Island Cafe and Bistro

I’m so happy I found this place! We had roti and Laksa. The roti can only be described as a crispy pillow of joy. The Laksa was a giant portion, full of delicious fishy and tofu goodness. I can’t wait to go back and try another dish or 10!

How did I not know about this place earlier!?. My sis found it through some friends.
Very simple décor, millenials would call it «quaint». I didn’t go for the ambiance, I went for the food.
The roti canai is the fluffiest and tastiest I’ve ever had in my life.
They have something called a mille crêpe. I tried the kaya crêpe. This is light, delicious and I could eat the whole cake, not just a slice. It is to die for.
Kaya is traditionally a coconut flavoured spread for bread. It means «rich» in Malay and that because the jam is quite rich in flavour. Its all sorts of awesome.
Only disappointment was the lack of traditional Malay dishes like nasi rendang which I think is a staple.

Very friendly, felt like the owner was best friends with everyone in the place, me included. We chatted a bit about how I work late so it’s hard to find a place to go out and eat after work. He told me they are open later than advertised as long as there are people coming in. I will definitely be coming back!

It was a lovely Sunday afternoon that I decided to take a stroll through Chapters on 170^th. Then, just before I could take on more strolls. my tummy started moaning for food. With good speed, I flipped my phone to Unilocal mode and noticed that there is a Malaysian restaurant just around the corner that I have never quite noticed. Cheers, Unilocal!You’re a star when I needed to know what’s around me that is once blind to me.
It’s tiny and quaint. Seeing that it has pretty sweet overall star rating, I walked in with high hopes and expectation that it would be as good or perhaps better than EAST and or even Tropika Malaysian restaurant.
I ordered myself the typical roti canai as an appetizer and nasi lemak for my main. Roti canai is given — no effort required in this dish as I know one can easily buy this item from the frozen department at T&T. The curry sauce however was alright. Nothing to write home about. As for my main, it was disappointing. The portion of the chicken was in drumlet size which was unusual for a dish that I’ve grew up eating. That itself was disappointing as it was difficult to get the meat out to go with the rest of the dish. It was also pretty dry. It was a literal battle of chicken drumlet and the fork. The spices used for marinating the chicken gave an odd flavour to it. It tasted familiar but the flavour didn’t go well with this particular dish. In addition to that, the chili sauce which they call it sambal was awfully sweet for my liking.
The owner was really friendly however it seems like they do not have a strong recipe to start with. Dishes seem to be tweaked as they go.
Prices are fair and you get 10% off your bill for checking in on Unilocal.That was a bonus however the food wasn’t up to standard. Even though it only came to $ 18, it wasn’t worth it.
A blazing one star for trying. And so, I hopped away as a sad bunny…

Nothing «fancy» about this low key family owned and run restaurant serving authentic Malaysian cuisine. The prices are reasonable and the food is delicious. Will be going back!!!

Authentic malaysian food from Johor Bahru, Malaysia. If u miss your mothers cooking, here’s the best alternative. Run by a couple and their son.

So glad there is an authentic Malaysian restaurant in Edmonton. Great spring rolls and nasi lemak.

Malaysian food is pretty much non-​existent in Edmonton so when I read up on a new place that opened up back in July (see Sharon’s blog), I was pretty excited to give it a try. Would it be anywhere near Banana Leaf’s standard (check it out here and here)? I sure hoped so.
Well, we came on a Tuesday evening around 8:00pm to find the place relatively busy given the day. This place seems to be a hangout for a group of drivers/​racers — if you want to see some random mini drag racing, this is your spot. They’ve taken over the same place previously occupied by The Tea Place. The décor hasn’t changed much save for a few more tables and some racing posters hung up on the walls. We were seated right by the doors (one bud was freezing so perhaps sit further back if you’re cold blooded).
There’s a few Malaysian specialties on the menu (nasi lemak, laksa and roti canai) along with appetizers, western dishes and bubble tea. The menu is small and simple — at least they’re smart and have a picture menu for those that may be unfamiliar with Malaysian cuisine.
— Malaysian style white coffee bubble tea ($ 5.00) — I don’t really drink coffee but when I was browsing their website, this specialty drink caught my eye. It’s not on their regular drink menu so make sure to ask if you want to try it! It was my first time trying white coffee and in a nutshell, it tasted like a better version of an ice cap. Ice cap 2.0. Less sweet and much more refreshing. The pearls were decent. They definitely don’t skimp on the quantity. It felt like there was a never ending amount of them in my drink.
— Deep fried wontons ($ 5.95) — 10 pieces of deep fried goodness that came out piping hot to our table. We shared the wontons while we waited for our friend to leave. A nice appetizer to start but nothing too special about them.
— Malaysian laksa curry noodles ($ 12.00) — I had to try out their laksa as it’s one of my favourite Malaysian dishes. It came with shrimps, chicken, and bean sprouts. I asked for them to make it spicy. Verdict? The broth was flavourful but it was missing the complexity, depth, and heat that I love so much about Banana Leaf’s laksa. Guess BL can’t be replaced. Still, it was pretty good for Edmonton standards as there legitimately is no other options (sorry, Tropika doesn’t count).
— 3x Hakka noodles ($ 12.00) — this was one of their specials of the night. Egg noodles served in a pork broth with minced pork, eggs and green onions. My three friends all ordered the same thing (you’re killing me guys) which I was not impressed by. I had a taste and everyone agreed that the dish was tasty but pretty simple flavour wise. My friend claims she could make something similar herself.
I need to come back to try a couple other of their dishes. I hope more people go and try them out. Check them out instead of the Earls and Ricky’s located in the same plaza.

Really great local family run restaurant! Took my mom here for dinner and had the roti and chicken curry. So delicious and exactly the right portion at a very good price. Will be coming back again! Also got the mango crêpe cake which was also delicious, saw the other flavours and can’t wait to try them next time.

Island Café & Bistro opened up just over two months ago in the west end of Edmonton. It’s easy to drive by without noticing it, but it seems like that isn’t an issue for this restaurant, as the space was just about full at 5:30PM on a weeknight. This café declares itself to be a place «where the taste of the east meets west,» having a menu featuring traditional Malaysian dishes and other plates to suit the Western palate.
The menu offers a decent number of Malaysian dishes, and we chose to go with our favourites. Roti Canai with Curry Sauce ($ 3.95÷2) is something I cannot go without when it comes to Malaysian food. A crisp exterior and fluffy, pliable layers is what this roti is known for, and the version here does not disappoint. Crunchy and chewy textures contrasted one another, and the wonderful buttery flavour definitely came through. The side of curry sauce was unfortunately coated in a heavy layer of oil, and needed a quick stir in order for the flavour to come through with each dip.
Our next dish was the Malaysian Style Nasi Lemak ($ 12), which featured steamed coconut rice, spicy sambal sauce, 3 chicken wings, a hard boiled egg, peanuts, pickled cucumbers and pineapples, and papadum-​style prawn crackers. Everything mixed together resulted in a dish with a pleasant heat, slight sweetness, tang from the pickles and a wide range of textures from all the components. However, given the price tag and the ingredients on the plate, we felt the dish would benefit from having a bit more chicken as the wings were quite small.
Bak Kut Teh, which literally translates to meat bone tea, is a dish consisting of pork ribs braised for hours in a broth of Asian herbs and spices. Ironically enough, the dish itself doesn’t contain any tea at all, but rather tea is typically served alongside this stew with the belief that it aids in digesting the fat in this dish. The version here at this restaurant ($ 15) features pork ribs, pork belly, mushrooms and vegetables in the herbal soup, served with a side of rice and Chinese long donuts. The pork in this is stewed until fall-​apart tender, and the herbs used in the broth were fragrant, but the soup was watered down and lacking seasoning. Had the flavours been more prominent it would have been great.
The last dish to our table was the one I was most looking forward to having — Laksa Curry Noodles ($ 12). This dish is pretty iconic when it comes to Malaysian cuisine, featuring vermicelli in a curry-​based soup. The Laksa at Island Café features thin vermicelli with fried tofu, fish cake, shrimp, fishballs, a hard boiled egg, and bean sprouts in a spicy coconut soup. The toppings were abundant and the vermicelli al dente, but like the bak kut teh, the broth was lacking a depth of flavour and felt watered down. The broth was missing the creamy consistency and thickness to coat the noodles that I expected. With some improvements in the broth, this could also be a well done bowl of laksa.
When I walked into the café that evening my eyes immediately drifted to the dessert case, which contained a couple of classic French mille crêpe cakes. Mille, translated to ‘thousand’ in the French language, implies that this cake is made with multiple layers of crepes separated by light pastry cream. To my knowledge, Island Café is the only spot in Edmonton to serve this dessert, so I was absolutely excited to try their housemade version. At $ 7 per slice, the cake is available in a multitude of flavours, including classics like vanilla and maple walnut, and exciting flavours like pandan kaya coconut, dark chocolate banana cream, and crème brûlée cheesecake. Flavours can change daily, and you can even order a whole cake to wow guests at your next dinner party (7″ for $ 60 /​10″ for $ 80).
Considering that it takes 2 days to make one full cake, the $ 7 per piece price point is very reasonable for this labour-​intensive dessert. We ordered one slice of the mango crème flavour and one of the crème brûlée cheesecake flavour, with a white coffee ($ 3) on the side. It was hard to detect the delicate crème brûlée with the cream cheese being the predominant flavour in the crème brûlée cheesecake mille crêpe cake, but the fragrant mango really came through in our other slice. The layers are soft and you can really appreciate the effort that go into producing the cake. I’d definitely give the pandan kaya coconut a try on my next visit!
I love when small, family-​run restaurants pop up in the Edmonton food scene, and it’s even better when they serve food that isn’t commonly found in our city. I can appreciate that everything in the restaurant is made from scratch, and the restaurant is open until 11PM for late night eats Tuesday through Sunday. While some dishes require some adjustments, the food is decent and I’m hoping the Malaysian classics will improve by the time I make my next visit. That roti canai is already calling my name, and I can’t wait to get my hands on another slice of mille crêpe cake!

It’s fine. Wouldn’t go out of my way to come here.
Atmosphere: quaint place. Family run which is always nice. Clean and welcoming
Food: curry laksa was not rich enough. The broth was way too light. BBQ pork was fine not tender enough for my liking. Maybe I prefer a bit more fat on the pork. Nasi Lemak was drummettes fried which was ok but not really Malaysian seasoned. And only 3 pieces per order was not great value. Their coconut rice was nice.
Drinks: They gave free white coffee for lunch and that was very good.
Overall I will go back, as I love Malaysian food, to see if they have made improvements to their food. It’s new so maybe they need a bit of time to «fine tune» the food but for now an average 3.

New Malaysian cuisine in west end on 170 St near Earls. It’s easily dismissed as another glass door in strip mall… signage minimal, door doesn’t standout. However, don’t let that deter you from coming.
The menu is limited but the owner /​chef assures me that she’s creating more dishes daily to add to the menu. Everything we ordered was delectably well seasoned and fresh. My husband who almost never orders chicken dishes, got talked into ordering the Malaysian Style Nasi Lemak and ended up raving about the chicken! Their version of Chinese BBQ pork was tender, flavorful, and prepared in different manner that was devoured by our son. I thoroughly enjoyed the chicken birani that was not on the menu as the owner was trying out a new dish. It should be on their menu; not overly spicy hot, spices were smoothly balanced & tasty. What I loved the most was the cucumber pineapple «salsa”(forgot the name) that comes on each plate as a side dish. Let’s not forget they make the best bubble tea from a long list of imaginable ingredients.
The coconut pudding was the right end to the meal, refreshing and light. There are also several other pasteries & desserts available.
My brother eats here all the time & refers a lot of people. I concur with his recommendation & can see this as my new fav. The chef uses fresh ingredients, homemade recipes that doesn’t use a lot of oils or sauces to mask the food. Can’t wait to see what new items are going on the menu!
On Friday nights & Saturday afternoons, there is an amazing display of exotic cars. Sean, one of the chef’s sons, has reached out to old and new friends to join the growing number of exotic cars on display in front of the restaurant.