Butterfly pea flower-hued boiled rice with side entrées.
‘What the heck is this place?” a friend said with bewilderment as we pulled into the parking lot of the obscure-looking Malaysia Hotel where our dining destination, Malai restaurant, was situated.
“Didn’t we all require a restaurant that was open 24 hours, equipped with air-con, with lots of parking space? Then this is it,” I confidently responded.
Quietly, however, I, who was also a first-time visitor, was hoping that the food would be good enough to compensate for the rather inglorious image of the premises.
Malai restaurant had been chosen as a dining haven for our party of 12 simply for its convenient access, time-honoured cuisine and round-the-clock service.
The 80-seater may look little more than a no-frills café in an outmoded backpacker’s hotel built in the 60s to cater to American GIs during the Vietnam War, but the establishment actually turned out to be one of the most perfect dining venues we could have asked for.
That was thanks to the soothing session of tasty comfort food in a very unpretentious atmosphere. And despite the non-stop parade of various dishes that kept arriving at our tables, the bill came out amazingly cheap.
The retro interior.
Cuisine-wise, the restaurant serves up typical hotel coffee shop fare. Its roughly 300-dish menu features a wide variety of local classics such as yum (sour and spicy salad), nam prik (chili-paste dip), curries, stir-fries, fried rice and noodles. There are also a limited number of Western staples, including French onion soup, Hungarian goulash, pork chops, steak, fish and chips, German-style pork knuckles and sandwiches. All seemed to showcase more of a long-established cooking skill than prime-grade ingredients. For example, they use margarine instead of butter.
Lately Malai has also highlighted its new culinary attraction. Since last year, the restaurant has welcomed an additional team of kitchen staff from Rex, another hotel from the same era that closed down due to the astronomical boom of Sukhumvit land prices. Rex had for decades been famous for its late-night khao tom feast in which various freshly-cooked side entrées were enjoyed with piping hot boiled rice.
From an approximate 30 items on the khao tom menu, worth having are moo sub pla khem thod, or pan-fried minced pork cake permeated with salted fish (100 baht); sour spicy salad of duck egg yolk (100 baht); and Chinese-style braised duck meat (120 baht).
There are also stir-fried dried jute leaves (100 baht); stir-fried water mimosa with crispy pork (120 baht); sautéed white chives with tofu and crispy pork (130 baht); and deep-fried pork spare ribs with pepper and garlic (120 baht). All the stir-fried dishes pleasingly had the highly-expected wok-burnt aroma.
Should you crave something soupy, go for jab chai, or mixed vegetables and pork stew (90 baht), and tom super, or chicken feet in sour and spicy soup (130 baht).
There are some delicious dishes from the regular menu as well. My favourite were yum nuea yang, or spicy salad of grilled beef (150 baht), and khanom pak kad, or pan-fried radish cake (90 baht).
Choice of sweets were limited to mango sticky rice, banana fritters, supermarket-brand ice cream and a selection of microwaved desserts.
We tried the sweet mango with coconut cream seethed sticky rice (100 baht) and deep-fried banana fritters with syrup (60 baht) and found them truly satisfying.
Every element at Malai seems to follow old-school traditions. Waitress, busboys and bar staff, in 70s-styled, orange-coloured uniforms, looked as vintage and mystical as the place itself.
The banana fritter dessert.
The service quality, which I personally see it as a charming jeopardy, really depends on your luck. Throughout our five-hour Friday evening visit, we were treated to a team of young, sociable and extraordinarily helpful service staff. Whereas later on, during a Sunday lunch call, we experienced a lifeless and cold, although efficient enough and fluent in English, service from the senior employees.
Despite the age-old appearance, the restaurant, as well as its toilets, was very clean, well-kept and airy. Clientele were basically regulars and in-house guests — Thais and international.
The place is conveniently accessible, only 10 minute’s walk down the soi from Lumphini MRT Station Ngam Duphli exit.
The stir-fried water mimosa with crispy pork.
Sour and spicy grilled beef salad.
The sour and spicy chicken feet soup.
This source first appeared on Bangkok Post Lifestyle.