Mamak, Chatswood

The story goes that Mamak was created by a bunch of uni students who were craving food from home and ended up making a business out of it. Regardless if this is accurate, whatever they were inspired by, the Mamak team has created great success! With huge queues snaking around corners, Mamak has expanded beyond Sydney and has set up shop in Melbourne as well. There's no doubt we'll be seeing Mamak invading the other states soon!

Like all South-East Asian cuisines Mamak is no exception to having spicy food. The spicier it is, the more addictive the food becomes! Every time I leave Mamak after a very satisfying dinner, I am so bloated because every spicy bite is followed by a giant mouthful of water to numb it all. "If it's that spicy, why do you eat it?" Because no one can say 'no' to Mamak. 

Since it's only just after 5.30pm (their dinner opening time), I figure there's bound to be no queue and I can take my sweet time getting there. And voila! This may be the only time where I can take a picture with no queues outside the door! But when I'm inside I see 90% of the tables are occupied with diners and the waiter shows me to a table in the corner of the restaurant which I happily accept. 

I am incredibly impressed (but also slightly scared) of the couple next to us because every 5 minutes a dish is brought to them and they always to manage to successfully gobble it down. I'm pretty sure they got 3 times more things than us (a table of three)! I think they ordered plain roti, curry, rice, fried rice, roti stuffed with meat, a dozen satay sticks and two desserts. The tables at Mamak are quite snug so I wasn't deliberately looking at their feast. It was hard not to notice! 

Rice, $2.50 per person

We order two servings of rice and the serving was massive! Nice and fluffy. Very necessary to have with curry!

Kari kambing, $16.00

Dad specifically requests for their slow-cooked lamb curry and it's as good as he remembers it as he keeps on spooning rice and ladles the curry! The lamb is very tender, soft and juicy. The curry sauce is great, slightly spicy and needs to be eaten with rice!  

Mee goreng, $11.50

The mee goreng is much spicier than I thought it was. There are specks of chilli throughout the noodles but the flavours are so great that you just can't help having another serving. There are prawns, egg, fish cakes, tofu, bean sprouts and choy sum embedded in the noodles. It's a great dish to order if you're eating by yourself as the price is very reasonable for a huge plate of delicious noodles! There's also an option for maggi moreng. 

A dozen of chicken satay sticks, $16.00

Mamak's chicken satay sticks are close competition to the ones I've had in Singapore's Lau Pa Sat hawker market. It's the last dish to arrive but they are certainly worth the wait. We often order a dozen of these to take-away but when it gets back home the chicken is slightly dried up already. But having these on the premises and still hot from the chargrill is a great experience because the chicken is moist and tender. The satay sauce is perfect as it has bits of peanut in it and you can taste all fresh ingredients that has been put in it. I love that it has texture to it because it gives it character and depth.

There are plenty more things at Mamak that I love dearly but unfortunately with just three people, we don't have enough stomach space to consume it all. I LOVE their fried chicken! The batter is light and thin which gives the pieces of chicken just a layer of crisp while the meat is very juicy and tender. Their rotis are amazing, sweet or savoury. And last but not least their ice milo is great. It's very simple but chilled condensed milk and milo make the perfect couple. Don't be discouraged by the queues, it's usually a quick turnover so be patient and stare at the roti chefs throwing the pastry around through the glass windows. 

Mamak

Shop P9, 1-5 Railway St
Chatswood

9411 4411