5 Macclesfield Street, London, W1D 6AY
Telephone: 020 7734 1382
Rasa Sayang
This Malaysian restaurant based in the heart of London’s Chinatown certainly polarises customers. The supporters lay claim that this is the only genuine Malaysian restaurant in London whereas the naysayers will say that the food is shit!
This was my first visit and to be blunt, it wasn’t very good:
Despite the mixed online reviews I still had high expectations as I’m not really bothered about ‘brusque’ service, or even bad service as long as the food is good.
We were in a bit of a hurry to get somewhere and seeing as the restaurant was busy, we didn’t spend too long perusing menus. Straight to main courses and maybe something sweet if we had time.
I ordered the chicken curry with paratha and my partner ordered the Singapore seafood fried noodles. I could’ve gone for more localised dishes such as the nasi goreng or assam fish but you couldn’t get more Malay than a good curry, however general that might be.
Like I said, the restaurant was busy so they must be doing something right and I was feeling positive that my food was going to satiate my tummy and my tastebuds.
Chicken Curry with Peratha flatbread
My alarm bells started ringing when my curry came out within 3 minutes of my order being taken. ‘Ok what do you expect?’ I thought to myself. ‘It doesn’t take long to ladle out a bowl of steaming hot curry’. I talk to myself a lot by the way. But damn they couldn’t even heat up my curry correctly. The sauce temperature was hot whereas my chicken on the bone was lukewarm. And dry. Served with the store bought perathas the dish could be described as absolutely turd! My partner’s Singapore noodles fared slightly better. The noodles were a bit bland and could’ve done with some heat but the prawns were fat, juicy and plentiful.
Singapore Noodles
I finished what I could of the curry, mopping up the sauce (a nice balance of chilli and coconut) with the peratha and we felt there was room and time for a dessert. Our first choice of a green bean dessert was sold out, so we ordered the pandan pancakes with toasted coconut filling. I’ve had these before at ‘Thai on the River’ and they were one of the best things I’ve ever tasted so I was willing to put my disappointment to one side and allow my sweet tooth to be indulged.
Alas, another disappointment: They simply didn’t turn up. We waited for 15 minutes before asking the waitress to check on its progress and she returned a minute later to tell us that no order existed! As mentioned we were in a hurry and so didn’t bother with putting the order through again, or kicking up a minor fuss about the crappy, dry chicken.
Did I get them on a bad order, or a bad day? I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt and I will return as they do have loyal customers who stand vehemently by Rasa Sayang’s reputation.
It can’t be any worse can it?
Average price is £6.50 – £8 for a main course.
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