C & R Cafe Restaurant — Restaurant in London

I came here with a friend on recommendation from a Malaysian claiming this to be an authenic representation of Malay food. Looking at the google reviews I was hesistant but am always open to trying something recommended to me.

This place is somewhat hidden away in a side alley of Chinatown meaning that it may not get as busy as some of the other places but the ground floor was full when we arrived. As a result, we were seated in their upstairs area which was completely empty and the waiter let us pick the table we wanted. This place as a very cafe / diner like vibe with little care and attention put into the decor but that didn't bother us too much.

The waiter who took our order had a somewhat agressive way of speaking which we were fine with but would likely rub of wrong with many. For example, when asking for menu recommendations he instantly rebutted us and almost shouted saying that he didn't give menu recommendations because people always moan about being dissappointed.

Food wise, the menu was very extensive always hesistates me as quality is often lost as it must be shared over a large portion of dishes.

We ordered the Chicken Soup (The same soup base used in the Laksa), Chicken Satay, Prawn Sambal, Nasi Lemakk, and Prawn Mee. The chicken Satay was quite bland and lacked oomph even with the peanut sauce. The soup was great! Had a lovely spicy kick and warmed us up for the main dishes. The Nasi Lemak was intruiging, it was a random assortment different items spread out on a plate, rice topped with sauce, chicken curry, some sort of salad, a pickle, dried anchovies, peanuts, slices cucumbers and a hald a hard boiled egg. Altogether this dish was filling and satisfying but nothing to write home about. Wish it was spicier to be honest! The prawn sambal was a heary mix of cooked and skinned prawns with aubergines, oniones and peppers in a thick tomato based sauce. Again this was ok, nothing amazing and could have been spicier! The prawn mee noodle soup I can't say much about but my companion enjoyed it but wasn't a fan of the skin on prawns which were a lot of effort to de-skin.

Price wise, it was fairly reasonable. With the two softdrinks it came to £74 so £37 each which for a meal of that quantity you can't go too wrong. And yes, I will say the portion sizes were very generous. We left completely and utterly stuffed.

However, if you are looking for Malaysian food I would not recommend this place. Definitely do your research and look elsewhere but if you are in Chinatown and need a quick hearty bite then you'll probably have no trouble getting...

The food does not taste 100% authentic Malaysian but some dishes are reasonably close to what you will find in Kuala Lumpur at a very accessible central location. The service is fast and some of the dishes I would recommend are Wat Tan Hor (a mixed seafood hor fun with silky egg gravy), king prawn Char Kuey Teow, and the beef rendang. Both seafood noodles, when prepared properly, should have a distinct taste of charred smokiness, and dark brown in colour.

The Char Kuey Teow served here does occasionally tastes smokier on some days compared to others. You can also request for the dish to be prepared extra spicy. I have not yet found a restaurant in the UK that serves one which is comparable to the extremely smoky and flavourful duck egg Char Kuey Teows you will find in Penang (traditionally topped with blood cockles and fried crispy pork lardons) but this is probably the most decent you will find here. It is a dish that is unusually difficult to get right and can vary greatly in the consistency, texture, and taste even across the many states of Malaysia.

The Wat Tan Hor noodle is covered in a delicious thick, rich, and smooth egg gravy sauce and is simply irresistible. I do prefer the noodles cooked over a charcoal fire which accentuates the smoky flavour but I suspect there are certain limitations here with the use of charcoal. It is typically served with pickled green chillies or sambal chilli paste but I prefer mine with freshly cut chillies in a light soy sauce. It is a comforting and warming dish, especially for those cold winter months.

Across the years, I have tried a variety of dishes from this restaurant but most of them can be a hit or miss and these are the only three dishes I would normally go back for, recommend to a friend, or takeaway for...

Today my friends and I decided to go for lunch at the C&R Cafe. We had multiple of options but we wanted something authentic so we decided to go to this small restaurant. Firstly we got rudely told to wait outside when we tried to walk in to get a table. Once we were seated I requested for tap water to one of the staff members where she seemed not happy to do that for me. We all placed our orders and once the food arrived I was very disappointed. My friend and I ordered Tofu Vegetable Fried Noodles which was cold, we informed the staff member about this and again she seemed unbothered by our request and just took our plates. We expected a fresh batch to be made for us, however the food was just microwaved and handed back to us. We didn't even know which plate was whose which lead to cross contamination. After being microwaved the food quality dropped even further. Considering I suffer from gastritis and IBS such quality of food can have a serious impact on my health and others. After requesting for the bill we requested to remove the service charge as we were not satisfied. The staff member then challenged us to write down why we are not paying service and made us feel pressurised that we should be paying service charge even though the service provided to us was poor. We have been truly disappointed by the food and service of this restaurant. This is definitely not the way to treat customers and quality of food we pay such...