We picked up a take out on our way back after a good walk along the Cliffs in Sydney. I noticed that many come here for a full sit down dining experience. So there was a large dining area with many large round tables for groups of 6 to 10, and reservations are required. We decided to try their Chicken Curry Kapitan, Roti Canai, and Stir-fried Tofu with Mixed Vegetables. We order two types of rice - Hainan Chicken flavored and Coconut rice. In all the food was very tasty and pretty authentic. It's also one of the few places that offers a greater variety of food choices - from chili crab dishes to steamed fish. Definitely more for a sit down Malaysian meal instead of just the hawker or street food variety. So if you are looking for a more serious sit down Malaysian meal. This is a good choice. read more

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I haven't been to Istana in years as I don't really find this food authentically Malaysian. So when my friends decided to go there for dinner my expectations were low. Very low that Istana had a good chance of proving me wrong FOOD We ordered 4 dishes, 2 of them very Malaysian dishes. Funnily enough it was the belacan kang kong ($17.80) and kapitan chicken ($17.50) that impressed me. Not the best I've had but pretty good for suburban Sydney. The tofu combination hotpot ($24.30) and squid with spiced salt ($18.50) were disappointments though. SERVICE We had to wait a little while for a table because it was so busy but as soon as we were seated and ordered the food came out in no time. Highly recommended you book on a weekend to avoid the inevitable wait as this place is popular. OVERALL Istana... a Malay word meaning palace. Whilst this place isn't really a food palace it's still manages to pass this review. read more

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We always come here for the Hainan chicken & chicken rice. The chicken is so silky & smooth. The chilli sauce & green onion sauce compliment the chicken very well. We also love the homemade tofu with pork & vegetable. They deep fried the tofu & serve with pork, vegetables & sauce. The tofu itself doesnt taste bland like normal white tofu. It's a richer type tofu (egg tofu?). Service was okay. There's additional charge if you settle your bill by credit card. Parking can be difficult at times. More parking is available at basement after 5:30pm on weeknights. read more

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This restaurant is popular, despite a 7.30pm reservation for a group of 8 on Sat, we still had to wait for about 30 mins (there was another similar sized group with same reservation time and same wait time). I think they can do a better job in anticipating when earlier groups will finish, and when to book reservations. The waiters/waitresses do a good job and their best in a very busy environment. The dishes that we enjoyed very much - Pippis (clams) in black XO sauce was very good. We liberally spooned the sauce on our rice too, with other dishes as it was that tasty! The Hainanese Chicken (half chicken portions) was good, with both chili sauce and garlic condiments in small saucers. We had the chicken rice (see later note on that), which had sufficient fragrance and taste. There were three belachan vegetables, we opted for the belachan long beans. Belachan is a dried shrimp paste with bits of small shrimp. It's a very Malaysian paste used in cooking dishes. The lobak (appetizer but with enough portions for our group) was crispy and absolutely great. Thus, the three dishes that deserved 5 stars from my taste/experience are Pippis, Lobak and Belachan Long bean. The below average expectations - beef with broccoli, turned out to be Chinese broccolli (kai lan) with beef, namely, this was the first time I had this dish where the green kai lan outpowered the beef portions. The pricing for the Chicken Rice for our group of 5 adults, 2 kids 9 years and below, and 1 toddler was just about $22. This is about the price of a main dish, which was very excessive (i.e. rice is much cheaper and cooking in chicken broth is not costly)! The Chinese tea for our group came up to $9. Finally, as stated, the restaurant will charge 1.5% if you are using the major credit cards. According to by brother-in-law, quite a number of restaurants do this. But this wasn't my experience with other restaurants in Sydney downtown and another restaurant in the suburbs. I am wondering why the credit banks allow this. Net, I wouldn't leave a large tip if any, given how they are driving for margins in their menu and payment arrangements (though that will impact their hard working waiters/waitresses). Something to carefully consider. Perhaps bring enough cash for future visits and leave cash in tips. Our bill came up to just about $180. read more

We live very close to them, so have always been curious (despite warnings from some friends), so finally gave it a try after being desperate to find an open place on New Year's day.. I don't know, this seems to me to be just overpriced ordinary food. We ordered the Veggie Kwetiau ($20), Sweet Corn Soup ($7), Special Fried Rice ($14) and Kapitan Chicken Curry ($20). None of them are bad, but at the same time none of them specially justify the price nor the ambiance. I could get the same quality of food for much cheaper elsewhere. (e.g Chiu Chow Gardens, just downstairs) The lady at the front counter cannot spare a smile or thank you to save her life. Will not be coming back here ever again ourselves, but judging by the busy lunchtime crowd today (mostly Singaporeans and Malaysians, it sounded like), other people may have different ideas than us, so you may want to give it a go anyway. read more

Don't come for the decor, which is stuck in an 80s time warp. Do come for the malay Chinese food. Chicken rice, pork chop in spicy salt, tofu with mixed vegetables and many other crowd-pleasing, family friendly delights. read more

Came here with our friends from Malaysia and ordered their Yee Sang which is the dish served close to the Chinese new year. The collaborative effort makes this dish really satisfying. All other dishes are also quite good. The food quality come with the matching price tags though. The service however have room for improvement. One of the kids have a nose bleed and we asked for some extra tissue paper. The waitstaffs are not only unsympathetic but also pretend to attend to other fictitious customers. read more

Celebrated mother's day with my family at this restaurant. The hainanese chicken rice was good as with the wat tan hor. Service was good.

Overpriced. Overrated. We ordered Singapore Noodles, Plain Rice, Spicy Trout Cutlet, Fried Tofu with Pork and Vegetables, Mongolian Lamb, Balachan Kan-koong, blachan eggplant, 6 sticks of Chicken Satay, 2 portions of curry puff & Chinese Tea. We were served with 8 tiny pieces of curry puff filled with boiled potato ($20). Satay had 3 tiny pieces of chicken and we were charged $32. Fried Tofu with Pork did not have any Pork at all. It had 6 pieces of fried tofu (calculated at 1 piece per person?) and Chinese vegetables in a thin sauce. Kan Koong had more stalks than leaves. The eggplant was fried and was extremely oily. The Trout cost me $32- the menu says $25- As for Rice, we were given a small plate of rice which was not enough for the six of us - ($3.60 per head). The service was extremely poor - for 6 people we were given 4 plates and no cutlery. Requests for extra plates were not answered. We ended up taking extra plates and cutlery from other tables. The bill came to a whopping $250-. When asked why we were told that that the bill and pay! They charged an extra 5% for EFTPOS. read more