Kiasu

Since it won this year's best "Cheap Eats" restaurant award, we visited Kiasu recently and were not disappointed. Havng lived in Singapore, we were delighted to slurp up generous bowls of outstanding Lahksa. Staff was efficient, and the owner came by to see if we had enjoyed our meal. We'll go back. Be forwarned, though: It gets very busy (our first try, we were turned away without reservations for lunch on Sunday)..
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Bagan
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 7
Thursday, October 25, 2007

Went to Kiasu for Saturday lunch. Immediately was upset that we were waiting 20 minutes prior to anyone coming to see if we wanted a table - VERY bad service. once seated waited another 15 minutes to have someone come to take our order - again VERY bad service. once order taken, food was good, not amazing but good and would likely come back as live in the neighbourhood.
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Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 7
Saturday, October 20, 2007

I've been there twice now and each time I've been welcomed and have been serviced well.

The food to me compared to all the other Malaysian places is good. It is the only place I think that does a good laksa in London and I've been to alot of Malaysian places!

My parents are Chinese Malaysian and they thought it was really good when they ate there.

I say Kiasu rocks!
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Ros Tan
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 9
Thursday, August 09, 2007

The food is authentic and the few times I have been there have been good. The service was not bad, but one should not expect fine dining service. I especially liked the Hainan Chicken rice and Kuew Teow (fried flat noodles).

The ambiance is ok, basic decor. However, if you are Singaporean and Malaysian, there is plenty of scriblings on the wall that is funny and can evoke familiar (maybe fond memories of home). So look out for it.

When the restaurant is full can be difficult if you want to chat because of the background noise. One might say that it is the authentic experience to some roadside stalls here.

The desserts are reasonable, some are better than others. The ice kacang and bubur chacha is very good.

Overall, the good news is that many of the patrons are fellow Malaysians and Singaporeans - that says something about the autheticity of the fare.
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Sal
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 7
Wednesday, May 23, 2007

I see a lot of negative reviews around... some say the food isn't good, others the service.

Service I'll agree isn't very fast on a friday or saturday night when it gets enormously busy. I'd say they could use one or two more people. But otherwise I've never had any real problems... besides if I remember they only charge 10% instead of the normal 12.5%.

Complaints about food I don't really understand... Most restaurants have dishes that are good, and some that are just 'okay'. The noodle dishes here are great -- the Malaysian Hokkien Char.... Mee Siam... Laksa... I think pretty much all of them aside from the Singaporean fried noodles, which is pretty boring. The Nasi Lemak and Goreng are pretty good as well, and I think this is one of the very few places in London with decent Satay. I love the starters, especially Pai Tee. The braised duck and pork is also great.

What I really like about the place, however, is that it seems to me by a wide margin to have a nicer place and notably cleaner food than other malaysian places... and the price, while higher than other cafe-style places, is fine -- perhaps 15/head.

My only real complaint is that the drinks are inconsistent... sometimes they're too sweet, sometimes they're too weak, sometimes the lemon tea is really sour!

So maybe they don't give free sambal (though I've asked for, and received extra chilli at no charge...) and maybe they're a couple pounds more than CNR. At least I don't get reheated rice at Kiasu. So what if the staff there are busy -- at least they try, and they're nice. I've heard people who said they heard the place had bad food, but 9/10 of the dishes I've had there were great, and everybody I've ever eaten there with seemed to like it (yes they are malaysian).

Bottom line -- I love it, I'm there once a week. Try the noodles and the starters.
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M
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 9
Saturday, May 12, 2007

Tried out this restaurant in the vain hope of finding a decent Malaysian-Nyonya restaurant in London but was quite disappointed. Anyone visiting here should avoid the chicken curry because ours was a disaster, but the other dishes were quite passable. The Nasi Goreng was quite decent, but you do wonder why the restaurant sees it fit to charge 1.50 for a plate of sambal when it should come as a standard offering with many of the dishes - which I must add, are not cheap.

The appalling thing about this place however, was the service. The first time we went, we saw a couple of diners walk out after waiting interminably to be served. We faced a long wait for our food. The second time around, we ended up waiting almost 30 mins to be served our drinks, and they seemed to have forgotten our orders. Some of the staff seemed to be doing all the work. Very chaotic and disorganised, and the food isn't good enough to warrant a return visit.
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J Wang
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 5
Tuesday, May 08, 2007

We went there on a sunday afternoon having read good reviews about this new malaysian kid on the block in Queensway.The starters were very good especially the spring rolls but the main courses left a lot to be desired.We ordered two chicken curries - one indonesian and the other malay (if my memory is accurate) - and both were woeful not in terms of taste which was pretty good (especially the Indonesian one) but the amount and type of cuts of meat unless you like lots of bone and small amounts of flesh from the backbone.There was no side salad offered either which made the whole food experience somewhat dull,partial and unbalanced. Decor and service were fine but we won't be going back as we concluded that overall it was very poor value for money.
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sean
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 3
Tuesday, May 01, 2007

The atmosphere was great, and the food was not so bad either (even though my friend's food was a bit salty). But, the service was very poor due to the lack of staff I think. I was waiting more than 20 minutes to get the food I ordered.

The price set is reasonable for the atmosphere, but not reasonable for the service and portions ( C&R serves similar food, which is much better ).

I wouldn't go back to Kiasu.
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Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, April 25, 2007