The first mistake we make when visiting Malay Chinese’s flash new eatery at Circular Quay is visiting on a Wednesday. You see, the famed har mee noodle soup – the one loved for its incredible prawn-rich flavour – is only available on Tuesdays and Fridays (the chefs start the cooking process at 4am). That’s OK – we will have to come again. Worse things can happen.
The second mistake we make is wearing white.
But that’s where the bad news ends, because Malay Chinese has knocked it out of the park again with its drool-worthy flavours and prices.
Malay Chinese was first opened in 1987 by the Woon family – the OG joint was near the corner of Elizabeth and King Streets. There have been iterations of it around the city ever since, including the beloved shop on Hunter Street, which is now closed. Nowadays there is a Malay Chinese in Ashfield, and this new one at the new dining precinct, Sydney Place.
We would say Sydney Place has a signage problem, in that there doesn’t seem to be one single sign at the top saying “Yum food, down there,” but it looks like it’s only tourists missing out on the fun, because this place is heaving – the crowds are like a pack of wild animals at feeding time.
We’d heard about the lines, and we were primed and ready for (slow) action. Walking up, we see office workers snaking out the door (the line at next door's Kosta's Takeaway doesn’t look to be any better).
Circular Quay’s eatery is shinier than its predecessor, with slick jade-green tiles, pops of brass and stone arches. It’s a mostly takeaway affair, though there are a handful of tables. Luckily, we spot a lone soldier sitting down and ask if we can join him. We get chatting, and we find out he’s a high school teacher who’s pulling a sickie to have time to mark papers (apparently teachers do this all the time! Our ten-year-old self is shook). He visited Malay Chinese on Hunter Street for years, and even though he lives far away from the new digs, he still makes the journey for a bowl of laksa. Says it’s his favourite one in the whole world. We reckon he may be onto something.
Malay Chinese specalises in laksa lemak, which is made from coconut milk and curry paste and devoured at hawker stalls in Malaysia and Singapore. Here, there are 11 types to choose from, ranging from chicken to beef and prawn. We go with chicken and prawn.
It arrives in a black bowl and piping hot. Tiny pools of chilli oil lay on top of the coconut milk-based broth that's brightened with turmeric. We pick up our chopsticks and spoon and dig in. The laksa is rich, creamy and layered; fragrant thanks to galangal, ginger and garlic and sweetened with palm sugar. It surrounds a mountain of vermicelli noodles dotted with silky chicken, plump prawns, and tofu puffs that look like honeycomb hold glorious fiery soup like a sponge.
We stir through a dollop of crimson-red sambol, which brings funk and umami from belacan (shrimp paste), and a good kick of chilli – the one that builds and builds like Bob. Together it’s a soul-warming, fiery bowl of goodness, and we don’t even care that we now have stains on our white top.
A plate of Hainan chicken rice arrives and instantly takes us back to a humble eatery in Kuala Lumpur where we tasted the perfect plate of food for the first time (and then subsequently went back every day to eat it again and again). It’s served with a small bowl of soup on the side made from chicken broth – it's rich and full-bodied, while also incredibly light.
The sliced poached chicken is tender, and topped with zesty ginger, spring onions, chilli and a sweet dark soy sauce. Underneath, chucks of cool, crunchy cucumber add a textural juxtaposition. But it’s the rice that’s the star. Cooked with the broth from poaching the chicken, it’s full of chicken flavour, is deeply savoury and so comforting. For $15.70 a pop, we can see ourselves happily eating this again and again.
Our char kway teow arrives smelling aromatic and calling for us to dig in. The slippery, fat rice noodles are tangled with slices of salty and sweet lap cheong, match sticks of fish cakes, caramelised chicken, bean sprouts and egg. The flavours are as balanced as a gymnast, and the trademark smoky notes are front and centre.
We look up. Those lines snaking out the door? They make sense. Thankfully they move fast.
