How far would you go to try the best Malaysian food in Brisbane? For me, the answer appears to be whatever it takes. I have been told by a number of reliable friends that Mama Malaya is second to none for Malaysian food in Brisbane. For months now, I have made attempts to have a meal there but despite double checking their opening hours on google, they were always closed when we showed up. Finally a couple weeks ago we got lucky. I happened to have a day off to run some errands and called ahead to check. Finally we could go.
For a restaurant with such wildly inconsistent opening hours it was surprisingly packed on a Friday lunch hour with almost all seats filled up. I suppose if you have such an enthusiastic customer base, you can have more lenience to be open whenever you want.
The menu was only one page with some specials on the board. For 2024, prices were extremely reasonable. Although they had quite a few options that were not strictly Malaysian, we focused on ordering malaysian food.
Our drinks arrived fairly quickly after ordering. Dr L had the iced Teh Tarik and I had the hot. The fact mine came in a porcelain mug gave it a very homely taste. Both were very intense when it came to tea flavour but erred on the side of being very sweet.
It didn't take long for our food to come out. Portions were massive.
Starting with the signature malaysian dish Char Kway Teow, this was a generous serve. They didn't let you select protein on the menu but it was full of chicken pork and prawns. The topping to noodle ratio was definitely great but we also think that it could have had a stronger wok hei.
Our other noodle dish was the egg gravy stir fried rice noodle. Again the portions were great and even the photo captured the generous amounts of plump juicy prawns. This was well received and I found the noodles to have more wok hei than the char kuay teo to have had. I would definitely come back for this and for the price, it was an absolute steal.
Ordinarily we wouldn't have ordered anything else but reviews I had read suggested that the handmade tofu was a must try, so we had a serve on the side. It was again a huge portion. I really liked the silky smooth but dense tofu that had a slight egg taste to it. The light tempura coating also gave it much needed texture. The veggies also were doused in a light oyster sauce that would have made the dish a perfect accompaniment for rice.
Given how hard it was for us to go to Mama Malaya, I doubt we will be back for some time but I do really recommend their food and will make attempts to call up to check if they're open next time I'm in the area.
Price Range: $25 - $35
Taste: 8/10
Value: 9/10
Service: 7/10
Environment: 6/10
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