Friday, June 30, 2006

Food Review: Melati bar & restaurant, Brighton

I have read some pretty good reviews on Melati but even then I tend to avoid 'upmarket' Asian bar/restaurant hybrids due to their reputation for presentation rather than quality.


The dining area is separated from the bar area. The first thing I noticed was how barren the place was. A couple of people were at the bar and a couple was dining outside. But that's it.


The first 'what the fuck' came when they served a classic Malaysian drink called 'teh tarik' in a wine glass! Like, what the fuck.


This is the starter called the 'perkedel jagung', an Indonesia starter. It's stuffed with corns and some other stuff. It was okay but two pieces??? Jesus.


The 'satey' was abysmal. It is totally nothing like what you can get from Malaysia. Even kebab shops serve more authentic skewered meat than this. To their credit they did serve them with 'ketupat'.


The 'satey' sauce was alright. Not as "peanutie" as I would have preferred.


The sambal daging was quite tasteless. Look at the portion of rice given. It was pathetic. It looks a lot but they garnished the whole thing with onions.


The beef 'rendang' actually came with more meat than rice, which isn't really saying much as the portion is still pretty small. But at least it was pretty authentic. Not as spicy as it should have been.

What can I say? I was pretty disappointed by the visit. For the price the portions were downright outrageous. This isn't Claridge you know. Apart from the 'rendang', the authenticity of the food are questionable. There are much better Malaysian/Indonesian/Singaporean restaurants in the South-East - Nyonya in Notting Hill, Kopi Tiam in Soho and Malay House in Brighton.

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14 comments:

Howsy said...

Yet another mediocre Asian restaurant to 'ngak gwai lo' (con the Caucasians)?

Even I crave Malaysian food that much, looking at the price just put me off.

And I never knew that they serve 'siu mai' at Japanese restaurants! What a con!

Anonymous said...

lol, the teh tarik in a wineglass is damn funny!

elb said...

Is that the melati along Great Windmill Street? I've eaten at the one at Peter St, and it seemed decent enought for me, anyway.

Jon Choo said...

They have good stuff apparently but the not so good stuff are crap. Price wise it's quite outrageous but hei this is Britain.

BTW, this is the Hove branch. I will probably try out Bali Brasserie tomorrow (also in Hove).

QUIK! said...

That's really pathetic man, especially the satay which looks totally plastic. At least they could serve 2 more sticks, it would cost like what? 20 pence more?

And LOL @ the teh tarik in wine glass. It looks horrible!

One char kuey tiau that I had which is probably the best I have had ever since I was here is the one in Yautcha...£7 i think

Jon Choo said...

Yautcha serves Malaysian dishes? I will have to check it out.

Anonymous said...

Had amazing food there. I find the comments placed here are just to undermine the restaurant's reputation. I personally have not tasted better satay anywhere else besides here in Melati Brighton. Sort it out mate! What size portion do you expect for under a tenner Express Lunch which includes starters??? Give it another go, probably standards have improved since your last visit. I like it!

Anonymous said...

Had a takeaway from their supposed "award winning" cuisine. Unfortunately this was one of the worst takeaway meals I have ever had. The high prices added insult to injury.

shrestha said...

Yes, thats a nice blog, Today i am searching for a special restaurant that serve nice food in London then i find http://www.lacartes.com that have directory of over 1000 of Chinese, Italian, French, Thai,mexican and Turkish restaurants and takeaways.

Anonymous said...

first, wat u order is a special lunch promotion dish. what u expect if u paid only 5 pound to have starter and main dish. if u really want bigger portion, come and have dinner.

Jon Choo said...

There are plenty of 'posh' Asian restaurants which serve high quality good portion £5 lunches. For example The King & I down the seafront.

Maybe I am too harsh.

Anonymous said...

i think you order cheap express lunch set, that's why it is so little portion.. then chose the normal set meal and u ll get the 4 stick of satay and big portion of rice.

Bali brasserie portion is smaller than melati. By the way, their buffet is not very pleasant!

bayu said...

this a malaysian food??
wwooww...

nice blog....

^^

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