Old Town Kopitiam Mamak QV Part 1

Old Town Kopitiam Mamak
QV foyer, 222 Lonsdale Street
Melbourne 3000
03 9654 2682
Website
Google map

I love kopitiam mamak. The first thing that I do when I land in Singapore airport is to head to Changi Kopitiam to pick up a kaya toast and a Milo dinosaur before heading for the luggage. Can you imagine my excitement when Old Town Kopitiam first opened on Little Bourke. Alas it was not meant to be. I was totally disappointed. You can find out why here. So I was really skeptical about this new place and was not keen until I read the delicious tweets from @tummyrumbles and the blog post from essayeats.

I headed down to the city on Monday for a quick round of Roti even though I brought my lunch in to work. The new Old Town Kopitiam Mamak (OTKM) is located on the top foyer of QV. It is such a strategic location sitting next to 3 degrees, Sensis building just a stone throw away and below apartment blocks that had a large population of Asians.

Old town Kopitiam Mamak

I ordered a bandung while I scanned through the menu. Bandung is made from sweet condensed milk, rose cordial and topping up with water and ice. My face changed a little when the bandung was first placed infront of me. It looked very diluted. The colour of bandung was suppose be a healthy reddish pink and not a dull light pink. But my face lit up again once I had a sip. Yes, it tasted like the bandung that I missed so much. Never judge a book by its cover.

Bandung

I waited impatiently for my  to arrive. Roti telur is plain roti (like a flat bread) with eggs. It was served with a simple curry sauce and a dollop of sambal. I love the look of the roti. Neat rectangular parcels of goodness. The simple curry sauce has a good nice heat to it. And I have to say, I love the sambal. Nice kick, sour and sweet. And I did mention on twitter that if there was no one around me, I would have picked up the metal plate and licked up all the goodness. It was proper Roti Canai. And I was happy to head back to work.

Roti Telur

And of course, I was not fully satisfied with one visit. There was so much on the menu that I wanted to try. Rojak, laksa, nasi kandar (rice with a selection of dishes), more roti, ham cheem peng (a type of fried dough), ice kachang and the list goes on. After 2 days, I went back for a proper meal with Mister.

Looking out from inside

Mistered order a Teh C peng special and I ordered a Milo dinosaur. Teh C peng is a 3 layered tea with ice. I found a really good explaination here. Milo dinosaur is not on the menu. But I am glad that they serve it when I asked for it. It has been awhile since I had it. I was in blissland It is basically Milo drink with an extra tablespoonful of Milo powder added on top of it to make it extra think and rich. I knew I was going to be so stuffed but it is a need, not a want.

Milo dinosaur and Teh C special

Let’s turn our attention to the food. First up was the Mee Goreng. I love the use of that green leaf plate that is most likely bought in Malaysia It was pretty good. May lack a little wok hei and a little too sweet but this is just me being fussy. I added the sambal and all became good. Probably not very authetic in ingredients but it had a good taste.I will recommend this dish.

Mee goreng

I heard good things about the chicken satay. The only thing that was missing is the ketuput. The peanut sauce was nutty, slightly spicy and very creamy. The chicken pieces were very tender and moist. It must have been well marinated. Highly recommended dish.

I just wished that it was charcoal but hey, beggars can’t be choosers.

Satay in the making

Chicken Satay

Rojak is a mix of fruit and vegetable. The ones that I am used to has cuttlefish and daikon. The rojak here does not have either but it had apples instead. This is the first time I had rojak with apples. I did not really like it. The overall dish was too sweet and it needed the daikon to dilute the sweetness in the dish. They were a little too generous with the sauce but the you tiao (fried chinese doughnut) was very crunchy and yummy! This dish did not hit the right spot. I wish there was an option to add chilli!

Rojak

The last dish was the Roti tissue. Roti tissue is a much thiner version of roti canai. It is meant to be super crispy. It does require skill to make a good tissue and the ones here are too thick. You can choose to have it with curry sauce or have it as dessert. Over here, it is drizzled with sweet condensed milk and rose syrup. It could definitely do with more of the sweetness. I will not recommend this dish.

Roti Tissue

I will recommend the Roti (not the tissue and not sure about the bom as I have not tried it) if you like something cheap and quick. Did I mention that they have Root beer? I will be back very soon with other mamak fans. So stay tune for OTKM Part 2. I wouldn’t say this is the best kopitiam/mamak in Melbourne but for now, it is good enough to satisfy my craving.

What food do you crave the most and why?