MALAYSIAN KOPI TIAM

9 Wardour St, London, W1D 6PF
Tel: 020 7434 1777

Nearest Tube: Piccadilly Circus

Average price per person: £10 (including non-alcoholic drinks)



Looking for near enough authentic Malaysian food at reasonable prices? Need a quick meal with fast, efficient service? Look no further. This brightly coloured shop-front is extremely popular with Malaysians and other people from all walks of life. The prices are such that it’s a popular haunt for students. The interior is basic but functional. As you enter in, they have a counter displaying all kinds of Malaysian desserts and packages of pre-cooked food you can take-away.

On this particular day, all we wanted was for somewhere to go for coffee and a morning snack. A perfect place to go as Kopi Tiam means “coffee shop”. We ordered three Kopis which is basically coffee made out of condensed milk. Much sweeter and rich in nature compared to English style coffee.



We didn’t want to stuff our faces silly as we were hanging out to go to Misato next door. We ordered chicken feet, yam cakes and rojak. It was certainly tempting to order more.

Even though I’m not a fan of chicken feet, this was quite tasty. Marinated well giving it a vinegary and sweet taste sensation. It wasn’t presented in the usual ‘intact chicken feet’ way, in that you could eat it quite happily and be oblivious that you were eating someone else’s feet.



The yam cakes were also delicious with fried onion on top, but not as scrumptious as the turnip paste cakes you get at dim sum.



I’m not an expert on rojak so it’s quite hard to be critical on this popular dish. For those who haven’t a clue what this it, rojak is bascially salad. I think what constitutes a bad rojak from a kick ass one is the sauce. This rojak consisted of cucumbers, pineapple and tofu. The sauce is treacle like in consistency and is suppose to contain dried shrimp paste (belacan), sugar, chili, thick soy sauce and other spices. Crushed peanuts are added for extra texture. The sauce ends up tasting entirely unique in a sweetish, spicy, and maybe a little fishy way. It’s a great tasty light starter dish and very refreshing for the palate.



We’ve been to Kopi Tiam heaps of times and have tried many of their dishes which include chicken rice (above average), beef rendang, curry laska (not great), nasi goreng, bah kut teh, nasi lemak (good but the chicken portions are stingy), kari mee (not bad) and much more. They also have a great dessert menu including the ever present ice kachang which comes in massive proportions, ice cendol, bo bo cha cha, sago pudding etc.

A brilliant place for affordable, down-to-earth Malaysian food. All main dishes price between £5 to £6. Certainly compared to Malaysia not the most authentic. But hey, this is London and we certainly can’t be fussy. You can be certain of having a tasty meal and drink here for under a tenner.

HRH

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