One of our weekday lunch while I was on business trip to Jakarta was at Mama Malaka Restaurant At South Quarter. According to the restaurant, Mama Malaka started since 1959. If that’s true, it has established itself for quite some years. I like long establishing restaurant, provided that they maintained their standard and quality of food. As such I am keen to check out Mama Malaka Restaurant At South Quarter.

 

Space at Mama Malaka Restaurant At South Quarter is nicely decorated to feel like home. It has a wall painting of the pre-war houses that looks like those in Singapore. On this black and white painting, there were lots of Chinese words, as such we were wondering if this is a restaurant opened by an Indonesia Chinese.

 

 

 

As I started to flip through the thick menu, I was greeted first by the Appetiser section, and then followed by the Ganai (Bread), Seafood, Chicken & Meat, Rice & Noodle, Duck, Vegetables, Dessert and lastly Beverages. The glutton in me is prompting me to order as much as I can but I put on a fight with this temptation.

 

 

Drinks offered at Mama Malaka at South Quarter was not as huge as some other restaurants. There were a total of 11 drinks. We ordered a hot Susu Kacang (Rp 25,000) & a Iced Honey Lime (Rp 32,000).

 

 

We ordered a Seafood Soup (Rp 72,500) to go along with our meal. The humble looking dish when served doesn’t look appealing. In it were prawns, chicken, egg, squid and salty preserved vegetables. It was rich in seafood flavour, unfortunately, it was way too salty.

 

 

Sambal Prawn (Rp 75,000) is one of my favourite food when in Singapore. It is best eaten with white rice. I find the one served at Mama Malaka resemble the taste of Singapore Sambal Prawn. It is less spicy and on the sweeter end.

 

Ayam Buah Keluwak (IDR 75k) was way below my expectation. There isn’t the buah keluak flavour, instead, we tasted dark soya sauce and it was too satly.

 

 

 

 

Kangkung (IDR 35k) with Sambal was fabulous though it may not be a choice for the low spice tolerance. Likewise, too salty.

 

 

Among the Ganai (Bread selection), 6 choices available. We went for the Roti Tissu (Rp 35,000) which is as thin as paper roti canai drizzled with condensed milk, sugar and butter. Oh my, it is such a rich bread based on the ingredients it has. This is indicated as a Chef Favourite on the menu.

 

 

Martabak Special (Rp 31,000) is an Indonesia Pancake topped with nutella, chopped peanuts and cheese resulting in a sweet yet savoury dessert. It is similar to our Singapore local Pancake but it’s texture is a little different. The best I could describe is that it has a Mochi like texture but denser; soft with just a little chewiness. The Martabak could have a variety of different toppings.

 

 

 

3 hot desserts were available. Gandum (IDR 28k) which we tried was far too sweet for my liking. In it was mainly barley, a little boring. The other 2 desserts are dessert Pulut Hitam (IDR 27k), the classic dessert and Sago Pudding (IDR28k), the more interesting of them all..

 

 

NAHMJ Verdict

 

Food tasted homely while ambience is casual. In addition, Mama Malaka Restaurant offers a good selection of food which NAHMJ likes variety. But the food served at Mama Malaka were far too salty.

 

 

 

 

Mama Malaka Restaurant

Jl. R.A. Kartini Kav. 8, South Quarter, Cilandak Barat, Cilandak
Tel:

FB: https://www.facebook.com/mamamalaka/?fref=ts

 

Opening Hours

 

Daily  1000 to 2200

 

Getting There

 

By Taxi

 

Rating: 7/10