Lazat is a welcome new addition to the Hamilton food scene, having opened about two months ago. Located, fairly unassumingly, at the north end of Victoria Street. There is street parking available.
One of my work colleagues (from Malaysia) highly recommended Lazat to me. So, between his knowledge of real Malaysian food and our excellent experience, I'm giving this one 5 stars.
Admittedly, I don't think that I have (knowingly) ever had Malaysian cuisine prior to having dinner here last night. As my friend said, "It's not really Asian fusion, because Malasian food is already fused - Malay, Indian, Chinese." The restaurant says Malaysian Street Food, so that helps to further set your expectations in the right frame.
The atmosphere itself is a sort of comfortable trendy. Clean decor that is warm and inviting, with a little fireplace in the back. We called ahead for reservations and it seems that already, that was a good idea. It's not a terribly big restaurant, and several of the tables had "reserved" signs on them when we arrived.
This was my husband's second visit, and I ordered what he'd had on his first visit, Mee Hoon Goreng. This was a fried rice noodle dish, with chicken, egg, carrots and cabbage. Similar to a Chinese chicken fried rice dish (but with noodles instead of rice). It was delicious! It had just enough spice to make it interesting without being painful to eat. It was incredibly flavorful, though, my lack of this type of cuisine prevents me from saying exactly what was so delicious.
Our service was fairly quick, especially given the number of people eating when we were. I'm also pretty impressed by the price for value. My dish was $16 NZD and while it wasn't a heaping plate of food, it was enough to be satisfied and it was presented simply but pleasingly. Between my husband and myself, we had two main dishes and one glass of wine, all for under $50 total (which isn't that easy to do around here).
We will definitely be back. read more