Sydney: Chinatown / Haymarket, Mamak Malaysian Roti and Satay restaurant
On Tuesday the 27th of April I travelled up to Sydney to visit a new friend and work on her website. The next day I took some portraits for her website and then we made our way into the city. After parting at Haymarket, I paid a visit to Market City, Chinatown. Paddy’s Market is on the ground floor, second floor has shops, IGA and some food stores and then up one level and you’re at the big food court.
I have eaten at Market City food court many times but for this visit to Sydney I wanted to treat myself to something special. After my Husband arrived from Lake Illawarra (Wollongong) we headed for Mamak in Goulburn St, Haymarket in the heart of Chinatown. To get there we headed down Hay Street to Dixon Street and made our way to Goulburn Street. The Mamak sign was prominently positioned that we couldn’t miss the location. We had arrived!
I had heard about
Mamak from two of my favourite Sydney Foodbloggers –
A Table for Two and
Grab Your Fork. After years of salivating at the photos of Roti and Malaysian fare from Mamak restaurant I was finally seated in a comfortable booth and excited to finally enjoy
roti -a tissue-like bread which is soft and buttery and usually served with dipping sauces such as curry. Watch the video below by Grab Your Fork to see the spectacle that is Roti making which can be seen in the front window of Mamak.
My husband had been regaling me with stories of his months spent dining from street stalls in Malaysia and now I finally understood why. Delicious!
The roti was served with two dipping sauces. One which was a delicious curry sauce and the other was
a sweeter curry dipping sauce which was more like a relish. Also served with a dash of sambal sauce.
Roti is perfect starter and so much fun to break apart with the fingers and devour. I had a hard time asking my very impatient husband to stop himself from eating it before I had taken an adequate photo. We were both made ravenous by the smell of the buttery roti. Next time I’ll order two and solve the problem of the dissapearing roti 🙂
Soon after the roti arrived the lunch special was also served.
Kari Kambing
Kari kambing (slow cooked lamb with spices), served with rice.
Since we were hungry and I am such a satay fan I also bought a half-dozen serve of Satay Beef at $8
The satay sauce was delicious but not what I am used to.
My husband is still hunting for a satay sauce as good as the
type sold in the market stalls of Malaysia in the 70’s.
Next time I will order the famous ‘
Roti tisu‘ (
picture) which is a dessert version of roti served with icecream or the traditional topping of sweetened condensed milk suggested by Helen of
Grab Your Fork. Sounds delicious!
This was my first visit to Mamak but will definitely not the last.
MAMAK