Malaya57 Artisan Café, Malaysian Restaurant — Restaurant in England

Sorry in advance as this is a long one.

Ok.. so 21 Oct, we went to Malaya 57 in Kettering, after someone mentioned it on an fb grp that I was in. I live in Northampton, so it was only half hour drive there. Its such a novelty to find a Malaysian Eateries here as we haven't really got any. (I'm originally from Singapore) When we arrived, there were only a couple of English ladies in there finishing up their lunch. They seemed very happy with the food. As I went in on my own while my husband drove around looking for somewhere to park, we sort of struck a little conversation. She was raving about the Mango Lassi & how nice the food was (I didn't ask what they ordered) Anyhow, the couple who were tending the cafe were really nice & polite, the usual Malaysian warmth that you get if you've been there. I started by ordering a Teh-tarik for myself & Tosei/Dosa for me & my husband as that was the main reason why we travelled there for. I like the fact that there were options of chicken or mutton in the Masala Tosei.. So I decided on mutton. In addition to that, I ordered a Mee Goreng for us to share. My Teh-tarik arrived.. disappointingly in a tiny tea cup with no froth.. clearly, the teh has not been tarik at all.. When my husband finally arrived, we ordered another teh-tarik for him (he wasn't impressed, but didn't complain.. just made long face.. lol) Than my Mee Goreng arrived.. Nah... Sadly.. there's no resemblance of Mee Goreng that I anticipated. The chicken pieces were rather dry but I think its because they used cooked chicken chunks that was just thrown into the noodles when cooking.. My husband tried a little after I insisted.. he said he's not keen & will just wait for the tosei.. Finally Tosei arrived (the wait wasn't too bad actually) Again... more disappointment The Tosei batter wasn't quite there.. We've eaten a fair share of Tosei in our lifetime & this was kind of limp & more like a pancake.. the filling was also very poor.. there were abit of mutton but I don't know what happened to the masala.. it was almost non-existent.. the dhal accompanying it was also in small portion, not enough for the 1 Tosei. On hind side, I could've asked for more but because they than started to get a few more customers walking in, I didn't bother as they looked a little busy. We ordered 3 Mutton Murtabak to take home. I love the fact that the young man made the murtabak fresh. They bagged it & I went to the counter to pay. After a quick small chat, I asked if he was from Malaysia & he said yes & that he was from Kuala Lumpur. We got home & I looked into my bag & realized that my 3 Murtabak had only 2 pots of dhal, which is not really an issue but it was in very small portion & definitely not enough for 3.

Please know that I'm not here to give a negative review.. I said to my husband, perhaps because this cafe is still new & that they are having "teething-problems". Perhaps (I very much hope) they will learn along the way.. I am by no means a great cook myself but I am pretty sure my Mee Goreng taste far better than the one made here. My kids & I had the Murtabak for breakfast the next day.. My son thinks its good, my daughter said, umh.. its ok.. as for me, yet another disappointment.. So... will I go back again???... more than likely No but will I say to anyone, don't go.. definitely Not! I think we all have different taste buds. You probably better off to discover it yourself.

Both my husband & I love the Lat comic drawings on the...

Surprise! Yep Kettering has its first 'Best' restaurant! Really really loved this place! AND it was spotless! I mean spotless frfr! I was looking for crumbs, mess watevs, cdnt find or spot any! Lovely staff, sooo humble! Free chai whilst u wait, very nice indeed. Didnt like the burning incense tho! That was a massive 'NO' for me, my sinuses are way too sensitive for that and oh boy it was sooo strong and pungent n i dont think i cud ave eaten in there with such incense dominating all the air, it really ruined the atmosphere, i had to go out n come back to collect food as i cdnt breathe for the incense. I got takeaway n when i got home the food was delicious! The curry mutton was not bad. Not as soft as carrib style n the gravy was toooo watery for me but, they got the tastes n flavours spot on! Tastes exactly the same as carrib mutton but the gravy was a big let down, right flavours but just waaaay tooo watery, their gravy needs work if u ask me, unless thats how it is sposed to b malay style, no disrespect intended. In carrib we have that exact taste but our gravy is what makes our meat dishes coz our gravies are thicker, rich, tasty and flavourful, jamaicans jus dash a whole heap of pepper in whereas the smaller isle ppl use slight peper n more tasteful exciting spices, all that being said, this place in kett was a hit for me! I wish 'Carribbean Flavour' in wbro would open a branch in kettering as they are the 'best' carribbean food place ive been able to find north of London,run by carribbeans small island pple not jamaicans! So the food tastes are more than just pepper! I will go back to this one in kett tho, n try the other dishes as they sounded delicious n save for a few cultural differences i think i could get used to this place! Also, in the carrib our roti is like thin bread, like 'wraps' if u will, but at this place the roti was more like pastry, i ate it as it wasnt bad i just didnt recognise it as what we would call roti, the samosa omg delicious, so all in all, i would highly recommend this...

Dear owners,

I am a Malaysian and an a food enthusiast. I write this to you because I genuinely think you can do much better.

I ordered a few things. Firstly I want to say the Dosa was absolutely amazing, it was perfect and definitely deserves the badge of authenticity.

Mee Goreng special: The ingredients were spot on, fish cake, chicken, seasoning, all great. However why did it come out cold? This is a dish cooked in a wok and it should be hot, why was it cold?? If this was fixed I'd say its perfect.

Murtabak Chicken and Cheese: I had to confirm with the waitress THRICE that they cooked the right thing, it was LOADED with onions and had ZERO taste or cheese whatsoever. If it was an ONION and CHICKEN Murtabak, great but I ordered cheese and chicken. Please review the recipe for this.

Satay chicken: This was unfortunately horrible, the chicken I had was firstly not seasoned properly, just soaked in turmeric oil or something. The portion was TINY for 10 pounds and I had 2 sticks that were RAW. I told the waitress and did not get offered any replacement or taken off the bill. Would not order this and I do NOT recommend other customers ordering the satay.

Iced green tea and Teh Tarik: the iced green tea had NO ICE and was just room temperature with a tea bag in it, so the tea couldn't even seep. I don't know what on earth was I drinking. Just flavourless tap water with a bag in it for £3.50. Teh Tarik was not Teh Tarik, it tasted like Chai Tea, would have been delicious if I ordered Chai but I ordered Teh Tarik which is Milk Tea without the chai. I don't know why I had to pay for the drinks.

Anyways I do think this place has potential, the Dosa is perfect and the curries were very nice. I live not too far away so I will return to hope for improvements, I definitely will return for the Dosa. I think for this restaurant, the roti and dosa dishes are good(except for murtabaks, please check your...