Kampong Ah Lee — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

Last week dining here, took me straight back seven plus years. The decor has been modified for the better, it’s more stream line and practical and I’m delighted to report that the food is just as outstanding as it always was.

This is no fine dining. It’s not contemporary and sleek. You come for the food and the friendly smiles (hidden behind a mask but you know). One thing is 100% guaranteed, you’ll leave with a very full belly and wish you were back inside eating it all over again.

Their menu is reduced at the moment due to a lack of staff (many of whom are still in Malaysia) but you honestly wouldn’t really notice. There is plenty of scope across noodles, rice, veg, meat, sides and soups to satiate even the pickiest of eaters. Favourite dishes include Laksa Noodle, Rendang Beef and Malaysian Spice Aubergine.

Dishes tend to arrive when they are ready, so there are no real starters but the first dishes to our table where the 5 piece Satay Chicken (£6.80) and the Roti with Curry Sauce (£5.00)

Chicken Satay was succulent with a chargrilled flavour. The satay sauce was of a good consistency and so good, you’ll end up dunking everything else in it too.

The Roti is a must order item. It’s ever so slightly sweet with gorgeous folds of cracked flatbread. The curry sauce brings a warming heat and happily will soak into this beautiful flatbread when dunked.

Rendang Beef and Coconut Rice were items we both wanted, so our server suggested the Beef Nasi Lemak (£10.50). A super sized large portion that also comes with peanuts, crispy fried anchovies, sambal, cucumber and an egg.

The rice was sticky and fragrant and the beef delivering on the spice front. The Nasi Lemak for me brings a true sense of Malaysia to the table with tropical aromatic notes of coconut, chillies and spice.

Noodles were next and CharSiu Noodle (£8.90) was up. Deeply spiced succulent pork strips lay atop a mound of soft fat noodles and underneath lay blanched pak choi or choy sum. There isn’t too much spice here and little heat but it’s so compliments the pork and noodles, that you’ll be slurping until the last noodle is gone.

My delight was so evident when I seen that what use to be my favourite dish was still on the menu and I was delirious when it tasted the same. Freaking yum!

This is the Golden spicy Chicken (£10.80). Crispy gnarly nuggets of chicken so soft and tender they melt in your mouth. The crunchy outside allows the sweet stick sauce to clingy lovingly to it and you hit the jackpot when you find a piece pocketed with pools of sticky sauce. Eat it with the slices of chilli to give it a kick, or just eat it all to yourself. You can choose.

The food here is incredible. It’s one of those places, that when you leave, you talk about the food all the way home; you text your friends about this incredible food you’ve just eaten and take pics to show family. It really genuinely is that good.

The staff are brilliant, keeping your ice cold beers topped up and happy to provide descriptions of the food and make suggestions based on your likes and dislikes, and the volume of heat you’d like for your food.

Their slogan is Malaysian Delight and I can confirm that it is so. We are so lucky to have this hidden gem on...

Because I am Malaysian and I am proud to be one and very proud of Malaysian food, I am gonna write this review in a very Malaysian way - I just came back from having dinner there. I thought being in Edinburg, I will take my chance to have some Malaysian food since it is quite hard to come by in Zurich (other than MYKitchen in Oerlikon). I was hugely disappointed by the restaurant. I should have known when I was seated that food was not going to be Malaysian. They have placed on the table a bottle of soy sauce. I turned the bottle around and found it to be Kikoman. Excuse me, but this is not Malaysian at all and no one uses Kikoman in Malaysia on our food! So I ordered for Char Kway Teow (Fried flat noodles), a side dish of bean sprouts and a cup of Milo. Along with my Char Kway Teow, I ordered for cut chillies to be served. The waitress initially said "yes, can!" but then came back and said it was not possible because it is very difficult to cut chillies. WAH LAU EH? What do you mean difficult? "I don't know, don't ask me, the chef said.. but I can bring you sambal?" Okay, so I make do with Sambal. Milo came first, let down again since it is not "gao" (thick enough), but okay still tasted like Milo. But then again, how can anyone go wrong with making Milo.. Then the Char Kway Teow came with the bean sprouts. She also brought me my sambal... Which is another big disappointment - chilli in oil, Mainland Chinese style. SERIOUSLY?! You call this sambal? Are you Malaysian or not lah??? I pushed the chilli oil aside, not planning to let it spoilt my Char Kway Teow... But oh well, the Char Kway Teow was so tasteless then in the end, I actually had to use the chilli oil.. OMG. Seriously, worst Char Kway Teow in my life. The bean sprouts were undercooked. Horrible. When I was paying, the lady who was in charge, did not even ask me how my food was, knowing perfectly that I am Malaysian. Could it be that they know they don't serve authentic Malaysian food? Hmmmmmmm. I can't say for other dishes that I did not order. But for what I ordered - in a very Malaysian way, I will say this - REALLY CANNOT MAKE IT LAH WEY! Please do not put our delicious Char Kway Teow delicacy to shame if you don't really know how to make it.. I guess you could consider removing it from the menu. Terima kasih banyak banyak in advanced for saving our...

Homey Malaysian (and Chinese) cuisine in a cute space with lovely staff.

After a previous bad experience at other SEA restaurants in town, I had my fingers crossed that this one would actually be good, and possibly even authentic. Thankfully, this place checked every box.

For Scotland, this was excellent Malaysian food. And for good measure: it is run by Malaysian people. That's important for the kitchen.

I was with someone who has a nut allergy so we didn't order all the dishes we would normally share like satays, but they accommodated her allergy very well.

The rest of us got individual dishes, even with nuts. My other friend ordered the curry chicken on rice (I think) and I ordered the beef nasi lemak, as it's a favourite of mine. It was not the most sophisticated plating and I will never understand coloured rice, but it's simple and gets the job done. All the ingredients were there including the anchovies. So many places forget the fish!

While it wasn't the most amazing plate of nasi lemak I've ever had, there was a charming homestyle feeling to it, like I was eating at someone's house instead of a bustling restaurant. Perhaps that was influenced by how kind the servers were. They were so amiable and treated us like close friends immediately.

The milk tea and teh tarik were good too. And all the prices are quite reasonable for the quantity and quality you get.

When we come back again, we'll definitely be having other dishes like the sea bass and spicy bean, the belacan kang kong, char keow...