January 7, 2009

Golden Buddha #7 == The Old, Good Malaya

There is a Malaysian restaurant, Malaya, near the corner of Howell Mill and Collier that used to be quite popular among the GA Tech crowd. Unfortunately, a couple years ago or so, the owner of the restaurant sold it to new ownership. I immediately noticed a drop in the quality of food under the new owner, and I’ve heard similar complaints from others. The Malaysian chicken curry that used to be so good has this strange, overly sweet taste to it. The coconut soup was equally bad. Ultimately, I just stopped going.

Just yesterday I found out from a friend (Maribeth) that the old cook from Malaya had relocated to another restaurant in the metro Atlanta area. It turns out (s)he is now at The Golden Buddha #7 at Cumberland (next to the Best Buy).

I needed to go to the nearby Costco yesterday, so I thought I’d give it a try. I immediately noticed one of the waitresses that used to work at Malaya, so I figured that was a good sign. The Malaysian menu items are on one of the last pages of the menu and looked very similar to Malaya’s menu. The “M1” Chicken Curry was there and I got that. I didn’t see the coconut soup on their menu, and I forgot to ask if they can make it. The curry tasted just like a remembered it! The chicken might have been of a slightly lesser quality but the dish was still much better than what Malaya currently offers.

I was probably the last person to find out this secret, but in any case I’m glad to have found out now. Thanks Maribeth! If you’re a fan of the “old” Malaya then you should give it a shot.

Website for Golden Buddha #7: http://web.archive.org/web/20230616014043/http://leesgoldenbuddha7.com/

Editor’s note: Original link no longer resolves; updated to an archived copy from the Wayback Machine.