Whenever my two oldest friends and I get the chance to get together for dinner, we always try to venture out to somewhere we’ve never been before – usually one of the Washingtonian’s top picks, cheap eats or some restaurant we’ve heard of and received good reviews on yelp – for our Christmas dinner, we decided to check out a Malaysian restaurant in the heart of DC: Malaysia Kopitiam.
Malaysia Kopitiam is located at:
1827 M St NW
Washington DC, 20036
We all chose an appetizer and two main dishes to share between the three of us – yes, we can seriously eat :)
I’ve only had Malaysian food once before and it was many many years ago, but from what I remembered, it was delicious! I couldn’t tell you exactly what I had the first time, but I do remember it was a fusion of Indian type foods and Souteast Asian type foods. There was lots of roti, curries, noodles, spices…right up my alley! The three appetizers we chose were: Roti Canai, Lo Bak and Tofu Satay.
Roti Canai
I think a staple of Malaysian appetizers is Roti Canai – a flat, flaky Indian style bread served with a bowl of Malaysian Curry chicken (as a dipper). It is absolutely delicious and should be a MUST whenever you eat at a Malaysian restaurant! The curry is sweet, tangy & spicy with chicken and potato pieces…it hits all the right taste buds! You’ll probably have to order an extra order of roti because they give you way more curry than roti!
Lo Bak
Lo Bak, a crispy roll with pork, onions and jicama. Jicama is a Mexican potato/turnip. The rolls reminded me of a dish that can be found in dim sum carts. It was a recommendation from the Washingtonian and one of my favorties. They were perfectly crispy on the outside and very fufilling on the inside. The rolls were cut into bite size pieces and served with a sweet and sour dipping sauce.
Tofu Satay
I love tofu. I love satay. I’ve had both plenty of times before…but this was a first time for Tofu Satay. This was a very big dish, lots of tofu triangles, perfectly grilled. Texture was wonderful. Flavor was interesting…the flavor was not what I was expecting. It was a tangy, almost sour flavor. (My first thoughts were, is this bad tofu?) but…after a second piece, I figured they used some tamarind. The inital flavor is sour, but then the sweetness soaks through. It wasn’t my favorite, but worth a try.
We chose two main dishes to share amongst the three of us…one of the dishes were recommended by the Washingtonian and another was an abritrary pick.
Raja Chicken (Washingtonian Recommended)
Raja chicken, boneless chicken covered in a spicy sauce iwth a side of crispy cellophane noodles, garnished with parsley and sesame seeds. The chicken appeared to have been battered, but didn’t hold the crunch. The flavor was sweet and sour. The cellophane noodles definitely added the crisp and paired well with the chicken.
Spicy Tamarind Beef
Spicy Tamarind Beef, yummy! Big chunks of beef in a spicy tamarind sauce atop eggplant, okra & onions…the beef was very tendor and easily pulled apart, a little grainy and dry, but soaked up the sauce well. The eggplants were not too mushy. I didn’t see much okra. This dish is very tasty when freshly made, but as a meal for the next day – don’t think about it!
We considered dessert, but our stomachs couldn’t handle it.
The atmosphere was very friendly. The service could use some work. The food came out quickly. It was extremely casual and great place to just sit back, eat and have a good time with your friends!
Overall, I’d give it a 7 out of 10.
