Randomness Guide to London - Differences between Version 2 and Version 1 of Roti King At Euston Chinese, NW1 1LH

The Roti King has been on the move since being turfed out of Oriental City when it closed in 2008. He has now set up shop in the Euston Chinese restaurant just round the corner from Euston station.

The restaurant is quite small and located in a basement at the bottom of a fairly narrow switchback staircase. The decor is very basic and the location somewhat insalubrious but you don't come here for those. Menus are dog-eared laminated sheets - make sure you get the Roti King menu alongside the Euston Chinese menu as it comes on a separate sheet which looks like it has traveled with the Roti King on his recent peregrinations.

I can't comment on the Euston Chinese menu items as we didn't try those, but it seems to cover a reasonable range of Chinese, Malaysian Chinese, and Malaysian standards.

The roti menu is short and sweet. Your choice of lamb curry, chicken curry, or dal server with two roti canai on the side costs £5.50. The roti themselves are expertly produced: light and soft on the inside and cooked to a crisp perfection on the outside. The curries are rich and interesting and the presence of plenty of bones in the lamb curry hints at where some of the flavour comes from.

Chicken or Lamb murtabak (flat roti dough fried with a filling of spiced meat with what appeared to be egg - I found a whole star anise in mine) cost £5 and are well made and tasty. Sweet roti can be had for around £3 each and we tried a roti with kaya (coconut curd) which was hot and fresh with a good smear of sweet kaya inside, though Shuri would have preferred a bit more kaya on her half. Other sweet options include banana roti.

A menu of soft drinks is also available including teh tarik (a milk tea drink) and a sweetened soy milk Shuri reported as decent but nothing special. Other options include grass jelly drink, luohan guo drink, and Milo. All of these are apparently available hot or iced, which was welcome on the day we went as it was 27 degrees outside. Tap water is available on request, and standard carbonated soft drinks can be had too.

Shuri and Robbie visited at opening time on a Thursday and it was almost empty when we arrived. The only tables which weren't reserved were for 2 people though so if you want to bring a group I would call ahead to book. After about 20 minutes the place was pretty full and by the time we left there was a queue waiting both for tables and takeaway. I think it's been a victim of its own success following the Guardian review and service was getting very slow by the time we left as there's only one man making the roti which limits the speed somewhat.

Overall very tasty food in a fairly downmarket location, and two people can eat well for £20 if they don't mind it taking an hour or so.

See also:

• Marina O'Loughlin's review in the Guardian
• Euston Chinese website - makes no mention of Roti King though

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