Restoran Malaysia
815 Major Mackenzie Dr. East (SW corner at Bayview)
Table for 3, No reservations, 30 minute wait on a Sunday at 6:45pm
905-508-1432
My third visit to this Authentic Halal Malaysian Thai restaurant proves to be yet another success as the quality of food hasn’t degraded, nor has their service and décor. As a matter of fact, their newly renovated restaurant is definitely a step up from the previous décor, which to my memory was no more than a regular kitchen table with regular kitchen chairs around them.
The new décor is substantially more modern, and almost twice the size of its previous arrangement, adding yet another restaurant to the list of Asian Fusion décor. It’s a good thing that the dishes had not turned to that direction, however.
As I walked in to the restaurant, it was crowded right to the entrance with people waiting to be seated. I wondered what the special occasion was since I wasn’t expecting it to be this crowded at this time of day. I managed to push myself to the front to the bar area wondering whom I was to speak to in order to secure myself a table. After a couple minutes waiting around, someone from the back comes with a pad of paper taking names down. She was not in her brightest of moods as people flocked to her to get their names down on the waiting list. I saw her snap at a customer saying it will be at least a 30 minute wait. Given the circumstances though, I don’t blame her.
Like clockwork, right at 7:15pm, they call my name. I sit down on a very plush chair that is much more comfortable than the kitchen chairs that I once sat down on. The tables are thicker, dark brown, and sharp corners. Colourful paintings adorn the walls on one side, while a bright orange paint covers the other side. It’s a nice change from before.
I look at the menu once more to confirm my order. The waitress comes to take down our order:
- Appetizer Platter consisting of 2 spring rolls, 2 chicken satay skewers, 2 beef satay skewers, 2 fish cakes, 2 shrimp crisps. $13.95
- Sambal Udan Tumis (Spicy Jumbo Shrimp). 3 chili pepper rating. $14.95
- Thai Green Curry Beef. 1 chili pepper rating. $11.95
- Mamak Mee Goring. 1 chili pepper rating. $8.95
- Mango Lychee Freezy. $3.00
- Pineapple Orange Freezy. $2.00
- 1 Jasmine tea. $1.50
The waitress, dressed in all black as is the entire staff, takes down our order happily and patiently caters to our needs as she discussed the various options that we were able to get with our House Specialty dishes. Amidst the busy evening, I felt that she was completely devoted to our needs.
Within 5 minutes of placing our order, the salad comes to our table. Shortly after the waitress brings us the Jasmine tea with 3 cups as she explained to us that our freezy drinks will take some time as the bar is backlogged. A very nice gesture on her part. We asked for chopsticks and she promptly brought us them.
Right after finishing off the side salad, the appetizer platter comes. Plated simply on a large plate, there was an assortment of traditionally tasting appetizers that I knew I liked about this place. While the skewers were slightly on the dry side, there were no shortages of spices on them. The dipping sauce, a blend of peanuts, coconut and curry was a different sauce/gravy type addition that I’ve never had before. It wasn’t before long that our freezy drinks came, making me think there really wasn’t much of a backlog at the bar.
As we finished off the plate, our main entrées came as if it were clockwork. First the Spicy Shrimps, then the Green Curry, and finally the Goring. First the Spicy Jumbo Shrimps. While they weren’t as jumbo as I had anticipated, it was definitely on the spicy side. It was so spicy yet something drew me to eat more. As I carefully analyzed the sauce, I thought to myself there was some kind of fish sauce mixed in with the dish. Sure enough, there was shrimp paste mixed in with the onions and other spices. A 3 chili pepper rating, this was hot. This was accompanied by a side of tomato pilaf rice, and house salad that was had earlier. The tomato pilaf rice was very tasty as the tomato sauce was mixed in with the fluffiness and light fragrance of Jasmine rice.
The Thai Green Beef Curry was originally a 3 chili pepper rating. However, I’m sort of puzzled as to how it became a one chili pepper taste. I have a sneaking suspicion that they gave us Malay Beef Curry instead, although charged us for the Thai Beef Curry, which is $3 more expensive. Regardless, the taste was that of Green Curry without the spiciness. It was actually on the sweeter side. This came with a side of coconut white rice and steamed veggies. The rice, however, lacked the coconut part and was more like plain white rice, albeit very fluffy. The steamed veggies? Well, fortunately they weren’t at all drenched or soaked until they were all soft and mushy like they do in some places. The veggies still had their firmness to them. A mix of carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower, it was just that and nothing more.
Finally the Mamak Mee Goring came in a clean, white, large plate with over the top servings. This noodle dish mixes egg noodles with veggies, egg, calamari and shrimp with a la Mamak-style. There was no calamari in the dish, but there was chicken and bean curd as well. The combination went well, although I could have argued that it was slightly on the dry side. I needed more presence from the spices and paste that were mixed with this dish. The noodles were cooked just right, al dente. This dish could have easily fed 3 or 4 people.
While I was waiting to be seated, I watched the bartenders make the juices right in front of me. It was interesting to see how fast they made the drinks, whether it was iced coffee, mango freezy, strawberry freezy or something else. The mango lychee freezy is simply a mix of mango syrup mixed with crushed ice, with 2 lychees garnishing on top of it. Not much of a lychee taste to the drink, but still a flavoursome mango freeze that satisfied my palette.
After we were finished, the waitress kindly asked if she could take our plates away and pack the remaining food. She asked if we wanted to see the dessert menu, to which I responded, sure! She promptly brings the menu and even recommends her personal favourite, Goring Pisang, which she describes it as being great as you get both the hot fried banana contrasting with the cold vanilla ice cream.
Overall the experience was a pleasant one in which I found pleasure amidst a fury during what was probably the busiest time of the day. We had 2 or 3 different waitresses wait on us throughout the evening, and every one of them was courteous, polite, and very attentive to our needs. The waitress getting our bill noticed that I was still looking over the menu even after we had signed the bill. She asked me if I wanted the take-home menu, and gave it to me.
Restoran Malaysia is definitely a place that I can recommend to others, and is definitely a place that I wouldn’t mind driving to even if it is about 50km away from my home. The new décor, double the seating capacity, exceptional service, and the same great taste, I would give this a 4.75/5 as one of my favourite Asian restaurants to dine to.
Note, they do not take reservations so go early if you expect to go during peak times. They are also closed on Mondays.
