A very long menu at Long Bar

Over the past couple of months I have been reviewing Malaysian restaurants all around Wellington for Malaysia Kitchen (full disclosure – I got refunded some of the costs). It’s time to share the reviews!

We made a booking at Long Bar because it was a Friday night, but given the restaurant’s Brandon Street location in Lambton Quarter which is deserted by 7pm, we might not have needed to. Still, given Long Bar’s popularity at lunchtime, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Lunchtime diners miss out on the very extensive full menu though, including a whole page of vegetarian mock meat options like sweet and sour “fish” and “mutton” curry. In the spirit of things, we order vegetarian “pork” steamed buns. The filling tastes a lot like roast pork, but I’m not a big fan of the bun itself – too gluggy.

A much better entree is the chicken wrapped in pandan leaves then grilled so it’s subtly infused with the flavours. The fried pork dumplings aren’t anything special, so they’re soon forgotten when the mains come out.

With four of us, we tried to order a range of different styles and animals. The noodle basket that the macademia chicken is served in is novel, and the meat very tender even if the sauce is a little goopy.

The peanut sauce on the mee rojak is delicious, and the vegetable mix is intriguing, but I’m not a fan of cold noodles.

When we were agonising over what curry to order (there were many, many options), the waitress cautioned us against our initial red curry choice, saying it was very spicy. I’m not opposed to a lot of spice, but one of our friends had a cold and thought it wouldn’t be a lot of fun. Instead we went for a merah curry, which was beef cooked in a spicy tomato sauce, as I’d never heard of it before. It was expensive (in context) at $22, and didn’t wow us. The orange beef, however, was divine, crispy and chewy with a hint of chili. We were glad to share the plate, however, as it was so rich.

If you like Malaysian food, Long Bar is definitely worth a visit at night so you can experience their full range. Let me know what new discoveries you make in the depths of the menu!