Malaysian Melati

I love Malaysian food, I think it’s something like a cross between Chinese and Indian cuisine. It´s all warm and spicy - just delicious! Melati is in Soho, central London,down Great Windmill Street. I like going here because it is on the Piccadilly line which is easy to access from my house :). I went to Melati´s with my two brothers on a Saturday night and it was like a slice of our childhood. 

It was completely packed on the Saturday–full of a huge variety of people but mainly an older crowd dressed up very casually. The restaurant is close by to bars, pubs and nightclubs so conveniently placed for after-dinner drinks. The restaurant is very small, and all the tables are quite closely packed together so makes for an intimate experience. It has simple décor with modest furniture and painted walls but the mood lighting makes it atmospheric. You don’t come here for the venue though – it is all about the amazing food. 

The service is also incredible here. The head waitress is sweet and friendly and is always up for having a conversation with you. She is Malaysian Singaporean and her accent makes me feel so at home with memories of Singapore, where I grew up. We always share dishes at this restaurant, usually getting a meat, a vegetable and a seafood dish to eat with rice. 

About the dishes we decided to indulge in… my photos don’t really do the dishes justice– I was so excited about eating that I forgot to take photos! Through out the meal we all enjoyed a nice cold Tiger beer, which is Singapore’s national beer and probably the only beer I ever really drink and actually like – its easy to drink and very refreshing.

1. To begin with, we had satay and roti prata. The satay dish comes on sticks and we had two chicken, two lamb and two beef. I am generally less interested in chicken but the other two were amazing. We had it with the all-famous satay peanut sauce which I love so much, I kept it to eat with my rice later on in the meal. The roti prata was as tasty as usual. This is one of the best dishes ever. It is a fried flour-based pancake cooked on a flat grill – very simple.It´s served with a curry sauce. Roti Prata can also be cooked with onions and cheese and other ingredients but it is so good as it is that I personally wouldn’t ever add anything!

2. We then had a further three dishes to share. The first one was our chosen vegetable dish - ¨kangkong¨ - and it is first rate. It is water spinach, also known as Morning Glory! It is cooked with olive oil and chili sambol and topped off with little fried anchovies. It´s very spicy and great just with rice.

3. Our second chosen dish was beef rending, which is a spicy caramelized beef curry. If there was one curry I had to eat for the rest of my life, I would choose this one. It is pretty hot, though, – or maybe I’m not used to eating such spicy food anymore!

4. Our third dish was a bit of a disappointment. We usually go for seafood and we decided on prawns,but we wanted to try something different. We chose the ‘Garlic Prawns’. They sounded really nice but then when they came we realized they were deep fried prawns with no sauce. They were still nice but not what we were expecting or hoping for. 

5. Finally, with all of these delicious dishes, I had coconut rice. My brothers had steamed rice but I like coconut rice because it’s a bit richer and creamier– I was being indulgent! 

Pasca x