Sedap

Sedap's modest frontage conceals a smoothly run, darkly handsome little restaurant, with gold dragon decorations on the walls, exotic tea sets in cabinets, and goldfish in an aquarium on the black counter. The place seemed overstaffed early on a Sunday evening, but the two smart waiters were soon at full stretch, with a packed room and takeaway orders coming in.

If you love the nutty flavour of satay sauce, try the achar, a zingy Nonya dish of pickled carrots, cauliflower and cucumber with peanuts and sesame, offered as a starter. Many of the main courses glisten with colour. By comparison, beef rendang looked undistinguished, despite its careful mound of rice, yet it proved to be a delicious version of the 'dry' curry - spiced to prickle the brow and sucking at the tongue. Penang char kway teow (a stir-fry of prawns, chinese sausage, slivers of fish cake, spring onions, egg, beansprouts and soy) suffered only from the slightly soggy noodles.

With LSO St Luke's opposite and the Barbican a short walk south, Sedap draws a curious but enthusiastic clientele: a mix of stripy-blazered City boys and their female companions, self-appointed Shoreditch culturati and Asian women.