Nanyang Kopitiam, Glen Waverley

Inflation is at 7% but a meal in a restaurant easily costs 30% above what we used to pay pre covid. The standard price for a simple noodle or rice dish is around $16, before adding the weekend surcharge, credit card surcharge and on public holidays, public holiday surcharge. 

To come across $10 per meal then, is a rarity and a godsend. Nanyang Kopitiam has a number of dishes on their menu for $10 which we were very happy to try out.

We ordered pork springrolls $8.50 - 4 fat spring rolls served with sweet chilli sauce. They were fresh and fried till crispy but the ratio of mushy cabbage to pork was not proportionate. Too much cabbage, me thinks.

There were two types of laksa on the menu, Penang White curry laksa and Sarawak Laksa, both $10. I should have known better and ordered the Sarawak Laksa since this restaurant is known more for their food from Borneo. The Penang Laksa broth is light and tasty, like a chicken stock base with a little curry and coconut added to it. I like the soup a lot, and if one wanted to spice things up, there is a spoon of chilli oil on the side. 

The toppings were little pieces of char sou, blood cockles, tofu puffs and green veg. Unusually, I dislike blood cockles (too bloody) and there were so many of the little things in the soup! 

The pork noodles were delicious and I would happily order this again. Generous portions of house made pork patties, pork slices, silky smooth hor fun in a very tasty light broth, just cannot go wrong. There were also some pieces of pork lard in the soup for flavour and aroma. There are no visible pork fat, but I suspect there would have been a fair amount of fat mixed in because the pork was very tender. 

I hope Nanyang Kopitiam continues their good work. What they are doing is to provide an option for those who want to enjoy eating out at a restaurant but are on a budget. 

There is a 5% weekend surcharge which is waived if paying by cash.