Petaling Street, Haymarket

To take a break from exams, I took my family to Petaling Street for a Malaysian dinner. The last time I had hawker food was in 2010 at the Maxwell Hawker Centre in Singapore. Yes, yes, Singapore is not Malaysia but it still has hawker food. Petaling Street has a small and simple store front on George St but once inside, you realize there is a lower level to fit more diners.

Ice teh tarik ($3.80)

I’ve always liked ice teh tarik which is a Malaysian style “pulled” milk tea served with condensed and evaporated milk. It’s called “pulled” because before serving, the tea is poured a few times between two cups at a height. This process looks like the tea is being pulled. The addition of condensed and evaporated milk means it’s sweet, which is why I always like mine cold. I can process more sugar when it’s cold…

Deep fried tofu skin with fish paste ($7.80)

To start off dinner, we had some fish paste sandwiched in deliciously crispy tofu skin. My favourite part of this was eating the ends of the triangular pieces as they were the crunchiest. There was just enough fish paste present for you to know it was there, but not to make it soggy. But as with all deep fried foods, you’ve got to eat it as it hits the table while it’s hot and yummy.

Homemade tofu ($10)

This was definitely a family favourite. Silky homemade tofu was deep fried and covered with pork mince and egg gravy. The dish is a whole mix of textures; soft tofu, mince, bite from the seaweed… Personally, I liked it on its own but it’s not bad when eaten with a bowl of hot rice. After finishing this, I added “make homemade tofu” to my Things-To-Do-In-Vacation list.

Nasi pattaya ($12.80)

Nasi pattaya is fried rice wrapped with an egg omelette. When I broke into the egg a little steam plume came out, so it was probably a good thing that I wasn’t wearing glasses then. Although there’s a certain novelty in receiving a parcel of rice, I prefer mine with a crispy fried egg on top.

XO sauce lala ($15.80)

You might be wondering “what is a lala?!”; I wondered the same thing until I realized that lala is just another word for pipis. Chopped pieces of chinese donut sit atop the spicy XO sauce, forming a ring around a mountain of pipis. I quickly realized that this needs to be eaten quickly otherwise the donut soaks up all the sauce and gets soggy. So I speared a pipi onto my fork in my right hand, then use my left hand to mop up some sauce with the donut and stuff it all into my mouth at once.

Bah kut teh set ($14.80)

I almost always order Bah Kut Teh because I love the meaty herbal flavour. This Bah Kut Teh was pork spare ribs, pork belly, and dried beancurd cooked in chinese herbs and served with steamed rice and some chinese donuts. The herbal flavour of the soup is one of those things that is easy to dislike, but I love it. I don’t even need the meat, I could drink this soup all day.

Petaling Street is a great place for bringing a group of friends for an after-work meal or for a late night snack if you happen to be in that part of Haymarket. In my opinion, if you can’t get to an actual hawker market, this might be your next best choice in Sydney.

Petaling Street
760 George St
Haymarket NSW
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