Review A'ruma Malaysian - Albany

A'ruma Café is a Malaysian themed cafe tucked away in the suburbs of Albany. By chance, we were hankering for a taste of home and found this cafe open on a quiet Saturday morning on the North Shore side of Auckland. It has a very cushy layout - hipster-ish as per a lot of cafés popping up lately. One wall is covered in chalkboard paint and doodles of the Malaysian countryside with tiny kampong houses and palm trees adorn it. Staff are friendly and service is prompt. In regards to the food, for any Malaysians wanting to be transported back to a blisteringly hot kopitiam in Malaysia with a ceiling fan working feverishly to abate some of the heat...you may be sorely disappointed. The triangular pastry in the photos depict curry puff or karipap (in Bahasa Malaysia.) Usually served piping hot from the deep fryer with a spicy potato and chicken (sometimes beef) curry on the inside, this curry puff is not that of home. Nice, it was, but authentic? Not exactly. It uses puff pastry which is lovely in itself but curry puff when deep fried has a hard shell rivalling that of fried chicken. The curry was nice but nothing to write home about. The missus had a bowl of laksa which tended to favour the coconut milk rather than the spice, giving it a slightly Thai green curry taste rather than that of true blue laksa. I ordered a big breakfast - as depicted, the eggs were nicely done and the meal was enough to satisfy me. Definitely not the best big breakfasts but then again, I was at a Malaysian styled café. If I wanted an authentic big breakfast, there are plenty of other places to go to. The milky drink filled to the brim is teh tarik - supposedly, "pulled tea." This is strong tea with condensed and evaporated milk, poured from one mug to another mug where the splashing of tea into the mug forms the ubiquitous bubbles on the top of tea. A amateurish attempt at steamed milk, perhaps, but it is delicious. This one...unfortunately falls short. Instead of strong tea with condensed and evaporated milk "pulled" to perfection, I got a tea made with steamed milk - good if you have a espresso machine with a steam wand but teh tarik, it is not. That said, teh tarik itself is not hard to make and the ingredients for it are readily available. I left feeling slightly cheated, even though I know I should not. The food was decent, the staff were friendly, service was fast, but with some Malaysian styled cafés and restaurants capturing the authenticity of the experience, this one sadly failed to do the job well enough for me.

Tried the Laksa from the Malaysian delights menu and it was the best ... so so good and huge portions to share. Coffee was good too. Good customer service and would recommend for a leisurely weekend visit.

The set menu is great value. $20 for a 3 course meal, bonus!

The top coffee in New Zealand, lead by a Malaysian owner with a barrista who is the judge at coffee competitions. We tried flat white, cappuccino and hot chocolate (that one was really tasty, too!) as well as a traditional malaysian specialty coffee. Definitely recommend visiting this new place with excellent service, wifi, parking facilities and sunny outdoor seating! :)

My husband always orders Nasi Goreng through ubereats and today we decided to go to the restaurant.. must say we were impressed good food and the place waa clean.

Outstanding customer service, food is flavorful too.

Amazing service, friendly & attentive staff. Not many like this. Too often people come online to complain and never come online to talk about amazing 10/10 service. Haven't tried their Malaysian food, looks great, I only had a coffee.

Was torn between here and nearby Coffee Club and I'm SOOO glad I chose here. Eggs Benedict with bacon and avocado was one of the best I've ever had, coffee was spot on and friendly service with a smile. Will be back for sure.

Fantastic coffee, and genuine friendly service. Didn't get a chance to try the food, but the menu looked to have a delicious range of Kiwi and Malay options. Highly recommend giving this cafe a try.

Amazing coffee, definitely one of the best in the shore. Service is top notch as well, definitely recommended Edit: Please try their laksa as well. It’s as authentic as it gets!

Friendly staff, really good coffee (meebs beans!) Food is what you would expect for the price tag imo. Could do with a change up in seating but that's about it, overall gr8 place.

Love Aruma. Been there many times and by far the best Laksa on the north shore. Great friendly staff and service and great quality coffee. Its perfect in its category. :)

The coffee is legendary, and the burgers are amazing too. It’s great to have such friendly staff. Will be back for sure.

Awesome coffee, great environment and friendly staff. They have good food as well! Always a good choice.

We ordered Bean curd pork roll and milk tea with grass jelly. Hainam chicken rice , they are all very tasty .<br/>Can’t wait to visit again!

Ordered vegetarian noodles, the food tasted really good but there were very few options for a vegetarian. Maybe if they add more, it'd be great

Got this as groupon voucher, $40 for three course Malaysian set menu dinner. They also do daily $20 set meals for lunch or dinner so you don’t actually have to buy the voucher. Food taste good but service can be slow. Only one friendly server and one cook. 40 mins for our food to arrive and about 5 tables waiting for their food. Portion is on the small size. We wanted to try their popiah and wonton for their entrees but both were sold out, so we went for their satay and tofu salad. Satay is great but tofu salad a let down, few sad pieces of dice sized tofu with lots of cabbage, taste raw and not enough seasoning. Their nasi lemak and ponteng pork taste good, however more potatoes than the actual pork. Desserts are the winner for us, pandan brullee and coconut sago what saved the day. Next time we would try their laksa instead as it seems to be quite popular.

food taste alright but not very value for money, ordered two main dishes to share with my mom and we both found that potions were quite small and not much in it, wouldn’t recommend to my friends.

Great environment. Food is fresh and tasty. Workers are extremely friendly. Price is reasonable for the area where the restaurant is located.

Atmosphere is very nice and the food is great. I had very nice service and no mix ups in the order. The food was delicious, plus they played good music. I would recommend this place.

Um..what to say..simple setting, clean, I think it's a mother,father,son team..empty when we went, which I prefer actually. .helpful and friendly from the start.<br/>Ordered rendang burger, french toast, bacon eggs hash stack.<br/>Little bit of a wait , but not too bad.<br/>Rendang on burger was very tasty, breosh bun,Couple slices of tomato and alota lettuce, slice of cheese.<br/>Needs more rendang and alot more beef, abit stingy..for what you pay you expect more..chips were great..but yeah needs more rendang.<br/>French Toast was great, tasty with syrup, bacon etc..but again the price makes you question it.<br/>Eggs hash stack again, was nicely done. .a yummy meal..but again ..with four drinks ,bottled apple juice,hot chocolate(I think hot chocolate was abit thin and weak,but friend liked it.)and banana smoothie(again lacking in taste and not thick, thin and more milk than anything)... was over 70 bux, I wasn't convinced that the price was on par with what you get here and other comparisons.<br/>However I do recommend this place..try the rendang burger . quaint , good food, great menu and friendly service.<br/>Just will be paying abit more for your food, when you probly shouldn't be.<br/>Definitely will be back to try more menu items.

Review is based around knowledge of a professional Chef.<br/><br/>Order: hash stack<br/>Mumak megoreng<br/>Initial ambience: chill and friendly staff<br/><br/>Customer service: friendly and catered for gluten intolerance when customer asked for changes on their dish. Deffinantly a care factor for their customers.<br/><br/>Waitress engagement: ordered from front counter not table.<br/><br/>Speed of service: 50minutes 6 dishes. 1 chef 1 front staff<br/><br/>Visual aspect:<br/>Food looked well plated but portioning for price was sh!t<br/><br/>Cooking methods seen:<br/>Great acidity in hollondaise cuts through butter. More yellow than white good indication of butter over water or unnessasary juices.<br/><br/>Clean toilets:<br/>9/10<br/><br/>Food taste & quality:<br/><br/>Only tasting mei goreng and hash stack.<br/><br/>Hash stack.<br/>Crispy hash<br/>Bacon crispy outsides.<br/>Hollondaise is nice good amount of acidity.<br/><br/>Poach egg quality good ooze 30sec over cooked ish with a 1mm cooked yolk. Not perfect but standard for cafe.<br/><br/>Mei goreng. Had all the flavours of mee goreng. Noodles are soft and cooked perfectly. Big portion size but mainly noodles not much protein portion. Spicy mildly but asked for extra spicy. Seasoning was not quite there and needed to add salt which made the dish lose quality and overall taste.<br/><br/>Ambience:<br/>Speed of service: 2/10<br/>Cleanliness: 9/10<br/>Portioning against cost: 3/10<br/>Minimal bacon 1 slice of shoulder, 1 slice of toast and a thin hash for 17. Me goreng came out more portioning and costed less.<br/><br/>Overall: 6.5/10<br/><br/>

Customer service : 5/5<br/>Decor : 4/5 <br/>Coffee: 4/5 <br/>Taste of food : 3/5<br/>"worth" the cost? : 1/5 <br/><br/>So first of all, the customer service was really good and they seem like lovely people, which is why I want to think highly of this place but... The food was just rather disappointing... I guess their target audience are rich people that are not familiar with Malaysian food and are willing to pay highly for nicely arranged small portions. <br/><br/>We ordered a nasi lemak, curry laksa, and a crispy chicken with satay sauce. The nasi lemak was nicely presented but was very average in taste and quite a small portion - if you have a small appetite you'd find it filling but if you have a big filing you'd be spending almost $18 to leave unsatisfied. The curry laksa was pretty good, basically what you'd expect from a normal laksa anywhere...except for the fact that they're usually around $13 and this one's almost $17... The crispy chicken with satay sauce could have been a lot better...the chicken was made from chicken breast so it was very dry and not juicy and tender. I found myself wishing I'd gone to KFC instead haha. There was a small sad amount of salad... And I couldn't really taste the 'coconut honey reduction' on the grilled pressed rice. The satay sauce was average, perhaps as it was more mellow it wasn't very tasty to me.<br/><br/>Basically, I feel like it would impress people who aren't very familiar with east Asian food, but if you are familiar with it you know that you can get much tastier east Asian food at a cheaper price. Therefore, for me it just isn't a place worth going to. <br/><br/>Having said that, I haven't tried their European dishes, perhaps I would like them better. Also, their coffee was pricey but really nice!

This cafe/restaurant has a really nice, light atmosphere. The coffee is the best you can get in Auckland and the service is excellent, too - very friendly staff. The Nasi Lemak is absolutely delicious. It comes with the best Beef Rendang I have tasted to date, incredibly flavoursome rice and beautiful anchovies. I highly recommend this place.

Good food great service and great environment,the seafood laksa and Malaysian milkmen are fantastic, also the gourmet brunch is my girlfriend’s favorite.

Nice small but cosy cafe, with plenty of parking outside. Had lunch here in the weekend a number of times. The menu food was very good. There were some Malay dish options, plus western options, with fusion style flavors. I loves the pork belly burger!<br/>Also the coffee is very good, some of the best on the shore in my opinion.<br/>The staff are very friendly and are quick to serve and answer any questions.

Been there few days ago. Good coffee and hot chocolate. Very attentive, friendly service. Food come out quickly. Whether you want a simple egg bene or something more fancy.<br/>

Awesome service, awesome coffee. They're chicken satay dish is to die for - all fresh ingredients with a modern and unique twist to it. Highly recommend this cafe!

A'ruma is a little fusion cafe near Albany bus station. Their Curry Laksa is pretty good. And they serve it with two fried wontons! Yay!!! Could possibly add Teh Tarik or Milo to their menu to make it more "Malaysian ".

Found two hairs in the curry puffs. Nasi lamek was average: I would pay ten dollars for that meal, not 18. Not coming back here again. Disappointing mother's day.

Small café but friendly staff and nice food. Looking forward to more Malaysian offerings. Laksa was good, hot in both the spice and temp which suits me. Beef salad my husband enjoyed but I felt the dressing tasted a bit rancid so not for me. He has had it again and that oily taste wasn't there so made it better although he did comment that there was less beef on it than the last time. Be careful there. You need to be consistent with the meals so as when we recommend you to others going on our own experience they wont be disappointed. After all, word of mouth is a wonderful way of letting people know you are out there so you want all recommendations to be good ones. Thank you..

Great weekend cafe spot to go to. Couldn't resist their Malaysian dishes and had a nasi lemak. Taste was amazing! Pretty authentic stuff :) service was fantastic as well. There was a slight problem with the dish initially and when I went to enquire about it they not only promptly changed the whole dish but also gave me a free dessert on the house. Yummy apple tart. Will definitely be looking to come back!

We came here after I saw all the good reviews about this place. When we got here we couldn't find any parking for a very long time, it is in quite a small corner area. When we came inside there was a decent amount of people and a very simple design for decoration. <br/><br/>We ordered the fettuccine carbonara with roast pork belly and the beef rendang burger. After a short wait the delicious looking food was served. The fettuccine carbonara was excellent but a little bit dry, the pork belly was extremely crispy on the ends, everything fitted perfectly together. The portions are just enough to fill your stomach, I will definitely be coming back again to try the drinks and the desserts.

You have to visit A'ruma for the best tasting Laksa. Fresh ingredients makes a superior taste compared to other restaurants. Lovely range of food, great coffee, clean and fresh environment. Will definitely be back!

A new addition to the many restaurants that have recently opened in Albany is the Aruma Cafe, where we went for brunch today. It is a relatively small Cafe with a light welcoming atmosphere. We ordered the Club toasted Sandwich and the Nasi Lemak. The Nasi Lemak was beautifully presented, provided a simple but delicious combination of spices and textures. The Club SW (smoked ham, bacon, egg, lettuce, tomato and mayo) was large, well toasted and nicely presented - the accompanying chips were also very good. The menu is not large but offers a good range of standards in the all-day breakfast menu, with the addition of Malaysian dishes for lunch - we were assured further additions were planned shortly. We will be back.

What a lovely place to eat. A mixture of Asian fusion and great coffee/cafe style food. We were greeted by 2 really brilliant staff, a young American waitress and the male owner/chef... both who went out of their way to give us a great meal experience. <br/>The children had eggs Benedict and french toast with bacon, and my husband had a beautifully prepared chefs special.  I needed a vegan GF meal, that also avoided a number of the foods that I am allergic too, the chef/owner went out of his way to cook me an amazing meal, and even came out and showed me the ingredients that he was adding and cooking with, he totally adapted a meal for me and went out of his way to cook an amazing Vegan/GF tofu burger and chips. What was also outstanding was the freshness of the food and the quality. Every single food was so fresh and tasty.<br/>I cannot wait to return here and hope others have the same great experience that we did. :)