Mamak Melbourne - nay for me!

If you've walked along Goulbourn Street in Sydney, you would not miss the crowd that forms a long queue, as they await their table into Mamak Sydney.

I've always wanted to try, but the long queue puts me off everytime. Plus, I always have a long to-eat-list to conquer when I'm in Sydney, I figured I shouldn't waste any tummy space on Mamak.

So when I heard that Mamak has landed itself on the Melbourne grounds in the CBD along Londales Street, I thought this could be a good chance.

I was skeptical as to how good they could be, yet curious as to why the queue in the Sydney Mamak is always so ridiculously long.

Curiousity got the better of me. The Brudder and I agreed to meet up our friends at Mamak after work one Thursday night. You can say that maybe I'm biased with my opinion, but here are my two cents.

So where do I begin? The fried chicken wasn't THAT tasty and could be way crunchier. And for $4 a piece? So not worth it. I'd rather have Norsiah's or Papparich.

We were also unhappy as to how the chicken pieces weren't fried properly - when we bit into the meat, some had blood oozing out. 

 

The waiters were however very helpful - when we sent one of chicken pieces back, they happily replaced it with another. For that Mamak, you get a thumbs-up!

Moving on to the ball of roti canai - I don't really have much complaints really. I do appreciate how it was crisp and flaky on the outer layer, but wish it could be that little bit fluffier.

The dahl and curry were lovely. But hey, look at the sambal served the size of a 10 cents coin! Stingy much?

And the Spicy Maggi Goreng which wasn't served quite like my local mamak's style. Leen who had this did say it was okay-okay only. Nothing spectacular.

I'd say the same for the Nasi Lemak - taste average but has an expensive price tag.

Seriously WHY?!! It was jam packed by 6pm, and I seriously do not understand how so?

In my opinion, Mamak deserves the big 3 O's which stands for:

• over-rated
• over-hyped
• over-priced

Period.

I spoke to a couple of friends who have been to Mamak and most of them share the same opinion as myself.  "Not worth it" and "food so-so only lah" are amongst the most popular feedback that I gathered.

If you ask me, I'd say, "go to Papparich Doncaster please!" Yeap, that's like my favourite phrase. At least for now until I get sick of it.

The Boyfriend and I often find ourselves at Papparich almost every weekend. Trust me, I'm collating a bunch of photos to share with you! And when I say a bunch, it is quite a bunch. ;)

Would I return to Mamak Melbourne again? Most probably not.

Well, not unless my friends die-die want to go, then I guess I'll have no choice. But I would not succumb without trying to convince them otherwise, that's for sure.

If you haven't already read the review featured on The Age... the writer clearly hasn't been to a REAL roadside mamak as she claims to. And a dollop of sambal?!! Lies one. It was more like a 'dot'. Meh, I'm not impressed.