Kopitiam Cafe
594 Harris St
Ultimo, NSW 2007

Chris and I discovered a cool new Singaporean/Malaysian place today! I was in the area (actually, pretty much right next door to the cafe) since our team had an off-site this afternoon. Chris came to meet us afterwards and we went to Kopitiam down the road. I’m not quite sure how this little gem completely flew under my radar.. because I’d only just heard about it when I discovered a few colleages had been there. So of course, I just had to suss it out.

Really glad we did, as it was fantastic!! As good as our all-time favourite Alice’s, but is close-by and in the city, instead of a 40min drive away like Alice’s is. I’m so pleased we ‘discovered’ this place 🙂 It’s a tiny cafe, very no-frills, and very very Singaporean/Malaysian. The owner, a guy, is quite loud and friendly and spoke with a really strong Singaporean accent that made me feel all fuzzy and at-home 😛

He insisted I get the Chendol (chilled coconut milk and shaved ice with gula malaka sugar and green jelly bits), so I obliged, and Chris opted for his favourite, teh tarik (Malaysian sweet milk tea frothed by pouring it from mug to mug). The Cendol was friggin’ FANTASTIC!!!!!! Better than Alice’s and thus the best I’ve ever had in Australia. A huge glass and soooo satisfying. Granted, it’s a heart-attack in a glass, but nonetheless totally droolworthy. The Teh Tarik was also fantabulous – all hot and sweet and frothy.. mmmm….

Kopitiam have a huge menu consisting of regular Chinese dishes like ‘prawns in szechuan sauce’, ‘sweet and sour fish’, etc.. but their star dishes are definitely the “Hawker Favourites”. So I opted for Nasi Lemak (steamed coconut rice with sambal chilli, chicken curry, egg, peanuts, fried anchovies, cucumber). When it came, it actually looked quite uninteresting.. just like a normal curry with rice. So I initially was a little let down. One bite of the rice and curry, however, sent me into little frissons of utter bliss! The curry was SO FRIGGIN GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Chicken curry normally just tastes like chicken curry, right? It’s pretty much about the same whereever you go. But HOLY SMOKES this chicken curry was completely spectacular. It was really unbelievable – the chicken and potato were cooked perfectly, but it was the curry sauce itself that blew my socks off – it was really really creamy and had the most fragrant smell and taste. It was bliss!!!!!!! I’d actually eaten a lot before we had dinner, so I was only planning to eat half my meal – but I ended up polishing every bit off my plate – that’s how good it was.

Chris’ Curry Laksa with chicken was also good. It was massive though, absolutely chockful of food. So much, in fact, that he couldn’t even finish the whole bowl. I was pretty amused to find that the chicken that they put on was in fact a scoop of the same chicken curry that I had – which you then stir into the rest of the laksa soup and noodles. Pretty unusual, but the chicken curry was so good :)~ In fact, the curry was so good that we were STILL wanting more after our meal, but couldn’t fit in any more into our massive bellies, so we bought another serve to bring back and eat another night 😛

Each dish is around AU$8-9, which is really reasonable comparatively, considering how massive the portions are. The place is lively and was packed when we were there.. and the atmosphere is authentic (if that makes any sense). Really happy with it, we’ll be back 🙂

Quite a nondescript entrance

Inside

Teh Tarik and Chendol

Nasi Lemak – steamed coconut rice with sambal chilli,
chicken curry, egg, peanuts, fried anchovies, cucumber

Curry Laksa with chicken