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Best Malaysian Restaurants in Sydney

Sydney got its first taste of Malaysian food at The Malaya in the 1960s – at the time, a far more casual restaurant serving laksas, chicken rice and satay to students and curious CBD workers.

Fast forward a few decades, and laksa was appearing in food courts and restaurants all over the city. Now, in addition to those classics, we have Malaysian restaurants scattered across Sydney, serving all kinds of different dishes, pulling in influences from the country’s many ethnic groups and cuisines.

In this guide you’ll find Malay, Malaysian-Indian and Malaysian-Chinese restaurants; and even some eateries serving lesser-known dishes from Borneo and Malaysia’s Peranakan people.


Updated on 11 June 2024

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Mamak Haymarket
Restaurant
Mamak Haymarket
Once an alleyway restaurant specialising in Malaysian-Indian street food, and now a multi-city chain famed for its roti. The Mamak restaurants are still some of the only places to go for roti that’s cooked for every order. Order that plus a few curries and some sambal – it’s all you need.
Temasek
Restaurant
Temasek
Technically a Singaporean restaurant (Temasek is an ancient Javanese word for the island) but spiritually close enough to Malaysia to be included here. The several decades-old Parramatta restaurant is particularly famous for its Hainan chicken, Singapore chilli crab (order ahead for that) and laksa, the latter made with curry paste that’s prepped in house the old school way, using a mortar and pestle.
Albee's Kitchen
Restaurant
Albee's Kitchen
It’s incredible that a restaurant with so many menu items and so many different locations (this is the original) keeps it all together. Chef Albee Thu has maintained a strong reputation in the Malaysian community for years for dedicating herself to making an extraordinary amount of dishes (including a full range of Malaysian sweets). She’s committed to recreating her dishes exactingly, so that they taste just like how she remembers them in Malaysia.
Alice's Makan
Restaurant
Alice's Makan
The one-two punch of exemplary Malaysian sweets and smoky char kway teow noodles is not one you’ll experience often. But that’s exactly what you get at this unassuming food court counter run by a husband-and-wife duo.
Malay Chinese Noodle Bar
Restaurant
Malay Chinese Noodle Bar
Whenever people debate Sydney’s best laksa, plenty of names are thrown into the ring. Malay Chinese Takeaway will always be mentioned. The second-generation family behind it run two locations; a no-frills restaurant in Ashfield and this fast-paced lunch spot at the Sydney Place dining precinct in Circular Quay.
Istana
Restaurant
Istana
One of the oldest Malaysian restaurants in Sydney, and quite a unique dining experience because of it. It seems stuck in the ’90s, but in a good way. Expect waiters with a formal but chatty serving style, old fashioned tunes from the stereo, huge servings, and restaurant interiors the colour of a forest glen.
Peranakan Place
Restaurant
Peranakan Place
The only place in Sydney, and maybe all of Australia, to try keluak, a poisonous nut that’s boiled and covered in ash so that its charcoal-black flesh can be cooked into a rich, herbal curry. It’s exclusive to this restaurant because it’s a Peranakan dish, and this Auburn restaurant is the only Sydney restaurant to specialise in that style of cooking.
Amah
Restaurant
Amah
A brilliant partnership between Ho Jiak and Mr Wong's former head chef, Loong Oon. The menu pays tribute to Oon's grandmother with soy-braised pork belly, a deceptively simple king-prawn black-pepper curry, and a nostalgic soup of hand-pounded fish balls in a delicate clear broth.
Penang Cuisine
Restaurant
Penang Cuisine
This small restaurant is famous for its curry laksa, smoky char kway teow (stir-fried noodles) and weekly Penang-style specials. Look out for the assam laksa, a fish-based style noodle soup with a sour broth and thick rice noodles, which originated in the city of Penang.
Malacca Straits on Broadway
Restaurant
Malacca Straits on Broadway
A lively restaurant, with a legendary laksa, tucked into the courtyard of an apartment complex. It’s got a huge menu inclusive of all the other Malaysian standards, as well as a few rarer dishes such as fish head curry and curry-leaf squid. Also, it’s maybe the only place in Sydney (of any cuisine) where you can BYO crab.
Ikhwan Cafe
Restaurant
Ikhwan Cafe
It’s odd that, considering the simple fit-out and pay-what-you-want charity dinners, that this is a restaurant officially owned by a massive Malaysian conglomerate. It’s also one of the only halal or Malay-run Malaysian restaurants in Sydney, which means a rare chance to try the butterfly-pea-spiced blue rice with Malay-style fried chicken, and other Malay specialties.
Hawker Street
Restaurant
Hawker Street
A simple food court stall with a small menu of Malaysian classics. Locals – there’s a sizable Malaysian community in the area – are particular fans of chef Nelson Chin’s char kway teow, laksa and har mee (prawn noodle soup).
The Malaya
Restaurant
The Malaya
A refined Harry Seidler-designed building is the backdrop for the Sydney institution, but the menu – with its signature Malaya beef curry – remains unchanged.

More Options

Sydney Kopitiam Cafe, Ultimo
This place is a boon for the local uni crowd. The menu is both comforting and incredibly wallet-friendly all at once, with the occasional lunch special thrown in for good measure. And it’s a cafe after all, which means traditional sweets such as ais kachang, a popular shaved-ice dessert found throughout Malaysia.

Penang Hawker, Campsie
To ensure the Penang-style of cooking is strictly upheld, owner Jenny Tan imports as many goods as she can from home – curry powders, sauces, noodles, tea and more.

The Malaya, CBD
Sydney’s original Malaysian restaurant and a foundational influence on growing Malaysian food culture – not just in Sydney, but Australia-wide.

Yamalaysia, Rhodes and Chatswood
Cut-above Malaysian classics (including Nasi Lemak done six ways) plus a handful of must-order signatures.

Golden Crown Yummy Express, Campsie
Although Albee’s is better known, the charmingly named Golden Crown Yummy Express directly across the road has some good regional Chinese-Malaysian cooking. Skip the noodle dishes in favour of rice.

Sayong, CBD
One of the best – and best-loved – laksas in the city.

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