Masak Ku A Classy Venue for Your Company Christmas Function
Masak Ku is a leading Malaysian restaurant in Melbourne, located in the upmarket precinct of Burke Rd Camberwell. This Malaysian restaurant is not your "fast turnover" hawker style Malaysian restaurant. Sure, Masak Ku offers hawker options but the food is upmarket in style while resonating with authenticity. Masak Ku is perfect for corporate team Christmas functions as it embraces the Malaysian way of dishes designed to share.
Masak Ku has received excellent reviews since launching in Camberwell in 2014. The restaurant is a perfect place for your end of year corporate lunch or dinner with your department or team for a special lunch or dinner. Owner and Head Chef Simon Lee is passionate to show Melbourne diners that Malaysian food is not just hawker food. This is not a place where you are hurried and harassed to leave quickly, but Simon wants diners to relax and enjoy a long lunch or dinner with a choice selection of delicious Malaysian dishes.
The World Loves Melbourne was invited along to experience a degustation of Malaysian dishes; both traditional and non traditional. Simon can even design and print a special menu for your group function. While The World Loves Melbourne dined at Masak Ku, an inspiring group of local walkers was also celebrating a group event.
The name Masak Ku means "my cooking" and there's an intimate touch about the whole experience with Head Chef Simon letting you in to his culinary world and the types of dishes he enjoys himself as owner/chef. His wife Mary is superb as front of house; engaging diners when you arrive and attentive to the tables during the meal, along with her well tuned team. We experienced warmth and friendliness, as well as a good deal of style and upmarket flavoursome cuisine.
For our group, this was a perfect way to catch up and enjoy each other's company. There's no rush here; it's a great restaurant to relax and imbibe.
Masak Ku delights with it's entrees including the Beef Curry Puff; house made crispy spiral pastry filled with curry beef and potatoes. The crispy pastry was high quality, with a compelling and generous quality filling of beef and potatoes a flavour and texture triumph.
Also a hit is the Chicken 55 dish; succulent morsels of marinated chicken flash-fried then wok-tossed in a chilli spice mix with garlic. This dish was another crispy, packed with flavour and moorish. A side of Malaysian pickles adds extra kick.
One of our group commented how the beef dishes at Masak Ku are exceptional. The Sticky Beef Short Rib is all sticky beef ribs should be; melt in your mouth intense flavours after having been cooked in master stock then char-grilled. These ribs are served with achar (Malaysian mixed pickles). Who doesn't like Beef short ribs?
The highlight for The World Loves Melbourne is this Butter Soft Shell Crab dish; soft shell crab cooked in butter, curry leaves, chopped chillies, garlic, desiccated coconut and eggs. Almost decadent, this dish hits the mark with crispy exterior and soft interior, along with tang and kick of the chillies and curry leaves. We couldn't get enough of this despite the generous portion!
Masak Ku was packed all night during our visit including this delightful walking group enjoying their get together dinner evening.
Duck is one of our favourite dishes when done well and the Fried Duck main at Masak Ku got our attention with Duck deboned and braised in master stock then lightly floured and flash-fried. We enjoy the idea of braising and flash-fried as the dish is not greasy or oily. This is about juicy flavoursome duck with nuances of the stock.
Masak Ku also impresses with the Gado Gado; a vegetarian delight featuring a selection of lightly blanched vegetables, fried tofu and soft-boiled egg dressed with satay sauce.
A point of difference is the Roti; many Malaysians crave the roti of home and Simon serves up top notch roti with flaky buttery bread served with curry sauce. So rewarding.
A signature dish at Masak Ku is the Sambal Rainbow Trout; deboned whole fish smothered with house-made Sambal wrapped in banana leave parcel then char-grilled. Simply we each broke off tender smoky flakes of fish; a satisfying almost rustic Malaysian dish honouring traditional Malaysian cooking and the fruit of the sea and perfect for sharing at your group event. The Sambal flavours give the dish some welcome "kick".
Masak Ku also delivers when it comes to the famous dish of Beef Rendang. Slow cooked beef to a dry curry, sprinkled with roasted coconut shreds and khaffir lime leaves. A spicy tangy triumph with tender melt in your mouth beef.
The Spicy Pork Mince with Eggplant is another crowd pleaser stir fried in a chilli ground bean sauce. Masak Ku does not "dumb down" the spices; neither are they overpowering.
Impressed by the entrees and mains, we were keen to try dessert. There's a sense of theatre about the House made ice cream platter, a show stopper.
Other outstanding desserts include the Purple rice with glazed banana (above) and the Mango sago pudding with pomelo (below). These desserts are compelling, refreshing, generous and well presented.
Masak Ku is the perfect restaurant for your Christmas function. For people looking for decent standout restaurants in the eastern suburbs the task can be difficult; Masak Ku ticks the boxes as a standout upmarket Malaysian dining experience. But not only the eastern suburbs, it's worth the drive across Melbourne to experience a warm rewarding Malaysian experience. We enjoy the classy precinct on Bourke St and parking wasn't a problem near the restaurant. We've noticed a plethora of positive reviews on social media about this restaurant. Our experience resonates with the rave reviews. Get on it!