Mabrown

Ok, I have really been on an eat-fest but can you really blame me?  Poor old eating-meals-alone-me.  Tonight's dinner was with SuBoo and Mimsta, with Mimsta driving allllll the way over from the Westside. *makes 3 finger gesture*  I have promised Mimsta that we shall leave our Eastside cocoon and venture into her hood next time.

Tonight's venue was Mabrown in Balwyn.  SuBoo highly recommended the spicy quail.  Little birds full of spicy flavour?  Sure thing for me!  But huh?  Mabrown?  What kind of food is that?  I then saw that it offered Chinese, Malaysian and Thai food.  Still, that doesn't explain what Mabrown means.  I found it's Chinese name, 味也同 (pinyin - wèi yě tóng - still doesn't sound like Mabrown) which translates into 'tastes the same'.  Ain't nothing Mabrown about all of that!  So the name of the restaurant still remains a mystery to me.

Anyway, for a place which just looks like a not so special suburban restaurant and unimpressive Chinese restaurant decor, it was a full house on Sunday night with extended families dominating the 10-12 seater tables.  SuBoo had pre-ordered as suggested by the restaurant staff to avoid unnecessary delays with our food.

I requested the loh bak.  Crispy beancurd skin goodness.  Just maybe a little too salty towards the end but this serving was intending for four people and here we were, three mini Asian women.    

The spicy quail.  I had asked SuBoo if we could have two birds each but then realised that they cut the bird in half and I would have to eat 4 servings... which would be a bit too much.  Every other table also ordered the quail which says much about the little spicy bird.  Yes they were finger licking good. 

We had also ordered mapo tofu, sambal stringbeans and a beef stir fry but I forgot to photograph them.  It was a bit too much food for the three of us but despite that, our appetites were still piqued by the dishes coming from the kitchen.  The duck really got my mouth watering.  Hehehe.

We really couldn't finish our mains and eat took home a doggie bag.  But women being women, we left enough room for dessert.

SuBoo and I had a gula melaka and Mimsta had a ... something I can't spell, but it was banana in coconut milk.  

Mabrown - ignore the dated decor and go for the food.  With a pre-ordering system in force and a restaurant full of Asian families on a Sunday night, it surely can't be wrong!