Once an alleyway restaurant specialising in Malaysian-Indian street food, and now a multi-city chain famed for its roti. The Mamak restaurants are still some of the only places to go for roti that’s cooked for every order. Order that plus a few curries and some sambal – it’s all you need.

Technically a Singaporean restaurant (Temasek is an ancient Javanese word for the island) but spiritually close enough to Malaysia to be included here. The several decades-old Parramatta restaurant is particularly famous for its Hainan chicken, Singapore chilli crab (order ahead for that) and laksa, the latter made with curry paste that’s prepped in house the old school way, using a mortar and pestle.

It’s incredible that a restaurant with so many menu items and so many different locations (this is the original) keeps it all together. Chef Albee Thu has maintained a strong reputation in the Malaysian community for years for dedicating herself to making an extraordinary amount of dishes (including a full range of Malaysian sweets). She’s committed to recreating her dishes exactingly, so that they taste just like how she remembers them in Malaysia.

The one-two punch of exemplary Malaysian sweets and smoky char kway teow noodles is not one you’ll experience often. But that’s exactly what you get at this unassuming food court counter run by a husband-and-wife duo.

Whenever people debate Sydney’s best laksa, plenty of names are thrown into the ring. Malay Chinese Takeaway will always be mentioned. The second-generation family behind it run two locations; a no-frills restaurant in Ashfield and this fast-paced lunch spot at the Sydney Place dining precinct in Circular Quay.

One of the oldest Malaysian restaurants in Sydney, and quite a unique dining experience because of it. It seems stuck in the ’90s, but in a good way. Expect waiters with a formal but chatty serving style, old fashioned tunes from the stereo, huge servings, and restaurant interiors the colour of a forest glen.

The only place in Sydney, and maybe all of Australia, to try keluak, a poisonous nut that’s boiled and covered in ash so that its charcoal-black flesh can be cooked into a rich, herbal curry. It’s exclusive to this restaurant because it’s a Peranakan dish, and this Auburn restaurant is the only Sydney restaurant to specialise in that style of cooking.

This small restaurant is famous for its curry laksa, smoky char kway teow (stir-fried noodles) and weekly Penang-style specials. Look out for the assam laksa, a fish-based style noodle soup with a sour broth and thick rice noodles, which originated in the city of Penang.

A lively restaurant, with a legendary laksa, tucked into the courtyard of an apartment complex. It’s got a huge menu inclusive of all the other Malaysian standards, as well as a few rarer dishes such as fish head curry and curry-leaf squid. Also, it’s maybe the only place in Sydney (of any cuisine) where you can BYO crab.

It’s odd that, considering the simple fit-out and pay-what-you-want charity dinners, that this is a restaurant officially owned by a massive Malaysian conglomerate. It’s also one of the only halal or Malay-run Malaysian restaurants in Sydney, which means a rare chance to try the butterfly-pea-spiced blue rice with Malay-style fried chicken, and other Malay specialties.

A simple food court stall with a small menu of Malaysian classics. Locals – there’s a sizable Malaysian community in the area – are particular fans of chef Nelson Chin’s char kway teow, laksa and har mee (prawn noodle soup).