Ria Authentic Malaysian - Leederville

Malaysian,

Not something I have very often. In fact, I have never really had Malay food much before. Apart from the odd Kway Teow at a food court or Nasi Goreng – I didn’t really explore this cuisine much. I don’t know why – I tend to love most other Asian influenced dishes….

Ria Authentic Malaysian Food in Leederville was a restaurant choice influenced by some sort of word-of-mouth that I cannot narrow down. (Possibly a review from The Food Pornographer?) To the point – I heard this place was good and I wanted to give it a go!

My friend and I tried this place on a Friday night, we booked for 8pm and arriving 5 minutes early, we were asked to wait at the bar for our table. This place was fairly busy, so lucky we booked prior!

We sat inside and although there was some sort of aircon going, this was no contender for the 40degree heat experienced that day which still managed to keep us sweating inside…with mood lighting..the sweat on our foreheads was slightly unnoticeable (Phew!).

Nyonya Archard Fish ($21) which was a “fish fillet with a tangy turmeric and ginger sauce, chillies and fresh herbs.”

GORGEOUS!

                                                                                         Nyonya Archard Fish ($21)

Arriving within 10 minutes of ordering this fish came out on a plate looking endearing… Curved like a skate-board ramp, fried and sitting in a shallow pool of sweet and tangy sauce – we broke the ‘ramp’ and the fish fell apart nicely, indicating it had been cooked well. The sauce was beautiful with a very sweet and tangy flavour. I kept mopping my piece of fish up in this sweet sauce and it soon vanished from the plate.

The other dish we ordered was the Nyonya Salad ($15) with a spicy dressing, herbs and crushed peanuts.

Nyonya Salad ($15)

Again, beautifully presented, this dish had beans, cooked potato & carrots, fried tofu tossed together in a nutty, tangy sauce with sliced chillies and coriander.

Nyonya Salad ($15)

Although the price for this salad was very affordable...the size reflected this greatly. I probably could have eaten two of these, however I am a machine of a human being and this could just be me being a classic food monster. My friend (of normal eating quantities) said she could have happily been satisfied after this salad. Therefore, ignore my first comment. J

So all in all, the service was great with our meal coming out soon after ordering, we had to try to get a waiters attention a few times to fill up our water – but this was unusual due to the hot weather!

The pricing was brilliant compared with what you can pay in Perth and expect to get.

The atmosphere, although a little cramped (I almost felt as if I was having dinner with the 3 guys sitting at the table adjacent to us), was enough to feel as if the restaurant was clearly popular.

The food was 5/5. I loved the new flavours and herbs bursting from the dressings and sauces. This food was fresh, simple and had balanced favours with the right amount of chilli.

I enjoyed this meal so much, I am excited to return soon to try more from the menu!

I saw a few curries and stir-fry’s im eager to feast my teeth into!

HIghs: The flavours - nothing like I've tasted before! The exciting choices of the dishes on offer.

Lows: The restaurant was loud, crowded and on a hot day failed to provide any comfort from the heat with no air flow.
Overall: 8/10
Will I return? Hell yes. 

This experience has also sparked an interest in Malay food and restaurants in Perth, in which I am going to explore!

So until next time….

Beet this!

I thought I’d share with you my new raw salad – this is a recipe I discovered after been given a beetroot and having no idea what to do with it apart from roast it………

This salad is ever so healthy and fresh and bursting full of colour and natural flavour! Since making it the first time, ive since altered the recipe by adding lots of other veges I think give it create colour and also go really well.

So here goes:

Grated raw beetroot

Grated raw carrots

Corn kernals

Pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

Orange segments

Fresh coriander

Chopped capsicum

Spring onions

Rocket leaves

Dressing

Red wine vinegar

Olive oil

Lemon juice

Pepper/salt

What a bright little addition to the dinner table! :)

Panang Curry!

This dish would by far – have to be my favourite Thai dish ever invented.

I usually eat it at Lanna Thai in Subiaco – who I have declared the overall winner of BEST Panang Curry in Perth from all (and I have been to quite a few) the Thai restaurants in Perth. I’ll be blogging about this very soon!

I once tried a Panang Curry that rivalled this curry in Melbourne on Lygon Street – This Thai restaurant called Chang Mai Thai – but that’s another story, another blog post.

Despite all this talk of Panang Curry in Restaurants, this post is about the Panang Curry I made from scratch!

For those of you who don’t know what a Panang curry consists of, It is typically a coconut milk based Thai curry with the base flavour of Red Curry with Peanuts – giving it a red curry/satay flavour = amazing!

To make the paste, I needed to blend:

Lemongrass

Chilli

Ginger

Garlic

Fish sauce

Lime rind

This is all the ingrediants in the food processor to make the Panang Curry paste

This was then heated in a wok with coconut milk, chicken and veges were added.

The chicken, spring onion, lime rind and fish sauce.

We put the remainding paste into an ice cube tray to freeze to be used at any time!

The Panang Curry paste and onion heating over the stove

Frying up the chicken to be added to the curry.

Fish sauce, lime juice and crushed peanuts were added and cooked through.

Believe it or not, once the curry was put in the bowl and served with steaming white rice. The camera didn't stand a chance as it was gobbled up before I think I took a breath.


Overall, this took a fair while to make. The paste was the main adventure, sourcing all the raw ingredients from a local asian food mart then carefully adding the precise amounts to maintain the right balance of flavour.


You can easily buy curry pastes from your local supermarket, you don't even need to go to an asian food store. However the task of making this favourite dish from scratch was much more appealing at the time for the sake of a "challenge". :)

This curry (like most homemade curies - I've been told) is best served a day or two after making it.  


This allows the curry paste to marianate throughout the veges and meat and create a gorgeous flavour!




If I had my way, I'd finish this meal with some sweet sticky rice with thai coconut custard or mango (if it's in season). But this is one recipe I just can't seem to perfect!


Lucky I have an amazing Thai friend who makes me this dessert whenever I am down south visiting her.


...Looks like it's time for another road trip ;)