Randomness Guide to London Menu

Malaysian restaurant/cafe in the Whitgift Centre in Croydon.

It isn't necessarily immediately obvious that there's anything worth eating here, but it's worth looking beyond their hot food counter of generic offerings cooked in advance and kept warm, since they also have a menu of Malaysian specialties photo — at least some of these, however, may only be available on weekends.

bob visited on a Saturday afternoon in January 2011, just before the lunchtime rush. I had one of the weekend specials, the Hainan chicken rice (£5.80) photo, which consisted of some very tasty rice cooked in chicken stock and some very succulent poached chicken.

Kake visited on a Friday lunchtime in June 2012. I got there around 1pm and it was fairly empty. I chose one of the Malaysian dishes, char kway teow (炒粿條; £5.80) photo. They offered me a choice of spice levels; "medium spicy" was around the middle of my tolerance level and I'll probably go for "spicy" next time. It was pretty good, though I think not the best I've had in London. I might have preferred to get more than three medium-sized prawns, and the Chinese sausage that usually features in this dish was entirely absent. However, the squid was nicely cooked (not chewy at all), the fishcake was juicily-textured and well-flavoured without being too salty, and the dish as a whole had just the right amount of oil to stop the noodles sticking together without making it too greasy.

Accessibility: The entrance to the cafe is open and flat. While it is on the first floor, the shopping centre has several lifts. There is only one toilet, but it's an accessible one.

See also:

• Hollow Legs review
• The Catty Life review
• Luscious Temptations review
• London Eater review
• Croydon Today review (of the generic hotplate stuff)