Kuali- a Delightful Blend of Malaysian Cuisine

This type of Malaysian dining isn't what I'm accustomed to. When I think about Malaysian food, it's all about rendang, curry, oil, grease, fat- it's what street food is about primarily. I know it sounds fairly repulsive at the moment, but you've got to trust me, Malaysian street food is mind-blowing. Even though this was a fairly different take on it, I enjoyed quite a bit!:)

Apparently, my uncle had a big bonus on his job or something and he decided to treat us out for dinner. Being the foodies that we are, we headed to one of the best places for Malaysian food. The location kind of threw me off a bit cause it's  not one of those places that's easy to find, but surprisingly, there was a fair crowd inside. 

Chicken Kajang Satay

Grilled Otak Otak- Spicy Spanish Mackerel Mousse

For starters, we had Kajang Satay and Grilled Otak Otak. These dishes nailed it. They express a whole lot about Malaysian food which promised a good meal. The Chicken Kajang Satay was paired with a peanut and chilli dipping sauce, the flavors melded together very well and neither overpowered the other. On the other hand, I absolutely enjoyed the Otak Otak, grilling it in banana leaf over charcoal, I presume, imparted it with such a fantastic strong taste.

Lamb in Hot Pot

The lamb hot pot wasn't my favorite dish. Well, let's just say I didn't like it the slightest bit. It was a tad tough and the sauce was just really bland. And to think that I was quite excited about this at the beginning- so disappointing.

Salt and Pepper Squid

The salt and pepper squid I associated more with a Chinese background. Anyway, the squid was really tender and cut perfectly. It curled up beautifully. The downside was the batter was really heavy and the alcohol marinade it sat in before was just overpowering that you would lack the sense of the salt and pepper. 

KL Hokkien Fried Noodle

Brown, brown, brown was all I could see when the KL Hokkien Noodles arrived at the table. Let me put it this way, it was fine, nothing really special in particular. My family claimed that it was pretty good though. But let's face it, I've had it in Malaysia and this just doesn't come close. Probably the only similarity they have would be the oiliness and the noodles- that's it.

Chicken Rice

The thing that bound everything together was the Chicken Rice. It was wonderfully fragrant and fluffy, cooked to perfection. Thing is, I'm biased, my mom cooks a mean chicken rice and I can't wait to head home and have some!:)

Kuali Special Fish Curry

Favorirte dish of the night would be the Kuali Special Fish Curry, hands down the best thing I've had that night. The curry was flawlessly balanced such that it didn't give that sense of heaviness. It delivered a sense of elegance.

Dessert Platter- fresh fruits, baked cassava, kueh ketayap
sago gula meleka and coconut ice cream at the back

As for dessert, there was the dessert platter. Best thing on the platter would be the baked cassava. I'm usually not such a big fan of cassava cause it tends to just be heavy and nothing else. But this was different, there were shreds of coconut and some other components, so delightful! The Kueh Ketayap was just overpowered by the amount of palm sugar that was present. It was rather cold as well which suggested that it wasn't made to order.

Kuali Malaysian Restaurant
1st Floor (Lane Cove Arcade),
115 Longueville Road, Lane Cove NSW 2066.