Kuala Lumpur Café Headingley — Restaurant in Leeds

As a Malay who regularly scours London to find the best Malay eateries, I was very excited to have the opportunity to visit Headingly to try Kuala Lumpur Cafe's offering. Right off the bat the atmosphere and aromas were spot on. The pictures on the wall, the music from home, you could tell there were nationals somewhere in the building!

I ordered Nasi Lemak with Beef Rendang, as well as Roti and Teh Tarik. The Teh Tarik was superb and very authentic. It was stall by the side of the road in KL level! The Roti was nice, but it was not your traditional made from scratch kind - which was fine I know a lot of Malay places don't have the capacity to make fresh to order. I'm also aware that this cafe caters heavily to Vegans/Vegetarians so things like eggs and dairy used to make traditional Roti are not compatible. In any case it does the job and the Dahl that went with it was totally delicious and flavorsome!

The Nasi Lemak was nice, but the presentation was a tad Spartan for me with the various ingredients separated across the plate. I did not receive any sambal with my order which was a shame! The rice was aromatic but for me personally was in coconut flavor. The rendang was lovely and tasted quite authentic. The beef was a little on the drier side (perhaps a beef substitute?) but the sauce more than made up for it.

To round it off I had the Kuih Lapis. I love Kuih, and the offering here is delicious. It was a touch soft for my liking, but that really is just personal preference as you can have Kuih in a variety of ways! Flavor wise it was excellent.

Overall, the food was delicious, service was good and the ambience was lovely. I have noted my minor quibbles, but I believe some of these are largely due to their accommodation of Vegan/VE customers as well as local palettes. In that regard the food is very impressive considering the numerous constraints ingredients wise.

Ultimately, this is good Malaysian food and better than most of the Malay eateries I have been to up and down the country. If you have not tried Malaysian cuisine, KL Cafe is the perfect place to go to begin your journey. If you are a seasoned veteran or even a Malay far from home you will find KL Cafe's offering to be full of familiar flavors that will at the very least satisfy your cravings.

This really is a hidden gem and I am envious of the students and locals that live around the area that have this great little place on their doorstep.

Sedap!!...

I ordered the chicken satay and nasi lemak with beef rendang and my boyfriend ordered the karipap and nasi lemak with masak merah chicken.

The chicken satay was not like any other satay I've had before. The sauce was THICK and had texture to it. It was fragrant and moreish. The chicken thighs were JUICY. After eating the chicken, I was still going back to scoop up the sauce. I definitely had more than my fair half - God it was delicious. I also tried the karipap, and whilst my boyf preferred this to the satay, I have to say it wasn't my favourite. I found the pastry too thick for my liking.

I found the nasi lemak a feast for the eyes, with lots of different garnishes to look at all contributing different textures and flavours. I loved the deep fried anchovies for providing a salty crunchy punch to the dish. The beef rendang was very rich and the beef was tender and it was great.

This place offered generous portions (I was already full from the starters 😭), great service and all at a very reasonably price whereby two starters, two mains and two drinks costed us around £30 altogether. We even had to request a box for our leftovers, which future us would come...

Visited Sunday 28 Aug

Amazing Asian food. Extremely well presented and all items delicious. Very small place but they managed to slot us in even though we had accidentally booked their sister restaurant. Head waiter was so accommodating and made us feel really welcome. The dishes arrived promptly and were obviously home and hand made it seemed. Filling of the Karipap was light and spicy. The 2 main courses were simply delicious. Dark soy curry, Masak Kicap, had massive depth of flavour but beware of the whole star anise! Nyonya Lime Curry was selected with the jackfruit option, even though my guest isn't vegan and she said it was fantastic. The rice accompaniment with deep fried anchovies garnish was also ample, light and well cooked. We hadn't realised that there was no alcohol offered at this restaurant which was a surprise when we arrived and we would certainly have brought our own if we had known. However this did not spoil the evening as the apple juice and fresh orange was a welcome cool...