Madam Kwong @ Boxhill, Victoria

Discovering Madam Kwong last weekend was like unearthing treasure to me. So how does a humble little cosy place compare to treasure when it is not a hatted restaurant or requires a reservation months in advance? Well by serving up Penang chee cheong fun, complete with sweet sauce and shrimp paste.

I have been a fan of chee cheong fun since I was a little kid, whether it is rolled up, flat and thin, eaten with yong tau foo and sweet sauce or steam with prawns like you will get in yum cha. However since being introduced to the Penang version where it comes with shrimp paste, sweet sauce and sesame seeds, it ranks supreme. Trouble is, apart from yum cha, I have nver found a place that serves chee cheong fun on the menu, well until we popped into Madam Kwong. So what if it is a 30 minute drive and sets me back $7, I know where I am going when I want some chee cheong fun.

So what if you don't like chee cheong fun? There's a whole range of Penang delights like the char kuey teow, prawn mee and assam laksa. To top it up, there's a whole range of kuih-muih too!

Besides the chee cheong fun, we had a bubur cha cha, a coconut based dessert with a mix of orange and sweet potato, yam and black eye beans. Sweet with a tinge of pandan, it was the perfect pick me up.

If finding chee cheong fun was like finding treasure, how about Nasi Lemak wrapped in banana leaf? While the sambal was more sweet rather than spicy and I would have prefer more coconut milk in the rice, it amazing to find something so traditional (in packaging) in Melbourne, let alone in Malaysia (where I hear is now wrapped with plastic and newspaper because banana leaves are too expensive). One packet here though will get you at least 6 packets in Malaysia.

The Wife had the Assam Laksa, slightly spicy and sour, complete with the see through laksa noodle. The soup base is much clearer than versions I have seen that are murky with fish but definitely not light on flavour.

Apart from dishing up some good old Penang classics, their fridge is stocked up with some amazing stuff from frozen curry and rendang pastes to frozen Malaysian durians! Looks like the next time I am coming here, I might as well do my groceries too!

Address and contact details:

Verdict: 4 stars out of 5 stars. Guaranteed to bring a smile to any Malaysian who hasn't had a decen! t meal t hat screams home. Perfect place to go to if you are missing home (if home is Malaysia, of course).