Dinner at Ria - modern Malaysian food with great ambience

I’ve been to Ria one other time with burger boy before but hadn’t rated it as I thought it was a bit pricey for Malaysian food and we really only had a couple of dishes to judge the food by. But our most recent experience at Ria was a good one. With 6 of us we were able to order a good variety of dishes and we enjoyed the company & ambience.

In addition to great company, this foodie experience was unlike any others as I had burger boy’s mates The Doc & Angry Fig enthusiastically volunteering foodie commentary

STARTERS

We ordered every starter on the menu except for one! We all loved the pork ribs and grilled squid but weren’t fans of the grilled chicken and satay beef skewers.

Ria Pork Rib Nibbles

The pork rib nibbles were very tasty and my favourite starter, the pork was so tender, just fell off the bone. This dish would be an awesome main as I could have had more!

Grilled Squid Skewers

We were recommended by my sister-in-law to try the squid and it didn’t disappoint - squid was cooked perfectly and it was very flavoursome. It is in my top 3 Ria dishes!

Grilled Chicken Breast Skewers

I wasn’t a fan of the chicken breast skewers, there was no flavour. And for $16.50 I could probably make a 1.5kg of these at home…

Traditional Satay Beef

I didn’t like the satay beef skewers either, the beef was chewy. I think it may have been the cut of beef they used. Satay sauce was ok but it wasn’t enough to compensate for the beef.

MAINS

We all ordered a main each…

Chinese Shredded Beef

I chose the Chinese Shredded Beef because I love anything caramelised. I was very happy with my selection, the sauce was sweet and the beef was tender. By far my favourite main.

Mum’s Loh Ak (Braised Caramelised Duck)

I don’t eat duck but burger boy thought it was nothing flash and didn’t enjoy eating off the bone.

Roti

The roti was yum but there were talk that these were bought from Prime Products rather than made at Ria. True or not I’m not sure but they do taste similar.

We even had a healthy debate on how Roti was pronounced…”rot-tee” vs “row-tee”!

burger boy and I have always pronounced roti as “rot-tee” but my Ria foodie contributors The Doc and Angry Fig and their wives pronounce it as “row-tee”.

We asked the waitress who was from Czech Republic how to pronounce it but she didn’t really help with her Czech accent.

I’ve even asked my bro Ex-Fatty and his gf & food blogger Little Miss Bacon and they think it should be “rot-tee” like us…so the debate continues! I’m still not sure what’s correct so if you do I’d be keen to know.

Who would have thought there’d be so much to say about Roti!

Lemongrass Fish & Prawns Curry and Chicken Curry

Everyone enjoyed the curries, it was great for dipping the roti and the flavours were great.

Fried Chicken

This was ok, tasted the way fried chicken should. Wasn’t too oily.

Fish

I thought the fish tasted ok but nothing spectacular.

The Angry Fig thought it was too mushy but The Doc really enjoyed this dish.

DRINKS

There was a good selection of drinks, us girls shared a bottle of champagne and the boys had a few beers.

It costed about $50 per person which we were happy to pay as it was a great dining experience and there were some nice dishes.

Ria is the perfect dining option if you’re going out with a group of friends for a night out, and want to have a few drinks/dinner in a happening part of Leederville. But if you want real authentic Malaysian food and are not too fussed about the ambience then this probably isn’t for you as you really are paying for the atmosphere/experience at Ria.