How many calories in roti telur and roti planta?

Roti telur is about 320 to 380 kcal per piece. Singapore HPB lists a 119 g egg prata at 317 kcal, and a larger piece plus a whole egg adds up to around 375 kcal. Roti planta has no lab-tested entry we could find, but margarine is about 717 kcal per 100 g, so 10 to 14 g inside a roti canai adds 70 to 100 kcal.

Is thosai or chapati healthier than roti canai?

Thosai is usually lighter: a thin paper thosai is about 150 kcal and a regular plain thosai about 390 kcal for a 156 g piece, with less fat per gram than roti canai. Chapati is less of a win than people think. HPB lists a 133 g chapati at 434 kcal, similar per gram to roti canai, though it is usually cooked with less oil on top.

What is the lowest-calorie thing to order at a mamak?

Tandoori chicken is one of the best picks, at about 164 kcal per 100 g with 18 g of protein, especially with salad instead of naan. A paper thosai (about 150 kcal) or one roti canai with dhal (about 300 to 360 kcal) also fit most budgets. Pair it with teh-O kosong or kopi-O kosong, which are under 35 kcal.

Mamak Food Calories: Roti Canai to Teh Tarik

A plain roti canai is about 250 to 300 kcal, roti telur about 320 to 380 kcal, a plate of mee goreng mamak 600 to 830 kcal, and a glass of teh tarik 120 to 150 kcal. The lightest mamak orders are tandoori chicken and paper thosai; the heaviest are murtabak and nasi briyani, both around 850 to 1,000 kcal or more.

Mamak is where Malaysia eats breakfast, supper and everything in between, so it is worth knowing the numbers. The good news is that almost every mamak menu has a lighter option sitting right next to the heavy one. This guide gives you the figures and a quick best and worst list.

How many calories in mamak food? The full table

Figures come from Malaysia's MyFCD food composition database, Singapore's HPB Food Insights Database (SG FoodID) (where roti canai is called roti prata), a 2021 lab analysis of hawker meals in Foods, and USDA FoodData Central for margarine. Mamak portions vary a lot, so read each line as a range.

Food	Typical serving	Calories	Protein / Carbs / Fat
Roti canai kosong	1 piece, 71–95 g	250–300 kcal	6–7 g / 35–46 g / 9–10 g
Dhal gravy	½ cup, 80 g	~60 kcal	2.5 g / 7 g / 2 g
Roti telur	1 piece, ~119 g	320–380 kcal	13 g / 33 g / 13 g
Roti planta	1 piece	~320–400 kcal (our estimate)	adds 8–11 g fat
Roti canai set, 2 pieces with curry	246–535 g	510–990 kcal	6–25 g / 87–118 g / 15–43 g
Paper thosai	1 piece, ~50 g	~150 kcal	3 g / 23 g / 5 g
Thosai (plain)	1 piece, ~156 g	~390 kcal	11 g / 59 g / 12 g
Thosai telur	1 piece, ~146 g	~340 kcal	13 g / 45 g / 12 g
Masala thosai	1 piece, ~271 g	~420 kcal	12 g / 54 g / 16 g
Chapati	1 piece, ~133 g	~430 kcal	11 g / 63 g / 14 g
Mee goreng mamak	1 plate, 325–465 g	600–830 kcal	21–26 g / 62–96 g / 29–34 g
Tandoori chicken	100 g	~165 kcal	18 g / 3 g / 9 g
Murtabak (chicken or mutton)	330–345 g	~850 kcal	43–49 g / 57–61 g / 47–49 g
Nasi briyani (chicken)	~759 g	~1,065 kcal	51 g / 98 g / 49 g
Teh tarik	250 ml glass	120–150 kcal	16–23 g sugar

How many calories in roti canai?

One plain roti canai is about 250 to 300 kcal. MyFCD lists roti canai at 317 kcal per 100 g, with a typical piece weighing 95 g, which comes to about 300 kcal (7 g protein, 46 g carbs, 10 g fat). HPB lists a smaller 71 g plain prata at 246 kcal. The difference is mostly size and how much ghee or oil goes on the griddle.

The curry is where the number can double. MyFCD puts half a cup of dhal at about 60 kcal, which is modest. But a "roti canai banjir" with plenty of chicken or fish curry is a different meal: HPB lists a two-piece prata set with curry at 990 kcal, and the lab study measured a two-piece set at 511 kcal. Same bread, very different gravy.

Roti telur is about 320 to 380 kcal. HPB lists a 119 g egg prata at 317 kcal with 13 g of protein, and a 95 g roti canai plus a 75 kcal egg comes to about 375. Gram for gram, the egg actually makes it a better deal: more protein, more filling, for about 60 extra calories.

Roti planta is roti canai with margarine folded in. We could not find a lab-tested entry, so here is the math: USDA lists regular margarine at about 717 kcal per 100 g, and a typical knob of 10 to 14 g adds 70 to 100 kcal. That puts roti planta at roughly 320 to 400 kcal.

Roti tisu, roti bom and other sweet versions come with condensed milk and sugar on top, so they sit well above a plain roti. Think of them as dessert.

Thosai or chapati: which is the lighter bread?

Thosai is generally the lighter choice. It is a fermented rice and lentil batter, cooked thin with little oil. Per 100 g, a plain thosai on HPB is 252 kcal against 317 to 346 kcal for roti canai, with 7.4 g of fat against 10.8 to 12 g. A paper thosai (about 50 g) is around 150 kcal, while a regular plain thosai (about 156 g) is around 390 kcal because it is a lot bigger. Masala thosai with potato filling is about 420 kcal.

Chapati is not the free pass people think it is. HPB lists a 133 g chapati at 434 kcal, which is about 326 kcal per 100 g, basically the same as roti canai. Chapati can still be the better choice at a given stall because it is usually cooked dry rather than in ghee, and it comes with dhal or vegetables instead of rich curry. But if your mamak's chapati is big and brushed with ghee, do not assume it is light. The lab study measured a chapati set with potato at 558 kcal.

The takeaway: compare by size, not by name. A paper thosai beats everything; one roti canai with dhal is a reasonable breakfast; two chapati with mutton curry is a full meal.

How many calories in mee goreng mamak and maggi goreng?

A plate of mee goreng mamak is about 600 to 830 kcal. MyFCD lists Indian-style fried mee at 184 kcal per 100 g, which is about 600 kcal for its 325 g plate. HPB's mee goreng is a bigger 465 g plate at 828 kcal, with 26 g protein, 96 g carbs and 34 g fat.

Maggi goreng does not have a lab-tested entry in either database that we could find. HPB lists dry instant noodles at 330 kcal for a 160 g plate before any wok oil, egg or chicken are added. Since maggi goreng is fried the same way as mee goreng, the mee goreng range of 600 to 830 kcal is a fair working estimate. Ask for less oil and it drops.

How many calories in nasi kandar?

Nasi kandar has no single number because every plate is built at the counter. Use the parts instead:

White rice: MyFCD lists cooked rice at 130 kcal per 100 g. A typical bowl of about 160 g is about 210 kcal, and a nasi kandar mound is often double that.
Fried chicken (ayam goreng): about 255 kcal for a 90 g piece on MyFCD.
Chicken curry: about 195 kcal for a medium 96 g piece on MyFCD, plus whatever gravy comes with it.
Kuah campur (mixed gravy): no database has a standard figure. It is mostly curry gravy with oil and sometimes coconut milk, so it adds real calories without looking like it.

For a sense of scale, HPB lists comparable rice-and-lauk plates (nasi padang) at 821 to 1,443 kcal. A nasi kandar with fried chicken, a vegetable and "kuah banjir" can easily land in that range. Ask for "kuah sikit" and one protein, and you bring it back down. Our guide to eating at hawker stalls and economy rice uses the same plate-building approach.

Tandoori, murtabak and briyani

Tandoori chicken: about 164 kcal per 100 g on HPB, with 18 g of protein and 9 g of fat. It is grilled, not fried, which makes it the best protein at most mamaks. Eat it with salad or a single plain naan rather than butter or cheese naan.
Murtabak: about 850 kcal for a chicken or mutton murtabak (330 to 345 g) on HPB. It is high in protein (43 to 49 g) but also high in fat. It is a meal for two more often than people admit.
Nasi briyani: HPB lists chicken briyani at about 1,065 kcal for a 759 g plate and mutton briyani at about 1,180 kcal. The rice is cooked in ghee, which is why it outweighs plain rice with curry.

Best and worst mamak picks

"Worst" here just means "most calories". None of these are banned; they are just meals you plan around.

Lighter picks	Calories	Heavier picks	Calories
Tandoori chicken (100 g) + salad	~165 kcal	Murtabak	~850 kcal
Paper thosai	~150 kcal	Nasi briyani (chicken)	~1,065 kcal
Roti canai kosong + dhal	~300–360 kcal	Roti canai set, 2 pieces + curry	510–990 kcal
Roti telur	320–380 kcal	Mee goreng or maggi goreng	600–830 kcal
Thosai telur	~340 kcal	Milo dinosaur (550 ml)	~500 kcal
Teh-O kosong / kopi-O kosong	5–33 kcal	Teh tarik, 2 glasses	240–300 kcal

Don't forget the drink

A teh tarik is about 120 to 150 kcal per 250 ml glass and 16 to 23 g of sugar, mostly from condensed milk. HPB lists a small 150 ml teh tarik at 72 kcal and a 250 ml teh with condensed and evaporated milk at 150 kcal. A late-night roti canai with two teh tarik is roughly as many calories as the roti itself.

Ordering "kurang manis" helps; ordering teh-O kosong or kopi-O kosong (5 to 33 kcal) helps more. The full list is in our kopitiam drinks calorie guide.

How to eat at the mamak and still lose weight

Lead with protein. Tandoori chicken, roti telur or thosai telur keep you fuller than a plain roti for a similar number of calories.
Choose dhal over curry when you can. Dhal is about 60 kcal per half cup. Meat curry gravies are heavier and easy to overpour.
Count the pieces. One roti canai is a snack-sized breakfast; three is a full meal.
Swap one drink. Replacing two teh tarik with teh-O kosong saves 230 to 290 kcal, every time.
Log the supper too. Late-night mamak is the meal most likely to go unrecorded. Our list of calorie-counting mistakes that stall weight loss covers why that matters.

You do not need to weigh a roti canai to track it. In Berry Best, snap a photo of the table or type "2 roti canai with dhal and teh tarik kurang manis", and Berry estimates the calories and macros for you. You can tell Berry if the stall's pieces are bigger than usual and it will adjust.

If you have diabetes, high blood pressure, are pregnant, or have another medical condition, check with your doctor or a registered dietitian. These numbers are general estimates, not medical advice.