It was dark and pouring with rain outside. But inside Angie's Kitchen (17 Mount St, Auckland Central) was light, cheerful and bustling. It's always a good sign when you go to a busy restaurant - and this place was packed. Luckily I had booked a table for Mr H, Banana Bro and I. The little reserved sign on the only empty table was a welcome sight.

The dishes at Angie's are Malaysian and the mains are either rice and noodle dishes, each served as a complete meal. But because I wanted to try a bit of all the mains, we still shared our meals - or was it more like I helped myself to the others' meals?

There was a noticeable lack of entrees but it didn't matter because it was made up with a good selection of desserts, which made me happy.

The kuih ketayap ($3 for 2) came out first, which we devoured as a sweet entree substitute. I haven't had kuih ketayap before, but Banana Bro who had lived in Singapore for a few years, assured me that I'd like it. This is a d'lish pandan-flavoured crepe filled with a coconut and palm sugar mixture. These kuih ketayap were garnished with a drizzle of coconut cream and extra melted palm sugar. It was my first taste of kuih ketayap and I liked it. I want to try making it!

A teh tarik (Malaysian style tea made with frothy condensed milk) was perfect for a cold and miserable day. It was served with a biscotti - a nice, although untraditional, touch.

My search for Auckland's best Malaysian roti continues. Angie's Kitchen's slightly flaky roti ($3) was nice but I'm sure that there is a better version out there.

Roti score: 7.5/10

I chose the biryani chicken ($14.50), a flavourful boneless chicken dish with Indian flavours and spiced basmati rice. This was my favourite main of the day. It was nice to see Angie's Kitchen using real spices. How did I know? I occasionally had to pick out bits of cinnamon stick and cardamom pods from my biryani.

Mr H had the braised beef noodle soup ($11.50), which was nice but not as flavourful as I would have expected. On the plus side, the dish was a very generous size with lots of noodles!

Banana Bro opted for the Angie's special noodles ($13.50), which had a mixture of chicken, seafood and vegetables.

Not all Asian restaurants have a good dessert selection, so I was happy to see that Angie's Kitchen offers a range of Malaysian desserts. We opted for the pulut hitam ($5.50) and bubur cha cha ($5.50). Pulut hitam is a d'lish mixture of black glutinous rice and coconut cream - if you think of a tropical rice pudding, you'd be close.

Bubur cha cha is slightly out of my comfort zone - it's a mixture of kumara, taro and beans cooked in coconut milk. It is nice, although the combination of flavours is unfamiliar to me. I had a bit and enjoyed it although I wouldn't have been able to finish off a whole bowl. Banana Bro on the other hand, gladly finished off the rest.

Angie's Kitchen was a good find. I'll be back to try some of the other things on the menu... and I'll definitely be back to try some more of their desserts. The prices are a little high for it to be a regular lunch destination for me, but it would be ideal for dinner.

So D'lish is a food blog that focuses on the wonderful food that can be found around the country. Andrea, the owner, loves to sip, nibble and cook all sorts of d'lish food. She also enjoys Malaysian food and is on a mission to find the city's best roti and chicken satay!

I believe you can often judge a place by the quality of one or two dishes. For a takeaway shop, it's the chips; for a cafe, it's the coffee. For Malaysian - in my opinion - it's the roti. Some other people I've talked to rate a Malaysian place on the quality of its satay. I tend to agree with them about this too. So in the interests of good feedback, I'll be sure to try roti and satay in each restaurant that I go to and will give them a roti and satay score out of 10.

Sounds like fun, let's get started!

First on my list was Mutiara Malaysian Restaurant, 66 Ponsonby Road, Ponsonby, Auckland, Phone: 09 376 2759.

Roti, $3.50 each
The roti were a bit thick and it wasn't cooked all the way through. What a shame.
Roti score: 5/10

Satay, $9.90 for 6
The satay were big chunks of marinated chicken and nicely charred. I liked the marinade flavour and the chunky satay sauce.
Satay score: 6/10

Our other entrees were the penggang scallops ($10.50 for 5) and lucky money bags ($7.50 for 5). The scallop sauce was nice and creamy and was enjoyed by my seafood-loving companion. The money bags were a little heavy and not that exciting.

The Mutiara special curry comes in a choice of meat and we chose beef ($19.50). This dish is thick and full of flavour. And like the other mains that we had, the chef was not skimpy on the meat.



The ayam kapitan ($19.50) is a slightly lighter chicken curry, with a nice lemony touch. This was my favourite dish of the meal and I kept on spoon its sauce onto my plate so I could mop it up with some roti.



I'm a sucker for rice noodles and enjoy a good char kwey teow ($17.00). This version is light, with decent pieces of meat, large prawns and not too oily.



My theory on the quality of the roti being an indicator for the rest of the meal is not off to a good start. I thought that their roti could have been better but the mains were "d'lish" with the highlights being the scallops, mutiara curry and ayam kapitan.

Recommended. Maybe just skip the roti.

So D'lish is a food blog that focuses on the wonderful food that can be found around the country. Andrea, the owner, loves to sip, nibble and cook all sorts of d'lish food. She also enjoys Malaysian food and is on a mission to find the city's best roti and chicken satay!