MELBOURNE | Hor Kitchen is a Malaysian restaurant that I noticed walk walking through the CBD a few months ago. I couldn’t find anything about it online at the time, which made me all the more intrigued. Last weekend, armed with my camera and a craving for Malaysian food, I popped in for What’s On Melbourne.
Open until late at night every day except Tuesday, Hor Kitchen is named for the three brothers who own it. The trio’s aim with their restaurant is a simple one – to serve up delicious, authentic home-style Malaysian dishes to their guests.
On the extensive menu you’ll find all of the favourites like nasi lemak, char kway teow, and curry mee. There’s also dishes that are not so common in Melbourne like kam heong chicken on rice, kampung-style nasi goreng, and wat tan hor.
The Hor brothers hail from Gerik, a town in the Northern Malaysian state of Perak, and their food reflects the food of the region. When eating at Hor Kitchen, you might notice subtle differences to the versions of things you might have tried before.
I opted for a few favourites in char kway teow with blood cockles, roti canai with beef rendang, and curry mee with Hainanese chicken. All quality with balanced, fragrant flavours. I also got a plate of a dish that I can’t recall trying before, sambal petai with rice and crispy pork.
Sambal petai is a sambal of red chilli, garlic, shallot, and petai (green ‘stinky bean’). It has a strong, pungent flavour, and is wonderful. Get a bit of rice, egg, sambal, and pork in each mouthful and you’re in for a treat.
To drink, it’s classic hot and cold Malaysian drinks like kopi, teh, Milo, and 100 Plus.
Hor Kitchen
264-266 Russell Street
Melbourne
Victoria 3000
Australia
Telephone: (03) 9882 2634
E-mail: n/a
Website
Open
Sun – Mon, Wed – Thu: 11:00am to 11:00pm
Fri – Sat: 11:00am to 12:00am