Telephone number: 0207 437 2745

Website: N/A. The melati  site on the web belongs to the other melati restaurant

Date of visit:  22 February 2010

Approximate cost per head: A la carte £20-£30. Set meal (pre-theatre) for around £10

Comments on wine list/beer: Very basic, stick to tiger beer

Summary:

This restaurant has been around for 30 years. They serve South East Asian food (Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore). The food tends to be on the spicy side.

Do not confuse this with the more “modern” and “pricier” Melati in Peter Street. They are not related.

The restaurant is arranged over 3 floors and is fairly cramped. When you enter you will be greeted by Jackie (the owne). You can’t miss her as she is always in a blue blouse whilst others are in black.

Ono of the most interesting and useless fact about Melati is that a lot of dishes are priced around £7.50 to £7.95 – starters and main course. These could be the owner’s lucky numbers!

They do a fantastic Chilli Crab which is not on the menu. There are usually 3 portions per day so the advice is to pre-order.

On the day we went, we had sate, Indonesian soup (soto madura), fried chicken with chilli and garlic (ayam bawang putih), nasi goreng and chow kway tew. The whole meal was washed down with several bottles of tiger beer and bill was £57 including service.

The soup was pleasant and tasted like a mild tom yum. Very lemony but no chillies. The chow kway tew and nasi goreng were mildly sweet as they use ketchup manis – sweet Indonesian soy sauce. Both were very pleasant.

Now the chicken fried with garlic and chilli is what I always order. It is a fantastic dish with crispy chicken blended with “hot” chilli slices and loads and loads of fried “dry” garlic which has also gone crispy. It is slightly on the oily side but it is a dish to die for.

Melati is not haute cuisine and the food is not presented in a “pictorial” manner but its good honest SE Asia food – very similar to “street food”. I have been coming here for 25 years and will continue to do so.

Eddie

I am visiting Hong Kong and Singapore in January. Do you have any recommendations for restaurants?

Ken H

Reply:

Hi,
Just checked my records. I have  2 recommendations for Singapore
 
1. Doc Cheng @ Raffles is one of the best SE Asia fusion cooking that I have ever eaten. Do not try the world famous “tiffin” – its not that good but do have a Singapore Sliing in the Bar within Raffles Hotel. There is a dress code (no shorts) in the main bar but not in the long (tiger) bar. 

http://www.raffles.com/EN_RA/Property/RHS/Restaurants_Bars/Doc_Chengs.htm
 
2. The Chinese in Goodwood Park (Hotel) is also very good.
http://www.goodwoodparkhotel.com/

Or try Clarke’s Quay – its the dining district.

Re Hong Kong, the recommendations are as follows:
 
For views:
 
Peak Tram restaurant – top of the hill, 3 restaurants, suggest that you try the European (steak) which is less noisy than the Chinese.
 http://www.thepeak.com.hk/en/home.asp
Hutong (Peking Rd) – amazing view, really good. Pricy.
http://www.frommers.com/destinations/hongkong/D55084.html
 
Its on the Kowloon side – very difficult to get in, book now!
 
For peking duck, beggars’s chicken and sweet and sour fish,try 
Spring Deer (Moody Rd). You have to book at least 2 days ahead. Huge portions.
This restaurant is on the 1st floor (2nd in HK and USA). The entrance is shared with a block of flats!  
http://www.frommers.com/destinations/hongkong/D44600.html
 
For dim sum – lunch only, try the City Hall, be sure to arrive before 12 or there is a long wait. They have over 100 varieties by trollies.
 
My favourite European Restaurant – you can still get 60s cooking here which nobody in the UK serves any more e.g. chicken kiev, steak diane…
 
Jimmy’s Kitchen (2 branches, in Kowloon as well as Central)
 http://www.frommers.com/destinations/hongkong/D44635.html
 
 
Or choose your own:
 http://www.frommers.com/destinations/hongkong/78_inddin.html
 
Last, Snow Garden : this is the place for shanghainese cooking in Causeway Bay – suggest that you take the tram and get off around SOGO the Japanese dept store.
 http://www.snow-garden.com/en/location.php
 
 
Eddie