bunga raya

nice food, but pretty pricey compared to other malaysian restaurants, especially as the atmosphere is quite basic. the homemade egg tofu ($20) was silky smooth. the inviting fish head curry cost $66, though i have to say it was a large platter, and consists of the front half of a fish, rather than just the head, and also comes with a bit of vegetables (okra, brocolli, beans, etc.) apart from booking a table, you need to order in advance for specialty items, including:
- hainanese chicken (half $18, whole $36)
- herbal duck, steamed with special chinese herbs ($68)
- treasure duck, steamed with stickyriceand mushroom ($68)
- curry fish head (seasonal price)
- taro basket ($32)
- fried crabs with xo or chilli sauce (seasonal price)
- gado gado ($28)
- dessert: bubur cha cha or sago pudding ($6 per bowl)
service was efficient, but i didn't like the way bowls ofriceautomatically appeared on plates in front of us, especially as they cost $3 each (we ended up sending one back). the restaurant also seemed to have run out of a number of vegetables, despite us being there at 7pm---or perhaps they were just not in season. basically they seemed to only have beans. despite being on the menu, kangkong (hollow stem vegetable) and eggplant were both unavailable.

the last time i visited bunga raya was a good 5+ years ago and i had fond memories of the food. decided to give them another go as i was craving malaysian food and they are conveniently located out west and do takeaways. i have to say the food wasn't as good as i remembered, we ordered the hainanese chicken rice, the chicken was really dry andricewas soggy. i did like the chilli sauce that came with it thought. the ipoh fried bee hoon wasn't too bad either but i felt could have had more of a 'wok' flavour to it which would have lifted the taste. i definitely needed to eat it with a chilli sauce or sambal to enjoy it. lastly the lor mee, unfortunately the taste wasn't there at all, the whole dish was bland and lack of seasoning, i could tell old vegetables were used in the dish and just couldn't taste much. overall, the food is acceptable but pretty average and not what i remembered it to be, i would have loved to have written a more positive review. however, i would still like to go back and try some of their other dishes and give a second opinion. thumbs up for service though.

hands down the best asian/malaysian food in new lynn. you will not regret it, we love the xo squid, the soft shell crab is heaven and we love the roti with curry sauce. we don’t even get thericebecause the protein is amazing. a 6/5 place in auckland!

third visit to bunga raya in 4 years and the food still tastes good. portion sizes have dropped a little but the food still comes out quick and the owner is still talkative as ever.

the xo prawn/chicken are a must have from here. plenty of flavour & tastes delicious.
the fried malaysian style friedriceis decent too and so is the sweet & sour pork.

my advice would be to go before 8.30 as if you go after there's a sense of urgency to shut shop & everything is rushed as the kitchen closes at around 8.45pm and you feel like you need to eat quickly.

other than that i would definitely recommend this place for good malaysian food 😊.

food : ⭐⭐⭐⭐
price : ⭐⭐⭐
ambience : ⭐⭐⭐
staff : ⭐⭐⭐
overall : ⭐⭐⭐

i used to dine at this restaurant quite often when i lived in new lynn. the malaysian foods there were fairly above average and authentic too.

i normally had their mee goreng, sambal friedriceand nasi lemak with chicken curry. all these dishes tasted quite nice. however, the sambal for their nasi lemak was not as good, it was a bit sourish and no charred taste. there were several occasions that the sambal was served cold with the nasi lemak, i thought that they might have just taken the chilled sambal out of the fridge and served immediately along with the nasi lemak without having to heat up the sambal at all.

a good sambal needs to be fried thoroughly for at least an hour to get the fried and charred fragrance and essence, and scarlet red in colour. it is best served with at least room temperature or luke warm, but not cold.

the lady owner was very friendly and always greeted her customers warmly especially the regular ones.

the restaurant was always bright, neat, tidy and clean.

the biggest setback for this restaurant is that they adopt a price differentiation strategy. the prices of all the dishes for their dinner are nearly double of the prices for their lunch. i personally do not concur with this kind of price differentiation approach. thus, i normally just go for their lunch.

food & beverage : 6/10
service : 7/10
price : 3/10
ambience : 7/10

i'm not always keen to visit malaysian restaurants because of some experience i've had in a couple of similar places here in auckland.

today my wife and a friend decided to go here and i was surprised with how good the food and overall experience turned out to be! amazing staff/owners welcome you here and the food is served very fast and is absolutely delicious.

my only tip is that the quantity is very generous so don't order too many dishes at once unless you are super hungry. we tried the chicken curry, prawn fried rice, butter prawns, xo chicken and some rotis today and everything expect thericewas tasty!

will certainly be back here soon.

food was good, definitely recommend the xo chicken, and also had the hainanese chickenricewhich was nice
seems a popular little place and staff were friendly and helpful with choosing foods if don't know malaysian cuisine

went for lunch but willl be going back to try xo squid and prawns

if you like malaysian cuisine then this is your best pick in auckland.
this place is always busy so it's better to go here with a booking.
nice decor and great ambience it surely is a fine dine restaurant.
butter prawn curry, haianese chicken, sambal fish, haianese chickenriceand kway teow soup are my favourites.
love visiting this place. have always had a good experience.

would be one of the better malaysian restaurants in auckland. even though the restaurant looks dated and blend, but i think it's well known in the new lynn community. and it's always packed, think i try to go on a week night and i had to wait 20min for a seat.
female owner is nice n friendly even stopped me from over ordering! prior to ordering i was thinking the price was a bit over with some dishes, but after the food came i changed my mind!
had the fish gill soup withricenoodle and the coconut prawn. both amazing flavours and super large portions. will be back with a few friends to try more different food!

this is by far the best malaysian restaurant i've been to. ignoring the slightly-cold attitude from the lady staff initially, the flavour of the food more than compensate for the lack of smiles from the staff.

we went there at 2pm on a saturday and ordered sambal fish filletriceand nasi lemak. the sambal sauce was absolutely amazing although it could be a tad more spicy. the fish was tender and absorbed the sambal sauce really well. this dish goes great with rice.

the nasi lemak comes with fragrant pandan rice. the curry chicken was soft and succulent. the combination of flavours for this dish was spot-on as well.

i would definitely come back again to try other dishes! glad that by the time we were done with our lunch, the staff started to show a hint of smile and friendliness too! would highly recommend anyone who wanna try authentic malaysian food. forget the commercialised paparich. bunga raya is the place to go!

i hadn't been here for a few years and recently came back for the haianese chicken which i was craving.

it was very authentic with the side of spicy, slightly sweet, garlic chilli sauce and sesame/soy sauce. the chicken was soft and poached perfectly,ricewas flavourful and fragrant as it should be. definitely one of the authentic haianese chicken dishes in auckland.

i got mine takeaway for lunch for only $12, great value and it was a big portion! will definitely be back more often.

off menu vegan options available! its a lovely stir fry dish of vegetables (you can customize the vegetables too), don't forget to order a bowl ofriceto go with it. it tastes very fresh and is very filling.

this restaurant is purely for eating though, don't expect to have a decent conversation with the background kitchen noise. the furniture is also quite dated along with the tableware (not instagram material fo sho)

we had hainanese chickenriceand beef rendang onricefrom lunch menu and the hainanese chicken was amazing!ricecooked perfectly with the taste that hainese chickenriceshould be. chicken was tender served in tasty soy sauce (not too salty) and the chilli sauce was a good combination for the dish. this is the best hainanese chickenricei've had in auckland so far :)

beef rendang was alright, beef wasnt that tender but was not too bad but i didn't really get spices from the dish like i have had from other restaurants.

service was good from the owners who are really proud of their food :) the place looks really clean. food were served really quick. i will go back there again if i'm in the area. definitely another good place for authentic malaysian food in auckland.

the closest thing i can find to authentic malaysian food! the hainanese chickenricewas sooo good and the eggplant, the fish and pork dishes are good too. nom nom feel hungry just thinking about it

we ordered sambal friedriceand nasi lemak (curry chicken) for $26. the dishes was good size and flavour was good. service was average but still they were accommodating as we had three toddlers. everyone at the table was happy with their meals.