111 Kingsway, Glen Waverley
Phone 03 9561 1388
( Show on map )
Many eateries, such as Old Town Kopitiam, Blok M Express and Singapore Chom Chom, have all tried to evoke the memories of hawker fare back home by naming themselves after famous food districts and icons. Most of these do not live up to the standard of their namesakes, but they certainly bring out the feelings of nostalgia in so many of us. Petaling Street is another such eatery, named after the Chinatown district of Kuala Lumpur’s Jalan Petaling, famous as much for food as it is for pirated goods.
Petaling Street has two locations, one in Hawthorn and another in Glen Waverley. Both do not have counterfeit Rolex watches (that I know of), but hawker food is definitely the name of the game here. The Glen Waverley restaurant is situated on the busy Kingsway, a buzzy strip filled with shops, restaurants and cafes.
The interior of Petaling was bright and cheery, with cafe style seating and a neat mural of KL’s Petaling Street covering one side of the room. The menu lists well over a hundred items and covers the gamut of hawker classics. You are sure to find something you’ll like here. Prices were also reasonable; most of the hawker dishes were around $9 and serves were pretty massive.
Dad had the char kuey teow, which was a winner. Nicely balanced, it had a fantastic smokey charry flavour, with a good lick of chilli for measure. The dish also contained fat prawns and lap cheong (Chinese sausage).
I greatly enjoyed my mamak mee goreng. A squeeze of lemon added a nice tang to an otherwise well balanced dish, the fat egg noodles accompanied by generous chicken pieces and prawns.
Mellie’s nasi lemak special certainly looked the part, with sambal, egg, fried peanuts and ikan bilis. However, it lacked a certain oomph, with the rice nowhere near coconutty enough. The curry beef that came with the rice was quite nice though, with a surprising spicy kick. Mum had previously tried their Hainanese chicken rice and was similarly underwelmed. Perhaps their flavoured rice dishes are not the way to go.
Mum had the winner of the day with the seafood hor fun. No kidding, this was one of the best hor fun’s I’ve had – not too sweet or too gluggy from excess thickeners. As with the char kuey teow, it had serious wok hei (breath of the wok) that imparted a beautiful smokey taste to the rice noodles. The prawns, squid and other seafood were also nicely cooked.
Alas, we didn’t get any satay but we’ll definitely be back to try them, and other dishes. The quality of the hor fun and char kuey teow suggests that all their wok-fried dishes will be a winner. From other tables, the curry laksa also looked interesting. Maybe avoid the flavoured rice dishes, although their fried rice and plain rice dishes (with rendang for example) might still be OK.
The food was also very cheap – $40 for all of the above, plus one ice tea. Man I love suburban prices!
I gotta try out this place when I’m next in Glennie. I love rice noodle with wok hei.
Has this place replaced Kowloon Cafe or is it next to it?
hmm..always thought this was a hit and miss. Will be on my list of places to try if I am in the area.
My family and I eat here almost on a weekly basis and the food is really good at cheap prices… shame Bob’s Kitchen across the road is still closed XD
@Thanh: this place did in fact replace Kowloon Cafe, and our chagrin, before we had a chance to eat there
Hor fun and CKT look great! The hor fun at Laksa King is also really good as well. Lots of wok hei and very yummy!
There is another store. Located in Glenferrie Hawthorn.
Some said the food is up and down at times. Some of the meals were too salty. But overall, as a Malaysian, this is consider near to home food with a crying of the price.
the char kway teow and hor fun do look great
I just heard the actual chef that cooks the imfamous Loh Shu Fun in Petalingstreet is there cooking!
I must give this a go!
been to the glen.
loves the nasi pattaya. my friend, who work as chef, loves the assam laksa. really good!
Victor, do you mean Red bean restaurant?
actually there are two petaling street. one in glenferrie and one in glen waverley. I do know Red bean restaurant. However, I ate petaling st in glenferrie
Good food and well priced! Another added bonus is that its opened until 2-3am. I especially like the roti channai with beef or chicken curry.
There is another Petaling Street restaurant opening soon in Station Street Box Hill. I have eaten at the Glenferrie Rd shop and the food was fantastic. I hope that the quality of the food at the Glen Waverly and Box Hill stores is comparable. My fear is that when good small restaurants expand, that they lose the magic ingredient that made them special in the first place. I am really looking forward to the Box Hill Petaling Street store opening as it is convenient for me.
poor service & not enough ground staff
The Box Hill Store on Station Street opened last Friday. Food was as good as expected. Have been walking past here for months waiting for them to finally open. Nice and clean. Plenty of seats. Must have been very well anticipated as it was packed for Saturday lunch.
Meals were delivered fast to the tables around us though I had to enquire where mine was after a while. The staff were a but run off their feet but considering it was still opening weekend to be expected I think until they find their groove.
All the tables have a pull out draw containing cutlery and chopsticks and napkins. Great idea. Staff just give the table a wipe after clearing and it’s ready to go again. NO waiting for cutlery, or worse, having to wander around looking for it yourself.
Fish head curry noodle soup. In glen waverley. Reli good. Service is reasonable. Roti bread is a must. I like this restaurant~~~
I tried Petaling Street Melbourne. More and more disappointed when I thought this would be an ok place. Ordered hainanese chicken rice again as I thought it was ok the first time and my fave food. The food came, to my astonishment, I could see there was a thick layer of dust on the plate, looked like it gathered dust for years. Wiped the plate with serviette, it was all black and dusty. Complained and sent the food back but the waitress didn’t think there was anything wrong or apologize. The place was so crowded with bad table layouts and had to share table with strangers. Not expecting good service from this place anyway. Will not visit again as it makes me wonder how clean the things are. The food is not consistent too. It is way overcooked. I don’t understand why few of my friends like this place.