Sassy’s Red, Westfield Sydney

During our ten days in Sydney, I was eager to check out the many many eating options at Westfield Sydney. Truth be told, we’re a little starved for variety when it comes to shopping centre eats in Perth… Stepping into our Westfield locations reveals the standards – fast food, doughnuts and the ever ubiquitous kebab.

Westfield Sydney offered a much more exciting array of food outlets, including this beautifully retro step into Malaysia – Sassy’s Red.

Sassy’s Red joins restaurateur Simon Goh’s other well-known Sydney locations, Chinta Ria…Temple of Love and Chinta Ria…Mood for Love.

Sassy’s is a beautifully fitted out blast from the past, one which is so familiar to me and yet so foreign. Foreign, for one pretty good reason - because I’m at least twenty years too young.

Despite suffering from a significant age gap, I still have a pretty clear mental picture of this version of Malaysia.

My mind is shaped by the photographs from my parents’ youth. Dad with the goofy Buddy Holly glasses and brylcreemed hair. Mum at her wedding – with her long black hair in a bun so high it could have rivaled Amy Winehouse’s and fantastic black-lined eyes.

The decor at Sassy’s also remind me of the comics by Malaysian cartoonist Lat which I read from cover to cover as a kid. I spot retro fonts and design used on the menu boards throughout. There’s vintage looking signs saved from kopi tiams and glamour shots of pretty Chinese ladies, dolled up and dressed up in their best cheong sams.

And then of course, there’s most significant thing of all.

The food.

There’s something so comforting about Roti Canai or Roti Pratha. It’s been one of my favourite foods since I was a kid.

Eating the crispy, flaky, buttery layers, reminded me immediately of helping my Mum make this special treat.

We would huddle over our kitchen table, ghee in our hands, meticulously stretching the slippery, greasy dough into paper-thin layers, before folding them into rough circles and frying them on a griddle until golden brown.

I would usually share the first one straight off the stove with Mum – the cook’s treat, of course – with a sprinkling of white sugar.

The most important part; as demonstrated by this version from Sassy’s Red, is the final touch – quickly crumpling the fried roti in your bare hands before serving – which unfurls the soft layers inside.

The golden roti are perfect enjoyed with a bowl of curry gravy or served with a bowl of spicy dhal.

Taking a bite of roti with the curry from Sassy’s reveals a sauce that’s rich with coconut milk and flavoured with tumeric, lemongrass and chili.

It immediately makes me think of the rhythm of the mortar and pestle going thump thump thump, a sound which transports me into the kitchen of my childhood, and being my Grandma’s kitchen ‘shadow’ while she made the rempah (spice paste) in preparation for the chicken curry we would be eating for dinner.

The curry at Sassy’s will never be my Grandma’s, but its a pretty good start. It’s typically Malaysian – richly flavoured, yet quite liquid in texture – just perfect for dunking pieces of hot Roti.

And to end my trip down foodie-memory lane? An icy cup of cold sugarcane juice. Perfect. I could be on a street in KL.

Read about our other food adventures in Sydney

• Sydney day 1: BBQ King, Haymarket
• Sydney day 1: Via del Corso, Westfield Sydney
• Sydney day 1: Spiedo Bar and Restaurant, Westfield Sydney
• Sydney day 2: Bills, Surry Hills
• Sydney day 2: Becasse Bakery, Westfield Sydney
• Sydney day 2: Cafe Ish, Surry Hills
• Sydney day 2: Emperor’s Puffs, Chinatown
• Sydney day 2: Chat Thai, Haymarket
• Sydney day 3: Bourke Street Bakery, Surry Hills
• Sydney day 3: Cafe Cre Asion, Sydney CBD
• Sydney day 3: Jackie M Malaysian Cuisine, Concord
• Sydney day 4: The Rocks Cafe, The Rocks
• Sydney day 4: Din Tai Fung, World Square
• Sydney day 4: The Star, Pyrmont
• Sydney day 4: Sydney Madang, Sydney CBD
• Sydney day 5: Izakaya Fujiyama, Surry Hills
• Sydney day 5: Barby’s Bakery, Paddy’s Markets, Haymarket
• Sydney day 6: Things I Love Thursday – Cabramatta Edition!

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