Asian Taste is a Malaysian restaurant at the Mawson shops. There’s been a bit of chatter and excitement about it, so I couldn’t wait to try it out myself. Mr FPJ, bub and I headed in for lunch one weekday. The restaurant is tiny, only fitting 3 tables inside with 4 tables outside. It was a hot day, but as we couldn’t fit the pram inside we had no choice but to sit at an outdoor table under the shade.
The menu has Malaysian treats such as nasi lemak, various curries and noodles. For a starter, I decided on the satay chicken skewers ($8.50 for 3 skewers). This was quite disappointing. Neither of us could taste any hint of peanut which meant the sauce was very bland. Although I did like the fresh pineapple and cucumber on the side, and the chicken had some nice char to, it didn’t have any flavour.
I wanted to try one of the signature dishes, the Kuala Lumpur pan noodle ($21.50) which the menu states is a must try dish. It consists of pan seared flat rice noodles topped with seafood, chicken, vegetables and an egg gravy. This is pretty much the same as an ipoh. The dish is gigantic – we could have simply shared this between the two of us rather than order a second main. There was plenty of egg gravy and toppings. I do wish it had a bit more saltiness to it – perhaps a dash more of soy sauce.
We also tried the Hainan chicken rice ($18.50) which the menu states is a Kuala Lumpur and Petaling street special. The best Hainan chicken rice I’ve had has been in Singapore so I had high hopes for this dish. Unfortunately, it’s another dish I wasn’t impressed with. The poached chicken lacked flavour as did the chicken rice. There was no sweet fragrance of chicken in the rice. The portion size is generous and you do get the chicken broth, but it’s simply chicken bone broth. The best part of the dish was the special chilli garlic sauce which actually wasn’t spicy at all but had a beautiful balanced sweet and saltiness to it.
Overall, the KL noodles were the best dish, but the other dishes missed the mark completely for me. In saying that, I would still like to go back to try the Malaysian curries perhaps when it cools down in Canberra. I am told that the food is halal – an option for those that can only eat halal foods. The staff seem really friendly. Get there early if you want a table. Otherwise they do deliver.
Asian Taste
Shop 118, Mawson Place Mawson, Canberra
Opening hours:
Monday-Saturday: 11.00 – 2.00pm; 5.00 – 9.00pm
Sunday and public holidays: Closed
Foodgasm 5/10
Value for money 6.5/10
Service 7/10
FPJ score 18.5/30
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