01 March 2010

Kaki Lima Cafe Review ~ Malaysian Old World Breakfast Favourites - Kingsford [CLOSED]


Kaki Lima Cafe in Kingsford does the best nasi lemak in Sydney and is one of our all-time favourite Sydney street food restaurants. Our review is completely biased, we are in love with the place…

[SADLY THIS JOINT HAS CLOSED]




One of our all-time favourite street food haunts in Sydney is Kaki Lima Cafe, a tiny restaurant on Anzac Parade in Kingsford. Apparently the name Kaki Lima is Malay for a food hawkers' cart, literally meaning "five feet".  Kaki Lima Cafe specialises in "Old World Malaysian Breakfast Favourites". The menu is brief but the food is as good (and sometimes better) than what we found on our many trips to Malaysia.


We go regularly for one thing: Nasi Lemak. Nasi Lemak is a combo of rice lightly flavoured with coconut and served with varying goodies: usually ikan bilis (dried anchovies with peanuts, tastes much better than it sounds), an egg and a bit of chicken or beef or whatever is going.

I've had a homemade nasi lemak once in Malaysia and it was to die for, the second best I have ever had was from a truck stop, still warm and wrapped up in a banana leaf, oh my god...

Kaki Lima Cafe does the best nasi lemak I have had in Sydney (even in Malaysia a good nasi lemak can be hard to find).


You can even choose your main protein: I always go the squid, though the beef rendang is great too.

And this time Miss Chicken went for the chicken curry...


And Kaki Lima Cafe does an iced coffee that takes me straight back to Malaysia, nice and cold and very sweet...



There's a few more specialties on the menu to go through such as roti canai, Penang laksa, murtabak and more: but we're simply addicted to the nasi lemak. And I can never help getting one of the Malasian sweets on the way out...

We've eaten at Kaki Lima around a dozen times in the past couple of years and it thrills us every time, it takes back overseas for those few magic moments...


Kingsford is just such a great strip for street eats: we have become regular visitors, we have a few favourites in the area. Kaki Lima Cafe is a rare little gem that we are so lucky to have, get into it.

Kaki Lima Cafe is at Shop 3, 343 Anzac Pde Kingsford NSW 2032 Phone (02) 9662 0588.

Kaki Lima Cafe on Urbanspoon

11 comments:

  1. we're going to try this out on Sat morning, do you have any idea what time they are open??

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  2. Howdy Anon,

    I'm not sure what the opening hours are - you could give them a call if you're stuck - (02) 9662 0588 :-)

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  3. thanks, we gave them a call and they open from 10am, went today and it was absolutely delicious! what can i say, WOW!!

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  4. It's always heartwarming one someone else loves our favourites - thanks!

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  5. I just got back from Kaki Lima and am glad to report that the Nasi Lemak was great (I got the Beef Curry). The ikan bilis sambal like thing that they served as well. At other places the fish taste can be over powering, but it was just right at Kaki Lima.

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  6. Has anyone tried the roti canai at the Malaysian Stall in World Square? It looks very authentic probably better than the one at Mamak. There is a real mamak flipping the rotis there. I think it is owned by a mamak.

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  7. Hey, thanks for the tip shopgirl! We'll be racing over to try it - perhaps roti is the next flipping big thing to replace the dumpling craze.

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  8. hello all,
    kaki 5 cafe opening hours as follow:
    10am - 3pm Tuesday - Friday
    9am - 3pm Saturday -Sunday.
    Phone is currently out of order...but email still work: kaki5cafe@gmail.com

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  9. Apparently the one in Kingsford is now closed :(

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  10. Woops - I forgot to put the 'closed' sign on this - it closed ages ago - thanks for that!

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  11. hey!! just to let you guys know that Kaki Lima cafe is now opened in Kensington. It is now called Kaki Lima Restaurant which provides varieties of food now :) it is opposite to Uni Lodge. the address is : 230/228 Anzac Parade, Kensington 2033. It is still under the same management and they serve great food. I went there last weekend though :)

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Thanks for your comment joy - please keep your musings happy - if you want to complain about a restaurant please do it on a restaurant review site (or your own blog) - we're all about celebrating cultural diversity and the great eats that come along with it :-)

Our ethics: We pay for all our own meals and travel (though sometimes Mum shouts us).