Hawker - Malaysian Street Food, Sydney

Mamak Restaurant of Sydney needs no introduction. Many of Sydney's food enthusiasts highly rate this establishment as one of the most favourite Asian restaurants in this city. The amount of awards that they have received throughout the years since opening in 2008 is a sign of their success and excellence. There are also the queues of customers that continuously form every lunch and dinner time outside their venue to prove that.    

Aside from their other branches in Chatswood and Melbourne, the team behind Mamak recently opened a new venture in the form of Hawker. It focuses more on popular Malaysian-Chinese dishes like curry laksa, popiah, and an all-time favourite of mine, char koay teow. The interior fit out has a studio gallery-like look and vibe. There are sittings for 2 and for groups of 4 or more. I was so pumped up when I heard that Team Mamak was about to open this place. I went to check them out on their second week of opening. 

Kat chai suen mui ($4) - Calamansi lime and preserved sour plum on ice

Assam laksa

The first thing we ordered was their assam laksa ($12) as I heard great things about it. It did not disappoint at all! It was pretty mind blowing. It's a rice noodle dish with tamarind fish-based broth that also contains shredded fish, cucumber, mint, pineapple, and lettuce. Firstly, my sense of sight feasted on how nice it looked and it was shortly followed by the fragrant smell of mint. The sweet, fruity and sour flavours from the tamarind and other components in broth was well-balanced and addictive. It was also spicy with hints of briney fish flavour. I would definitely come back for this dish again.

Char koay teow

They also make an amazing char koay teow ($14) which most of us also refers to as CKT. It had rice noodles, prawns, egg, beans sprouts, lap cheong and stir fried in a soy-based blend sauce. First of all, it had a lot of wok hei, which is one of the crucial parts of an excellent CKT. The smoky and sweet flavours were so distinct and everything in it was cooked perfectly in my opinion. I loved that it had a lot of lap cheong too!

Apam balik

Last but not least, we had the apam balik ($6), which is a crispy turnover pancake with crushed peanuts, butter and creamed corn. The pancake part is a wafer-like crispy crepe. The crushed peanuts, butter and creamed corn worked so well together with the pancake. It was buttery and sweet on the inside.

Hawker is nothing short of excellent. The staffs were friendly and attentive whilst the food was very delicious. I can't wait to return to try their other dishes like the Ikan Bakar and Curry Laksa. 

Hawker - Malaysian Street Food

Shop G.02

345B-353 Sussex Street

Sydney NSW 2000

Phone: 02 9264 9315

Trading hours:

Monday-Sunday 

Lunch 11:30 am to 2:30pm

Dinner 5:30pm to 10:00pm