Address: 85 Sloane Avenue, Chelsea, London SW3 3DX

Telephone number: 0207 584 8880

Date of visit: 27 February 2011

 Website: www.awana.co.uk

Approximate cost per head: £30 plus for  a selection of a la carte dishes including starters. There is also a set meal for £50 a head with 10 courses/dishes.

Comments on wine list/beer: Upmarket list but not at silly mark ups

 Cuisine: Malaysian

Summary:

Awana is the only Malaysian restaurant listed in the Michelin Guide.

I came here with a couple of friends after they treated me to the Carling Cup Final.

The restaurant is very smart and modern with an airy feeling. As you enter there are TV screens showing what is going on at the roti (bread) and sate bar.

The wine list was quite upmarket and they had an interesting champagne called Moutard 6 Cepages 2004 (£50) – champagne aged in old chardonnay barrels. On the wine list, they claimed that this gives the champagne more depth.

I usually found that sparkling wine or champagne goes well with spicy food. Reds don’t.

The Moutard 6 Cepages turned out to be an exceptional wine – full of fruit and flavour. It doesn’t have the complexity of Krug etc. The best way to describe it was that it was a fruitier but dry version of Louis Roderer.

To start with, we had a selection of satays: chicken (£8), lamb ((£8) and seafood (£8.50).There were 4 skewers per portion with the meat satays and 3 skewers per portion for the seafood. They were all nicely grilled over charcoal. The interesting thing was that the lamb was not chewy – this in my view is a real test of how good the quality of the meats are. The peanut sauce that came with it was very mild. In fact, everything we had on the night was mild but had a good spicy taste to it.

We then had 4 starters: lamb ribs (£8.50), chicken wings (£5.50) and vegetarian spring rolls (£7.50) and garlic roti (£6.50). The chicken wings were little drum sticks – the meat of the wings were rolled back onto the big wing bone to form a drum stick – deep fried in batter. The lamb was a little bit on the chewy side but then we ordered it cooked medium. The spring rolls were disappointing and it was the worst dish on the night. The garlic roti was a very fine paratha bread served with alight curry dip.

We the had the ayam padang (chicken curry – £16.50), nasi goreng with fried shrimps (£15.5), seabass (£22) and mixed vegetables (£12.5). Everything was nicely presented but then that seemed to be a key selection criteria of Michelin Inspectors. The chicken curry was good but too mild for me, the seabass in a ginger sauce spiked with tamarind. The rice and vegetables highly enjoyable. In fact there were so much food, I had to ask for a doggy bag.

The whole bill including coffee, tea and two bottles of water (I think that it was filtered tap water) came to just over £200 with 12.5% service charge included.

The servers were very fast and pleasant and the prices – well it is probably reasonable for that part of the world.

We all had a good time. Next time, I think that we will just stick to the starters and have a mezza type meal.

E

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/news/the-163400-cookbook-that-blends-technology-with-food-2226889.html

I might get one for Xmas!

E

February 2011

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/travel/talking-turkish/story-e6frg8rf-1226006811582

Useful links here!

E

February 2011