Mamak

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Mamak: 366 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, 9670 3137

My score: 3.5/5

Melbourne is quiet but some restaurants don’t know how to take a holiday and those of us who are town-bound in January are allowed to be glad about it. The diners’ part of the deal is to hit these restaurants hard and keep the wheels spinning. For a busy Malaysian hawker restaurant like Mamak, slowing down might feel like a space-time glitch and we don’t want that to happen – rotis are at risk here, people!

The Mamak crew started making roti (flatbread) at a Sydney market then spun its popularity into a restaurant in Sydney’s Chinatown in 2007. In September they brought their happening hawker style to Melbourne. Mamak is a big, bustling no-bookings place that often has (fast-moving) queues. While you’re waiting watch the roti master in the front window stretching dough, splashing it with more oil than you probably should witness, folding it, grilling it, and fluffing it up with savage dexterity. Or watch them making the roti tisu, a crisp clown’s hat of golden roti that’s served with curry or icecream. It’s mouth-watering theatre, especially when coupled with wafts of shrimp paste, chilli and coconut rice that whack you in the face like a glass door.

It’s OK if you’re starving when you finally sit down because ordering is done via telepathy. Yes, you do tell a brisk but friendly server what you’ve chosen from the short menu of rotis, curries, rice and noodles, but it arrives on your table faster than you can imagine them delivering the order. Flavours are big and shouty, napkins and bills are small. I love the rojak salad, a big, satisfying pile of shredded yam bean and cucumber, tossed with spicy peanut sauce, scattered with juicy prawn and coconut fritters, fried tofu and boiled egg. It’s probably big enough for two so come with a bunch so you can try more stuff. The sambal udang, stir-fried tiger prawns, come with a spicy sambal that is addictive at first hit. The mee goreng is a pretty good rendition of a classic, with good wok heat and fresh beanshoot crunch. There’s roti for dessert but in summer the cold desserts are on track. I like the cendol with green noodles, coconut milk and shaved ice. It’s a race to eat it before it turns to a crazy sludgy mess but Mamak isn’t a place for lingering. Wait, eat, swoon, roll home.

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More Quiet City, Noisy Eats:

Chin Chin, 125 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, 8663 2000
This might be the best week of the year to rock up at the double Chin at a sensible mealtime and be seated for fresh, feisty Thai food.

Shark Fin Inn, 50 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne, 9662 2681
The original Shark Fin has been serving Cantonese classics since 1980. It’s brash, busy and no nonsense – try yum cha at lunchtime and come anytime for Peking duck and crystal prawns.

Gami, 100 Little Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, 9671 3232
The tteokbokki (stir-fried rice cake) is great but you come to Gami for the fried chicken in crunchy batter. Thirsty? Install a four-litre oak cask of beer at your table.

First published in The Age, January 6, 2013