2012-07-23 Lunch @ Malay Curry House 馬拉星

3608 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC

604-438-4288

I was craving for laksa and the first place came to mind was Malay Curry House 馬拉星 on Kingsway in Vancouver near Boundary Road.  Let's see...when was the last time Buddha Boy and I visited this place???  According the the blog, it was almost a year ago!!!

Now, I'm not sure if they changed ownership or not, but things have changed.  For instance, the complimentary drink of the day now cost a buck.  The Laksa Noodle Soup 星加坡叻沙湯麵 didn't taste as creamy and rich as the previous visits (see post 2011-09-01 Dinner @ Malay Curry House 馬拉星, 2011-09-03 Dinner #2 @ Malay Curry House 馬拉星 and 2011-09-16 Dinner @ Malay Curry House 馬拉星).  I asked for half & half (half vermicelli, half noodles) and both were overcooked.

The Super Spicy Hainanese Chicken 地獄海南雞 was also different than the previous visits.  Not only the sauce was a lot weaker and had no fragrance, the chicken itself was tasteless.  Perhaps I would give this place another try in the future and hopefully my disappointment was only a one-time thing.

2011-09-16 Dinner @ Malay Curry House 馬拉星

3608 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC

604-438-4288

For some reason, this restaurant was listed as "closed" on Urbanspoon...Buddha Boy and I wondered why...so we dragged MomJ with us to check it out.  Nope, it's still open...and we had another pig-out dinner here...hahahahaha!

In the past few weeks, I think we've visited enough times for the server to remember us.  Well, as I have always said, it's really not that hard to spot a fat Chinese couple who takes pictures of their food.  Hehehehe!  Anyway, we were each served a complimentary Kumquat Tea 金橘茶.  We all enjoyed it as the kumquat taste was quite strong and the tea was not overly sweet.

As soon as we sat down, Buddha Boy immediately ordered a whole chicken (half regular, half spicy) and a bowl of chicken oil rice.  The soup was complimentary.  The three of us pretty much ate the whole thing.

Buddha Boy and MomJ shared a Beef Brisket Curry 咖哩牛腩.  We had a choice of naan, white rice chicken oil rice ($1 extra), we opted for the latter.  According to Buddha Boy, the meat was braised long enough to soak in all the flavors and was tender but not soft.  The curry was something new to them...it's not the usual, "coconut milk" type of curry, instead, it's very "peanuty"...kind of like using a massive load of peanut satay in the curry.  Buddha Boy enjoyed it.

I had a Grilled Chicken Wrap w/Thai Sweet Chilli Sauce 泰式燒雞肉卷.  Good amount of chicken but the meat was a bit dry.  The naan was thick.  Nothing special about the salad.

I also ordered the Szechuan Fish Fillet Pot 四川麻辣水煮魚煲.  Now, other than the common use of brown peppercorn 花椒 (also known as Szechuan peppercorn), they also used a very interesting (but not very classic) ingredient...cumin 孜然 (also known as 小茴香).  This was the first time we tried cumin in a broth and we quite enjoyed it.  It added a unique depth and fragrance to the broth.  While MomJ thought the basa filet was a bit fishy, Buddha Boy and I thought it was fine.  Now, was this dish hot or spicy?  It was for MomJ, but not for Buddha Boy or myself.

2011-09-03 Dinner #2 @ Malay Curry House 馬拉星

3608 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC

604-438-4288

Right after Bo Laksa King's Bubbles & Bits on Hastings, we headed over to Malay Curry House on Kingsway.  This was our second stop for dinner.  Since Little Lee loves laksa, we wanted to introduce him to places that we enjoyed...yup, we're pinning all the extra eating on Little Lee...hahahaha!

This time, we were each offered a Kumquat Lemon Tea 金橘檸檬茶.  We enjoyed this a lot better than the peach tea we had last time.  This tea was also less sweeter than the peach tea.  Oh, before I forget, I need to warn you that this place has an extremely bad ventilation and the smell lingers around forever...so don't come here with your fancy clothes.

Knowing Buddha Boy, he needed his skewers.  We ordered a half dozen with three Chicken Skewers 沙嗲雞肉串燒 and three Lamb Skewers 沙嗲羊肉串燒.  While we did enjoy the chicken on our previous visit (see post 2011-09-01 Dinner @ Malay Curry House 馬拉星), this time, the chicken was dry and lacked that lemongrass taste.  The lamb skewers maintained its flow.  The peanut satay sauce was extremely fragrant and was very "peanuty".  All three of us enjoyed this more than the one at Bo's.

Originally, we wanted a whole chicken with half regular and half spicy, but unfortunately, they only had one plate order left, and it's not even half of a chicken...grrr.  Nonetheless, we got the last plate of the night and just as before, this Boneless Hainanese Chicken Rice 秘制無骨海南雞飯 satisfied my craving.  The meat was plump and tender, mainly because it's hormone chicken...yum!!!  The chicken oil rice was not oily (unlike Mui Garden) and the soup was not too gingery (not much MSG neither).  We enjoyed all.

The Satay Seafood Chow Mien 馬來沙嗲海鮮炒麵 lacked "wok-hei" 鑊氣 (or "huo-hou" 火候 in Mandarin), and because of that, its flavor and texture were a bit off.  Not something for us to order again.

After trying Bo's just a little over an hour ago, Little Lee and I finalized our preference, we liked the Seafood Laksa Noodle Soup 星加坡叻沙海鮮湯麵 from Malay Curry House over Bo Laksa King's Bubbles & Bits.  This laksa was a lot more creamy, a lot more fragrant and a lot more bang for the buck.  While Bo's laksa had a hard-boiled egg and this didn't, but the variety and the amount of seafood given won the points.

2011-09-01 Dinner @ Malay Curry House 馬拉星

3608 Kingsway, Vancouver, BC

604-438-4288

Buddha Girl spotted a new place in our neck of the woods and suggested it for a dinner.  Buddha Girl loves laksa, so this was a definite must for her.  This restaurant took over where "Bowl of Stars" once resided.

As soon as we're seated, we were each offered a glass of complimentary Peach Tea.  Apparently, the flavour changes daily.  The tea was a bit too sweet for me, but okay for Buddha Girl.

The first dish ordered was the Boneless Hainanese Chicken Rice 秘制無骨海南雞飯.  The order came with a bowl of chicken oil rice, a soup (chicken broth) and two choices of sauces.  The chicken was just simple hormone-injected plump chicken, not those specialty or free range birds.  The chicken was served deboned and the meat was tender and moist.  Both Buddha Girl and I really enjoyed it.

 

The soup was pretty simple, just simple chicken stock with a bit of soy in it for color.  This soup wasn't salty and it wasn't as strong in ginger as many other places.  For our sauces, I opted for the Green Onion Ginger 姜蔥蓉 and the Sesame BBQ 沙嗲汁.  Also included was a side of soy sauce.  The soy sauce was sweet but not overly salty.  All sauces went well with rice and chicken.

The Chicken Oil Rice 香油飯 had a brown tinge in color.  It was also quite fragrant from the fried shallots.  It wasn't very oily and was perfectly cooked where the rice would still separate into individual grains.  We ended up ordering a second bowl.

The Super Spicy Hainanese Chicken 地獄海南雞 was basically hainan chicken smothered in garlic & chili oil sauce, sitting top of a bed of bean sprouts and sprinkled with white sesame.  The sauce was fragrant, mainly from the garlic and the chili, but it was not spicy.  The dish looked oily but it was not.  White sesame didn't really do much.  Both Buddha Girl and I liked this dish.

I ordered a half of dozen skewers.  Since Buddha Girl doesn't eat beef, I asked for three Lamb Skewers 羊肉串燒 and three Chicken Skewers 雞肉串燒.  The chicken was well marinated, tender, with strong taste and aroma of lemongrass 香茅.  The pork was also tender and was lightly dusted with cumin.  The Satay Sauce 沙嗲醬 was good.  This reminided me of those orange jar satay sauces that we used to buy.  The sauce was not creamy like peanut butter, but it was a chunky mix peanuts and spices.

Buddha Girl asked for half yellow noodles 油麵 and half vermicelli 米粉 in her Seafood Laksa Noodle Soup 星加坡叻沙海鮮湯麵, that's the way her Malaysian girlfriend taught her.  The laksa was garnished with fried shallots, shredded coconuts and cilantro.  With ample ingredients of tofu puffs, mussel, shrimp, fish cake, fish ball and fish slices, the soup was creamy, flavorful and had a good depth.  Buddha Girl enjoyed this over Bo Laksa's Bubbles & Bits.

Knowing us, we always have something to pick on, but this meal really surprised us.  We enjoyed everything we ordered.  We honestly don't know much about this cuisine, but we did enjoy the food.