Kiasu

Man, were we disappointed after dining here. Their vegetarian offerings are small and taste like Chinese food- not Malaysian. Right across the street from this place is a Chinese restaurant, and we saw Kiasu's busboy go there and collect a platter - um, do you guys share a kitchen? I really wanted to give this place a fair shake but it's not possible due to the mediocrity of food and service.
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3 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 2
Thursday, June 24, 2010

Some have said in the past that Kiasu is not the best for Malaysian and Singaporean cuisine, however, i was pleasantly surprised with the dishes ordered.

Nasi Lemak - A traditional malaysian dish and made better than most places in Malaysia. Please note, the sambal is extremely spicy (and that's coming from a chili and spice loving Malaysian)

Sago Gula Melaka - can't really go wrong with this dessert: light, refreshing and not too sweet
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Gabrielle123 - View all reviews by this user
7 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 7
Saturday, May 08, 2010

Kiasu – A Strait-up Standby in W2

Summary: Kiasu hasn’t failed me yet when I’ve gotten hungry in Bayswater/Queensway & fancied some Asian food. It is cheap, the people are friendly & the food is pretty consistently good. If you’re in the area & you get a hankering for food from the ‘Straits’, whether or snack or full meal, Kiasu is likely to satisfy your cravings

A few years ago, I saw that Time Out had handed out its Best Cheap Eats award to a mild-mannered ‘pan-Asian’ restaurant called Kiasu in Queensway. We moved to West London around the same time and, during a walk around the Bayswater area, passed by the restaurant. I said we should keep it in mind for the next time we were in the area and got hungry. Since then, we have been to Kiasu on a number of occasions and have always had pretty good food there. On our last visit, I had my camera with me and decided it would be worth doing a little review as I do think it is very good value for money.

I guess the double-edged sword of doing a review of a place you’ve been to a lot is that if the meal you are reviewing isn’t one of the better you’ve had, it’s difficult to convey the general view you have about the place which has been built up over time. This meal was good, but slightly below the quality we’ve had during other meals at Kiasu, and while I do find that the quality varies a little bit, it is always pretty good and makes for a satisfying meal.

I don’t know why, but I always tend to go for one of their ‘complete meals’, while my wife never does. On this occasion, I went for the one complete meal I hadn’t tasted before, and the picture on the menu looked quite appetizing (yes, it is one of those places that has pictures of every dish, but it’s not such a bad thing here if you are not familiar with the cuisine in the first place).

Main Course 1: Nasi Goreng Istimewa (Complete Meal) - My Nasi Goreng Istimewa consisted of four parts. The central tower was made up of Malay-style spicy fried rice, and was crowned with a sunny-side up egg. The rice itself was cooked to a good texture and had adequate spice. It wasn’t all that interesting on its own, but I suppose it is intended to be eaten in tandem with some of the other parts of the dish. The chicken satay skewers were simply excellent. I don’t think I’ve had better in a London restaurant, even at much pricier establishments. The sweet and mildly spicy peanut flavor shone through and the chicken was moist and flavorful. All too often I find the chicken at lower-priced Indian and Asian restaurants to be dry and vapid, but at Kiasu I haven’t had that experience thus far. Possibly my favorite part of the dish was the pile of achar, or pickled mixed vegetables. They were so delicious; I wish they had put a few more on the plate! The prawn sambal was my least favorite element in the dish as the fishy flavor was overpowering and I couldn’t stomach eating more than a few bites of it. Overall, I would give the dish a 7/10 as it was very good.

Main Course 2: Thai Duck Curry & Fragrant Jasmine Rice - My wife said that her red curry sauce was tasty and spiced perfectly, but that there weren’t many pieces of duck in the dish, and that the pieces that were there were okay but not fantastic. Upon reflection, although she usually likes duck for dishes like this, she would have preferred chicken instead, but it wasn’t available on the menu anyway. The vegetables that accompanied the dish were aubergine, bamboo shoots, tomatoes and she said that, from time-to-time, she would get a piece of pineapple too, which added a lovely sweetness. The rice was very good; fluffy and fragrant. 6/10.

Dessert 1: Sago Gula Melaka - I have always enjoyed my desserts at Kiasu, and this was one of the few I hadn’t tried before. The base is made with coconut cream and then some palm sugar (the gula melaka) is added. Chilled sago pearls (similar to tapioca and extracted from palm tree stems) are layered in throughout. The palm sugar makes the dish with its rich brown sugary taste, and the pearls add interest by lending their gelatinous texture. It was good but wasn’t one of the stronger desserts I’ve had at Kiasu before. I prefer their Chendol, for example. 6/10.

Dessert 2: Pulut Hitam - Of her dessert, Mrs. LF commented: “I like the idea of trying something totally new, especially when it comes to dessert. I mean, how wrong can it possibly go, really?…So I opted for this desert because I liked the sound of “black glutinous slowly cooked rice” as it might just resemble traditional English rice pudding, which I looove! Obviously it wasn’t quite the same, and unfortunately wasn’t quite as nice either, but I enjoyed the novelty of tucking in to something sweet and unknown. It was good though (different to say the least) and tasted healthy with the coconut cream instead of milk.” 6/10.

Is Kiasu for you? For the price, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better place serving this style of food in Central London. The quality of food on offer at Kiasu has been fairly consistent throughout all of our visits and we always leave satisfied and feeling that we’ve just had a bit of a bargain, as the bill for two is usually around £20 total. The waiters are normally very polite and obliging, but tend to leave you alone unless you need them – which suits me fine in a place like this. The only thing that slightly lets the restaurant down is its somewhat harsh lighting and bright blue theme. I think it could use a bit of a makeover – nothing radical – as it has been open over three years and I don’t believe they’ve changed anything. Besides that, I don’t have many complaints and am always happy eating there.

Wine: they have a nice little wine list for a restaurant where probably very few people are actually going to order it. There are 5 whites and reds each, plus a rosé and two sparklers. I’ve had the Heller Chenin Blanc Organic once and it complimented the flavors of my meal very nicely.

Note: I have dined at Kiasu a number of times (I think four), and have always gone for lunch or midday snacking.
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laissezfare - View all reviews by this user
7 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Tried out Kiasu one night despite the recent bad reviews just so I can taste their chai tau kueh. Ordered that particular dish and was asked whether I want the Penang version or Singapore version. Being from Penang, I chose the Penang version. It is what Penangites call Koay Kak. That dish was fried very well with eggs and a bit of chilli (just the way I like it). So was happy with that.

My husband tried out their chicken pie (which was sold on behalf of someone else). It was okay, more like a chicken puff than a chicken pie. Not bad.

We tried their special of the day which was bak kut teh. My husband was very impressed that they had all the right ingredients in the bak kut teh and that it was so cheap too. The bak kut teh comes with rice.

We had two non-alcoholic drinks each and everything came to about £35. Very good value for money.

We saw steaming plates of Hainanese chicken rice coming out for different tables and were thinking of trying that as everyone seemed to enjoy that a lot but we were too full at that point. So must go back to try their chicken rice and pai tee at another time.

All in all, it is quite a good choice for dinner. Everything came out quite promptly, service was not bad and quite fast, dishes came out hot and steaming, food was okay and best of all it is quite good value for money. Will definitely go back there for their chai tau kueh (or Koay Kak).
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E Chan
7 Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 5 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 8
Sunday, October 18, 2009

We went to Kiasu this weekend and brought someone from Malaysia who lives in the UK for years for some 'nice' Malaysian/SIngaporean food, but we were thoroughly disappointed and humilated in front of our friend. My Nyonya laksa was plain and with very little ingredient. My Teh Tarik was lukewarm (YUCK!). We wanted Roti Chanai (my English husband and Malaysian friend were craving for that), they said they have run out of supply (it was only 1pm)! We wanted Or Chien (fried oyster with egg), they said they do not have the oyster, but then the dish miracously appeared half way. We waited ages for a bowl of white rice. At the end, we wanted ice kacang, they said they have run out of a special ingredient (gula Malacca), and ask if we could wait for half an hour for them to go and buy it! The people who run the place should put a black bin bag on their head and parade around London in shame for allowing such a shambolic way of running their business. They would not have got away in Malaysia/Singapore. Their reputation would be in the drain by the end of the day, for being so inefficient. Perhaps that's why they are in the UK, not in Malaysia/Singapore!

P/S: I am a proper Malaysian who lives to eat and knows her food. I also live in Singapore for many years. So I have a high expectation of what a good Malaysian/Singaporean restaurant should be, and Kiasu is definitely not it!
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Mindy Spencer
2 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 1 | Value for money 3
Sunday, June 07, 2009

The price of food are very high and the quality of food are very low. The food portion is so small and 2 noodle dish + 1 beer + a drink cost us £21++. With this money I can eat roast duck and a proper meal in a near by restaurant.

That is the last time I gonna be going to this restaurant.

Highly recomment to avoid this restaurant at all cost...
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Alvin
2 Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Monday, April 13, 2009

Kiasu is a firm favourite. Starters - Pai Tee, Chai Tow Kway, Satay, Pratha, Oyster Omelette and the new intros like Calamari & Murtabak - wow ! Main dishes - Char Kway Teow, Laksa, Mee Goreng, Hor Fun, Pad Thai, Veg Bee Hoon, etc - signature dishes are amazing ! Desserts - ice kacang, bubur chacha - yummy, yummy, yummy ! So enough of the gushing and seriously, this restaurant is just ace - the flavours have changed a little over the years, but for the better. I bet there will be some that will disagree, but this is my opinion. How about the roast duck and mixed meats that they have just added to their repertoire - really good stuff - all they have to do now is to add it to noodles like their wonton mee and it would be perfection.

Icing on the cake is their staff - special shout outs to Jasmine, Kelvin and Elizabeth. They have made our several visits like going home. Thank you. Management please take note : these three are keepers.
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Kevin Nash
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, March 17, 2009

I've been to Kiasu quite a few times and have definitely noticed a drop in standards over the last year or so. The service has always been pretty incompetent, but for the food to decline so much in quality has been very disappointing.

Last time I went (and the last time I'll go, too) I ordered the Thai green curry. The waitress didn't ask if I wanted rice so I assumed it was included. Well, it wasn't (surprising, given that they were charging around £8 for the dish) and I had to wait 15 minutes for jasmine rice to accompany it. The curry - which was fragrant although a bit watery - was barely warm when it arrived, and was all but cold by the time the rice turned up.

On previous occasions I've had the lahksa, and, honestly, you're better off going to Tuk Tuk next door for their £4 version, which is immeasurably better (and enough for two large meals to boot).

Other dishes range hugely in quality, but be warned - the most popular are regularly unavailable. The satay starter is alright, though.

And I know it's a small thing, but when paying over the odds for soft drinks, I expect more than a small glass of flat, warm Diet Coke without so much as a lime wedge to brighten it up.

If I'd written this review a year ago it would have been a rave; it's sad to see how things have declined since then, and I'm sure Kiasu won't be winning any awards from Time Out again any time soon. A real shame.
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4 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 3
Wednesday, March 04, 2009