Myth Cafe — Restaurant in Melbourne

A nondescript café in a quiet street in West Melbourne offering St Ali coffee, and hard-to-get Kelantanese (East Coast Malaysian) dishes.

When we arrived on a Sunday morning around 11.30 am, we were told that the café was not quite ready for sit-down meals and they have already run out of Khao Jam (a rice dish) and a new batch won't be ready until 12.30 pm.

Well, I was not prepared to walk away hungry and ordered other dishes that were available.

The curry puff pastry is quite biscuit-like (not flaky-style) and has a rich potato filling with good chilli heat. The kaya and butter croissant is a little too rich for me, I much prefer steam white bread to showcase the kaya (Malaysian style egg custard).

Nasi Kak Wok is a rice dish that, according to Google, originate from Kelantan, a State on the East coast of peninsula Malaysia (and borders Thailand). The version here is basically white rice, small pieces of fried chicken, curry chicken and sambal. I don't know how authentic this version is as I have never been to Kelantan, but I can tell you, my palate loves it. It is a simple, homey dish and very similar in structure to a Nasi Lemak. What makes it for me is the depth of flavour in the curry sauce (lemak) - utterly delicious. The chicken pieces are fried without batter, slightly sweet, and dipping them into that sambal (chilli paste) just lift them to a whole new level.

Chee Cheong Fun is a steam rice noodle dish that originates in Guangdong China, but has become ubiquitous in Malaysia and Singapore. The café served it plain with a sweet sauce or curry sauce. We were told that the sweet sauce is home made by the Chef, and its not the usual heavy, sweet, hoi sin based sauce found at other restaurants. If you are like me and loved this simple dish, then you have to try the version here. Extremely silky smooth and light. Delicious.

There are already a number of restaurants in Melbourne that offers Yong Tau Foo, a Hakka Chinese dish of usually vegetables stuffed with fish paste, usually pan fried or soup based. The version here has tofu, aubergine, bitter gourd and bean curd skin stuffed with fish paste, as well as fish balls and fried won ton - all either deep fried, pan fried, braised or boiled. I like the variety. I also like the freshness, especially evident by the fish balls - smooth, not fishy and importantly, the texture is "bouncy".

Khao Jam (Thai word for rice/mixed) is another Kelantan dish that I really wanted to try. So, I ordered it as a takeaway. The version here has keropok (deep fried crackers), rice, salad (bean sprout, cucumber, red cabbage), kerisik (toasted, pounded coconut), salted egg, tamarind sauce and chilli sauce. The rice is slightly green in colour because it is cooked with a variety of herbs (apparently 20) and is quite fragrant. Each mouthful of the rice with the crunchy salad and condiments - salty, sweet, sour and spicy - is absolutely a blast. I can't wait to go back and have another go. The only niggle is the keropok - parts of it is not deep fried properly and is very hard.

While we were having our meal, quite a few customers have to be turned away because apparently there is no more food. And this is around 12 noon. So, perhaps best to ring up to avoid...

📍Myth Cafe, West Melbourne @myth_cafe_au is a new restaurant starring authentic Malaysian food, with a Kelantanese menu only on Sundays!

We ordered their Sunday Special Khao Jam ($17.00) and Yongtaufu + Chee Cheong Fun set ($17.50).

Hakka and Guangxi Style Yong Tofu was simply amazing. HIGHLY recommend it, and I’m craving it again as I’m writing this. FYI you can ask the staff to pick your own Yong Tau Fu and different sauces!

Khao (rice) and Jam (mixed together) is sort of like a bibimbap of the Northeast Malaysia/South Thailand region. It’s not even well known in Malaysia, so it’s definitely a rare sight in Australia, especially when they simply can’t source the herbs that make the dish unique. It’s daring, but they successfully replicated the essential elements on the plate.

Special mention to their chilli sambals- all were SUPER spicy but superbly captivating and delicious. However, truth be told, the rice was a bit clumpy which hindered its true beauty, but absolute respect for the chef to go out and talk to her customers, humbly receiving feedback and striving to improve. It touches my heart and it shows great potential for success. The staff team is super genuine and asks for feedback. We will definitely be back to have everything on...

Love their authentic breakfast dishes that are such good value! Just came back from a 2 week Malaysia trip including Penang (food heaven) and their curry and pork noodle soups are almost identical.

🍳 Wake Up brekkie set A (eggs + kaya toast + myth drink) 3.8/5 ✨ 🍳 Wake up Brekkie set D (curry puff) 3.5/5 🥟 potato curry puff 3.8/5 🐟 sardine curry puff 3/5 🍜 old school curry noodle $18.50 4.5/5 ✨ 🍜 myth Yee Mee $18.9 4.3/5 ✨ 🍢 chee cheung fun w/ sweet sauce 3/5 🍢 chee cheung fun w/ curry sauce 4/5 (^ customisable) i feel theybgive more sauce of curry vs sweet 🌾 khao jam $19 3/5 (marinated fried chicken 4/5) 🍙 nasi lemak bungkus chicken & egg $4 4.5/5 ✨ 🫖 Myth drink $7 (mix of kopi+tea mix with hainan milk tea) 3/5 ☕️ Malaysian Teh ice $7 4.25/5 ✨

Wonton & fried egg plant had a nice contrasting crisp as it slowly gets submerged in the sauce of choice. As you bite into the Yong Tau Foo, flavour bursts into your mouth and your senses are awakened.

I was surprised how delicious the tofu and fried veggie options were when it soaked up that broth as I usually opt for protein options.

Chee Cheung fun is my guilty pleasure. However, I find that they gave more curry sauce than the sweet sauce, impacting its...