My sister in law suggested we have family dinner at Kotaraya Malaysian restaurant. Neither of us had been there before but we were both pleasantly surprised by the food and service. Whilst it was family style dining, the service staff were responsive and with a large table, we weren't made to feel like a hindrance, like in some family restaurants. The cuisine has a more Malaysian and Nonya style influence which makes for a nice change from the usual Chinese restaurant offerings.
Just to switch it up a bit, kiddo and some of her cousins wanted their opinions on the dishes represented in this post, so I did a Vox Pop of the children's opinions. After all, being a family restaurant, whether the whole family enjoyed dining there or not is an important factor.
"Winsy Poo" aged 6: "I like the tofu". This is the soft Japanese style tofu, lightly coated in egg, fried with a slightly sweet sauce on a sizzle plate.
We also ordered another tofu dish which is this variation on the pei pa tofu. These are little goujons of tofu fried nestled around braised beef and spring onions. It was different presentation of something familiar but delicious.
One of my picks for the night - prawns with a coconut coating. Deep fried.
Also one of my fave - Nonya chicken. This is a piece of chicken flattened paper thin, fried with a salty sweet dipping sauce.
"Bobby's Girl, aged 9.5: "I like the eye fillet. It sounds scary but it tastes good". Well put, Bobby's Girl. This was a tender beef eye fillet with a black pepper glaze.
Kiddo, aged 8 initially declared she liked the plain rice the best. But after careful reconsideration, she decided she liked the fried yam with stir fry pork the best. This is sort of like a seafood basket sans seafood. The fried yam was the basket of sorts with the stir fry nestled within.
Myself and the kids's grandma enjoyed the one and only vegetable dish - Belachan eggplant and string beans. Loved the shrimpy flavours.
"Happy Face", aged 8: "I like the watermelon". So do I Happy Face, so do I. A nice piece of refreshing complementary watermelon to de-grease.
The tea was also complementary however the charge on the rice was little steep. It was $22 for 13 of us with the additional charge of $2 per bowl extra.
Kotaraya is a happy find for us. It is not often you find a family style restaurant which everyone is happy to eat at and serves good food at reasonable prices. Will be back.
Until next time...
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