Omela Cafe brings home-style Malay cooking from Kelantan (a state in the northeast of Malaysia) to the busy corner of Victoria Street and Marrickville Road. While the exterior signage is bright pink, the interior is pretty basic. You can choose from the menu or from a steamy hot food bar showing off the dishes of the day. Omela roll them out across their socials if you’re looking for a specific taste of home. We opted to load up a mixed rice plate (Basi campur) with either one ($14) or two ($17) protein-based selections and a vegetable dish. We both found it hard to go past Beef rendang: a good but saucy rendition with tender but not dissolving pieces of bone-in beef. For the not-quite-vegetarian option, Masak lemak labu pucuk manis is a tasty pumpkin stew cooked in turmeric, anchovies and evaporated milk.
The Kelantan dish, Ayam percik, or “chicken splashing” certainly lived up to its name, spraying my dining companion with turmeric and coconut gravy after a simple slip of the spoon. The gravy ate very well over rice, and would be particularly good with roti. Sotong mukbang ($15) was an add-on but it was hard to resist the tender, spicy baby squid. A bowl of Sambal was no trouble either, though the flavoursome dishes here don’t really need amping. Neslo ($5) is a popular cold Milo drink. Here it was not quite as silky as the version at Authentic KL Flavors up the road, but still a good way to put your mouth back together after spicy food.
