Chinta Ria Malaysian Restaurant, Sydney

Can anything make you happier than good Malaysian food when you're in the mood for it? What if you took that glorious food and served it in a breezy wooden bungalow nestled amongst leafy trees.... you now have yourself a good picture of Chinta Ria - a Malaysian restaurant at the edge of Darling Harbour where it's all about atmosphere and filling tummies with yum.

Hold onto your wallets because we're going in :D

At the edge of Darling Harbour...

A giant stone buddha watches over the restaurant (haha tap him, he is hollow!)


Still quite empty at 6:15pm on a Saturday... but by 6:30pm people were queuing out the door so turn up early to secure your seats, they don't accept dinner bookings!

HAPPY BOWLS :)

These bowls are half the reason to love Chinta Ria! There is a certain joy about being able to eat your coconut rice and rendang from a bright green bowl with orange insides.

If there is ever a Sydney power surge and the whole city gets thrown into mayhem, the first thing you should do is break into Chinta Ria and steal away as many bowls as you can carry.

MMmm the menu called these Parker's Gems ($8.60) but I call them Nuggets of Delight. Take a bite and reveal insides of spiced potato blended with minced chicken, coriander and silver thread noodles (a pretty name for cellophane noodles)

Traditional Malaysian beef rendang for $23 - beef chunks simmered in an aromatic curry stew and infused with the richness of coconut milk until gorgeously thick and fairly nutty. You can smell the galangal (asian ginger) and kaffir lime floating towards you when the waitress puts down the dish

Random Dad fact: good rendang takes around four hours to cook! Haha so if you work it out by hour, this dish will only set you back around six bucks ;]

$4.90 Roti Canai - mmm soft, pillow-like Malaysian bread, designed to be torn into strips and dipped in delicious rendang sauce

Red Temple Chicken Roulade ($25) has an interesting name.... temples means monks, right? But if monks are generally vegetarian..... then what exactly is a 'temple chicken'!
Anyway, this red temple chicken comes in a mildly spicy red sauce that altogether was probably a bit too mild for me, as if the ratio of chicken to sauce was stuck too much on the chicken side! although it has some nice flavours going with garlicky chilli and lemongrass

Mmyumyumyum

As we were walking out we noticed this cup full of joss sticks at the entrance!
Could it be that we were being invited to light one for ourselves?

Lighting the Joss Stick

There is an altar in front of the Buddha where you can stick in your lit joss sticks, after whispering your prayers to the goddess of mercy, your grandparents, etc

The smiley giant Buddha says goodbye