Spending the majority of my time around the CBD, I had actually been long curious about China City Seafood Restaurant, across the road from town hall. Unfortunately it closed before we had a chance to try it. In its place though, opened yet another Malatang, bringing the city total to three stores within a few blocks, this time with a Malaysian twist. Being literally opposite Fill the Bowl, it had some strong competition.
After a quick trip down the escalator, we were met with the standard bowl stack and tongs. At $15 per 500g, pricing was fairly consistent with other competitors.
There were two fridges full of ingredients, items were reasonably fresh and fairly well stocked. We noted that almost all of the signs actually did not correspond to the ingredients in the respective container, so a lot of guessing and common sense was exercised.
As always, we weighed up at the counter. There were only two soup options, the mild chicken soup and the spicy laksa soup. I went for chicken whilst Adam who was recovering from a bout of flu went with the spicy laksa to clear his sinuses. For those not keen on Malatang, they also offer a few Malaysian classics which you can also order off their menu.
The sauce depot was a bit lacking. The garlic was particularly disappointing with a tiny amount of grated garlic sitting in a large pool of water. There was also no sesame oil to make my usual concoction either. The abundance of flies and other insects was also a bit off putting, especially for a fairly recently opened restaurant.
We got numbers for our orders and his pre made drink came right after. The Malaysian Teh Tarik was very sweet as sugar levels couldn't be adjusted. I found the sugar really overpowered the taste of the tea, but for $4, it was worth trying out.
Our soups came out soon after. Despite the fact we ordered different soups, and his came out with a spicy tag hanging off the side, both broths came out exactly the same with a semi translucent off white.
Trying some of his, it was definitely not satay and the broth was relatively flavourless. His noodles erred on the overcooked side of the spectrum but veggies were fine.
My bowl looked fairly unappetising and it was. The potato noodles were quite chewy and slimy, could have been cooked more. The beef and mushrooms though were severely overcooked. As mentioned the soup was fairly bland and in much need of flavour. Definitely one of the more disappointing malatang experiences and I won't be in a rush back.
Price: $10 - $20pp
Taste: 3/10
Value: 5/10
Service: 7/10
Environment: 4/10
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