Old Town Kopitiam

195 Lt Bourke St, Melbourne 3000. 03 9639 6098
Score: 22/40
With a devoted following and some classic “Nyonya” dishes on the menu this Malaysian hangout has the potential to deliver authentic taste, but is let down by inconsistent execution.

Sunday night and the dining room was buzzing, the crowd a healthy mix of young Asian students and older diners, all jostling for a taste of homely Malaysian street fare at the “Old Town Kopitiam”.  With a raucous crowd at hand and the air full of spice, all the signs pointed to a good night out.

Old Town, situated in the heart of Melbourne’s Chinatown, is quite a hit with Malaysian expats and true to its name, this coffee shop dishes out a host of Malaysian Chinese goodies at fairly reasonable prices. My previous visits to Old Town had all been enjoyable affairs in a far more relaxed space but this time around they were clearly under the pump.

It took us a while to find a spot but once seated we got down to the business of sifting through a rather voluminous menu. The dishes sounded fresh, exciting and no doubt designed to bring tear to cheek of every homesick Malaysian. Unfortunately, the end result fell just short of the mark.

We kick-started the meal with some classics, the ubiquitous salt and pepper squid and Roti Canai with Beef Rendang, and it proved to be a rather hit and miss affair.

Small pieces of chewy, overcooked squid, weighed down by a nondescript batter, failed to impress. No punch, no flavour, no points.

Luckily, the Roti and the Rendang were far more pleasing. The flat bread’s crispy, flaky exterior belied its fluffy, velvety insides and served as a confident partner to the Rendang.  The silky tender chunks of beef, gently simmered in coconut milk and spices, were bursting with the flavours of coconut, galangal, lemongrass with a lovely sweet finish. There was also a sambal of sorts, more a sauce than a paste, which provided the necessary heat for balance.

This was followed by a serve of Hainanese chicken rice and crispy pork belly and the results were once again mixed. The chicken was well cooked, rice oily but perhaps just a little deficient in carrying the flavour of the bird. There were some suitable condiments but surprisingly, no soup.

Cubes of pork belly arrived on the table, studded with onions, scallions and loaded with garlic. Nothing wrong with the picture here but the dish failed to deliver on taste. The onions were severely undercooked and the delicate dance between sugar and salt was a bit too heavily eschewed on the sweeter side.

I was starting to lose heart at this point, there’s nothing worse than looking forward to a meal only to see it slowly sink one dish at a time. We had two more dishes, a fish head curry and a dessert, headed our way and I prayed for change to the usual pattern.

Fortunately, both dishes were on the money. I don’t get a chance to indulge in fish head too often, so the rich fragrant curry, its robust temper reined in by the tamarind, was enjoyed with great relish. While there wasn’t a lot of flesh to be gleaned from the trevally head on offer, sucking out the jelly from the bones and sampling the supple, melting skin more than made up for it.

The dessert, Bubur Cha-Cha, a sweet potato, yam, black-eyed peas, tapioca pudding, was a marriage of lush coconut milk and dark palm sugar. The tapioca pearls added a textural element, while the sweet  potato and the yam provided the glutinous to bind the dish. Overall it left a comforting, warm feeling, a  big , sugary hug for this incorrigible sweet-tooth.

The curry and the dessert certainly made for a grandstand finish for what had been a lacklustre showing. Old Town certainly has the potential to deliver an authentic Malay experience, but is let down by inconsistent execution.

Service: 4/10
Food: 5/10
Value for money: 6/10
Ambience: 7/10

Website: www.oldtownkopitiam.com.au