Rasa Sayang

rasa sayang

April 14th, 2012

I went for a few drinks with Adrian at Blacks recently. We bumped in to a friend of mine from Art College and two bottles of wine later, eating seemed to be a sensible plan. I’d scanned the Time Out web site earlier, for interesting and reasonably priced food near Soho and Rasa Sayang looked like a good place to try.

The restaurant itself was established in 2008 and specialises in Malaysian – Singapore cuisine. The interior is clean, brightly lit and cafe like. I was attracted by hot and spicy food at reasonable prices and Time Out commented that, “The menu is like a tour of Singapore’s hawker stalls” – so very interesting in my book.

curry spring rolls

I ordered Curry Spring Rolls as a starter – made with chicken and potato curry. They were  quite hot and much more substantial than regular vegetable spring rolls.

grilled satay

Adrian ordered Grilled Chicken Satay, apparently grilled over a charcoal fire and served with a spicy peanut sauce.

curry laksa

My main course was Curry Laksa, a large bowl of egg noodles with a rich curry of fresh seafood (mainly prawns and squid). I was so glad I ordered it, it was hot, spicy and had a wonderful deep flavour. Apparently laksa is a coconut based curry soup, commonly containing sambal chilli paste and garnished with Vietnamese coriander or laksa leaf. I had thought that the leaf was mint, but reading up on it I realise that it was laksa leaf, with a slightly minty taste and odour. I’d definitely go back just to eat this again – my whole body felt energised by the heat for several hours afterwards.

fragrant prawn noodles

Adrian ordered Fragrant Prawn Noodles – prawns and chicken served with noodles in a rich prawn broth. This originated in Penang where it’s called Hooien Mee – normally containing prawns, shrimp, chicken, spring onions and lime. I didn’t try it but Adrian seemed very happy.

We washed our food down with Chinese Tsingtao beer – we needed it with all that heat!

Rasa Sayang is at: 5 Macclesfield Street, W1D 6AY

The food is good value, it’s about £10 for a starter and main course – I’ll definitely go back!