kari ayam; ice kachang

Through my numerous monologues on the awesomeness of Kiasu, one would assume that I was loyal to my little Malaysian friend. However, this is far from the case. While I am fiercely loyal to my family and friends, I’m stupendously slutty when it comes to good food and I would totally drop Kiasu like a hot potato if something else were to trump it. But nothing has. Yet.

What there has been is ample recommendation. Recommendations for various Malaysian joints, none of which stood out more than those for  Satay House; I even recall someone saying something about Malaysian royalty dining there. Hmmm, seriously? Anyway, I brought with me my nasi lemak connoisseur buddy and looked forward to an evening of culinary delights.

Disappointingly, after all the hype for Satay House, I’m sorry y’all, but… I thought it was purrrrty darn average.

Loyalty 101: how not to be a food slut.

[I keep failing this course]

It’s Saturday night and I’m totally in the mood to slut around. I want Satay House to be good, I want it to be better than Kiasu. I hope their fiery little hokkien prawn mee would knock my socks off and sweep me off my feet, but huh? They don’t even have it on the menu? WTF? Fail. 

Ok all right, I didn’t fail them on the spot. So eager to find myself another bona-fide Malaysian gastro-heaven, I looked past my usual benchmarking dish and perused the rest of the menu. Ok, they have nasi lemak, at least my buddy could have his usual.

We ended up ordering a bunch of dishes to share ~ kari ayam (Malaysian chicken curry), soto ayam (chicken soup), roti canai (Malaysian bread with dalca), rojak buah (fruit and veg salad in sweet shrimp paste) and of course nasi lemak (coconut rice with sambal shrimp, cucumber, peanuts, crunchy white bait anchovies and half boiled egg).

xx ayam; nasi lemak

The dishes were good but not to-die-for. The nasi lemak sambal was too runny according to my buddy, and the dalca with the roti canai was just sour, whereas I prefer it with curry.  Not impressive.

I have to give Satay House props though, for having two obscure Malaysian dishes ~ soto ayam and rojak buah, both of which I have not had for the better part of two decades. The soto ayam, a light chicken soup I can leave or take, but the rojak, boy oh boy, take me now, I’m in lurrrve! I’m not even sure if they had the traditional fruits and veg ~ on the streetside in Malaysia, you’re likely to find rojak stalls skewering chunks of cucumber, raw mango and pineapple, then dousing them in sweet shrimp paste and crushed peanuts. I think Satay House had the same, I really don’t remember cos I inhaled the whole dish. Oops!

roti chanai; rojak salad

We finished our meal with an ais kachang, a tower of shaved ice with red beans, sweet corn, palm sugar, grass jelly and topped with evaporated milk. Satay House does this well, perhaps a little too well, leading my wandering foodie heart astray.

But alas, overall, Kiasu’s menu, flavours, style and service still comes up trump for me. I’m a one restaurant girl (for now), and doing brilliantly in my Loyalty 101 course. I might even pass this time!

Oh and sorry the photos are a little bit el-lamo, but it was rather romantically dark inside Satay House that night and apparently my camera wasn’t in the mood to flex its light grabbing tendrils as much as usual.

Satay House
13 Sale Place
Paddington, W2 1PX
0207 723 6763
website

Satay House on Urbanspoon

11 Thoughts on “Loyalty 101: how not to be a food slut ~ Kiasu trumps Satay House

  1. Catty, I have been hearing very good things about Sedap. A visit must be made.

  2. Let’s go to Sedap (it’s on my list!) Tweetup potential…

  3. tehbus & Helen: TWEAT-UP!! 🙂

  4. I have the exact opposite problem: there’s just one stand-alone Malaysian restaurant in Minneapolis/St. Paul (the others are folded into Thai/other Asian, as if they’re interchangeable!). By default, I’m as faithful to them as Penelope to Odysseus. That’s not to say that given the opening of another place, I wouldn’t consider a bit of tramping around myself! I would be all over that ice kacang.

    Thanks for your comment on my blog but talk about great photos – the compilation off to the side here had me clawing at the screen (my fave: dumplings in bamboo steamer. I want dimsum!)

  5. stupendously slutty when it comes to food… that’s hysterical

  6. Tangled Noodle: Haha I love it – you’re faithful to them unless, oops another better place turns up. In that case, I am the most loyallest person around!

    justcooknyc: haha thanks… it’s just… the simple truth!

  7. This “buddy” sounds like he knows his Malaysian food. Have been to Sedap once and the Nasi Lemak was EXTREMELY disappointing however the Kuay Teow wasn’t too bad.. Rate Satay House higher – at least I would return there which is more than I can say for Sedap. Still think you should try Jom Makan in Trafalgar Square. Have been a couple of times and was quite happy with the Rendang.

  8. I know, I really want to try Jom Makan so will go there soon. And Sedap too. You’re the first person who’s said it’s not great! Must have high standards…

  9. chooken on September 6, 2009 at 2:32 pm said:

    missing mamak much? 😛

  10. Hi Catty,

    I stumbled across your blog and cannot believe I have not discovered it sooner! It makes for a great read – light hearted and funny!

    With regards to Satay House, it really does depend on what your order – the dishes can be a bit hit-and-miss, but when they get it right, the food can be truly delicious. I organised my birthday dinner at Satay House last year and spent a number of trips sampling their food to decide on a menu and so I could recommend a few dishes: Beef Rendang, Aubergines or Morning Glory in Shrimp Sauce (both good although I prefer the morning glory as it tasted fresh and light), Grilled Mackerel in tamarind sauce. I did find the chicken and fish curries to be very disappointing however. Anyway I hope you don’t write it off just yet and decide to give it another try!

    PS I am also a big fan of Pad Thai!! Chez Pim has a really easy-to-follow recipe for Pad Thai, I’ve made it a couple of times and it always turns out really yummy!! Haven’t been to Siam Central in a few years so will definitely need to visit soon!!

  11. chooken: missing mamak just a *tiny* bit 😉

    Aysha: wow, awesome comment! Yeh I’ve heard from so many that Satay House is the beez neez so surely there must be something good about it. I might go back and try your recommendations – grilled mackarel in tamarind sauce sounds great! Actually anything in tamarind sauce is good for me 🙂 I read Chez Pim too, I’ll have to go check out her pad thai recipe – and yes, you HAVE to visit Siam Central, I was just there last night 🙂 Thanks for liking my blog, I hope you visit again soon!

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