28th April 2012
Straits Kitchen
51 Centreway,
Pinewood Shopping Centre,
Mount Waverley
Cuisine: Malaysian
Taste Rating: 6.5/10 Value Rating: 6/10
Straits Kitchen opened over a month ago. We went for Saturday lunch and had no trouble getting a table without a booking as the restaurant was mostly empty. The carpark outside was packed with the Saturday crowd doing their shopping in that area, so do allow time to find a parking spot with adequate time limits.
We ordered Peking Duck entree (2 pieces for $8.80), Beef Rendang ($16.8o), Ann Goh's Laksa ($15.80) and Hainanese Chicken Rice ($12.80). We also ordered the Milk Tea which is available hot or cold - we chose the hot option.
All the dishes were well presented. The Peking Duck tasted fairly average, almost like normal roast duck. The Beef Rendang made a good first impression. The meat was tender. However, on digging in, I found 1/5 of the meat was fat which is perfectly fine for those who enjoy fat in beef, but then found 1/4 of the beef was gristle which is inedible so I left that on the plate. The rendang gravy itself was tasty although the colour was darker than normal. The Laksa soup was surprisingly bland - it was creamy but needed a bit more taste. The Laksa ingredients were on the skimpy side, especially taking the price into account - two prawns, two mussels, two pieces of calamari, two pieces of tofu and a few slices of fish cake. The Hainanese Chicken rice had a good flavour and nice texture. The chicken was boneless which was a plus, while the taste was average. The accompanying soup was on the salty side and this overshadowed the rest of the soup taste.
On the whole, if presentation is important and you don't mind paying a premium, then this is a good place. If you are more concerned with taste and value, then there are other more competitive Malaysian restaurants with very good nonya food.
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Peking Duck entree   Hainanese Chicken Rice   |
