Its not often that I come across a genuine Malaysian restaurant in London. I was a bit concerned that being located in the trendy Sloan Avenue area of South Kensington that it was going to be all hype and no substance. To my delight we weren’t disappointed tonight with our meal.

We started off with some drinks at the nearby Bowler Bar and Grill which had a nice happy hour. Its actually a strange kind of bar – the strangest thing being that all the customers in the bar appeared to be female! The table service was a little slow, considering most of the customers were clustered around the bar anyway, and though my Mint Aero Martini was delicious I was surprised to find that it appeared that the glass had just been washed but not wiped down. Strange.

Moving on to Awana we were surprised to find that it was fairly heaving with diners. Probably something to do with the very good bargain which was 50% off their a la carte menu from toptable (of course an offer we were also taking advantage of.) Awana features a satay bar (where you may want to drop in for a quick nibble) and the restaurant. The room is striking and very appealing with warm colours. The chef at the satay bar was also very entertaining as he swirled around his giant pancakes. And the smells of the food all around us – just right.

From the outset the service at Awana was friendly and efficient. I don’t know how many staff members there were but it certainly seemed like there were a lot of them. Additionally it was pleasing to note that they were very helpful in helping us to interpret the extensive offerings on the menu and helpful in their suggestions of combinations to go for. To be honest there were so many things on the menu that I could hardly narrow it down to just one starter, one main and one dessert!

In the end for starters we mainly went for satays with Sandra trying the sajian laut goreng (basically tempura style fried seafood with sweet chilli sauce.) Not that we needed it but we also got some sides of the roti canai (a traditional malaysian style flat bread) to go with a red curry sauce and a dahl curry sauce. All dishes were cooked to perfection. I was particularly impressed with how tender and tasty the corn-fed chicken satay skewers were.

For our mains Amelia and Pauline went with curries and Sandra and I tried ikan panggang – a chargrilled butterfish wrapped in banana leaf with lemongrass, coriander and chilli served with shallot and cucumber salad which actually, for a dry dish, went surprisingly well with a side of coconut rice. The butterfish was divine – once again cooked to perfection and quite juicy.

Finally I couldn’t really go past the desserts. At 50% they were truly a bargain. I had to go with the chendol – pandan pearls with kidney beans in coconut cream with caramel and shaved ice. The other girls didn’t really like but I’m used to these kinds of desserts. It was tasty but its a shame my shaved ice actually became a block of ice!

Our Desserts:

chendol

pannacotta – sorry can’t remember the flavour!	tiga krim chocolate – trio of chocolate mousses, served on a crisp biscuit with raspberry sauce	dadar – pandan pancake roll with sweet coconut

Awana is definitely recommended for those who want to try Malaysian food. Without the current discount the prices may appear to be a little hefty but actually the food is quite good so its not too bad value for money at full price. Can’t wait to go back and try some more satays!