A few weeks ago, a friend and I tried out Malaysian Chapter for dinner after buying a Livingsocial voucher for a 3 course dinner. Specialising in hawker cuisine, you will find this family-run restaurant tucked away on Weedon Close in Belconnen.
Because of the Livingsocial deal, we had a limited menu of what we could order but it still sounded good to me. We started off with the vegetarian entree platter (usually $12.20 with 2 pieces of each) consisting of spring rolls with sweet chilli sauce, crispy tofu and vadai. I’ve never had vadai before. This is a doughnut-shaped savoury fritter made of urad dahl and served with a lentil curry.
I found the vadai to be quite dense and bland on its own, but the lentil curry was full of flavour and helped revive the vadai. It was kind of like dipping thick bread into curry sauce.
I had the mamak mee goreng (usually $14.90) as my main which was pretty average. It was a decent serving and I couldn’t get through it all, mainly because there was something lacking in flavour. I was waiting for a wow factor but it just wasn’t there.
My friend ordered the Nasi lemak beef rendang (usually $17.60) which she was happy with.
For dessert, I had the pandan sago with gula melak. The sago had all clumped together at the bottom of the glass so I had to slice through it with the spoon. Apart from that, I quite enjoyed this Asian dessert. There was a good combination of palm sugar syrup and milk on top that made this enjoyable.
The roasted coconut on top provides a nice touch.
My friend ordered the mango custard with evaporated milk – very sweet and she didn’t end up finishing it.
ย Malaysian Chapter introduced its all you can eat lunch promotion back in May. For $12.50 per person, you can eat to your heart’s content with a choice of 7 dishes including rice. Dishes change daily. This is only available on Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 12 to 1.30pm. I’m sure this will be popular so you’d better book beforehand. I love that Malaysian Chapter advises to eat responsibly with 50c from every empty plate going to The Yellow Van.
Service is lovely and attentive. Our waiter was welcoming and checked up on us to see how we were going with our meals. I wouldn’t mind going back and trying some other items on the menu, such as the roti canai, Peratal (Malaysian Indian Dry curry), sambal nyonya and the range of nasi lemak dishes. Vegetarians and vegans are well looked after at Malaysian Chapter with a separate vegetarian and vegan menu available.
The restaurant is child friendly with a small area filled with toys and games to keep the little ones occupied.
Open Tuesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner, and Monday for dinner only. Take away is also available if you want a comfy night at home.
Foodgasm 6/10
