Mamak, Malaysian roti and satay

This place is exactly like the street stall its owners had enticed the Chinatown Friday Night Market goers with last year. It's fast, there are still queues and the food remains scrumptious. While I can't pronounce "Mamak" like a true Malaysian, I can definitely eat chilli like one. And even still, the fiery hotness in the Sambal udang caught me by surprise. The jam textured sambal was so addictive. I scooped spoonfuls on each delectable piece of prawn.

The Kari ikan was delicious also. The fish was oily and flaky and the tangy curry was matched well with chunks of tomatoes, okra and eggplant.

Next was the Rojak which was brought out within an impressive 10 minutes of ordering. The prawn and coconut fritters were sweet enough to be classified as dessert but i loved the refreshing textures between the salad of shredded yambean, cucumber, fried tofu, hard-boiled eggs and glossy thick peanut sauce.

The Kangkung belacan seems to transcend many cultures and languages as it is also known as 'rau muống' in Vietnamese, 'ong choy' in Cantonese, 'eng chai' in Hokkien/Teochew and 'water spinach' in English, right here in Australia. The aromas of the shrimp paste were all mopped up with the leafy greens.

Mamak serve 10 types of roti, including 4 sweet variants. We ordered the original roti canai which was crispy on the outside, buttery and fluffy on the inside. It was served with 2 curry dips and a dollop of spicy sambal sauce. It couldn't have been good for my waist, but oh, I am so craving it right now! (Psst, Mamak opens til 2am on Friday and Saturday nights... almost too good to be true! Traditional roti at 2am? Count me in! Hehe...)

There's not much I can say about perfectly fried chicken... and Mamak do the best ayam goreng. Crispy, spicy, golden... I'd have this over KFC any day.

Coffee and tea tastes better with condensed milk. Here we had the teh ais (ice milk tea), kopi ais (ice white coffee) and kopi tarik (white coffee). Ais kacang... just look at this glorious mountain of red beans, corn, grass jelly, rose-syrup, sweetened milk and shaved ice! Enough said.

Meet Hazim and Zen...

And me & Xiaohan... Want more Malaysian goodness? Check out the Mamak menu below or why not tingle your taste buds at the Malaysian Festival on Aug 31, at Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour?

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Mamak 15 Goulburn Street, Sydney www.mamak.com.au