Saturday 2 June 2012

Nonya, Chinatown Sydney

As I continue my Malaysian-food cravings, I had high hopes for Nonya.  Located upstairs in the outdoor Dixon Street strip-mall, it looks quite fancy from the outside.

The first time I came here, I had the Char Kway Teow ($11).  Plenty of flat rice noodle surrounded by egg, prawn, Chinese sausage and bean sprouts, it had quite a spicy kick to it.  Pretty delicious and hit the spot.

Second time here, it was raining.  Note to self: Take care when walking ANYWHERE inside the restaurant since their floor tiling is super slippery.  Saw several people sliding around, almost on the verge of hitting the floor and a potential law suit :D

Dinner consisted of Roti Prata ($6), Malay Satay chicken skewers ($8), KangKong Belachan vegetable ($11), Gado Gado - veggies in peanut sauce ($11), Beef Rendang ($11), Hainanese Chicken Rice ($10), Char Kway Teow($11), Chow Fan Fried Rice ($11), Singapore Spicy Chilli Crab ($$$$$).  

Roti Prata was thick and not paper-thin like you get a Mamak.  The Malay Satay chicken was drenched in oil and fat...for a girl, it wasn't too appetising.  The KangKong Belachan was tasty and had a good amount of shrimp paste but also heavily saturated in oil.  Gado Gado was cooked Malay-style rather than Indonesian-style and bland even though it was topped with plenty of peanut sauce.  The beef rendang was decent but the meat was a little dry.  The Hainanese Chicken and Char Kway Teow was tastu and the overall two better dishes of the night.  The Chow Fan rice had ~5 large prawns but completely bland and the rice was hard!  As for the Singapore Chilli crab...it tasted ok but completely overpriced. 

Nonya has abandoned the notion of simple and tasty Malay hawker food.  It plays on its modern-decor, clean Asian restaurant-feel to attract its customers and charge high prices for underwhelming dishes.  Service was terrible.  Also for large groups with 8+ people, you'll likely be seated in the hallway of the adjacent Asian mall...aka - outside the main restaurant.  

Do not anticipate returning since Sydney has many more Malaysian restaurants serving exponentially better food, but just in a less-hip environment. 

Nonya on Urbanspoon

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