Mamak

People have been raving about this restaurant and telling me in wild disbelief "I can't believe you haven't been". Why haven't I been? Well, firstly, I hate lines. Especially when they are long - like outside Mamak. Secondly, it's ideal when you have lots of people when you try Asian food. You can order lots of dishes and share them. This didn't seem to be happened, so, finally, I just decided to go with small groups twice! So, this is a combined review of both occasions.

The first time I went, we went late (9:30pm odd) - with the original plan of going to Golden Century. But, after finding out about the 30 min wait at Golden Century and turning the corner to Mamak to find no line, we were almost immediately let in. Luckily the restaurant closes at 2am. The second time involved lining up which I let my dining companions do while I took my time selecting some wine from the shop near by.

The food did not disappoint. The flavours at Mamak simply explode in your mouth. I am sorry I have not tried it before and I will be back more often - especially for the price. $5-10 for Rotis and $13-$18 for curries and BYO (although don't go pulling out your 1972 Burgundy, you get to drink in small tumblers!). It's a genuine experience with lots of soul.

1. Original Roti served with two curry dips and spicy sambal sauce. The Roti itself is delicious; the description on the menu gets it pretty right - "Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside.". The spicy and sweet sauces are great to play with, combining a little of each or just one. It is such a simple dish, yet so, so yummy.  It is the equivalent to having great pizza. The topping adds flavour, but it's the bread that the star. 7.5-8/10
2. Roti Telur (egg Roti) and Roti Bawang (with red onion filling) served with the same sauces as #1- These were much less impressive. I found the outside soggy (curled up) and the inside barely tasty. The egg was well just plan egg. The onion just didn't do enough except add some crunchiness. The sauces needed to do the heavy lifting to make this dish work. Again, comparing to Pizza, it's like putting buckets of juicy topping which doesn't really cover the fact the base is not so hot. 3.5-4/10
3. Murtabak (chicken) Roti- This is quite a different looking Roti. It's filled with "spicy meat, cabbage, eggs and onions" and more than an inch thick. It's more like a Quiche in terms of consistency and even to an extent taste - although the Mutabak has much more meat. This was tasty and very filling, but did not blow me away. The sauces had to pick up the slack of the slightly overcooked egg and meat and the textures consisted of thick softness of egg and hardness of chicken, the cabbage kind of got lost in there. Still, would probably order it again. 5/10
4. Kari Ayam (chicken curry) - Curries in general seem to come out about 3 seconds after you order them! This does not make a difference to the taste however. Fantastic traditional malaysian curry dominated by sweet and spicy elements with grainy - at times thick- spices. The potatoes were not overcooked (a common problem I have found elsewhere and then they break up in the curry); the thickness of the curry was good allowing some spicy to sit on the chicken as you ate it. 6-7/10
5. Kari Kambing (slow cooked lamb curry) - This was a succulent and incredibly tasty dish. The lamb just perfectly cooked  - kind of like off the bone - with intense spices in a thick, dark curry. 7-8/10. 
6. Desserts - The Roti Pisang (with bananas) and Roti Kaya (with coconut and pandan) were both delicious. Served with ice-cream, they were like really amazing crepes. The Pisang was crispy on the outside, a bit of the soft fluffiness of the roti on the inside and then the squishiness of the not too sweet banana.  6.5-7/10.

One final comment I will make is that, some of these ratings using a /10 system were hard to pin down as it's hard to know how much emphasis to place on textures and balance when you just have a full flavour and yummy curry in front of you. This is where an alternative ratings system that I have developed (with the help of Imran) comes in. More on that later. For now, as part and parcel of that alternative system, maybe the question that needs to be asked is simply "would i pay for that dish again?". And the answer in many of these cases is a resonant yes!