Malaysia Nyonya

Here's a place that locals in Howick, especially the Asian community have been waxing lyrical about and I have only recently discovered. <br/ <br/ Malaysian owned, this restaurant serves their version of Nonya cuisine which probably is the closest to the real thing that you can find, all the way here in Auckland. <br/ <br/ We were introduced to it when we were at a party and asked where we could find the best chicken rice. Our idea of the best is probably a plate of kampong chicken steamed in soya sauce, ginger and garlic so that the skin is silky smooth, delicately puling away from the meat and you can taste the sauce infused into the soft succulent meat and where the rice is not clumpy but fragrant and you can see each grain almost separately. Tall order? Well, this restaurant serves up a pretty good version of this dish. <br/ <br/ What I liked: <br/ <br/ 1.The staff were friendly and yes, I am pretty sure they were mostly Malaysians. They made good recommendations based on what we wanted to eat and on portions so that we did not over order, like we Singaporeans always tend to do.<br/ <br/ 2.We had a variety of dishes the Chicken rice as described above was a must have. <br/ The Tofu was delicious crispy on the outside and silky soft inside with a sauce that went really well with the dish. I have missed Morning Glory fried in sambal and here they did an excellent version of this. We ordered Sweet and Sour Pork that came with mixed capsicum and onions and pineapple and a deep fried Ngor Hiang which was quite meaty as it had chunks of probably pork and water chestnuts inside. <br/ <br/ 3.Order the chicken rice rather than the regular thing if you want to enjoy extra flavour to your meal. <br/ <br/ 4. I am pretty sure that there were other Nonya dishes there (they seemed more Nonya style and inspired by Straits cuisine recipes rather than specific items that you order at a specialty Nonya restaurant eg the menu offered Nonya Rendang, Nonya Duck Curry, Fried Rice etc). What we ordered was pretty much what our party of 3 wanted to eat that day so we will have to come back another day for a proper review of the specific Nonya items on the menu. They also have a full vegetarian menu. See the link to the website that I have provided in this review for the full menu. <br/ <br/ 5.You can BYO here for an additional $2 a bottle which we appreciated very much. <br/ <br/ 6.The place is just behind the usual venue for the weekend Howick Village market along Picton Street so there is lots of free parking available. <br/ <br/ The place to go when you get those cravings for something Asian and local.<br/ <br/

Ordered the Hainanese chicken with the rice, sambal prawns and the assam fish. The prawns were amazing, as was the chicken and the rice was so aromatic it was beautiful. The fish was nice but I wouldn’t rave about it. Would probably try their curries next time! Prices were a bit high and they were very busy even on a week night so it took awhile for the food to arrive. We pre ordered the chicken and made it clear we wanted the rice but it turned out the rice couldn’t be pre ordered so we had to have white rice in the meantime and wait for the aromatic rice. There should be a better system, it’d make sense for both to be pre ordered at the same time. Otherwise the food was pretty up to par.

Good solid Malaysian food. A little bit pricey but real nice food! <br/ <br/ My only thing was they have food and drinks on the menu that aren’t available to buy. We got told “sorry that isn’t available” for a few of the drinks. That may have just been the case for this night. <br/ <br/ All in all had a nice night semi fast service, they were polite. <br/ <br/ I’d probably go here again with a group.

Hands down favourite vegan restaurant. Tastes like home, authentic Chinese food but all vegan. The prawns and fish taste and look so much like the real thing. The hainanese chicken needs to be booked in advance but comes with complimentary vegan chicken rice, which was so delightful. They have a dedicated kitchen for cooking vegan food. Take your meat eaters here, they will be sure to enjoy it!<br/

My family and I were visiting from Melbourne and had dinner with friends at this amazing restaurant. Being Malaysian and also having eaten at some great Malaysian restaurants in Melbourne this place definitely is up there! The prawns and hainanese chicken was spot on and the service was super friendly. Would highly recommend this place!