Cafe Malabar Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Victoria

My recent lunch at Malabar Cafe left me with a range of mixed emotions, as the restaurant failed to live up to its potential in several aspects. While it had some promising elements, there were noticeable shortcomings that marred the overall dining experience.

Upon entering Malabar Cafe, the ambiance appeared welcoming and inviting. However, my initial enthusiasm was dampened when we were served with soiled plates. The sight of these plates raised concerns about the restaurant's attention to cleanliness and hygiene. Although the staff was quick to respond and replaced the plates, it left a lingering disappointment.

When it came to the food, the beef gravy dish did offer some redemption. The flavorful gravy was rich and comforting, bringing out the best in the dish. However, I was disheartened to find that the beef was overcooked, resulting in meat that was excessively tender and slightly chewy. This compromised the overall texture and taste of the otherwise enjoyable dish.

While the neychoru beef dish showed promise with its good flavors, it fell short due to the insufficient portion size. Given the menu's pricing, I expected a more satisfying serving, leaving me somewhat unsatisfied with the value offered.

The biggest setback was the chicken dish, which surprisingly tasted like fish. This peculiar flavor combination was perplexing and overshadowed any positive aspects of the meal. The kitchen's failure to deliver a properly prepared chicken dish raised doubts about their quality control and attention to detail.

To add to the disappointments, the coffee served at Malabar Cafe was not up to the mark either. As a coffee lover, I had hoped for a flavorful cup of filter coffee, but it lacked the authentic taste that one would expect. Instead, the brew tasted lackluster and weak, leaving me unsatisfied with the coffee experience.

In conclusion, while Malabar Cafe had the potential to offer a memorable dining experience, it fell short in multiple areas. The issues with soiled plates, overcooked beef, the perplexing chicken flavor, and lackluster coffee all contributed to an underwhelming meal.

I sincerely hope that Malabar Cafe takes this feedback constructively and works towards addressing these shortcomings. With improvements in food quality, portion sizes, coffee preparation, and service standards, they can elevate the dining experience and regain the trust of their customers. As of now, I would be hesitant to recommend this...

Edit Oct '25: Tried their Hallowe'en Tasting menu today and will say I'm satisfied. There were a few misses here and there with the service, like forgetting cutlery or getting multiple courses together (they're clearly not used to the tasting menu setup :D ), though it wasn't a negative. The lentil cracker canapé at the start really set the tone for the evening as it was bursting with flavour; yet I did notice some aged tartiness maybe because it was left outside for quite long. Still loved it! The following 2 courses which was the quail soup and beet tartare were just alright, not bad, but not that impressionable either. Still I enjoyed the roll that came with it which was quite eccentric. The main dish with the halibut 2 ways with creamy rice was one of the best things I've had in a very long time, such amazing flavours OMG! The palate cleansers were just as good. Lastly, the dessert was simply out of this world. Having been to so many high end places I'm surprised this was my first time (or the first time I noticed) trying granita! The main+dessert together would easily fall in the best restaurant category. The only suggestion I'd give is to de-bone the fish completely before serving, plus the cook on the fish needed a tad more refinement. A bit more finesse and it would certainly secure a place in the Michelin guide, and maybe even win a star, if it ever became a thing in Victoria.

Even though I'm from India, just reading the menu online caught me off guard. Could not grasp anything...like almost never of multiple dishes until today. It explains how vast and multicultural Indian cuisine is, it's hard to keep track :D. This restaurant proves Indian cuisine is more than just naan and butter chicken. Trying Keralite cuisine was a delightful experience to say the least. I don't think I've had such ordinary, rustic dishes - fish curry (Molle) and chicken puttu ,in a restaurant before. It had the Indian countryside vibes, almost felt like notes of nature translated into food. Yes, it is still restaurant food with a few tones of added zest, quite unnecessary, but it's what enhances and makes the food tastier. Still, the closest it can get to experiencing authentic...

One of our friends suggested that it is a must go Kerala restaurants. We happened to visit the restaurant on our trip to the island this summer. We were super excited to try the Kerala authentic dishes. We bought $140 worth food( different varieties like egg puffs, kizhiporotta, beef fry, king prawn fry, mussels fry, chicken curry, appam and porotta).All our high expectations of having delicious Kerala dishes came to an end once we started tasting each of them. We bought the items for our dinner , and we ended up throwing some of the items in the garbage . To be honest, our day ended with such an aweful a day bitter feeling. Even our little kids told us never to go there again. To name the dissatisfaction we had, here is the list: 1.Porotta: Was very salty, and bittery. We bought 2; somehow, we finished 1 , and the 2nd one went in the garbage. Kizhiporotta: Again, too salty that one could barely take it to the mouth. The beef mix didn’t had any taste of beef. It had a gross smell of raw fish. Tiger prawn fry: the worst prawn dish I have ever ate in my life. Both myself and my husband had the same feelings about this. We felt like throwing up because it was not well-cooked. The head part looked raw and had a waxy texture in mouth. The shell was brittle for the 2 well-cooked ones. Kids did not taste it, thank God! We had to throw it away. Both of us are pretty sure that it was not a fully cooked one. This was never expected from a highly rated Kerala restaurant. Egg puffs: very small puffs. Barely any filling . Not worth for $5/piece.

In general, the food is expensive compared to other Indian restaurants; also, for the less qualntityfelt very bad for wasting a huge amount of money at the restaurant to finally left with hungry stomach again that night. There was not even a single item we bought from the restaurant, which we can give more than an average rating. Average rated items: -Appam -Chicken varutharachathu

Indeed, the staffs were great. Thank you for that. We will never visit here again. Our worst experience on a list of...