Jesse Mulligan Reviews Sambal Station: You’ll Struggle To Find It, But You Won’t Forget The Food Here
Hidden above Parnell Rd with barely a sign to its name, Sambal Station is almost comically difficult to find. But those who make the effort are rewarded with some of Auckland’s most satisfying Malaysian food.
Don’t be fooled by this rather low mark out of 20. I just couldn’t push it any higher despite the fact that I would love to go back to Sambal Station again and again. The score reflects the fact there is too much missing from this restaurant to make it the full package. But whoever chose Malaysian for the full package?
The first thing to say it is almost impossible to find.
Most restaurants hope for a bit of walk-up traffic, especially on a promenade like Parnell Rd, but Sambal Station takes more of a Platform Nine-and-Three-Quarters approach to publicity. You will only find it by standing in front of the exact right spot and running towards the mysterious staircase.
There is no signage on the street, or the building, or the door – just one logo spotlit on to the ground, which you won’t see until you’ve already found the place. Even once you reach the top of the stairs, there is a 50/50 chance you’ll sit down in a hair salon.
Once you’re inside the restaurant you quickly realise this is a no-frills restaurant. The waiter (and sometimes the chef – I think there are only two of them in the whole place) approaches with only one request and that is for you to immediately tell him everything you would like to order. The only supplementary chat we got was “this one features a strong-smelling bean, but Asian people like it”, and even my request for a beer was treated like an unusual departure from tradition. I wasn’t offered a second.
The beer tasted good though – a bottle of Asahi poured into a Pūhoi glass. I wasn’t prepared to try the wine – listed on the menu as “Pinot Gris”, without any further identifying features, though the waiter did go and get the bottle when I asked about it – and my dining partner, who wasn’t drinking, scanned the options thoughtfully before choosing a hot lemon tea. No, I don’t think the Michelin inspectors spent long here.
But boy is the food good!
Malaysian is one of the original New Zealand immigrant foods (unless you count, you know, English roast beef) but despite that (because of that?) hasn’t gained quite the foothold secured by cuisines such as Thai, Vietnamese and Indian.
There is no upmarket Malaysian restaurant in the style of Cassia (Madam Woo is the closest, though they are very fusion-friendly) so you have to go to a mid-market place like this if you’re in the mood for a feast. And a feast is what we got.
My guest was pescatarian (usually if someone is avoiding meat and alcohol I avoid them myself for these reviews, given the limitations it puts on ordering – but when the cuisine allows it, a meal with some restraints really shows off the depth of the offering), so we began with deep-fried cubes of tofu, served cold with a heap of shredded cucumber, carrot and onion in a lovely sweet chilli sauce. It was a great palate prepper for the hot and spicy things to come, and though you might feel you were missing out if this was your only order, Malaysian works best when there are half a dozen contrasting plates on the table.
The menu is a mix of well-done classics, regional obscurities and stuff the chef clearly just made up (Marmite-fried chicken, anyone?) and it is very, very difficult not to order something like mee goreng when you see it. Theirs is a very good one, the noodles powerfully flavoured with kecap manis and aromatics – as good as something you’d find at a hawker stall, with plump prawns in the mix if you want them.
I had snuck a couple of chicken dishes into the order and they were both fantastic – a satay stick of properly marinated bird that was slightly sweet and stained with turmeric. The peanut sauce was wet and intense, nothing like the claggy stuff you may be imagining, though there wasn’t quite enough of it for largesse.
One of the best dishes was called Four Heavenly Kings. Modern Malaysian cuisine is pulled in three directions between Chinese, Indian and indigenous Malay, and this one is definitely China-dominated – a wok-fried, steaming mix of okra, long beans, eggplant and those stinky beans he warned us about (they really add a Durian-like note to the dish, and are worth seeking out if you’re an adventurous eater). The eggplant in particular was wonderful, cooked to the point of collapse and soaked in saucy, shrimpy flavours.
At the end of the meal we stood up to depart but were stopped by the table next to us, who were celebrating a birthday. Would we like some cake? Yes, we would, thank you.
There are advantages to a restaurant with no ceremony, and that is you can show up with your own dessert and nobody will even think about charging you extra for it. The birthday party were clearly regulars and Sambal Station is built for that – a restaurant you have to be in the know to know about, and one worth returning to time and time again.
Sambal Station
Cuisine: Malaysian
Address: 2/317 Parnell Rd, Parnell
Contact: 09 379 8208, @sambalstationnz
Open: Tue-Sun, 11am-2pm & 5-9pm
Drinks: Fully licensed
Reservations: Accepted
Rating: 14/20
Must order: Sambal mee goreng $25, Four Heavenly Kings $50, deep-fried tofu $16, satay chicken $16 (4), chicken curry nasi lemak $25.
Score: 0-7 Steer clear. 8-12 Disappointing, give it a miss. 13-15 Good, give it a go. 16-18 Great, plan a visit. 19-20 Outstanding, don’t delay.
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