Seafood High At Bali Hai, Newtown

Bali Hai is a Malaysian restaurant on King Street in Newtown. You can get a range of classic Malaysian dishes as well as some of their specialties such shrimp paste chicken wings, volcano tofu and pippies in Kam Heong sauce. And their mud crab is a bargain and a perfect size for 2 people!

Every year Laura and I do one of my favourite Christmas traditions: Costco, Crab and Christmas. On the Friday before Christmas we go to Costco and buy what we need for Christmas and then eat some crab and then exchange Christmas presents. And this year's crab restaurant is a Malaysian restaurant called Bali Hai in Newtown that Laura found on Tiktok.

When we arrive the restaurant looks to be half full with Malaysian families enjoying spreads of food. There are tanks at the front where there are a couple of lobsters and some fish. The decor is retro and simple and service is very friendly and they happily recommend some dishes. We are both famished and thirsty so Laura starts with a refreshing watermelon juice. We didn't order any starters and go straight into mains but we aren't waiting long until food arrives. The menu is large and has many Malaysian classics but they also have some dishes that we've never seen before.

The first dish to arrive is the volcano tofu which is a ring of egg tofu with a bed of scallops inside. Normally there is also red capsicum in it but Laura is allergic to capsicum so it is just scallops for us. The scallops are on the smaller side and a touch chewy but the flavour and black pepper sauce are delicious. The tofu itself is very moreish and it's a perfect bite when you get a bit of tofu, scallop and the crispy vermicelli all in one.

OK Mea Culpa, in my extreme hunger I thought this was shrimp stuffed fried chicken but it's shrimp paste fried chicken. Nevertheless these chicken wings are extraordinarily good and crunchy as well as juicy in every bite.

When we saw Kam Heong sauce offered for the pippies we both wanted to try it and so we decided to order the stir fried pippies with Kam Heong sauce and crispy vermicelli. Kam Heong sauce is a powerhouse of flavour reminiscent of a rendang sauce. It's a mixture of Chinese, Indian and Malay cuisines made with oyster sauce, soy sauce, curry powder, curry leaves, makrut leaves and shrimp paste. The vermicelli is super crispy and gives each bite a fantastic texture.

There are a few different crab sauces available like black pepper, white pepper, dry or wet salted egg , ginger shallot and Kam Heong but we went with the classic Singapore Chilli Fried Crab. While the Kam Heong was gutsy and savoury this sauce is more on the sweet side. The crab is perfectly cooked and full of luscious, sweet meat and there's a good amount of sauce on the side.

Usually we order crab with efu noodles but here you can get fried mantou buns that go perfectly with the crab and mop up that delicious sauce nicely.

Nothing beats the classic kang kong with sambal belacan. The hollow ends still have a nice crunch to them and this is such a tasty, simple vegetable side dish.

By the end we are all so stuffed full and all plans to go to a dessert place are abandoned. So we pack up what we can't eat for the best leftovers and a Mr NQN enjoys eating out without having to leave the house!

So tell me Dear Reader, do you have any Christmas traditions with friends?

This meal was independently paid for.

Bali Hai

357 King St, Newtown NSW 2042

Monday to Friday 11 am–3 pm, 5–10 pm

Saturday Sunday 11 am–10 pm

Phone: 0461 415 222