Chillipadi Mamak Kopitiam

295 Raceourse Road
Kensington, VIC 3031
03 9376 0228

The name sounds like quite a mouthful. Chant with me… “Chillipadi Mamak Kopitiam”… ha ha! I have no idea why I find it soo fun saying it. It’s got to be the most innovative eatery name. At work, my colleagues would look at me in puzzlement as I say out loud that I’m going to be eating at “Chillipadi Kopitiam of the Mamak tonight!”. Like a mantra. They’d think I’m speaking in Malay or some obscure Chinese dialect. Let’s keep them wondering. : )
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I seem to keep coming back here for hawker food, so I think it’s time to write a post about it. I have an Asian palate and it is Singapore-based. This place serves mamak-style (Tamil Muslim) Malaysian food, so the dishes will be different from home, but still there will be many parallels with Singapore’s hawker cuisine. It’s as close to home as I can get here. So I was thrilled to hear about this place on twitter and the food-blogosphere.

My first visit here was just a week after I’d returned from Singapore, crammed with high hawker food standards! I needed a break from photos and food-blogging so I did not bring my camera. Bad move, lol. The meal was great!! The char hor fun, sambal ikan pari and thosai tasted authentic and brought my heart closer to home. I wanted to come back.
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The homely, diverse and exciting looking menu draws you in and entices you to come back to sample more. It felt like a menu I might see in a kopitiam in the vicinity of Little India in Singapore. I like how they’ve whimsically segregated the menu categories with terms like “Kaki Chiak” (ownself eat – individual dishes) and “Kongsi Chiak” (partner eats – share plates).

Many of the drinks on the menu are classic kopitiam drinks that you can get back home. I knew I had to order my favourites. 90% of the time, if it isn’t 100 plus, I’d be getting teh peng - tea with condensed milk on ice. This is hands down the best teh pengI’ve ever had in Melbourne.

Jo and I came here on a Thursday after work. It was a warm evening and while our bellies were hungry at work, we suddenly felt less hungry when we walked out into the heat.
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Oh chien could be considered Malaysia’s version of orh luak in Singapore. I think both dishes are quite similar except maybe less starch is used in oh chien. I love a good orh luak. And good orh luak is difficult to come by even in Singapore.
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I thought this dish was quite authentic in flavour and the chilli sauce was more or less correct and it tasted good with the dish. You can’t find small oysters here, so what they’ve done instead is cut up the oysters and fry so that you won’t get one big of mouthful of oysters when you eat it. The oysters tasted fresh but could’ve been slightly less cooked. The dish smelt and tasted good and my only gripe is that it was quite scarily oily.

Jo seems to like her Assam laksa (aka Penang laksa) and ordered this when we ate here together. It’s been ages since I’ve eaten Penang laksa, so I think I’ve forgotten the full flavour palette for this strong tasting noodle soup. What I remember was it’s supposed to be very spicy, very sour, thick and meaty with fish broth, and full of other aromatic infusions from the hae ko (prawn paste), pineapple and mint. I remember sitting by the roadside beside a dirty drain in Penang having a bowl of assam laksa. It was sooooo spicy and fragrant that my tummy nearly imploded, but maaan was that an amazing bowl.
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The soup was not sour and not spicy enough for Jo and she only thought it was okay. She also commented that they always serve the laksas here with thick udon-looking noodles and that it wasn’t the same as what she remembered and preferred.
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I thought the soup was sour enough but could certainly have more spiciness and fragrance punch from the ingredients like hae ko and pineapple. A bit more ‘body’ from fish pieces would also be very welcome. Just crank up the spice levels and I’d be quite happy with this dish, really.

I must say that I shouldn’t collect 3 visits’ worth of food pictures and then do a post about it. This post is now almost looking as long as a 9-course degustation menu post!
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I met Swells and Marc for lunch after work on a Saturday afternoon. Incidentally, that was also the day of Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras parade. I caught a glimpse of boys with angel wings on the TV, gliding down the street with a gossamer smile. On that day, they celebrate love, tolerance and diversity. Glitter aside, this is the core of the festival’s true meaning. And in the morning, will I see these diaphanous boys softly float up into the measureless sky? Maybe towards a tranquil place where happy lives could endlessly grow?
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Alternatively, they could always shed their angel wings, join my journey and get fat with me. Nothing wrong with putting on a bit of meat, yeah? One could be a dreamer, but one should also be pragmatic. After all, we all have to eat. And eating can sometimes takes us back to our childhood… a place where pixies, angels and gnomes still exist.

It seems the quality of Malaysian food in Melbourne is getting better and better. After so many visits, there are still more dishes, drinks and desserts that I’d very much like to try out at CPMKopitiam. The menu is just so exciting and different from other Malaysian joints.
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I know that many of the dishes’ spice level and chilli-hotness have been toned down to suit local tastes, but the flavours has retained their authenticity and bastardisation has yet to have happened. The toning down can almost be a metaphorical reminder of how far away from home I am.
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Actually I don’t blame them for adjusting the spice levels. If you think about it, ang mohs (caucasians) make up a huge part of the community in Kensington, so you want them to patronise here. They also have bigger stomachs, they will order entreés, mains and dessert, and they have wine with their meals. Seat a table of Singaporeans or Malaysians, they are so petite, eat one bowl or plate of something and their bellies cannot fit anything else.
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So I can understand why the spice levels have been toned down and I am glad that the flavours have remained authentic. If I have one wish, it would be that CPMKopitiam allow its customers to choose the spice level of the sambal and curry dishes. So that when I next eat here, I can say I’d like an extra-spicy fish head curry, and they’d cook that for me.
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Fatboo would like to end this post with a little plea:
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Pleeasee don’t forget us migrant Asians. We might have small, fussy stomachs, but we still need someplace to give heartwarming comfort food that reminds us of home. Please stay authentic and don’t ever tweak the recipes to the point that they become bastardised. You listen to fatboo’s request, can?
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You should also check out Penny’s comprehensive post about Chillipadi Mamak Kopitiam here.