Albee's Kitchen, Campsie

I think I’ve mentioned before how quickly my family swoops onto the food at restaurants. You have to move fast!

So the solution? I used the humble iPhone 3GS camera. I refuse to upgrade until my phone dies. And because it’s an apple it’s probably going to take a while before it konks out. That’s right: I said Konk, not Knock.

Tonight’s dinner is held at Albee’s Kitchen, a converted 3 bedroom house to Malaysian Restaurant. As you go in, there’s a room full of tables, then as you walk even further, you enter the kitchen filled with 4-5 chefs. Walk even further through and you’ll come to 2 more rooms filled with larger tables for the larger families. 

Albee’s Kitchen is the place to go to for all those Singaporean and Malaysian expats/students who miss the taste of their local Hokka Centre. I’m not Malaysian so I was there for the good food minus the nostalgia. (“Waaaah…. Da kitchen is so authentic!” cried my KL friend one night as we brought him into the restaurant for the first time)

We didn’t even have to look at the menu to decide what we wanted to order. That was sorted in the car on the way down to Campsie.

3 curry puffs @ $6.50

“I want curry puffs!!!” The first decision was made 10 minutes after leaving the house, 20 minutes to the restaurant. It’s really important to note that these curry puffs are big and filling. They come with half an egg nestled inside a veggie curry filling so If you want to enjoy your dinner, I recommend you go halfsies and share with your buddy. We ordered 3 puffs for $6.50 with ½ left over to pack in a doggie bag.

1/2 a boiled egg inside the curry puff

Next out was the KangKong Sotong ($13.80) which was water spinach with marinated squid in a peanut, sweet, sticky black sauce and dark fried chilli flakes. It was the first time I’ve ever had it so I didn’t know what to expect or what was supposed to be traditional. According to my mother, they had done a good job.

Kankong Sotong $13.80

The spinach stems were crisp tunnels, and the sauce did wonders binding the spinach to the chewy crunchy almost transparent squid.

Left: Kangkong Sotong $13.80. Right: Hainan chicken flavoured rice $2.80

My only criticism is that I would have liked the squid to be cut a little bit finer so it’s the same size as the kangkong stems. But hey- maybe it was more traditional to have larger strips!

big squid pieces in amongst the kangkong

My order, the Beef Rendang ($16.80) came next, along with two bowls of Hainan flavour rice ($2.80 per bowl which portions well for 2 people).  The Beef Rendang was a little on the dry side. They usually give more sauce. The actual pieces of beef, however, were still soft and came apart when prodded with a spoon. It was spicy, curry-like and so so moreish.

Beef Rendang $16.80

Ordering the Hainan chicken was a no-brainer. Soft white chicken sitting on a thin layer of soy sauce with deep pots of chilli sauce and garlic pieces… who could resist? We ordered ½ a chicken at $13.80 for the 5 of us and it was demolished. 

1/2 Hainanese Chicken $13.80. Look! A piece of chicken was lifted away as soon as it was placed on the table!

The pieces were cut well without a trace of red baked blood that you normally get when you buy it from the local chinese chicken shop. It was also taken off the bone so it sped up the chopsticks going to and from the dish.

I looked around and I saw that it was good. And then came 2 noodle dishes from the kitchen! Oh no! I forgot we had ordered so many!

The Char Siew Wanton Kolo Mee KL Style was Tuesday’s dish ($11.00). My KL friend was going to come to Albee’s kitchen just so that he could try their Kolo Mee. He said that it was the most ordered Hokka dish in KL. We didn’t invite him to join us that night so I just sent him a pic. Mean much?

Char Siew Wanton Kolo Mee KL Style. $11. I was too slow. The noodles had already been tossed and wantons had already been eaten.

The Kolo Mee came with a small bowl of salty clear soup with 5 wrinkly wantons floating around in it. The wantons itself were nice and left slightly al dente. (I like them overcooked where the dough is so slippery).

The egg noodles were covered in a black sweet sauce, and presented with kang kong and pieces of BBQ pork on the side of the place. Its sweetness was cut through nicely by thin pieces of pickled chilli. Once you start with your first bite of the Kolo Mee you simply can’t stop. I’m gonna definitely bring my friend here to see if he gives it the authentic KL thumbs up.

I think the last dish has to be my mother’s favourite. She has been ordering the Mi Goreng Mamak every single time we come here. It's a good feed for 2 people at $10. It’s a high mound of round egg noodles fried with prawns, pork, chicken, cabbage, tofu and fried eschallots. It’s a little bit sweet, a tiny tiny bit spicy, and a whole lot tasty.

Mi Goreng Mamak $10.

If had it my way, I would have only ordered 3 dishes maximum for 5 people. We had to take away most of the renddang, most of the Mi Goreng and some of the Kolo Mee. If I had it my way, I would have also saved some space for the Chendol….ah… the Chendol….

Oh well… Next time!

So if you’re Malaysian, get yourself over to Albee’s Kitchen and educate me. Are they as authentic as they say they are?

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