Malacca Cafe — Restaurant in Southlake

I am in town this week and trying to find a good Malaysian restaurant. I found Malaysian Cafe from google search and stopped by yesterday. To my amazement and totally stunned and speechless when I saw my childhood friend and owner came out to greet me.

Sharon knew what I wanted to try and brought me Malaysian coffee, house special tofu, Cantonese egg noodle dish even though I had lunch only a couple hours before. To top that off she brought me several of the home made kuih she made that morning. Oh gosh everything was so delicious and authentic! I highly encourage anyone who wants to try authentic Malaysian food please come to the Malacca Cafe! So you know how serious they are with authenticity, Sharon also told me she was expecting a shipment this week of ingredients from Malaysian including ikan bilis and dark soy sauce.

Cheers Malacca Cafe!!!

Update - Back at Malacca Cafe the same week for dinner to try something different. For appetizer, we had the Nyonya kuih pie tee. Enjoyed the crispy tart shell filled with shredded eggs, shrimp, cucumber, lettuce and turnip. Light and refreshing and a very innovative fusion twist to the poh pieh. For the main course, we had Hokkien Mee. Very tasty moist round noodles with meat and has good wok hay. The Hainanese chicken came with a big scoop of tasty broth infused rice. The chicken was very tender and perfectly accompanied by fresh chilli sauce. The Yong Tau Foo was one of my favorites. The stuffed tofu and veggie were immersed in a big bowl of spicy and flavorful curry. Yes, it was somewhat spicier than I had expected but nevertheless very good!

For dessert I was expecting to get some of the dessert kuih that I had on Sunday. I was told the Matriarch only makes them on weekends. I highly recommend you try them if you come on weekends since only a limited amount is made and they go fast so grab them before they are gone! (These kuih are not on the menu and they are displayed at the register counter).

Overall - Food - 5. Definitely made with love and passion by Amy and her husband. Service - 5. Very friendly and attentive staff credit to Ivy and Sharon. Ambient - 5. Modern with subdue and soft golden era nostalgic music and display on the walls.

Will definitely be back when...

Regarding this review, I would like you to first understand where I'm coming from. I have been searching for a decent Asian-American type restaurant for years in the DFW surrounding area. I have been let down again and again. It didn't matter if the restaurant was a chain or locally owned. I normally default back to Panda Express because they are consistently decent. Expecting to be disappointed again despite the positive reviews I decided to order from Malacca Cafe tonight 02-13-2025 and I've provided my order below.

Crab Rangoon - not a fan Coconut Shrimp - not a fan Mongolian Beef - Good Flavor, Tender, Fresh General Tsos Chicken - Good Flavor, Tender, Fresh

Why the 5 star review if the Crab Rangoon and Coconut Shrimp weren't my favorite? I'll tell you why. The Entrees were Flavorful, Tender, and Fresh, finally!!! I can live without cream cheese Rangoon. There's only been one restaurant where I've enjoyed the coconut Shrimp and the sauce (it's the color red and resembles a lobster). I've searched for great Asia-American style entrees for so many years and finally stumbled upon this place, Malacca Cafe. It is a hidden gem. I encourage you all to give the entree's a chance, they will most likely change your perspective on what good food is supposed...

Always trying to find a good Malaysian restaurant on this side of the world, finally found a good one! Ordered their Nasi Lemak, Satay, and Limau Kasturi/Calamansi with sour plum since I was alone, and here's my thought; The satay was the best I've tasted so far in the Northern hemisphere. You can see that they used actual kunyit/turmeric to marinate and the sauce is not the typical American peanut butter sauce but real satay sauce. They might have reduced the spiciness to cater Western palate but they are smart enough to have that sambal on the side in case you are looking for that Malaysian spiciness, add it and it will just feel like home. Now the Nasi lemak was good with the sambal tumis, peanut, and ikan bilis, cucumber 🥒 , egg, and even an acar that was good. The rice might be less lemak than usual but still it's hit the spot. The chicken curry was generous and good but I would recommend that they should give an option to replace 1 or 2 of the 3 chicken pieces for let's say, a satay stick or fried tofu for better variety. Then lastly the Calamansi with sour plum juice was that good, I nearly asked for a shot of vodka to mix with it in the end. Overall it was worth going to if you missed Malaysian...