where jess ate

Being a fan of Malaysian food, it�s a little unfortunate that there aren�t very many Malaysian restaurants downtown. Having heard great things about Restoran Malaysia in Richmond Hill, I finally made the trek up north to satisfy my craving.

Restoran Malaysia is located on the southeast corner of Bayview and Major Mackenzie. After walking through their doors, I was shocked at how large the space was. I�m not sure how busy it gets during their peak hours or weekends but I don�t think you�d have a problem getting a seat here.

The flavours of Malaysian food are heavily influenced by Chinese and Indian cuisines, both of which I really enjoy. Reading through the menu, you can definitely see their influences.

Restoran Malaysia has quite an extensive menu of non-alcoholic drinks with a large selection of juice and slushies. The guys went with the Malay Kopi Tariki � Malay coffee with condensed milk, evaporated milk and pulled to perfection ($5.50 hot/$6.50 cold), one hot and the other cold. The �pulled� to perfection that the menu advertises refers to the process of repeatedly pouring the drink back and forth between two containers which gives it a frothy top.

I preferred the cold version a little better since it was less sweet. To be honest, I�d prefer a Vietnamese coffee or HK style milk tea instead which would not only taste better but also cost me less than half the price�

My friend Jo went with the Mango Milkshake ($4). I didn�t try any but she commented that it was more like a slushie as opposed to a milkshake.

To start off the meal, we ordered the Roti Canai with Curry Chicken ($8.50). Other curry options include curry beef, mutton, vegetarian dhall sauce or condensed milk for something on the sweet side. The curry chicken wasn�t anything to write home about (it also came out a little lukewarm) but the roti�oh the ridiculously delicious roti!

If you�re going to order one thing from Restoran Malaysia, it�s gotta be the roti canai. The roti is light, fluffy, a little sweet and has a nice chewy texture to it. Don�t let it get cold though� I made the mistake of saving a little bit of mine for later and it just doesn�t taste the same cold. All the curries come with two pieces of roti. Since we had four people, we ordered two extra orders of roti for $2 each.

Next up was the Black Peppered Beef Kuay Teow � with beef tenderloin, egg, black pepper, bean sprouts and flat rice noodles ($10). The dish is pretty similar to the Chinese stir-fried thick rice noodle dish� not that I�m complaining.� I just would�ve preferred a dish that was more Malay-influenced as opposed to Chinese since Malaysian food isn�t very plentiful downtown.

While the noodles were a touch oily, I thought it was a pretty solid noodle dish which had a generous amount of beef. Actually, the entire dish was shockingly large. This dish alone could�ve filled me and Mike up, no problem.

Another carb dish we ordered was the Nasi Goreng (aka Indonesian fried rice) �with chicken, shrimp, mixed vegetables, fried egg and shrimp chips ($10). Similar to the Kuay Teow noodles, this was an enormous portion which would easily feed me for days. In fact, it did�we had a lot of leftovers!

I�ve never had this fried rice dish before so I don�t really have a comparison. Nevertheless, I thought it was a pretty tasty fried rice dish which had a little bit of sweetness to it. The rice had vegetables of the frozen variety mixed into it and was all topped with a perfectly fried egg with a still-runny yolk.

The last entr�e-type dish we ordered was the Beef Rendang Minangkabau � Galangal-grisek (toasted coconut), lemon grass, turmeric, shallot, lemon leaf ($13). If you�re not a fan of beef, you can order the rendang with chicken instead.

The one thing I know about rendang curry is that it�s supposed to be quite spicy. However, even for someone who doesn�t have a high spice tolerance, I didn�t find this to be spicy at all. For those who like it hot, Restoran Malaysia�s toned down spice levels won�t do it for you.

The rendang is a chunky curry and contained very intense flavours. I could tell the meat had been cooking for a while since the beef was incredibly tender. While I can�t say I�m a huge fan of the flavours, my friends really enjoyed it.

For some greens, we ordered the Belacan Green Beans � with shrimp ($10). Initially we wanted the Belacan Water Glory (Kangkung) but unfortunately they were all out. Anyway, the green beans were well saut�ed with the beans still retaining their crunch. My only complaint was that it was a little too oily.

For dessert, we went with the Goring Pisang � fried banana fritters, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream ($6). You have the option of getting the fritters with mango or coconut ice cream instead for an extra $2.

In my opinion, I�d just forgo this dessert altogether. The fritters weren�t fried well as they weren�t really crispy. It just tasted like mush in my mouth. My favourite place for banana fritters has to be Hawker Bar. In hindsight, we should�ve just ordered the roti with condensed milk for dessert.

We ordered a second dessert, the Bubur Pulut Hitam � rice pudding made from black glutinous rice, sweetened with palm sugar and served with coconut cream ($5). It was a decent dessert but we found it just a little too sweet for our liking.

The meal started off strong but unfortunately didn�t end the same way as it doesn�t seem like their desserts are one of their strong points. Overall, I think it’s a great spot to eat if you live in the area but since I live downtown, I thought the only thing worth the drive was the roti canai.

At a glance:
� Located at Bayview and Major Mackenzie in Richmond Hill
� The roti canai is a must order
� Wasn�t a fan of the desserts
� Closed on Mondays
� Really large space � shouldn�t be a problem getting a table

Ratings (out of 5):
� Food: 3.5 stars
� Service: 3 stars
� Atmosphere: 3 stars