Before arriving at this place, I had expected quite a lot. The restaurant looked roomy, bright and yet seemed just a little bit too empty for a Friday night near busy Trafalgar Square. Unfortunately it is just too out of the way of the tourist eyes to really catch that much attention. My biggest surprise about this restaurant is how it follows the "quick service" style made popular by Wagamama’s. As our waitress put it, "There are no starters, only sides." Even just like Wagamama’s, they print the desserts on the paper placement, writing the item numbers to remind them who ordered what.

Our waitress asked us if we had been before, and answering no, she gave us the grand tour of the menu, highlighting how it had been split up and what dishes needed additional sides. We decided to order the Rendang Tok, Mee Goreng, Tauhu Sayur, and satay skewers. Combined with the dessert, service and a couple of non alcoholic drinks, our total bill just reached £40 for two. Prices are reasonable with each dish hovering around £8.

The food arrived in different bursts, and although beautifully presented on bright white crockery, ended up overwhelmingly ordinary. Perhaps it was the fact that no dish actually came hot, or even warm, with all the dishes (with the exception of the satay) arriving at room temperature. To be honest, I just didn’t really know how to take that. I mean, either the kitchen doesn’t cook a lot of their dishes fresh (which I could believe), or the "quick service" is not really as ‘quick’ as they advertise. Either way, the result was the same for what should have been steaming white rice, or steaming freshly cooked noodles. The mee goreng honestly disappointed, mainly because it just tasted like a whole lot of vegetables quickly mixed with some egg noodles and none of the slightly charring I associate with this dish. The beef, as flavourful as it was, just didn’t melt in the mouth as it really should have and the tauhu wasn’t really anything special.

Surprisingly it was actually the desserts of the evening that ended up as the stars. A seriously creamy creme caramel in a dark treacle-like syrup and a sago pudding infused with palm sugar and coconut cream. I doubt I’ll be going back anytime soon, although it’s a passable choice if you have a craving for Malaysian food and happen to be in the area.

TheKua.com Rating: 5 out of 10