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.
Technorati tags: Melati
