Mek’s Delight – Halal Authentic Malaysian and Thai Cuisine
Mek’s Delight restaurant has been on my Surrey foodie bucket list for some time now (probably going on a decade since that’s how long they’ve been in business!). With rave reviews from Craig I decided to stop procrastinating and popped in with a lunch date.
The husband and wife duo running this unassuming mom and pop shop are from Thailand and Malaysia respectively. Hubby lived close to the border and they bonded over a shared dialect and love for the local cuisines. As you may have guessed from the title, they are devout Muslims and when dining out they don’t even eat at restaurants that have pork on the menu, let alone handle the stuff. So you are assured an absolutely halal meal when you dine at Mek’s Delight. Many “assalamualaikum”s and “waalaikumsalam”s were exchanged as members of the local community popped in to pick up a bite or just chew the fat with the owners.
The couple who were just polishing off their plates as we entered highly recommended the Roti Canai ($8.50). Having spent years in Malaysia they were well qualified to judge the authenticity, so we heeded their tip. The dish comes with two roti and an “awesome Malay curry sauce” according to the menu.
I’m not sure what was more awesome; the flaky pastry outer layers and soft warm innards of the roti, or the tummy-warming goodness of the curry sauce that we lapped up greedily. Eating the leftovers later I even spooned down what I couldn’t sop up with the roti. But together it’s a match made in paradise. My date agreed wholeheartedly that this was a must-try amongst the many delights at Mek’s.
Having enjoyed tom yum soup many times both in Thailand and at home, for some reason I had never thought to try tom yum rice. My date convincingly extolled its virtues and she chose the Tomyam Fried Rice ($14.99) prawns as a surf n’ turf type pairing for the chicken dish I had picked.
We liked the tangy tamarind sauce and the melange of tomatoes, onion, and peppers. The shell-on (and head-on in one case, which my date loved!) prawns were satisfyingly large but their mealiness didn’t sit well with me.
Our final dish was Kelantan Curry Chicken ($13.50). This Northern Malay specialty came with two pieces of tender dark meat in a rich curry broth. The occasional seed in the sauce surprised me with a burst of exotic flavour, but nothing offensively spicy. I think most people should be able to handle the default levels in the dishes we ordered and some might even ask Mek’s Delight if they could kick it up a notch.
Now a word of caution: while the owner did explain to us that menu prices were fluctuating due to supply chain issues (there was green tape with updated hand-written prices filled in covering up the original prices on the menu), we didn’t realize that they would fluctuate from the time we sat down to eat until it was time to pay the bill! It seems they are running on some type of an honour system where they will charge their customers a fair price on any given day considering what they’re currently paying in the way of ingredients, and the price may be higher or lower than those listed on the menu. We were under the impression that the green tape was their way of updating the menu to reflect any changes in price.
I sympathize with the supply chain thing and issues with fluctuating food prices, but it would be nice if they told us the price when ordering since we were charged an extra $1.75 from what was on the menu. I didn’t notice this until I sat down to write and compared the bill to the menu. So if you do decide to eat at Mek’s Delight while Covid-19 is still causing issues for the industry we would recommend clarifying prices with the owner before you order.
So in the end, while the food was satisfactory–and outstanding in the case of the roti canai–we are hesitant to recommend Mek’s Delight until they sort out their pricing issues and stop passing the buck (seventy-five) to their customers or find a way to be a bit more transparent. If you’d like a possible alternative for Thai food in the meantime check out our review of Nahm Thai Bistro.
Author: Matt
Prior to joining the Surrey Eats crew, Matt's love of all things edible and passion for writing led him to long-running food blog Eat 'n About where he penned articles under the nom de plume Hitman Howdy for several years. Matt's also been published in various local magazines, and is an extremely adventurous eater who has dined on things that would make Anthony Bourdain blush. Matt enjoys the melting pot of international cuisine on offer in Surrey and hopes to help put his beloved stomping grounds on the map as a smorgasbord for food-lovers of all ethnicities. SURREY WHAT!!
