Jom Makan

This restaurant Jom Makan doesn’t exists anymore but is now reopened as Penang. I am not surprised that it has closed down as i am one of those (many) unsatisfied customers who has experienced such poor quality Malaysian food. The food at jom Makan Westfield was appalling. The crispy chicken wings were crispy but RAW inside and so was the 2^nd time round. I felt emabarrassed having to tell them again. I did not want to stay on eating. No apologies whatsoever from them. I am a Malaysian and love eating my local food but not at this restaurant. I wonder what this new malaysian restaurant is like, hopefully not by the same cook who nearly poisoned me! (twice)!

At first glance, Jom Makan (Malay for «Let’s go eat») seems to be just about everything you could want from a Malaysian restaurant. The food on the other diners’ tables looked appetising, the décor was minimalist but appropriate, and the prices quite reasonable.
Upon closer inspection, the menu appeared to have each dish in triplicate and careful study was required to distinguish how they differed. One Nasi Goreng came with chicken and one with beef. Not that bad except it would have been simpler to have one item with options for the protein of your choice rather than making me try to study the minute writing to work it out. It’s just annoying.
Having had many experiences with ordering for my family, I selected a number of dishes (including my faithful Rendang… although where was the Jungle Curry?). In this, it was helpful that each dish was numbered in the same manner as Chinese takeout menu so I quickly typed out our order on the ol’ iPhone as a series of numbers. When the waitress came to take the order, I simply had to show her the list and we were done in seconds. She was highly entertained at the novel method as I think she was expected some painful attempts to pronounce the Malay names for each dish.
The food arrived fairly quickly. The mixed satay (beef and chicken) was well cooked and the satay sauce was fantastic. I think the meat could have been seasoned a bit more but maybe that’s not part of the Malay style and the sauce does all the talking.
The beef rendang (and the chicken rendang for that matter) was perfect with a rich, thick, spicy sauce and slow cooked tender meat. I could have demolished both bowls myself but exercised some restraint (and faced stiff competition from my brother). The coconut rice was lacking in… well coconut… but worked just fine as a base to layer on more curry sauce. Pretty decent portion sizes as well — more than enough for one I think.
Other dishes included Mee Goreng (a noodle dish full of sprouts and other veggies) which was quite light and refreshing, the Nasi Goreng which is most aptly described as the less oily Malay version of fried rice was good but not memorable, and the udon noodles were on the right side of cooked but the meat accompanying them felt like chewing leather. I’d stick with the curries as they seem to do those the best.
The rose wine my sisters ordered was light and refreshing and fairly decently priced. The large Tiger beer is just that — large. Be warned that it’s probably around a 600ml bottle at least so don’t drink it and plan on driving soon after!
Service. Our waitress was nice enough and competent but the same cannot be said for the waiter/​bus boy who brought our food to the table. He was gruff and rude at best and seemed to think it was an affront that he had to deliver our food the 10 steps from the kitchen to our table. He overheard a comment from my sisters wondering where the tap water we had ordered ages ago (to be fair this may have been the waitress’s fault) and angrily demanded to know what they wanted. Back off dude, we just want some water! Our rice also got lost at some point and we had to ask for it again which is also just annoying.
Overall, 4 stars for the rendang, 3 stars for the gorengs and satay sauce, 2 stars for the confusing menu, and 1 star for the miserable waiter. I’ll put it at 2 stars as overall it was a decent meal but the waiter ruined the experience and its tucked away on the dead side of the restaurant area.

This Malaysian fare leaves something to be desired. The Sambal, was a tad bitter and sweet rather than spicy, while the entrees were very average. Malaysian food is an exquisite cuisine and this place does not do it much justice.

The servers were lovely, but the food was average. The satay were quite small and the peanut sauce was bland. We ordered the mee hoon goreng which was good, but rather average. The daging masak merah was really delicious and had a nice blend of sweet and sour. The food was quite average as a whole, but we were served by a really smiley server who made the evening.

Website says — «Jom Maken serves freshly cooked Malaysian food that combines the best traditional dishes from family kitchens and the famous street hawkers of Malaysia with a touch of Western influence.» I don’t know about the freshness part, but I’ll give them the street hawker bit, not sure about the Western influence though.
The food was severely average, which is not a bad thing. But why did everything taste similar? I might need to try the Trafalgar Square restaurant.
The Nasi Goreng, Nasi Goreng Sayur and Nasi Goreng Kampung tasted identical with different meats. That was a trick. Three of us ordered three Nasi Gorengs. My review would have ended here if the fourth didn’t order the Mee Goreng Sayur. Of course, that is all I can write because that tasted pretty much like the rest.
Disappointing. But three stars, one for the location and two for quality.

I was there in 2010 on a date. The food was OK.
The satay was not bad. Will give it another go this year.