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Rasa Sayang

5 Macclesfield Street, W1D 6AY Full details & map

Restaurant: Malaysian

Time Out says 3 Users say 3/5 Rate it

By Time Out Editors Posted: Oct 27 2011

Opened in 2008, Rasa Sayang is now established as one of the better Malaysian restaurants in Soho. There are two dining areas; we prefer the smaller ground-floor space with its pale wood furniture to the darker basement. The room can seem austere and cramped, but prices are still low and service is cheerful.

The menu is like a tour of Singapore's hawker stalls, featuring satay, hainanese chicken rice and nasi lemak - real comfort cooking for expatriates - although the execution can be a little slapdash and inconsistent.

We started with kon loh mee (flat rice noodles), which arrived with pork won ton, then moved on to the national dish of Singapore: chilli crab topped with egg white, for a velvety touch from the 'heat zone'. Extracting the soft flesh from the crab shell can be a messy affair, but we were rewarded by tasty and spicy flavours. For an authentic finish, try the bubur cha cha - a medley of yam, sweet potato and sago served with warm coconut milk - and a comforting cup of teh tarik.

Tags: South-East Asia, Malaysian, Groups, Central, Chinatown, Budget, Restaurant

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Rasa Sayang details

Address

Rasa Sayang

5 Macclesfield Street W1D 6AY

Transport Leicester Square or Piccadilly Circus tube

Telephone

020 7734 1382

Rasa Sayang website

Meals served noon-11pm Mon-Thur, Sun; noon-midnight Fri, Sat

Main courses £6.90-£17.80

Credit cards AmEx, MC, V

Facilities

Babies and children admitted, Booking advisable, Separate room for parties ( seats 30 ), Takeaway service

Rasa Sayang map

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Comments & ratings 3/5 (Average of 3 ratings)

By cyuLondon - Mar 14 2012

4/5

I'm a Malaysian Chinese and love my food! I've always walked past Rasa Sayang while in Chinatown and thought I should try it. I would highly recommend it to anyone who misses their Malaysian! The food is pretty authentic, of pretty good portions, and not a bad price for the central London location. (If anyone wants a great cheapie Malaysian - go to Cafe Bonda in Paddington! I used to live a street away and it was always a haunt of Malaysian students in London - a clear sign of value and authenticity)

The service isn't any better or worse than other Chinatown places. And I found it reasonably acceptable (you have to understand where you are!). No one was rude, sure some of the servers a little more brusque than others, but there were nicer waitresses as well. Granted, my food order was pretty simplistic and I only had water, so I wasn't a challenging customer by any means. And they didn't bounce us off the table even when it was clear we had finished with eating (they'd taken away the plates and we said no to dessert) and were just chatting away. The bill did appear unasked but that was probably after 15mins of table clearance. And it was a pretty busy night, covers-wise for them. It is a pretty small restaurant, so yes, they will seat you next to/very near other customers. But that's no different from Busaba Eat Thai or Wagamama's. No need to be precious about it.

I was introducing a mate to the cuisine so kept it simple but classic - satay chicken, otak-otak (for something different!), kangkung belacan, beef rendang, and char keow teoy. Almost a bit too much too eat for just two girls!

The satay was marinaded well but could have been better (using dark chicken meat rather than breast for example) but the sauce was pretty ok, and I always like the onion, cucumber and rice cube accompaniment as it should be served. Otak-otak was a little dry but the flavour still made me remember my ah-ma's freshly made products. Kangkung belacan was simple and well-cooked, altho' it could have used more of a chilli-belacan kick. The beef rendang was very good - mainly dry, nicely spiced and coconut-y, tender beef. Char keow teoy was tasty and seemed pretty close to the hawker-styles you can get in Singapore and Malaysia.

All in all, I will go back there for my Malaysian food fix if I'm in the LeicesterSq/Soho area, and craving a taste of home!

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By Hot chilli..girl - Nov 19 2011

5/5

Excellent

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By koh - Jul 13 2011

1/5

awful service cant even get the orders right!been a regular but lost patience with all the screw ups!goodbye!

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By Desmondorama - Feb 18 2011

As a Singaporean-Australian, I was extremely impressed by the high quality, authenticity and presentation of all the dishes I had here. I'm definitely going back again when I'm next in London.

One drawback is that because the restaurant is small, patrons are automatically seated to share their table with other diners. It was most annoying for me and my partner to share a private meal with a total stranger sharing our table who was obviously as embarrassed and uncomfortable as we were, because we could not enjoy our conversation in private.

Unfortunately, this is an eat-and-go restaurant and lingering over dessert and coffee is not really an option - a pity as the food was really very good!

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By AJK - Jan 11 2011

Outstanding Malaysian food - I could have been back in Singapore. And service was fine - don't recognise the grumbles mentioned by others. Plus Tiger Beer!

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By Yummy - Apr 25 2010

Not sure why people are knocking the service. If people want a 5-star service, they should go to a 5-star restaurant and pay accordingly! The food is excellent. Will recommend to others and visit again when next in London.

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By mdrifter - Mar 25 2010

As a Malaysian who happened to crave Beef Rendang so much yesterday, I decided to give Rasa Sayang a try. I've long heard about the poor service , it turned up better than I expected, although it's still poor.

First, we're seated at the most inconvenient corner of the restaurant. Then, the rice came in a plate with stain. When everything on the plate , including the plate is white, the stain becomes more obvious. I wonder how they could have overlooked it. I then asked for a plate, the waitress frown but then came back with the plate within a minute. (What can I say?)

Beef Rendang was a little disappointing. The "kuah" was runny, it taste okay though. Fried carrot cake wasn't exceptional. Otak-otak comes in a very small portion , and it's a wee bit too dry. The best dish of the night was the Sambal Belachan Buah Petai. That's indeed a yum-yum.

We left without too much disappointment but later that night, both me and my boyfriend suffered from what we think - the MSG side effects. None of us are allergic to MSG.

So ... if you don't mind the amount of MSG they used in the food, this place is fine. And me - been there done that.

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By Iris - Mar 22 2010

I am malaysian myself so i was really impress with the food.Very authentic and tasty malaysian taste.Price isok as well but the service was the worse ever i have ever encounter!!! I really hope the management will really pay attention to this.