Hit the road and be rewarded with charry stir-fried noodles, vast plains of crunchy lentil pancake, juicy fried chicken and a new perspective on Malaysian cuisine.
Having said that, while Kitchen Inn Express and Mamak Goreng are both Malaysian restaurants, they occupy different bands of the Malay food spectrum.
The former focused on East Malaysia and the handmade noodles, porky wonders and other predominantly Chinese-influenced hits of Sabah and Sarawak.
Mamak Goreng, meanwhile, is a halal joint showcasing the vegetarian wizardry, earthy curries, breads and other cooking influences that Southern Indian migrants brought with them to the Malay peninsula. Not that this means each cooking style won’t occasionally cross into the other’s lane.
Although Mamak Goreng doesn’t make its own noodles – did you know that Kitchen Inn Express was opened by Joseph Lau of Two Hands Noodle Shop? – it does make an exemplary mee goreng mamak: an ugly-delicious tangle of egg noodles, chicken and prawns stained liquorice-red with chilli. Even in Malaysia and neighbouring Singapore where mamak food is everywhere, ordering this dish can be a crapshoot. (Too wet, too dry, too sweet, too one-dimensional are among diner’s common complaints.) Thanks to a finely tuned sauce base and furiously hot wok, eaters can enjoy this dish in all its 4K HD sweet and spicy glory.
The wok also helps upscale nasi goreng into the smoky, carby wonder that it can and should be. Once you’re ready to let go of the special fried rice safety rope, consider ordering yours Pattaya-style (cloaked with a shroud of thin egg omelette) or the kampung (Malay for “village”) variant that ups the ikan bilis (fried anchovy) quotient.
Mamak Goreng’s other rice-based attraction is nasi lemak: jasmine rice made “rich” through simmering in coconut milk. While the rice – a reasonable example of its category – might headline, the crowd is really here for the sambal: a slow-burning, long-cooked slurry of chilli, lemongrass and shrimp paste.
Just as it’s the ragu that maketh the tagliatelle, a good sambal unites, inspire and lifts, Al Pacino, Any Given Sunday-style, the contents of any plate of nasi lemak.
The entry-level version here is splendid as-is but bolting on some extra protein – a saucy beef rendang, maybe, or juicy fried chicken drumsticks rubbed down with cumin – is an easy way to add some rich, or lemak, to meal.
While these curries (and much of the menu) are the work of head chef Jeyandhy John Smith, her husband and fellow co-owner Rao Simmasalam oversees the breads.
The menu, sadly, doesn’t include the flaky roti offered over the years at the couple’s various Kopi Time iterations, however the sprawling thosai made the cut for their flagship restaurant. (They also run Mamak Goreng food court stalls in Armadale and Maddington, albeit with smaller menus.) Made from rice and black lentils, these gluten-free pancakes are as crunchy as they are vast. They’re great straight up, but shine when swiped through the accompanying vegetarian chutneys and curries. Love the tamarind backbeat underpinning that eggplant-and-tomato number.
As is the case with most (Malaysian) restaurants serving deep menus, there are, inevitably, some weak spots in Mamak Goreng’s range. The meat in the boneless lamb curry is surprisingly dry; the curry laksa’s personality is best described as generic coconut richness plus warming spice; while limp, CD-sized flaps of naan (not house-made) should be given a wide berth.
But as is also the case with many Malaysian restaurants, the mood is upbeat; the service is less grumpy uncle and auntie and more smiley what-can-I-get-for-you? Serving sizes are also generous-as. While the portions aren’t as OTT as, say, Thornlie’s legendary Rasa Sayang – reports that a single diner has finished a Rasa Sayang combo plate solo should be treated with similar scepticism as news of Elvis sightings – many dishes are big enough to be split between two. (One nasi lemak bolstered with a side of extra fried chicken equals a fine dinner for my girlfriend and I.)
But for those with the flavours of the Malay peninsula hard-wired into their souls, limiting yourself to just one item on the Mamak Goreng menu will be hard. Which probably explains why many of the room’s 45 seats are filled by groups, shouting, passing around tissues and sharing dishes and opinions on dishes. I’m glad I (eventually) wised up and took it for a spin. You should too if you’re out near Curtin University.
I also hope that you can learn from my mistake and consider what eating and drinking habits you’ve unintentionally developed and how defaulting to cafe X or wine bar Y could be stopping you from discovering a new diner, dish or drink that changes the colour of your day. (Or, for those braving the crowds, offers some respite against the December madness.)
Be safe out there, friends. Thanks for reading along this year. It’s a privilege to write these weekly reviews, and I’m looking forward to picking up where we left off in 2026.
The low-down
Atmosphere: a cheery introduction to the many joys of Indian-Malay food.
Go-to dishes: mee goreng mamak ($17.90), nasi lemak with fried chicken ($15.90).
Drinks: strong kopi (coffee), “pulled” milky teh tarik, lemon teas and other hot and cold Malay coffee shop favourites, plus the usual soft drink suspects.
Cost: about $40 for two people.
Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.
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Max Veenhuyzen is a journalist and photographer who has been writing about food, drink and travel for national and international publications for more than 20 years. He reviews restaurants for the Good Food Guide.
