Baba Malaysia

Mietta's Eating & Drinking in Melbourne 2000

Contributors' Choice
Page 137

"Do not judge a book by its cover". This must have been written for Baba Malaysia. The façade is prosaic. Inside, it’s as simple. Judge before you eat, and you pass up an experience in the ultimate in multicultural Malaysia, out in the eastern suburbs.

The Baba of Malaysia are the scions of Chinese migrants and the local Malay. Our host, Jackie Yip, and her husband may not be Baba, but they have stayed faithful to the aspirations of the previous owners. Especially Mr Yip, in the kitchen, in the nine years the Yips have run Baba Malaysia.

Chinese and Malaysian dishes dominate. Malaysian hawker fare includes the Indian mee goreng. This comprises yellow noodles stirfried with bean curd, potatoes, shrimp and spices. Jackie herself recommends the curry-puffs - fried pastries holding in a curried vegetable filling. Exquisite. The pastry melts in the mouth. The filling is robust. The hawker dishes are reasonably priced at $6-$7. The Chinese dishes are $8 to $9 for beef and chicken, to $10 to $13 for seafood. Jackie is chatty, and the service is quick. There is ample parking on Springvale Rd, or the side streets.

138 Springvale Road
Nunawading
Malaysian & Idoesian Cuisine
Melways reference 48:F10
Phone: 9878 8486
Opening hours: 7 days Lunch: 11am-2pm, Dinner: 5.30- 10pm
BYO
Corkage: $0.50 per person
Accepts credit cards
Seats Inside: 28, Outside: 15
Features: Restricted smoking, kids encouraged
Favourites: Curry noodle soup $6.50, Beef curry $7.50, Malaysian rice $7.20

*An updated review can be found in Mietta's Eating & Drinking in Australia 2000, pg210