Mamak Roti House

I was extremely excited when I found out that Mamak Roti House had opened in Canberra City, so much so that I ate there on the very second day it was open, cajoling a friend to join me! I was super excited at the idea of fresh prata, nasi lemak and of course, some kaya.

When we arrived the restaurant was super packed, a testament to the popularity of Malaysian food in Australia and also to the excellent location of the restaurant, right next to the city centre and ANU.

But back to the food. The prata makers are of course stood by the window so you can stare longingly at the deliciousness if you are unfortunate enough not to be eating. Seeing them there made me sure I would get murtabak!


We started off with drinks- coconut juice for me and Teh O ice limau for N. 

The coconut juice was like all coconut juice- fresh, sweet and very drinkable. Unfortunately, the limau in the Teh O was just lime cordial and not the fresh juice as we were hoping.

The first main to arrive was the nasi lemak. While reasonably priced it was missing a few elements- the rice was a little lacking in flavour but the sambal was good if a little runny. The ikan bilis was fresh but there could have been more. However, we still ate it all up! There is no excuse to leaving nasi lemak on the plate.

The next two dishes arrived at the same time- murtabak and tahu goreng. I must say that I devoured most of the chicken murtabak by myself. And it was pretty tasty! I can never help but to compare murtabak to that made at Spize (my favourite ever) and the one here stood up pretty well- the bread was fresh, thick enough to hold the contents but not to be doughy and well cooked. The only issue was that the egg had been concentrated a little too much in the very middle. The curries were also nice and came with a dhal. I was pretty happy with the murtabak, especially in a newly opened restaurant.

The tahu goreng was a large serve, probably enough for a whole meal for one. There was a good amount of sauce although N commented that it could use a little salt. Its not something I generally order although I did have some upon seeing the abundance of peanut sauce. We had wanted to order the kangkong but unfortunately there was none available.

Despite the fact that we were quite full, I had to try some desserts. I was bitterly disappointed to find that there were no waffles that evening- the menu promised peanut butter and kaya waffles and I had been extremely looking forward to the particular flavour combination. But we made do with sago gula melaka and roti kaya.


Interestingly, the sago came with strawberries. The sago was piled up high and we initially worried that the grains would be all stuck together and mushy like rice left in the bottom of a bowl for too long. But we were (luckily) wrong, and despite being in the mould the grains came apart very nicely. The gula melaka was just the right amount of sweet and the coconut milk had a touch of salt to balance it out. It was definitely one of the highlights of the meal!

But of course, I was holding out for the roti kaya. Yum. It was huge, and when we left I noticed that the kaya jar was the 'glory' brand, which I use when I feel I need a peanut butter kaya hit. The roti was well cooked, soft and fluffy on the edges (but not doughy) and thin in the middle. The kaya oozed out when the roti was pulled apart, an awesome pandan flavoured goo. It was absolutely my favourite. Although, a rare event occurred- I could not finish the whole thing! We surmised it was because I now knew I could come back anytime and eat one again, leaving no need to scoff every last bite.

Overall it was a good experience, hopefully the little things will be smoothed out over time and I'll be able to get a taste of the kangkong. Needless to say, I will be eating there again!


Mamak Roti House
Shop 4, Ground Floor,
Ernst & Young Building
121 Marcus Clarke Street
Canberra City ACT 2601
(02) 6257 9688
www.mamakrotihouse.com.au