Ask a food critic how they select a venue for review, and a recurring answer will be, ‘I need something with a story’. Of course, everyone wants a good meal (though admittedly the bad ones can create more compelling copy), but a write-up of around a thousand words requires a more nuanced narrative than ‘I went here, I ate this, it was nice’.
So here I am, Uber-ing out past Strangeways, homing in on a new Malaysian place, Malay Malay Home, that has opened on the corner of a residential development called The Vibe. It seems an inauspicious area for a new restaurant (although the site previously housed Hong Kong Choi) and yet the whole operation seemed so neatly branded and delivered – dare I whisper the word ‘concept’ – that the near radio silence in terms of wider marketing seemed surprising.
And therefore intriguing.
I entered a space which was high of ceiling and panoramic of window, meaning that on a wintery day with Storm Bert looming, it was a little chilly to say the least. But there was no shortage of warmth and personality in the greeting and the décor. The walls are festooned with smart, comic book-style illustrations by Hong Kong artist Arkisan, which were maybe reminiscent of Takashi Murakami’s cutesier works. Or Angry Birds, depending on your reference points.
My dining partner was Jen Williams, the award-winning Northern correspondent for the Financial Times. A journalist to her bones, she has the requisite nose for a good story and appreciation of a nice lunch. I found her already seated, hunkered down in her big coat, and being a journalist, she had already ordered a drink.
“I’ve gone for the pandan lemongrass tea,” she said. “It seemed perfect for a freezing day.” And indeed it was, heavy with citrus and warming vanilla notes and sweetened by a good dollop of cane sugar. It had shades of over-the-counter flu remedies, but the sweetness and medicinal notes also triggered 1970s nostalgia of holding a hot mug of Vimto in my snow-numbed hands after a long day sledging.
The food here had attracted glowing reviews from Malaysian ex-pats, and the menu, laid out with an anime energy and a menagerie of cartoon animals, covered all bases. You want the Malaysian classics? They’re all here – nasi goreng; Hainanese chicken; beef rendang; roti canai. But there were some more unusual dishes too – bak kut teh, a herbal broth served with homemade patongco, kind of Malaysian churros; Winter melon chicken soup; and sambal-grilled sea bream.
We started with the homemade prawn cakes – two flattened patties, breadcrumbed and fried, then quartered, arranged in a neat circle around a small pile of shredded white cabbage, and dashed with parsley oil. These were a delight, crispy and springy, and featured the welcome funkiness of belacan, a Malaysian shrimp paste.
Next up courgette satay skewers, the fruit seared then sprinkled with crumbled peanuts and served with a bowl of dark, almost gritty, satay, a recipe from a Malay family friend. And cubes of firm tofu in a ‘sweet and spicy’ sauce, heavy with garlic, ginger and chilli and possessing a ketchup sharpness too. A plate of food as rich and comforting as butter and Tabasco-spiked beans on toast.
The service throughout was prompt, friendly and unerringly helpful. It was also Nathan Chong, who turned out to be one of the owners. “Tell me about your restaurant,” I said, in the manner of a prying psychoanalyst. “Well, it all started back in Hong Kong, 25 years ago…” Story time had begun!
It turns out that an iconic Malaysian restaurant, called Prawn Noodle Shop, had launched in Hong Kong a quarter century ago. However, when the owner, Mrs Shum, looked to retire she found none of her family fancied the long hours of running a restaurant. Instead, a loyal customer called Ricky Leung made a solemn promise to take the operation on, maintaining the brand and the recipes, and taking Malaysian cooking to an ever-wider audience.
We ate as we listened, and a new chapter was delivered alongside each dish. With our noodle bowls we learned that Ricky and his friend from university, our host, had decided to bring Malaysian cooking and some of the original Prawn Noodle Shop chefs from Hong Kong to the UK. They had seen Manchester’s huge appetite for East Asian cooking and felt it needed more Malaysian restaurants alongside the likes of the excellent Kaya and Bunga Raya.
I tucked into Penang Hokkien prawns, a dish comprising a rich, brown broth, cooked down for eight hours every day, topped by a fan of halved crustacea, a demi-egg, and morning glory for pleasing bitterness. An Asian spoon of fried shallots bobbed on the surface like a payang boat, and circling beneath were beansprouts, a mix of thick egg noodles and rice vermicelli, as well as soft curls of poached pork. My tip – ask for the ‘unlimited’ sambal to take it up another level.
Across the table, Jen was demolishing a chicken curry laksa the colours of a Roy Lichtenstein explosion – a deep yellow broth, made with no less than fifteen ingredients, flecked with droplets of bright red chilli oil. A half egg and puffs of tofu, stained the colour of sunflowers, broke the surface, as did nuggets of crispy fried chicken thighs. Again, a double act of noodles bulked the dish out, although at this point I realised that ‘homemade noodles’ could be substituted in for £1. Next time.
And then, journalistic antenna twitching like divining rods, Jen had to leave, hot-footing it across town for the official announcement that the ENO was moving to Manchester. But I couldn’t leave without dessert. Scanning the menu I ignored the incongruous tiramisu, championed by a drawing of a palm tree sporting three smiling coconuts, like a tropical Cerberus, and was instead lured into the pandan cake by a pensive-looking cartoon chicken.
It was no cake in the conventional spongey sense, but rather a traditional set jelly made of rice and tapioca flours, with soft flavours of vanilla. Served in slices, like a terrine, it alternated pistachio and magnolia-coloured layers, and came with a more-ish bowl of salted coconut milk for dipping. As with the prawn cakes it was a surprising and elevated dish, and together they formed delicious bookends to a satisfying lunch.
It feels intrinsically right that this very human story of inter-continental passion, promise and ambition should eventually wash up in Manchester, a city of commerce and creativity which has welcomed waves of immigration and gratefully assimilated their food cultures.
“We really want another site in the city centre,” said Nathan wistfully. For Malay Malay, and indeed for Mrs Shum’s legacy, the story continues.
Malay Malay Home, Unit 4C, The Vibe, 175 Broughton Lane, Salford, M7 1US
Petit Fours (Festive Edition)
It’s Christmaasss! Or at least it’s December, meaning the end of the year is hoving into view. On that note I thought I’d eschew my usual quad of news and opinions, and instead do my personal Best of 2024 with a ‘TopJaw’-style pop quiz. These are the recommendations you’ve been looking for, right?
- Best restaurant – Higher Ground
Manchester is not short of genuinely outstanding restaurants, but for me Higher Ground takes it for the way they blend superb food and wine with a tireless zeal to customise and optimise the experience for their diners. Casually world class.
- Best Value – Your choice of rice n’ three
I can’t face another argument over which of these uniquely (Greater) Mancunian cafes is the best – you know my pick, Café Marhaba – but getting a delicious hot meal of three home-cooked curries and rice for circa £8 is outstanding value.
- Best Bar – Schofield’s
It’s been voted the number one in the UK, regularly rubs shoulders with the best bars in the world, and it’s my choice too. Superlative drinks and superlative service; I’ve never experienced less than a great time and a perfect martini here.
- Best Pizza – Double Zero
Look I’m sorry, I do get the merits of New York style pizzas, or inverted Detroit pies, but for me I just love Neapolitan pizzas. We’re spoilt in that regard, from Rudy’s to Honest Crust and Ciaooo, but for me I think Double Zero just nicks it.
- Best Burger – The Edinburgh Castle
My issue with many burgers is they focus on cloying creaminess and umami, but as any fast food joint knows you need sharpness, sweetness and crunch too. So The Edinburgh Castle wins out, as theirs features red onion and a punchy relish.
- Best Curry – The Indian Tiffin Room
Whilst I could easily plump for the wonderful Dishoom or Bundobust, or any of the rice n three cafes, I’m going for the local heroes at the unsung ITR instead. If you haven’t had their goat keema pav or Rajasthani laal maa then you must.
- Best Pub – The Circus
A pub isn’t really about beer, or food, it’s about community. The diminutive Circus is the city centre pub par excellence, with a rich ecosystem of regulars, and it is the one place all visiting food writers and chefs want me to take them.
- Best Bakery – Pollen
Come on, where else? Have you seen their Viennoiserie? Have you eaten their Basque cheesecake, which made even chef Tomas Parry exclaim when he saw it on my social? There’s a reason Michelin chefs ship their sourdough to London.
- Best Coffee Shop – Haunt
If the Jackal wanted to take me out with a headshot, he’d have to wait at Haunt for less than 48hrs. I practically live there. It’s perfect for dawn to dusk schmoozing with good coffee and a small, neatly chosen list of wines and beers.
- Place I Most Want to Try – Lots!
Manchester Art Fair has dominated my time recently, so there are a slew of new openings I need to sample: Shaun Moffat at Maya and Gabe Lea at The Edinburgh Castle after their recent switcheroo, and fire cooking at Kaji and Stow.
- Most Over-Rated – Five Guys
I know, I accept that I’m in the minority, but I just don’t get it. For me it falls between two stools – It’s not a proper knife and fork gourmet burger, and frankly if I want to eat a fast food burger at a Formica table I’d still choose Micky D’s.
- Biggest Tourist Trap – The Christmas Markets
I don’t begrudge the boost to the city’s coffers, the traders making their money (at least the local ones), nor the nine million (!) people who flock to its faux-timbered stalls to enjoy wurst and gluhwein but come on. No, you’re the Grinch.
Read more:
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Half Dozen Other to open at Circle Square
