Malaysian Kitchen, Doncaster East

I used to really love Malaysian Kitchen when the first opened especially the fish head noodle lunch deal for $11.50 now it is $12.50. In recent months the fish head noodle is just bones with no meat at all and dripping in oil.

I had Lobak which is a minced chicken dish spiced and wrapped in bean curd. Very tasty. I also had roti with curry sauce. This is where they give you a little container of sauce from one of their curries and some roti to dip in it. This is quite a novel entree. I have never seen anyone do that before. I loved it.

Really good value for lunch at $11.80 including a drink of your choice. The portions are generous too. Don't expect high quality food though. Dinner is a bit pricier and I would stay away.

The food was excellent, the service was friendly and really unobtrusive. They put up with my 1 year old rummimg all over the place and provided a high chair. Was fantastic value for money. We will be going again very soon.

I went with a large group, on a Saturday night, we were seated in the upstairs room. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their meals. From vegetarian dishes- gado-gado and tofu to seafood and steak. The meals were great and service was good too, considering we were away from the downstairs action, a waitress would come up quite a bit to see how we were going. Some items were a bit pricey, compared with similar Asian cuisine restaurants in the area, but the quality was good.

As with many places I visit for a meal, you need to know what the kitchen is good at and what they are not good at!

I visit this place for lunch and dinner and depending on what you are looking for, there are some dishes that are brilliant and others you could do no worse by cooking it at home by yourself!

The Char kuey teow (fried noodles with seafood and chicken) is well done here as is the Nasi Lemak (coconut rice with curry and condiments). At lunch time they offer a lunch special which includes a drink for around $11 - not a bad deal!

For dinner I recommend the Beef Rendang Curry and the Belachan Kangkong. Add coconut rice and you would think you're back in Malaysia! Also recommended as an entree dish are the ling goreng and the lobak, however with a single roll, the lobak is expensive for what you get.

Dishes that you could probably find better elsewhere include Hainanese Chicken Rice (very plain, picked veggies did not go well and the vinegar flooded into the Chicken meat), Roti Chanai (which seemed to be rubbery) and Laksa.

If you know what to try (and now you do!!) then hopefully you can see the other side of this place!

As a Singaporean/Malaysian, I have to say this is a poor imitation of a Malaysian restaurant. Please do not think this is authentic. The only thing authentic is the name. Service is also pretty poor. To anyone who has never tried Singaporean/Malaysian cuisine, please don't try here.