tame the heat, there’s BYO wine for $4 a person.

You can smell Roti Bar before you see it, the scent of fragrant curries and chargrilled meats wafting down Little Collins Street. The roti, as expected, is a signature and comes in every form imaginable, though the Roti Banjur is a standout. It’s comfort food at its finest, made from pieces of torn roti smothered in chicken curry sauce and lentils then topped with a fried egg. That’s not the only draw, though. On Saturdays for lunch, the restaurant offers banana leaf rice: a colourful assortment of dhal, vegetables, pappadam and rice served directly atop a banana leaf.

This café is a CBD favourite for pastries and baked goods inspired by owner Raymond Tan’s Malaysian upbringing. On regular rotation, find pandan chiffon cake, ube pie, matcha white chocolate cookies and assorted kueh (bite-sized snacks typically made with rice, cassava or coconut). If you’re not much of a sweet tooth, there are pies stuffed with Malaysian chicken curry, sardines or beef rendang. The kaya toast, a quintessentially Malaysian breakfast served with a side of soft-boiled eggs for dipping, is also a highlight.

Lim Kopi gets its name from the sweet, strong coffee with condensed milk that’s served around Malaysia, but don’t let that fool you – the food is just as much a draw as the drinks. Aside from CC Wok, this is one of the few inner-city locales to get chee cheong fun, made here with either “special sauce”, chicken curry, mushroom and minced pork or seafood. The restaurant has also garnered a following for its hor fun, a combo of prawn, pork, egg and rice noodles in a cornstarch-thickened broth. Add a kopi, kopi o (black coffee with sugar) or kopi cham (sweet, creamy coffee with tea) for a perfect meal.

Kampua and kolo mee, two varieties of dry wheat noodle topped with pork and green onion, are the specialty at this Sarawakian restaurant. The former is a simpler rendition made with subtly sweet char siu while the latter adds pork mince and an optional addition of prawns. It’s not all about the meat, though – there are also vegan variations made with mock char siu or faux fried chicken. 

Jojo Little Kitchen is a Malaysian franchise known for its pan mee, a hand-pulled noodle dish typically served with dried anchovies, minced pork and mushrooms. The CBD outpost offers several variations including dry or soup plus your choice of noodle (thin, thick, torn, wide or cut) and toppings (ranging from pork and lobster balls to chicken feet and century egg dumplings). To drink, try the housemade soy milk with strands of grass jelly.

Open from 11am Tuesday through Sunday, CC Wok is a mecca for Malaysian breakfast, dinner, snacks, sweets and everything in between. Start the day with chee cheong fun, a platter of rolled and steamed rice noodles, fish balls and ngor hiong (fried, fish-stuffed beancurd rolls) slathered in hoisin and chili. Then make your way on to laksa, nasi lemak or fried kway kak (similar to char koay teow but made with radish cake instead of noodles). For something lighter, there are also curry puffs and a wide array of sweet and savoury kuih.

With locations in Footscray and Maribyrnong, Roti Road is a west-side institution. Tender roti, chargrilled skewers and stir-fried noodles are fixtures of its menu, but there are also dedicated vegan and gluten-friendly offerings to ensure there’s something for everyone. The menu is extensive so if you’re unsure where to start, go for the seven-course banquet which includes fried and satay chicken, rendang beef and the restaurant’s signature roti canai.

Nasi Lemak House has been a haven for hungry uni students since 2008. The menu is simple yet effective – choose your carb of choice, your protein and your preparation method and you can guarantee you’ll be filled up for under $20. Mee goreng and char kuay teow sit alongside the namesake dish, which comes with chicken, beef, calamari or vegetarian-friendly tofu fritters on coconut rice with cucumber, pickled vegetables, peanuts, sambal and a boiled egg.

Merah is owned by the same team behind Nasi Lemak House and has some similarities, but mostly runs in its own lane. Here, laksa is the focus – made with ramen-style thin wheat noodles and overflowing with toppings like puffed tofu, fried eggplant and cassava chips or 24 hour-braised pork belly, Chinese cabbage and a poached egg. Unlike NLH, Merah is licensed with a range of cocktails and Australian wine. And while a little pricier than its sibling, shared menus starting at $23 per person make it a great budget-friendly option for groups.

There are lots of places to grab a good laksa around Melbourne, but few hold a candle to Laksa King, which has three locations and dates all the way back to 1998. Since then, it's become famous for the rich, coconut-based curry laksa (not to be confused with tamarind-based assam laksa), made with vermicelli and hokkien noodles plus proteins ranging from fish head and beef to shredded roasted duck. Straying from the signature, you’ll also find specials like bak kut teh, made from pork ribs simmered in a herbal, spiced broth.

As the name suggests, this spot specialises in yong tofu, a Chinese Malay dish made from tofu or vegetables stuffed with fish paste or meat. It’s a choose your own adventure situation here – load up a bowl with your choice of broth, noodles and stuffed tofu, bitter gourd eggplant or capsicum. Then top it off with add-ons like fish balls, meatballs, beancurd rolls or dumplings. If you’re after something extra, the dome of egg tofu with dried shrimp, shallot and spring onion is another favourite. 

Ayam Chef, translated to Chicken Chef in Malay, is hidden in the backstreets of Southbank at the base of an apartment building. But despite its unassuming location, it’s a must for Malaysian poultry classics like chicken satay skewers or nyonya chicken braised in curried coconut milk. There are also regularly rotating specials including chicken ribs coated in salted egg sauce and three-cup chicken, named for its equal use of soy sauce, rice wine and sesame oil. 

If it’s consistency that you’re after, you can’t go wrong with PappaRich. The Malaysian chain has locations worldwide including 16 in Melbourne, but its offering is strong across the board with an emphasis on nasi lemak, nasi goreng, roti, noodles and Malaysian drinks. For the meat-free eaters, there’s even vegetarian curry mutton nasi lemak on offer. The kaya-filled roti plus a bandung (an icy, blended combo of rose syrup and soy milk) also makes for a great afternoon snack.