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Mamak Cafe serves up Malaysian cuisine. It is located inside Pub340.
No better words to describe Mamak than HIDDEN GEM. At a surprising location, yes, but the food is so authentic and affordable! Went there with friends and we tried the Papadum, Roti, Satay Chicken, laksa, and the Nasi Kandar - a sample of 3 dishes and everything was amazing! Love love love their own handcrafted peanut sauce. Highly recommend Mamak Cafe to anyone with a love of Malaysian food. Not to mention, very cheap drinks there, definitely a great place to hang out before clubbing.
I work in the Gastown area and happened to try Mamak Cafe today.
Originally, I was gonna grab a porchetta at Meat and Bread, but the place was packed!
Saw a sign outside of Pub340, decided to give Mamak Cafe a try...
I have to say, when I walked in, I wasn't sure if I was at the right place (Mamak Cafe is situated in Pub340), the place was a bit dark but clean, a hole-in-a-wall ... the Pub/Mamak wasn't busy in the afternoon, I guess not a lot of people know about this place yet, so I got a chance to chat with the chef.
Apparently the chef at Pub 340 used to be the owner/chef of Jonker St(never got a chance to visit Jonker Str) and let me tell ya, he can cook Malaysian food! (My bf is Malaysian, so I know a thing or two about Malaysian food)
If you go, order their beef rendang and roti!
The beef rendang/roti is to die for. Most food items are less than $9 dollars($10 at most) HST included, every little bit helps in this economy!
The first question I ask myself after dining somewhere new is "would I come back"? Can't say that I will be going back to Mamak any time soon. There is no ambiance. It's a room with a few tables. Service was just ok. When I asked for a drink list, they didn't have one...but didn't offer to rattle off what was available, so they missed out on more sales. Not that I think they cared.
The roti was pretty good - very flaky. I found the sauce a bit salty but it wasn't bad. The rendang was tasty but didn't come to the table very hot - just lukewarm. It came with rice that was overcooked and sticky. The nasi goreng was nowhere near what Hawker's serves up. It too was overcooked and sticky and there is no way that the rice was fried. I am pretty sure I saw one of the cooks pour frozen vegetables out of a bag. Disappointing once again. This doesn't come close to a "hidden gem" in my books.
| 1. | Pub 340 (5 m) | |
| 2. | Fresh Bowl (12 m) |  |
| 3. | Afro Canadian Restaurant (17 m) | |
| 4. | Nuba (29 m) | |
| 5. | Frannies Gourmet Deli (29 m) | |
| 6. | Revolver Coffee (41 m) | |
| 7. | Meat & Bread (44 m) | |
| 8. | Los Tacos Cafe (51 m) | |
| 9. | Cambie, The (71 m) |  |
| 10. | La Taqueria (85 m) | |
