We’re always on the look-out for places that sell nasi lemak. We discovered Mak’Indos Cafe at the Centro Shopping Centre in Victoria Park – the more shopping centres where you can buy nasi lemak, the better! It makes it so much easier to feed our regular nasi lemak cravings.
We each ordered the full-sized nasi lemak (AU$9.00). The rice was topped with fried shallots and surrounded by a piece of freshly fried chicken, telur balado (hard-boiled eggs deep-fried until golden brown on the outside, then covered in chilli sambal), ikan bilis (fried anchovies) and sliced cucumber. The anchovies were warm and crispy but there were barely any peanuts. The golden fried chicken was juicy and served popping hot – I’m pretty sure I burned my fingertips on it! I say this every time I write about nasi lemak – so far no restaurant’s coconut rice has tasted as “lemak” as my mum’s. I presume everyone whose mum cooks nasi lemak says the same!
Jac ordered teh tarik (AU$3.50). It was lovely and sweet but was missing the lightness and frothiness that comes from real pulled tea.
There’s a AU$4 nasi lemak bungkus special available too, a simpler, smaller takeaway version minus the chicken drumstick, wrapped in brown paper. Mak’Indos didn’t mind if you ordered the $4 version to dine-in – they simply served the brown paper package on a plate!
On the way out, I bought a curry puff. It was filled with potato curry – no meat, but tasted pretty good.
Mak’Indos is run by people who used to have the Indonesian Sarindo stall at Spencer Village Asian Food Hall in Thornlie. Given the bad publicity Spencer Village has had, it’s probably good that they made the break from the food hall. Judging by the steady trickle of customers, Vic Park shoppers and shopping centre staff are enjoying Mak’Indos food.
The nasi lemak is pretty good – not the best I’ve tasted, but good enough to satisfy a nasi lemak craving.
Mak’Indos Cafe
Halal Indo-Asian Cuisine
Shop 3, Centro Victoria Park (Shopping Centre)
Duncan St side, Victoria Park WA 6100
Telephone: (08) 9470 5656
Monday to Saturday for lunch 11am – 5pm; dinner 5pm – 8pm
Sunday 11am – 4pm
5% off for takeaway (dinner only)
For the record, Jac and I still eat at Spencer Village. The Fook Kee stall still makes the best siew mai (steamed pork dumplings) and lor mai kai (glutinous chicken rice) – better than most dim sum restaurants. And t’s one of the only places we know in Perth that sells chai tow kway, yong tow foo and chee cheong fun.
I'm TFP, a food blogger from Perth, Western Australia.
{ 27 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m a big fan of nasi lemak bungkus to take home after dining in for the full plate serving chicken, sambal and the works.
We took a long-winded route from Hay Street to Spencer Village in Thornlie last December only to find that they were closed for a week! I was gutted as was really looking forward to some chee cheong fun. I fulfilled my craving for nasi lemak at the Love and Care cafe in the city on our last Thursday in Perth.
Gcroft,
The last time we went to Spencer’s Fook Kee had run out of loh mai kai AND chee cheong fun and I was devastated! :P I had to be content with chicken rice from Penang Foods and a few siew mai instead. I think the Love and Care nasi lemak is pretty good. They supply nasi lemak bungkus to quite a few Asian supermarkets.
OK – the finally opened a little Malaysian restaurant by my office – the first one I have ever seen! I gotta try nasi lemak… you have blogged about it for years…
Bryan,
Oh YES you must try it! And let me know what you think!
Every time you write about Nasi Lemak, I wish I could try it. Since you were born in Malaysia, it must seem like food from your childhood. One question I have is, do the anchovies taste like they do on pizza or on top of Caesar salads? I’m thinking the frying might change their taste.
kathy,
They taste completely different to anchovies you get on pizza or in Caesar salads. I wish you could taste them for yourself. You’d like nasi lemak, I reckon.
I love nasi lemak – can have it anytime. Love telur balado too!
Charmaine,
Funnily enough, I never ate telur balado until I was an adult! The first time was at Sparrow Indonesia restaurant in Northbridge! There was no turning back after that. :)
oh dear, does that mean the chicken drumstick costs $5 if the nasi lemak bungkus special costs only $4? looks yummy, though!
Kane,
The bungkus version is smaller, simpler and has less of everything from what I could see – I mentioned no drumstick because that’s a notable difference :)
Fried anchovies rock. Usually they don’t taste fishy at all. Malaysian food looks awesome. Don’t think there are any malysian restaurants here in edmonton.
Jon,
Agreed, they rock! Shame you don’t have Malaysian restaurants there. I’m so glad my family emigrated to a country that has most of the foods of my childhood.
Thanks for describing what exactly each item is. That sounds *fabulous* and I’d love to try it all! Even the anchovies. :-) I do remember your mentioning peanuts from the last time; love peanuts, and in this setting? I can imagine. Hope I’m able to try such a meal someday. Come to think of it (just now recalled), there is a Vietnamese restaurant in El Paso, Texas (50 miles away). I wonder if they might offer something similar? I’m rather ignorant about Asian cuisine.
Cindy,
Fried anchovies and peanuts are a great snack on their own, like beer nuts, you know? :) Vietnamese have rice dishes served with egg, chicken and veges but not the same thing, unfortunately. I hope one day you will get to try real nasi lemak. :)
Once again I’m lamenting the lack of good Malaysian places where I live (you think there would be some, as there are a lot of Asian immigrants here)! There is a great Indonesian restaurant near my house that serves some rice dish that looks like Nasi Lemak (but it’s terribly expensive and I’m not sure the rice is the coconut kind, which seems to be the point of the dish!).
I’ve tried those little fried fish and peanuts before and I do have to say–I love fish and I love fried things, but I was not a fan of them at all! The ones I had were really fishy and had sort of a gritty texture (probably because they still had their heads on). I must not be a fan of anchovies!
Megan,
Yes, exactly – if the rice isn’t coconut rice there’s no point! But as I’ve mentioned, the coconut rice you tend to get in restaurants isn’t as coconutty as homemade. I don’t find fried anchovies particularly fishy but they can be gritty as well as crispy. I can see how that grittiness wouldn’t be appealing.
Ooh, a curry puff. I love a good curry puff. Doesn’t have to be fancy, just a good, spicy potato filling hits the spot most of the time.
Dea,
I’m a big curry puff fan and find it hard to resist whenever I see there are curry puffs for sale. When I was at uni I would always buy a curry puff to eat while waiting for my chicken rice, kway teow or laksa to be cooked. Bliss.
Hi TFP,
I still eat at spencer village too! My usual routine is char teow kway from fook kee and a plate of hokkien mee from the penang cuisine stall. :)
Simon,
I like to get either chicken rice, hokkien mee or char k way teow from Penang Cuisine… otherwise it’s chee cheong fun and a lor mai kai from Fook Kee. Sometimes I will also buy yong tow foo and char siew pow to take home after eating my chee cheong fun and lor mai kai. And a curry puff or two… or some of those corned beef fritter things from the Indonesian place in the corner.
One of the mother from my kiddies school used to work there before. She told me must try their nasi lemak but I didnt. Now that you said its so good, I’ll have to try soon. Previously when they were still Sarindo in Spencer, I used to buy their oxtail soup. Not sure whether you eat oxtail, but I love theirs. A bit spicy but not too much. Eat with a bowl of rice. Yum yum…
flower,
I’ll be interested to hear what you think if you do try it out. I haven’t eaten much oxtail but I remember really enjoying it when I tried it as a kid. They did yummy curries too when they were Sarindo.
wow !! the sambal is fiery red .
June,
Luckily, it wasn’t as fiery hot as it looked, or I’d have been in trouble, being a chilli wuss. :)
DEAR TFP.
i’m a long time reader – first time commenter of yours… I found out about your blog after i visited munch terrace and wanted to see what others thought of it!!!
in fact i went to crumpet on your recommendation!!! you’re doing a great job..
my question is – what is YOUR favourite nasi lemak in perth? the best i’ve tried is munch terrace but i’m ALWAYS looking for new places…
have you tried “Rasa Nonya?”
they’re pretty good too :)
if i could suggest a place to try nice chinese food – i suggest Tasty House in northbridge china town… :)
keep up the great work!!!! and let me know about lemak!
Hey TFP! I just got nasi lemak from Mak’Indos today and it
was pretty good. I think I got more peanuts than you though and I
noticed that they seem to coat the peanuts in some sort of sugar
mix – the peanuts tasted sweet to me. And just a question: is ikan
bilis whitebait or anchovy? I seem to get opposing opinions all the
time!! :?
We had the nasi lemak yesterday, still hardly any peanuts. Tasty, though :) As far as I know it’s anchovies. I have never known it to be whitebait.