Sri Pinang (Auckland CBD, New Zealand)

I like this place, it is never pretentious, a simple restaurant tucked in end of K’Road that serves home cooked style delicious Malaysian dishes. I known this place for more than 5 years now when one of my colleague back when I was working around the Mt Wellington area invited us to dine in here, at first I did not understand why he would drive around 9 km’s just to have lunch but when I tried their dishes it started to be clear.

The place like I say is simple, no fancy decor, menu is straightforward, they don’t even have fancy garnishes on their plates, they just bank on really great food. I had dined in here for multiple times already but never had reviewed them but now is the time.

Like most Asian restaurants dining experience will start with some tea and its free. While we enjoy this we ordered our dishes.

We tried several things on our most recent visit, starting with Nasi Lemak ($13.50), a fragrant rice dish cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaf served with some sort of sambal chicken, eggs, cucumber and ikan bilis. This tasted exactly similar to the nasi lemak I used to have back in Malaysia, those things wrapped in banana leaf. in the middle of the table of Mamak places.

Then we also had this Hainanese Chicken Rice ($12.50), a dish made out of poached chicken along with ginger and garlic. As simple as it looks, don’t be deceived by it as it was so flavourful even the rice. The dip that comes with it made it even better.

Then for the noodles we chose Loh Mee ($13.00), a noodle dish served in a thick starchy gravy and thick yellow noodles. It is quite similar to the Philippine Lomi but this has a mild kick from the chillies and the starchy soup is darker, again another faultless dish.

Then a visit in a Malaysian restaurant will not be complete without trying their Chicken Curry Laksa ($12.00). This for me is the gauge whether the place is good or not, its one of the basic dishes that a restaurant must master. Sri Pinang never let me down, in fact it exceeded my expectations, their laksa was phenomenal, the perfect blend of flavors and spices.

When you order for a laksa then you need something to scoop out all that curry gravy so ordering a Plain Roti ($3.00) is a must. Their roti was good, in fact this is the dish that makes me want to go back here again and again, its buttery, mildly sweet, crunchy and stretchy dough is totally addictive.

We loved it here, in fact this will be on the top of my favourite Malaysian restaurants in New Zealand and its only not us who have the same sentiments as they were awarded with Certificate of Excellence by Trip Advisor for 3 times now.

This place is highly recommended, if you’re Malaysian or love Malaysian food, good food is what they offer great, the friendly Auntie with her Penang stories is just a bonus.

Sri Pinang
Address: 356 Karangahape Rd, Auckland 1010, New Zealand
Phone: +649 358 3886