It's time for Ramadan Nights at Lakemba and many of the most popular stalls are back. The ever popular Mr Yummy Yummy knafeh, Shahi wraps, Skewies and Madura Satay are there (see story about Ramadan from last year). But this year we decided to look for new stalls and we found some amazing new stalls selling incredible food! We also give tips on where to eat them and how to avoid some queues.
It's a Sunday night when Laura and I arrive for Ramadan Nights at Lakemba. This is take two as we had come a couple of days earlier on Friday night but the markets were cancelled. But as life does, it worked out better as Sunday is actually a better day as you can arrive at 6pm when the markets open so you can start get your food before most people arrive to break their fast when night falls.
1 - Shahi Dastarkhwan
The first thing we do is get in the queue for Shahi Wraps. I know we are all about new stalls this year but we must get our favourite wraps in the world. Shahi Dastarkhwan is an Indian restaurant that sells what has to be the most popular item at the markets: chicken wraps in four flavours: Malai (white), Majestic (yellow), Chicken 65 (red) and Haryali chicken (green). The key to these wraps is the supple, thin wrap rumali tawa flatbread unlike any other that is made fresh just minutes before they roll it up for you.
Every year we go here we increase the amount of wraps we buy so this year we get one of each wrap in each colour for each of us because they are that good and they reheat really well. Usually the red and the green chicken wraps are good but don't quite reach the moreishness of the white and yellow wraps but this year they're all about as good as each other so you can't go wrong.
Tip: if you're looking for somewhere to eat these wraps, Shahi Dastarkhwan allows customers to eat the wraps inside their restaurant.
2 - Bakso Malang
As the line at Shahi Dastarkhwan isn't really moving we split up and I walk around to see what is available before seeing the queue for Bakso Malang. This is a new stall this year selling Indonesian Bakso Malang (Malang is in East Java, Indonesia). They have meatball soup, grilled meatballs on sticks as well as a range of sweets. The line is very long here even at this early hour as people are excited to try a new stall.
There are three types of meatballs on skewers: beef, chicken and fish and these are $12 each. The sticks are delicious with a nice glaze on them similar to a Japanese tare soy sauce. The beef is firm, the chicken in between while the fish has the softest texture of all.
Bakso Malang is a traditional Indonesian soup from Malang. It features vermicelli and hokkien noodles in a flavoursome broth with beef meatballs, tofu, fried wonton as well as a giant meatball. This is delicious with so much flavour and texture from everything in the soup. Tip: add the chilli sauce into the bowl as they don't have any small containers for the chilli sauce.
Biji Salak is a popular snack to break the fast at Ramadan. These chewy sweet potato tapioca balls come in two colours, orange and purple. We go with orange as that is the most popular. The balls come with a palm sugar syrup and a little pouch of coconut cream and are sweet, comforting and delicious.
There are five flavours of martabak on offer: Dubai pistachio chocolate, Biscoff, Toblerone, cheese and Nutella. The cheese is our first pick and it features processed block cheese grated all over the freshly made martabak. We love the sweet and savoury flavour of it and it really soaks up the butter like a crumpet.
The Dubai chocolate martabak has all of the flavours of Dubai pistachio chocolate but without the crunch of the kataifi. It needs perhaps a smidge more pistachio cream but it's still a good but we both prefer the cheese martabak for its sheer butteriness.
3 - Citarasa Malaysia
We were looking for a really good alternative to Madura Satay because while the satay is nice, it's not worth the 1 hour plus wait and the smoke in your hair and clothes. Enter Citarasa Malaysia where they are offering passersby samples of their drinks. They're also making chicken and beef satay on the charcoal grill but the good news is that there is no wait here.
Honestly I don't know why there isn't a wait - I suspect it's because it's their first year and they're not shouting from the hills about their satay which is delicious. It has a nice char from the charcoal and a rich, slightly sweet peanut sauce for dipping in. The satay also comes with lontong or compressed rice cakes, cucumber and onion.
We also tried the roti john which is a long bread roll filled with sauces and a choice of chicken or beef. It's fine but next time I'd get a double order of the satay.
Laura is very familiar with Malaysian food having lived there as a child and we both agree that the box of Malaysian Kuih is one of the best $10 spent at the market. If you love Asian style cakes then these are absolutely pitch perfect. There's everything from Kuih lapis to pandan cake to Kuih Seri Muka (pandan custard on glutinous rice). Every cake is delicious.
4 - I-Juice
Every year there is one drink that I have to have and that's a sugarcane juice. I didn't realise how good the sugarcane juice is in Australia until I went overseas and got a watered down sugarcane juice packed with ice. Here the sugar cane juice is freshly crushed and contains no ice so you're just getting the pure juice.
My favourite is the passion fruit one but Laura chooses the Ramadan special with pomegranate and passion fruit and I think that might be my new favourite! As it is sugarcane juice it is sweet but doesn't ever feel overly syrupy or sugary if that makes sense and the tart fruit balances it.
5 - Mynt Halal Mojito
One of the new stands is Mynt Halal Mojito that sells a range of non alcoholic drinks from watermelon, dragonfruit and strawberry. They recommend their falooda, a milky pink drink which is refreshing blend of milk, rose, watermelon and saffron that is so good. There are also chunks of watermelon inside the drink. I've never had a milky drink taste this refreshing before.
6 - Desi Food Ifter Deal
We also try Desi Food Ifter Deal where you get 10 items for $10. Desi Food Ifter Deal is in a shopfront at the front of the butcher shop which is also open and there is also a woman selling pani puris from the back too. We take a seat at one of the tables as you can eat in.
This $10 snack pack include peyazu (crispy onion fritter), chola vuna (black chickpeas), beguni (eggplant baton in chickpea batter), muri (puffed rice), aloer chop (potato cake), khejur (dates), pakora, spring roll as well as grapes and a jalebi for dessert. I also buy one of the chicken rolls for $4 which isdelicious with a chicken and onion filling. All of these little bits are tasty and we end up putting the puffed rice on top of the chickpeas.
We also wash this down with a fresh juice made of pureed avocado and fresh mango. It is a deliciously creamy drink that avocado swirled with mango so each sip gives you a bit of both flavours.
7 - Snack World TS
Our big decision at the end of the night is which stand to get Knafeh from. There is Mr Yummy Yummy and Albasha the two most popular knafehs but in the spirit of trying something new, we go to Snack World TS that is next to Mr Yummy Yummy and has a shorter queue. They sell knafeh, coffee on sand and potato on a stick.
Their thing is all about the cheese pull accompanied by shouts of "Ohh my godddddd!" and indeed the cheese pull is amazing, one of the best we've seen. The actual knafeh is more about the cheese than the syrup so if you like a less sweet knafeh this one is for you. We prefer a bit more syrup soaked into the knafeh for texture and lusciousness (the syrup is added after it is put in the box).
8 - Rocket Kulfi
On a hot night, we need a bit of cooling off so Laura goes to the Rocket Kulfi stand to get a kulfi while I wait for knafeh. They sell a range of sweets from kulfi falooda, ice gola (shaved ice) or paan. She asks them for a recommendation and brings back a pistachio kulfi. It's certainly cooling and tasty but not particularly pistachio flavoured although there are crushed pistachios in the ice block.
Other new stands we didn't try sold toffee coated fruit, tacos and Indian kebab skewers.
Tips for Lakemba Ramadan Night Markets
The Lakemba Ramadan night markets are open from Thursday to Sunday from 6pm.
To avoid super long queues and find parking aim to arrive as soon as the markets open at 6pm (parking is almost impossible to get close by once it gets dark). Otherwise coming by train is very easy as the markets are located right next to Lakemba train station.
All of these stalls featured took credit card with a small surcharge.
Make sure to bring wet wipes for hands and maybe a small picnic blanket if you want to sit on the curb.
So tell me Dear Reader, have you ever been to a Ramadan night market? How long will you queue for food?
All of this food was independently paid for.
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