Malaysian food is weirdly hard to find in the GTA.

Which is unfortunate, because we’ve been chasing a proper rendang since we were first introduced us to the stuff in Amsterdam twenty years ago.

This is apparently what adulthood is… compound interest, shoulder pain and spending an unreasonable amount of time trying to recreate a curry you ate once in Europe.

Enter Mama Malaysia Kitchen… a multi-generational family affair that’s tucked inside the Mississauga Flea Market and only open on weekends. How exclusive is that?!?!

The laksa is on point. Rich, spicy, coconutty broth, fat yellow noodles, chicken, egg, fish balls, fried shallots.

The kind of bowl where you tell yourself you’re done and then realize you’re still slurping.

At fifteen bucks, it’s worth every penny.

The char kway teow might be even better. Shrimp, pork, egg, bean sprouts and wide rice noodles.

Wok hei for days. The good kind of burnt. Cooked to-order & worth the wait.

Plate after plate of nasi lemak comes screaming out of the kitchen. Coconut rice, sambal, anchovies, peanuts, egg.

We chose fried ayam… because if you’ve already driven to a flea market in Mississauga for Malaysian food, moderation seems like a strange place to draw the line.  (They were also sold out of rendang).

Mama Malaysia Kitchen is only open weekends, inside the Mississauga Flea Market. Which is inconvenient.

It’s also probably why we already want to go back.