Ma Brown Restaurant

Mouse is back on da blog (block)!

Thanks to my MM sister for up-keeping the blog for the past week while I regain my interest and love for blogging all things food! ^^ I certainly hope I am back to stay for a while - have been taking photos of food for the past few days! Hohoho.

Tonight's post features Ma Brown, a Chinese-Malaysian restaurant tucked away at Balwyn. It's a restaurant that you can't get to by public transport - need to drive, and thanks to San, we were all driven there this evening for the FOOD. We do love Ma Brown food, but it's so out of reach, we don't go there often.

Anyway, it's best that you call to reserve a seat AND food if you're planning on dining there, otherwise, it could be like a 2-hour wait. Slight exaggeration, but very slight. :D

Ma Brown's signature dish is...Spicy Quail. This is the dish that most people equate Ma Brown with and it is, to me and to everyone else - A MUST TRY.

YAAAAY QUAIL! (2 pieces = 1 quail)

Drooling yet? :P

The quail is really fantastic. The meat is juicy and tender and the sauce is yummy, spicy and fragrant. A bite of quail meat and the sauce with bits of chili is seriously yummy for the tummy. San thinks the quail is 'finger licking' and MM says it's 'good good' and also, she does not recommend licking your fingers because of germs.

By the way, I should mention that Alf is so in love with the quail that he could probably marry it or something. That's how good it is.

Another of my personal favorite is the Ma Po Tofu - an ordinary sort of dish by Chinese restaurant standards, but I like Ma Brown's variation.

Tofu in a dish

Their sauce is tangy and spicy, mixed with minced meat, mushrooms and mixed vegetables. They used button mushrooms for the dish, so I really like the big-ish bites of mushrooms with the soft tofu. It's really great when it's all hot and piping.

Alf also ordered another of their signatures, Beef Rendang.

Beef Rendang with beef

I really like the beef in the rendang - it's tender and soft and really well-cooked to complement the rendang sauce. I think their rendang is home-made and it's different from any other rendang I've tried before in Melbourne. I do think it could be more...hmmm...maybe a little bit more spicy? It could be more flavourful in my opinion, but I do like it. MM thinks it's ordinary though and San likes it.

For veggies, we had Stirfry Eggplant.

Eggplant: Blurry

Eggplant: Not so blurry closeup

Apologies for the blurry picture, didn't manage to get a good one. As far as eggplant goes, and I am not a big fan, thumbs up from me. Again their sauce is superior than most which makes the dish good. The eggplant is well-cooked in my opinion, and it's neither too mushy or too tough.

We also had Steamed Fish.

Fishy fish fish

Nothing super special about the way the fish is prepared but it is very good and very fresh fish - the fish meat is tender and soft. Yummy! I am a huge fan of steamed fish, though. :P

Overall, a good foodie experience - don't expect top service though. Because they are extremely busy and extremely understaffed, you may need a lot of patience for service. Or you could do what we did and helped ourselves to certain things like cutlery and napkins, or physically take the teapot to the counter for a tea refill. Haha. Make sure you have marginally a lot of time to spare for dinner at Ma Brown - definitely not somewhere for a quick meal.

The whole meal cost us approximately $AUD143.50, for 7 people. :)

But for the quail - it's worth the wait. Really. And remember - call to order how many quails you'll like, beforehand! For the record, the picture above shows 8 quails.

- Mouse (who is backkkk!)

p.s. check out MM sis's best of Hong Kong post below mine!

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Ma Brown Restaurant
Shop 6, 188-190 Belmore Road
Balwyn 3103
Phone: (03) 9816 3755

yum cha in HK...

Hi all! This is MM guest blogging :) The owners of this blog have been really busy and do feel bad for neglecting their ironeaters...so seeing it is now officially school holidays, I said that I would put up some new posts...mainly pictures of food...coz that's what I like...haha...

Anyway, why Hong Kong? I was there a while ago for a month long elective course and had the good fortune of having great food around me all the time!! I sure miss the cafeteria at Queen Mary Hospital...where, I quote my friend 'serves the best char siu (BBQ pork) in HK!!' :)


my last meal there - some kind of steam rice...not the best choice...but looks good ya? cheap too! I miss HK :(


some one else's meal...roast duck with noodles...the drink was from 7-11 and by the way is really good (my friend's favourite find in HK)


a picture of the char siu, though I am sorry there's not much of in view...not the best for me personally coz I like mine leaner...but my friend's absolute favourite :)

In case you happen to be in HK and would like to taste this fabulous char siu...I must let you know that you DON'T have to go all the way to QM Hospital in Pok Fu Lam...hehe...the cafeteria there is actually '大家樂/Tai Ka Lok' / Cafe de Coral, which is a HK fast food chain and their stores can be found at almost every other block (I would be exaggerating)...you can't miss the bright yellow signs with the red words on them!

Ok...I digressed. YUMCHA!!

I was there for a month and only went twice...I know...stupid. However, given my limited experience, I have to say that the yumcha in Melbourne is just as good if not better! AND we get the little wheely carts here (apparently only a handful of places in HK still keep the tradition, and one of them is Maxim's Restaurant at some highrise building (maybe hotel?? sorry, forgot where exactly) and that place is expensive) I shall talk about Federal Restaurant where we took more photos of the food (西九龍海庭道18號奧海城二期一樓126-127號舖 : that roughly translates into 'Hoi Ting Road, 18 Olympian City 2, 1F shop 126-127)

Anyway...food pictures? :)


ahh...but first, photo of the restaurant...


decor wins sharks fin house (that's my favourite place in Melb) hands down though


extensive menu...in chinese!! such impressive names...but not much help with visualing the food...that's the carts are better! :)


the must-have - egg tarts! (not my favourite food in the world, unfortunately)


peanut sweet soup with glutinous rice balls


red bean pancake


eaten glutinous rice - one of my favourite items :)


'siu mai', another yum cha usual for most (but again, not my favourite...man, I'm picky)


deep fried oysters with eggs?? (something like that) too oily!!


'kun tong gao' - some fancy dumpling...I can't translate this...the owners of this blog may translate in the future :)


'sin chuk kuin' - some kind of meat (pork?) wrapped in beancurd skin (haha...I am having so much trouble thinking what exactly are the ingredients...coz I only eat them...I am not made to write a food blog!)


'siu long bao' = 'little dragon buns'...haha...too literal eh? yummy! I love :) the best 'siu long baos' are still the ones my dad brought home from shanghai...I'll never forget them...if anyone happen to go there, don't miss out! apparently the restaurant is very famous and you have to pre-order...so ask around! (I haven't a clue where it is coz I haven't been there)


some buns...probably custard? looks good anyway (though I don't like buns...you must be thinking I don't like most things...)

But...I do love dumplings!! so here are some...I shan't caption each photo because I don't remember what they were exactly...but they were good (not exceptional)






other things...


'zha leong' - definitely better at sharks fin house!!


'lo pak gou' - fried radish cake...yum!


erm...dessert...


mango pudding! ok I guess...but speaking of mangoes...I will write a 'HUI LAU SAN' post soon!! My FAVOURITE place in HK!! We went almost every night...some rich person should start a franchise here...I would go every day...provided the price is not ridiculously expensive...but probably it will be because this is Melb and mangoes are expensive :(


I still have a couple more photos but blogger won't let me upload them so I guess this brings me to the end of my post!



I think we overdid it ;)

P.S. I must credit my friend for taking all the photos...I was concentrating on eating :)

Golden Happiness #2 金囍楼 Golden Happiness #2 (Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia)

Happy Chinese New Year to all our readers! ^.^ 新年快乐, 鼠年快乐!! Best wishes to everyone in the year of the MOUSE. :D

Sorry for the lack of posts in the past week - been busy with CNY celebrations and what not. Anyway, here's the promised 2nd Sibu restaurant post, and I'm almost done with Sibu food posts. I'll be posting some of CC's mum's yummy home cooking and that'll be about it. Next up with be a bevy of restaurant posts in Penang. :) I'll try to eat more hawker food...but no promises. :( It's a long story why not, but we'll leave it at that.

Okay! First up, we have 拉子菜炒蛋 La Zi Cai Chao Dan also known as 'Mani' veg with fried egg.

Eggy and Veggy.

Another kind of vegetable that I am unfamiliar with. It was very good though. I like the crisp, leafy texture and it had a slight, herb-y aftertaste that went well with the egg. The bits of egg were seasoned, which made it even yummier. According to CC, you have to cook the Mani veg with eggs, if not it'd have a weird, bitter taste that won't be too pleasant.

福州面 Foochow Noodles are the next dish.

Brothy noodles with yummies!

Mmm...yummy. The noodles were generously served with mushrooms, veggies, prawn and meat, and I especially like the broth-y feel of it - the noodles were not too dry, not too wet. The broth was good - seasoned just right.

Of course, we must have soup - and I didn't manage to take the soup bowl, so have a photo of my own bowl - 糟菜裕汤 Zao Cai Yu Tang, a mixed vegetable soup with fish.

Chunky, fishy, soupy.

It was a very hearty soup, full of vegetables and huge, generous chunks of tangy fish meat (as you can see). I actually had a second helping, although it was not a full bowl. I really liked the fish in the soup, the texture of it was really good. Some fish soups tended to have their fish pieces a bit dry, over-boiled and coarse to the tongue, but the fish in this soup was great.

The next one was another specialty of CC's family restaurant, 菜香豆腐 Cai Xiang Dou Fu, tofu with vegetables. My picture of the dish came out unclear, so again, have another pic of my own plate.

Fantastic tofu dripping with sauce.

The specialty was that the tofu is home-made fresh in the restaurant premises, not bought anywhere. You can't buy this tofu off the racks, nope. It's a trade secret. And was the tofu ever ever tasty. It was so smooth, and it was just different from any tofu that I've eaten. No wonder it's a trade secret. :D The mixed veggies and mushrooms with the tofu complimented it very well, along with a nice, thick sauce. Definitely a must-eat.

北平鸭夹包 Bei Ping Ya Jia Bao was next - literally means duck in a bun.

Duck~u all in the middle.

Annnnd...duck sandwich. With mantou bread.

By now we were actually too full to eat much...and most of us only ate part of the bun and ate some of the duck pieces. The duck was delicious; tender meat with a crispy skin and dipping sauce. And the bun was actually quite soft and chewy, but we were really too full to finish the whole thing. I did eat a fair few pieces of duck though; I love duck meat (no dumb and unfunny jokes from those who know me, thanks).

Lastly...more noodles!! 粉干炒米连 Fen Gan Chao Mi Lian, which was short-ish noodles fried with the super good veggies I mentioned in the first post.

Hello, my lovely million veg...I miss you. Bet you don't miss me. One less person to eat you.

It looks super tasty, right? It is - I really like the combination of meat, oysters and those uber-delicious veggies. It was very fragrant and as San would say, enough "wok hei" definitely. But unfortunately, I was really much too full to eat anymore, so I only took a few bites, very regretfully. I would've polished off the whole thing if I could, and more. :D

And we had PINEAPPLE for dessert again, yay.

Here ends the restaurant posts...and yet again, please do NOT miss out Golden Happiness if you are ever in cute Sibu of Sarawak. I do understand that the dishes are hard to remember if you don't know Chinese, but just copy the pin-yin and people in the restaurant would be able to figure out what you want. Or just print my photos, haha.

Enjoy! ;) A couple of Penang posts are in the works next.

-Mouse

P.S. San ate this time. XD;;

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金囍楼 Golden Happiness
5-7 Jalan Chengal
96000 Sibu
Sarawak
Malaysia

金囍楼 Golden Happiness (Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia)

Hello all...long time no see and I hope there are still people hanging around. :D Anyway, this is the official revival of Iron Eaters (I hope!! I really want to keep updating this!) and to start things off, the next few posts will be specials on food in Sibu, Sarawak!

(I'll be mostly blogging on food in Malaysia for a while as I'm not back in Melbourne till late February...bug San for Melbourne food posts if you want 'em)

A couple of weeks ago, me, San and Mad visited CC in Sibu - which was tons and tons of fun and tons and tons of food. Especially great for me and San because we haven't been to that side of Malaysia prior to CC's invite. Anyway...on with the food!

The first post of the Sibu series will feature CC's family restaurant, Golden Happiness 金囍楼. Now, please trust me when I say that their restaurant serves some of the best food I've EVER tasted in my life. And it's not because I'm biased either. Take my word for it - if you're ever in Sibu, don't miss out the Chinese food in Golden Happiness. You will regret it. And no, I'm not paid to say this, and neither am I saying this because I heart CC. My waistline after two days will attest to this. :(

CC's family restaurant in quaint Sibu.

And...urm...I have no idea how much the food cost as we didn't pay anything for food during the entire trip. :D (OMG i love you CC)

First off for dinner on the first day, we had the restaurant's ultimate signature dish: 龙船拼盘 Dragon Boat 'Long Chuan Pin Pan'.

Drooling yet?

Bet you are (drooling, I meant).

Just. Look. At. The. Boat. (!!!) It's filled with the most delish things ever: there's fish pieces and veggies, crabstick rolls, prawns in egg parcels and right smack in the middle are chunks of fresh lobster meat in mayo. Oh my goodness...it was like food heaven. Everything is so delicious! Especially the seafood-prawn in egg parcels, it's like...WOW. I love love love this dish.

The greatest fish in Sibu.

Next up we're served some super amazing awesome fish. This fish is one of the most expensive kinds in Sibu (FYI, Sibu is famous for fresh river fish) and apparently it can cost up to RM600 (approx AUD$200) per kg. This is because the fish only resides in water near hills and only the locals (Ibans) catch them. Hence it's extremely difficult to get a hold of the fish in its entire glory. The fish is called 红不老 Hong Bu Lao but visitors love it so much that they called it 意难忘 Yi Nan Wang which translates to "Difficult to Forget". That's how good it is! The fish is served steamed lightly in soy-based sauce and a dash of spring onion, carrot and coriander. It's very light and absolutely delicious.

Such cute veggies!

Cute and wow...amazingly yummy wow.

And then...we had these most amazing vegetables, stir fried with oyster sauce, called 炒米莲 Fried Million 'Chao Mi Lian'. I've never ever seen these kind of fern-like veggies before but apparently they're not that uncommon. It's one of the most yummy vegetables I ever had. The texture is crispy and clean and the sauces used to stir fry it are simply fragrant and yummy. I love the vegetables so much that I actually contemplated buying some back to Penang...which was not advised as they will wilt. :( Which makes me sad.

Souuuuup.

Then we had the obligatory soup - 海参鱼鳔汤 Sea Cucumber Fish Soup 'Hai Shen Yu Biao Tang'. It's a great, thick soup with chunks of sea cucumber and fish plus bits of egg and crab meat. Filling and satisfying!

Huge ass prawn with pretty flower carrot.

Waaaaa...brings back such fond memories. :D

And finally - another signature dish - Cheese 大头虾 Cheese Prawns 'Cheese Ta Tou Xia'. These are huge prawns halved and baked with cheese. It's super tasty - the cheese doesn't overpower the prawn and all and the prawn meat is plentiful and tangy. Yummm! The pictures speak for themselves.

For dessert we had fruits. And among them is the best pineapple I've ever tasted.

Fruits are good for you.

PINEAPPLE that is like...best ever. And I don't like pineapple.

And I carted two of those pineapples back to Penang, yippee!!

That's it for the dinner post...coming up next, some other local delicacies and ANOTHER restaurant post to whet your appetites!

- Mouse

p.s. I should mention...that poor San was sick and didn't eat ANY of the yummies above. Except pineapple. My condolences. *pats San*

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金囍楼 Golden Happiness
5-7 Jalan Chengal
96000 Sibu
Sarawak
Malaysia