Review Berempah Malaysian Street Food - Willoughby

It was my first time at monkey king, after looking through the past reviews they have undergone a renovation which in my opinion looks more contemporary and inviting. The restaurant can accommodate about 30 people, fairly well spaced out. My only complaint is the lounge chair along the wall is a bit low which when sitting at the table makes the eating position a bit awkward. The food is delicious, good portion and reasonably priced. Combo meal available for additional $5 you can choose a entree dish such as fish cakes, spring rolls, curry puffs and a soft drink of your choice.

Went here for the 1st time because of the double value NSW Dine Voucher offer & was very pleasantly surprised by how tasty and fresh the meals were! Spicy Crispy Tofu was a highlight but also the Yellow Chicken Curry, Pad Thai & Egg fried rice were 10/10!

Great quality food, nice portions. Favourite was the Royal duck curry. We came during the opening specials, will come again.

Good food ,pleasant atmosphere and great service! We had satay chicken,piggy puff ,green curry chicken,salt and pepper calamari, crispy pork with veggies,roti and jasmine rice 🫶🏻

Love this little place. Service is great. Curry puffs nice. Satay chicken great. Roti was amazing. Chicken laksa was also great. I would give this place a strong 5/5!

Very expensive for Thai food and the portions are smaller than other restaurants. Rice is charged per person at $4 each, this is crazy when you normally get unlimited rice for $2 max per person. The vegetables are fresh and meals are well presented, but they are all too sweet. Where's the chilli/spice? Just very average and not very authentic.

Food is ok. Nothing special. Dining inside is a disaster. Looks like they focused on take away orders only. Took ages to get our food. Smoke from the woks in the kitchen is unbearable...have to keep the doors open to outside, but then the cold gets in...but if you sitting next to the kitchen, - good luck. No air to breathe.

Overall food is so-so and vibe & service is decent. The best food we had was the teh tarik and roti canai. On the other hand, gouda gouda salad had about a half cup of water at the bottom and kaptitan chicken curry was very salty and the chicken pieces itself was very overcooked and tasteless. The food seems to have been allocated for more western tastes and lost some of the authenticity.

I would love to give Berempah 5stars. Eating in is usually very good. Takeaway is sadly a bit hit and miss. Before our current covid19 lockdown I would never have recommended the takeaway option. There seemed to be one quality for dine in and then the small, not so good takeaway version which was really disappointing. However, since lockdown and there not being a dine in option, they have upped their game and the takeaway is as good as the dine in. Definitely I will be ordering again. I just hope that things don’t revert back again down the line.

We have driven past the unassuming Berempah on Willoughby Road for a couple of years and have been curious about the quality of the Malaysian fusion cuisine on offer here. We finally satisfied our curiosity recently and dropped in for a weekend dinner. The restaurant is relatively small, but cosy and the service is efficient – all the ingredients for a decent neighbourhood eatery. At first, we were disappointed to find that their Hainan Chicken Rice is no longer on the menu, but Berempah more than made up for it with other tasty Malaysian options like their buttery, flaky Roti Canai with fish curry and vegetable dhal to start off the meal.

Decent typical Asian restaurant that could do much better at being more authentic. The fish curry is simply fish fillets added to a curry base, the same base used for chicken and lamb curry. Authentic Malaysian fish curry has (must have) the characteristic flavours from fenugreek and tamarind a legacy of its southern Indian origins. Instead of potatoes, a good fish curry should have the customary ladies fingers or okra and tomatoes (as so nicely pictured on the menu). So Berempah, you do know what Malaysian fish curry is. Should I venture again and try another dish or two. Maybe, if I don't really care for authenticity.

Nice tasty food , Friendly staffs .This is another nice Malaysia restaurant that you choose take your time enjoying the nice Malaysia fusion food :)

We had a pleasant Sunday evening here in mid December, and even though it was a hot and muggy night, it was pleasantly cool inside B.M. <br/><br/>Three of us dined and we shared a selection of dishes. First, a mixed entree plate with chicken skewers, a spring roll and a curry puff, and two serves of “roti canai”. The mixed entrees were tasty and fresh; a little small for the three of us, but given the overall reasonableness of the prices, we could easily have ordered two serves. The roti was one of the nicest I’ve ever tasted, it was soft and fluffy, easy to break up and share, and came with two spicy dipping sauces. <br/><br/>For mains, we chose a beef rendang, Malaysian-style fried chicken, a plate of green beans in soya sauce and a nice big bowl of steamed jasmine rice to go with it. The fried chicken pieces were crispy and succulent. The beef was melt-in-your-mouth tender and smothered in a creamy coconut sauce, and the green beans were the perfect healthy accompaniment to the other meaty dishes. It was all delicious and flavoursome, and infused with those fragrant and aromatic Malay herbs and spices that we love so much. Dishes were nicely presented on colourful plates and bowls, whilst the entrees came on a neat little wooden serving board. Serving sizes were generous and we all enjoyed our meals.<br/><br/>Service was an absolute joy. We were warmly welcomed by the smiling, pretty maitre d and made to feel at home straightaway. Our order was quickly taken, and dishes came out at a steady clip, in the right order, with very little waiting time between dishes. That’s just the way I like it. Both the maitre d and her assistant were super friendly, polite and efficient.<br/><br/>I understand that B.M. is soon to move to new premises on Falcon Street in Crows Nest, so I guess that there’s not much point in talking about the ambience here. But for what it’s worth, it’s a small place, with a cool and relaxed vibe, with a stylish interior design; interesting montage of black and white pics on the back wall and a bottle arrangement with lots of greenery on the side walls. It’s all very modern and trendy, the kind of place you feel good to be in, rather than being stuck at home, slaving over a hot stove! <br/><br/>And these guys have clearly built up a loyal following amongst the locals. We were the first to arrive at 6.15pm, but it soon filled up. Only problem with that though, was that as it filled up, so it became quite loud even though there were no rowdy or drunken diners. It’s just that the acoustics here are awful, There are no carpets or sound absorbers, and the wooden floors, tubular steel furniture and rather cramped arrangement with tables packed close to each other in a small room, all help to create a noisy atmosphere. I hope that they’ll improve things at the new place. <br/><br/>Toilets are easy to find, in the middle of the room. There are separate male and female cubicles, and they’re reasonably clean and well stocked, but small and a bit awkward to move around in. I guess, here too, the new place will hopefully see an improvement. <br/><br/>The menu is clearly laid out and easy to read, and there’s a specials sheet attached to a clipboard.<br/><br/>Prices are reasonable, and here’s also hoping that this doesn’t change too much, when they move to their new home in Feb 19, although I’m not hopeful. Judging by past experience of restaurants that have moved on to bigger and better premises in a more central location, prices tend to go up accordingly. But in any event, with our 25% Ent Book discount (up to a max $25) we paid a modest $60 for the mixed entree plate, two serves of roti canai, three mains and bowl of rice. Unfortunately, there’s no alcohol service, so best to bring your own if you want to imbibe.<br/><br/>Overall though, this is an excellent place. The food is fresh, tasty and full of flavour. Service is first class and the ambience is laid back and casual. There’s easy parking right outside on Willoughby Rd, or just around the corner in Frenchs Street. Negatives, of course, are the acoustics, and the lack of alcohol service, but still, I’m looking forward to visiting them in their new premises in Crows Nest in 2019.

Exceptionally average pad thai, chicken skewers and banana fritters. Even more disappointing considering the price. Cherry on top: there was a cockroach making its merry way across the floor underneath our table. Great times. Hard pass

A great place to go for Thai-Malaysian cuisine lovers. Highly recommended !👍🏻<br/>Try their Roti canai, Ayam Berempah fried chicken, Crispy pork belly, Mee goreng, they're all good ! <br/>

Enjoyed the nasi goreng, rojak salad and roti, all had great flavour <br/>Peeking duck wrap was a let down due to size and quality<br/>Nice interior, pleasant and quick service

Have been twice to this little gem. Looks dark from the outside. Good value lunch time meals. Enjoy the mee goreng. Good to have a local Malaysian place

If this is a Malaysian eatery, then I'm a Viking! This is definitely NOT Malaysian. We ordered Char Koay Teow, Chicken Laksa and Malaysian Curry Puffs. What came out was Pad See Ew, a concoction called Laksa and Thai curry puffs. Why do you pass yourself off as Malaysian when you are serving Thai food? My wife and I were looking forward to a Malaysian dinner and decided to give you a go and we ended up very, very disappointed. What you served up was Thai/Malaysian fusion at best. And Malaysian massaman curry?; really? Anyone who knows their Malaysian food, knows there is NO such dish! We did not appreciate being misled and needless to say, we will not be back.

Stick to mee goreng or the fried rice and you’ll be right. They were both tasty, not outstanding but good enough to still have an enjoyable meal. Roti canai is also a decent option, and the spring rolls had plenty of mushroom filling and nice for an entrée. The milk tea was sweet, but kind of expected, and I felt it went well with the meal.<br/><br/>I have to say though, the curry was a little disappointing. It was a vegetable curry which had plenty of vegetables so no complaints there, but also had a slight sour aftertaste. Also, strongly reminded me of an Indian curry which would usually work for me, but the strange sourness took away from being a pleasant dish. Chicken laksa was just OK, definitely have had better before, but all round it wasn’t too bad. I did feel the soup was a little thicker than what I’m usually used to.<br/><br/>A bit hit and miss. It’s nice to see that they don’t skimp on ingredients, and do have a couple of dishes that are worth getting again, however definitely room for improvement also.

Great new addition to increase the restaurant count along this end of Willoughby Rd. Owned by a young Thai/Malay couple, the husband cooks while the wife is at the front of house. We had chicken satay as an entree (chicken was generous & succulent. The peanut sauce was delicious). For mains we had the Sotong Sambal (tender calamari, slightly spicy & flavourful tamarind sauce which I was drinking by the spoonful) and Beef rendang (juicy beef chunks in a curry redolent of lemongrass, galangal & spices). We also ordered as alas of Rojak- which was ok and healthier than the Mamak equivalent!<br/>All in all, a welcome addition to Willoughby. Also great that we have a Malaysian restaurant in between Chatswood and the city! Will be back for lunch to try the laksas, char kuay teows!

Osso Bucco Massaman curry was delicious. Lots of succulent meat in a rich creamy sauce.<br/>The Sambal Squid was very spicy despite the waitress assurance it was not at all spicy. Home delivery took 2 hours, hopefully just a teething problem for them. I am interested to try more dishes from this restaurant. Hopefully they don't jump on the suburban Asian restaurant bandwagon and start selling typical 'asian' dishes that are uninspiring and available anywhere (spring rolls, money bags ect) The unique dishes will keep this establishment alive.