![Zomato]( "Recensione")
Here's a place that locals in Howick, especially the Asian community have been waxing lyrical about and I have only recently discovered.
Malaysian owned, this restaurant serves their version of Nonya cuisine which probably is the closest to the real thing that you can find, all the way here in Auckland.
We were introduced to it when we were at a party and asked where we could find the best chicken rice. Our idea of the best is probably a plate of kampong chicken steamed in soya sauce, ginger and garlic so that the skin is silky smooth, delicately puling away from the meat and you can taste the sauce infused into the soft succulent meat and where the rice is not clumpy but fragrant and you can see each grain almost separately. Tall order? Well, this restaurant serves up a pretty good version of this dish.
What I liked:
1.The staff were friendly and yes, I am pretty sure they were mostly Malaysians. They made good recommendations based on what we wanted to eat and on portions so that we did not over order, like we Singaporeans always tend to do.
2.We had a variety of dishes - the Chicken rice as described above was a must-have.
The Tofu was delicious - crispy on the outside and silky soft inside with a sauce that went really well with the dish. I have missed Morning Glory fried in sambal and here they did an excellent version of this. We ordered Sweet and Sour Pork that came with mixed capsicum and onions and pineapple and a deep fried Ngor Hiang which was quite meaty as it had chunks of probably pork and water chestnuts inside.
3.Order the chicken rice rather than the regular thing if you want to enjoy extra flavour to your meal.
4. I am pretty sure that there were other Nonya dishes there (they seemed more Nonya style and inspired by Straits cuisine recipes rather than specific items that you order at a specialty Nonya restaurant - eg the menu offered Nonya Rendang, Nonya Duck Curry, Fried Rice etc). What we ordered was pretty much what our party of 3 wanted to eat that day so we will have to come back another day for a proper review of the specific Nonya items on the menu. They also have a full vegetarian menu. See the link to the website that I have provided in this review for the full menu.
5.You can BYO here for an additional $2 a bottle which we appreciated very much.
6.The place is just behind the usual venue for the weekend Howick Village market along Picton Street so there is lots of free parking available.
The place to go when you get those cravings for something Asian and local.
Beef on rice, ginger, spring onion beef,hainanese chicken rice
I've tried the most tender chicken, never defrosted!
Typical Malaysian cuisine and great service provided by friendly lady boss☺️ Nice gathering place for a group of friends or family. Average price to enjoy delicious meal.
Love this place. It can be busy sometimes so you have to expect to wait something close to 20-30 mins for your first dish. My absolute favourite is the hainanese chicken rice and their tofu dish (don't know the name but it's a huge square of tofu with some super nice sauce on top and veges all around it). Not a fan of their lunch menu especially their curry laksa. With all due respect to the owners, it's probably one of the most lacklustre curry laksas I've tried. Will keep returning for their dinner menu though!
Ordered the Hainanese chicken with the rice, sambal prawns and the assam fish. The prawns were amazing, as was the chicken and the rice was so aromatic it was beautiful. The fish was nice but I wouldn’t rave about it. Would probably try their curries next time! Prices were a bit high and they were very busy even on a week night so it took awhile for the food to arrive. We pre ordered the chicken and made it clear we wanted the rice but it turned out the rice couldn’t be pre ordered so we had to have white rice in the meantime and wait for the aromatic rice. There should be a better system, it’d make sense for both to be pre ordered at the same time. Otherwise the food was pretty up to par.
Good solid Malaysian food. A little bit pricey but real nice food!
My only thing was they have food and drinks on the menu that aren’t available to buy. We got told “sorry that isn’t available” for a few of the drinks. That may have just been the case for this night.
All in all - had a nice night - semi fast service, they were polite.
I’d probably go here again with a group.
We came here for family gathering and we all enjoy not just the food also the service especially the owner. Most of the dishes that we ordered were recommended by her and they just beautiful! Another happy customers!
Hands down favourite vegan restaurant. Tastes like home, authentic Chinese food but all vegan. The prawns and fish taste and look so much like the real thing. The hainanese chicken needs to be booked in advance but comes with complimentary vegan chicken rice, which was so delightful. They have a dedicated kitchen for cooking vegan food. Take your meat eaters here, they will be sure to enjoy it!
My family and I were visiting from Melbourne and had dinner with friends at this amazing restaurant. Being Malaysian and also having eaten at some great Malaysian restaurants in Melbourne - this place definitely is up there! The prawns and hainanese chicken was spot on and the service was super friendly. Would highly recommend this place!
Dried Butter Prawn A MUST Try!!
Kids love their Hainan chicken & special tofu.
#zomato is giving me hard time to get the 140 characters before I can place my review.
Anna did their catering with our company and it was REMARKABLE. I ate their Chicken and Potato curry and Satay Chicken sticks and I WAS BLOWN AWAY. So much flavour, tanginess and incredible. Other Malaysian restaurants we're a rip off with their price. But this place has fantastic PRICING AND QUANTITY. Everyone LOVED it. We ordered a lot more and it was all amazing. Anna takes a lot of pride in their quality of food and I see why. Their packaging, quality, taste and quantity exceeded our expectations. BRILLIANT JOB! PLEASE KEEP UP THE GREAT CHICKEN CURRY!
Great food and very decent portion sizes. Staff are super friendly and make you feel very welcome, are really accommodating and were more than happy to explain the dishes we weren't familiar with. :)
Great food Great service a real hidden gem downstairs hidden away. 2nd time here and will come back again prices are very reasonable and portions are perfect.
The food was extremely tasty today. I especially like their deep fried prawn with wheat and their beef rendang. Nice quantity, will definitely come again 9 out of 11.
Excellent mee goreng and hainam chicken rice! Service was good by the lady boss! The restaurant just needed a light renovation due to it is in a basement and kind of dark but hey! Food is good service is acceptable!
The cozy and amazing place that serve authentic Malaysia food. Finally I found the best mee curry laksa in Auckland and as well I love the mee goreng so delicious 😊
#Malaysiafood
#delicious
Such an amazing place, great people and delicious food, so many good vegetarian options as well. Definitely recommend them, I go very often including for takeaway lunches.
Lady who runs the place is so friendly! The hainanese chicken is sooo good so tasty and moist probably the best in auckland. Real good authentic Malaysian 🤗
Lovely food excellent service.. friendly staff very helpful. Loved it. Value for money. Their golden pillow curry fish is superb. The owner Anna came and chatted with us for sometime. She made us really comfortable
Tried their fish noodles soup and roti with curry chicken, taste pretty good and lovely. Curry is thick and full of spices.
Went second time with order of fried rice and noodles each. Dishes came out alright yet quite oily.
Waitresses are absolutely very friendly and helpful.
Interior of the restaurant require bit of work as it looks aged and quite warm during summer.
Would like to try different dishes if going Howick again :)
Leonard Lee (DoubleHell)
+3.5
New chefs and management as of Oct-2017. Very generous portions, at a reasonable price. Flavours were good and more or less authentic. Service needs improvement - other tables that ordered after us got served first (same dish that we ordered); our dishes did not arrive together - by the time the last dish arrived others were more than halfway through their meal.
Ordered their golden pillow and hainanese chicken in advance. We phoned in at about 1pm for pick up at 5:30pm. Still had to wait another 20minutes before they were ready. I wonder if it is because of the new owner? We've always recieved our orders on time in the past...
The chefs haven't changed, but it's a good thing because the food is delicious. Hainanese chicken is tender and the sauce has just the right amount of sweet and savouriness.
The golden pillow is essentially a giant bread dough thing with chicken or beef curry inside. Chicken is still juicy despite being cooked for a long time and retains a lot of the flavour. Our family enjoys the bread dipped in the curry so we demolished everything. The beef version is just as good too.
Prices are a bit high but they really have good flavours so it's worth it once in a while.
A cosy restaurant that serve authentic Malaysia food. The lady boss is very friendly. The sambal balacan is very good. Price is also very reason set lunch come with wine.
This place is under new management and wow! What a delightful place. Great food, great service, would highly recommend! Would in particular recommend the chilli chicken dish, was a winner.
Delicious Chilli Chicken and Mi Goreng, fabulous service and authentic Malaysian atmosphere. Under new management who are clearly making changes that have made a real difference. Highly recommended.
If you are planning to come here try to pre-order the golden pillow, chicken curry covered in golden bread. Otherwise the other items on the menu is quite nice. Delicious food that isn't expensive.
Had dinner here a week ago. The restaurant was just an ordinary place but was comfortable as it was quite spacious. The service was normal as expected but friendly. No problem with parking. We ordered a couple of dishes. They looked nothing very special but the taste was good. We enjoyed the food. If you are looking for nyonya food, this will be a good place to start with.
Ate here with a friend a few weeks ago for lunch. We're big eaters and could not complain about the servings. Great value for money would recommend for a casual lunch with with family.
Went here on a Friday night with 7 other ladies. The decor is fairly average but we found the staff to be very friendly. The food was nice and the staff made recommendations that helped as there is an extensive menu. The food was average. Not bad by any means but just nothing that would have me running back. It is BYO and the prices are reasonable. They allowed us to use 2 entertainment book vouchers which made the night extremely cheap.
Went here with the wife as fancied something different. We have lived in the area for over 8 years and never tried the place. Interior is nothing special but homely. We ordered a sweet and sour shredded chicken and sizzling steak in black bean. Both dishes were outstanding with rice. Staff were pleasant and I would recommend very highly unless you want something more modern and bright. For us both it was a very enjoyable visit and the prices were very reasonable. My wife is going with some friends this evening and I am ordering a take-out for me and teenage daughter.
This place is honestly one of the best Malaysian places I've been to! I've been here a couple of times and it's never let me down. The fish head soup( I know it sounds gross) is delicious and the golden pillow curry is honestly the best thing ever 😋 it is quite hidden away from the Main Street of howick but it's definitely worth a visit
Very, very good Malaysian in a part of Auckland where good Malaysian restaurants are a little harder to come by. One of the best Laksas I've had in Auckland, little light on the vegetables but the soup part was incredible.
We also got talked into the golden beef pillow which was like a white bread loaf with a beef curry baked inside. The pillow part was sold to us like a kind of roti-style bread but it was more like Tip Top white bread, so not bad but not quite what we thought. Curry sauce was fantastic but the beef was chewy and not cooked long enough. Strangely not a huge drawback though, because the sauce was so good.
We also had samosas which were perfectly crispy but underseasoned. My dining partner had a chicken dish which she liked very much. The waitress was very friendly and made us feel comfortable. Food came out pretty fast too.
Overall, not Sri Pinang but still a very good experience, especially on this side of the city.
When there last week with friend and families member we are 15 ppl of us, awesome place for gathering and good environment. Food was yummy delicious, especially the Golden pillow, four treasure bean, Asam fish, Nestum prawn and butter prawn.... Finger licking good. Staff were friendly and nice. Will be back again and again.
Fast service, Laksa was good quality. Used entertainment book so was pretty cheap. Roti were delicious and not overly oily which is often the case. Sambal chicken was pretty disappointing. Small portion and the taste of the sambal didn't jump out (in terms of flavour or spice).
LOVE the food from here, it is such a family favourite! Be sure to preorder their Golden Pillow and give it a go...tender meat in a delicious curry, enclosed inside a soft bread pastry. So tasty. Service is alright - nothing extraordinary but no faults either.
I have been here 3 times now. Couple of times is for dinner and today went there for lunch. I always order the chicken curry and thats just delish! Will go back here again for lunch as a wee bit expensive during dinner time. Yum yum food!
Both the service and the food that we enjoyed at Nyonya Restaurant today for dinner, was way beyond my expectations! Have no idea why you received some extremely unfair feedback ( I really wanna say mate you go get a life, write such long unfair feedback for a good restaurant like this is not right ), anyway we will be back with more friends, thank you!
We have dined here now on several occasions both as a couple and with Asian friends. We are vegetarians and can highly recommend this part of their menu. We have found the staff to be very helpful and efficient and will be continuing to enjoy their hospitality on a semi-regular basis. The location is a bit hard to find and in a basement but we think this just adds to the charm of the place.
We have dined there at least once a month for the last couple of years. The food is great, heaps of flavour and very authentic. We eat out twice a week at the many different ethnic restaurants in the area and this is the best Malaysian by far.
I have been here more than once and the food is delicious,espescially the plum duck.I have tried a wide variety of dishes here and the food is excellent.The environment and decor of the restaurant is also very appealing.
i love this place``me and my wife went there on sunday``when we walk down` theres a lady waiting for us` the lady ask us how many of you? we reply 2 of us thank you, then the lady took us to a seat, the lady asked us. cold water? or tea? with a big smille..we said tea please. the lady was very nice``
after we older...oh my god.. i have to say the food there is very very very nice...i loved the honey garlic chicken..and the kearubu crispy pork` .its very very nice., we dicied to go back there next sundy`
i have been there few times already, the food is always been fantastic. the service is outstanding and the staff is very friendly. specially on the weekends the restaurant is full and very busy.
We have been to the restaurant a few times now and the food has always been fantastic. The atmosphere is welcoming and the staff are extremely friendly and attentive, always on hand to help you with your menu selection. The surroundings are informal although the menu makes it feel top class. A firm favourite for us now, will definitely be going back many times in the future.
Was very impressed the first time I dined there but there is no consistency as the quality of the food has varied over time. Good selection of desserts and the staff are polite. Only known Malaysian restaurant to serve the equivalent of 'Japanese tofu' which is called Kampung Tofu on their menu.
The Chicken rice is a must have although you have to book well in advance but it is worth it. All in all it is a good if not great Malaysian restaurant.
Carmella @ Easy Food Hacks
+3.5
Malaysia Nyonya is a stalwart in Howick and has served Nyonya cuisine for over 6 years. It is one of the more formal Malaysian restaurants where you can relax and take your time over your meal. There is a fantastic selection of dishes on the menu, which spans not only the Nyonya cuisine but also Malaysian favourites. There are also several special dishes which have to be ordered 24 hours in advance; the golden pillow (see below), Hainanese steamed chicken and herbal duck. I last reviewed this place over a year ago: Malaysia Nyonya review 25 March 2011 and when Malaysia Kitchen Programme asked for a review, I looked forward to coming back and revisiting some favourite dishes.
Nyonya food, for the uninitiated, is the aromatic fusion of Chinese and Malay ingredients, spices and cooking techniques. From the 15th century, Chinese migrants who were mainly young bachelors, settled and married Malay women, creating a whole new culture with its own pathos, food, customs and colourful sartorial style. Nyonya culture is an important part of Malaysian life, and the well-known dishes such as kuih lapis, Kapitan chicken curry, assam laksa and otak-otak, are a part of the Malaysian food scene.
We made a lunch visit. Unfortunately neither the rojak (Malaysian salad with shrimp paste sauce) or the kerabu mango salad were available, but one of my favourites, kuih pie tee made for a great starter. Kuih pie tee, or top hats, are crispy cases encasing savoury sautéed vegetables. These are a well-known Nyonya snack, and a good introduction to the cuisine. Another traditional Malaysian delicacy is ngoh hiang, its crispy deep-fried bean curd ‘skin’ giving way to 5-spice flavoured pork.
I had preordered the golden pillow (with rendang instead of the usual chicken curry). This was the highlight; I loved breaking into the bread shell, and tearing pieces of warm bread to dip into the rich gravy. Although I did recall the beef being more tender previously.
The wat tan hor came in a huge serving, with generous pieces of squid, prawn and chicken nestled among the egg-y gravy, and there was plenty to share. It could have done with more seasoning, but the kids really enjoyed it.
Crispy eggplant in spicy sauce had a good contrast between the crisp slices of eggplant and the savoury mince. I found the deep-fried dishes a touch too oily, so it may pay to make a special request if it bothers you.
There is complimentary fruit for dessert, which is a great way to end the meal.
Malaysia Nyonya is a worthwhile visit if you are in the Eastern Suburbs and you are sure to find many great dishes to delight your taste buds.
http://easyfoodhacks.blogspot.in/2012/12/malaysia-nyonya-restaurant-howick.html
Malaysia Nyonya has such a great selection of vegetarian dishes on their menu, the Nestum prawns were amazing! On my first visit, I was a bit worried after reading all the negative reviews, but from my experience the owner was nothing but incredibly friendly and hospitable, some of the best service I've ever had. I even visited again a month later and received an even warmer welcome. Would definitely recommend to everyone.
Service was good and food was tasty and good bar the hainanese chicken which was a bit tough and the Assam fish that lacked spiciness, sweetness and sourness. Salted eggplant, tofu and nestum prawns were a hit though. Overall on the pricier side for malaysian food too.
Food was good. Service quality inconsistent. Owner(?) forgot one of our dishes, then told us we did not order it, even though she mentioned the dish on her previous visit to the table.
If you are planning to come here try to pre-order the golden pillow, chicken curry covered in golden bread. Otherwise the other items on the menu is quite nice. Delicious food that isn't expensive.
It's a long way for us but the vegetarian golden pillow is unique and worth the trouble. Requires pre order.
Amazing atmosphere, the best food ever, so fresh and delicious every time! The lovely owner is the kindest lady we have ever met and is always so happy to see us! We love this restaurant and come weekly! Happy to eat here again.. 😍
Homemade fried tofu and sambal kangkong so goooooooddddddd!!!!! Steamed chicken is their signature, not bad.
Delicious and authentic! The homemade tofu and salted fish eggplant were our highlights. Seemed to be struggling with staffing but waitresses were lovely and clearly doing their best. Thank you for the taste of home! Will definitely be back when we next visit Auckland.
I have been coming here for years and it never disappoints! The food is always delicious + full of flavour. I recommend pre ordering a golden pillow which is a curry cooked within a bread loaf. You don't come here for the service or surroundings, you come for the food. And it's always good
Awesome food. Make sure to make a reservation as it gets quite busy.
You gotta try that "pillow" though
We came for a dinner with friends and we all had an amazing and lovely meal! Great options for vegetarians and vegans. For non-vegetarians, the duck was delicious and is highly recommended. I had the curry laksa which was delicious and hearty.
Anna and Alice were so friendly and we felt very welcome in their restaurant! 🥰
We came on the recommendation of a friend. Really pleased that we did. The special vegetarian eggplant with a family handed down sauce recipe is to die for.
Apple glazed pork chops was sizzling hot and delicious. The golden pillow chicken curry was so unique with the bread made out of non-instant yeast the traditional way. Very friendly family service in a relaxed ambiance. We will definately be back.
Malaysian- Chinese restaurant. All Nyonya style dishes are served here.
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