Malaysian Lunch @ Masak Masak, Chiyoda, Tokyo

 

It has been over a year since I was able to step foot back home. Thank goodness for the internet now as I can still catch up with family and friends online. But I cannot eat my local treats online! So what should I do? Well during that previous trip to Tokyo I was lucky enough to find a Malaysian restaurant which serves up special traditional classics.

Masak Masak, which is the play of the word "cooking" is a restaurant located at the backstreets of the Tokyo university district and not far away from the controversial Yasukuni shrine. Well, I am a professional eater and not a historian or political scientist. So I will leave that on the curbside and focus on the chowing down for my lunch. 

The lunch menu

Coming into this establishment was such a feel good moment for me. It has the classic aesthetics in check. With tiffin cases and vintage ceramic cups, it hits the nostalgia quite accurately. And the menu was not too shabby too. The lunch menu has all the usual suspect such as nasi lemak and laksa, which we eventually ordered. However, the surprise was lei cha, which is a rice and herbal soup dish which is very unique to Hakka-Malaysian cuisine and something similar is totally non-existent in Japanese food culture. Great to see some interesting representation going on. 

The classic

I went for the nasi lemak, and I gotta say I really enjoy it. It is unfortunate that the rice was not the standard long grain rice that we used back home. Instead it is the more starchy short grain one which is more common here. So the flavour and texture is a bit different, but a good attempt in sorting this one out. It was accompanied by a good serving of sambal, which was sweet and spicy and a decent bowl of chicken curry. Both were not spicy for Malaysian standards, but it will keep your taste buds excited for sure. 

Hefty!

If you are into your noodles, then laksa would be the thing for you. It really looked the part and fortunately it was able to taste the part too. The broth was rich enough and the serving was rather generous. Again, heat could be left wanting. But then again, what is suitable for me would be a solar flare for the locals here, so such a concession is expected. That is not to say this was bad, it was far from it. It definitely tasted correct, and you know it was made by someone who knows his Malaysian cuisine. Both items that we ordered were from their lunch set. 

I wish I can have more of this!

And speaking of lunch sets, both come with a side of acar and a slice of pandan cake. The acar really took me by surprise and my Mom would definitely approve. For the uninitiated, the best way I can describe it would be Malay style kimchi. That was a real flavour bomb and had the right balance of acidity, sweetness and heat. Really nice. 

So silky 

If you have a sweet tooth to attend to, their dessert menu does have some of the usuals. They are mostly from the Chinese side of thing, which mean sweet soups. So do take note. The peanut soup was rich and sweet, a good companion for a cold winter afternoon. However, as it was still a little hot when I visited, I was able to get the cendol. 

A frosty wonder

Frosty, sweet and syrupy, this was a real indulgent taste. It was unfortunate that the green cendol noodles could be a bit firmer, but it is hard to get some ingredients here. So again, this is understandable. The fact they can emulate the entire lunch locally is impressive enough. It has been taken off the menu now due to the change of weather. So you gotta wait until summer next year for this I guess. Sure enough, the person who was behind the counter is in fact a Malaysian! It was great to meet a fellow countryman around these parts. We exchange stories about our lives in Japan and was fortunate enough to speak him when the crowd was not really present. 

Oh hello there!

This was a great lunch in the end. A bit of effort in getting there, but at least it was a bit more central that the other places I visited thus far. Also do note that this was from the lunch menu, and their dinner menu has a more extensive selection. Be that as it may, Masak Masak is an establishment that you can visit for any meal of the day. The lunch sets are within the 1000 yen range and dinner will be a bit more pricey, which is still great value for money. Fancy a go? Then the address is as follows:

〒102-0074 Tokyo, Chiyoda City, Kudanminami, 3 Chome−5−5 グレース和平 1F