It's a pleasure to be writing the first review for Sambal Shiok, one of the latest culinary additions to my neighbourhood! It's only been open for a month or so, but their booking system is up and running for parties of 4 or more, so I wouldn't waste any time get a booking in the diary!
I came here with friends with Malaysian, Singaporean, and Australian backgrounds, so they all knew their way around the menu. Or perhaps it needs no explanation when you intend to order pretty much everything. But those who had previous experience with Malaysian cuisine definitely had greater appreciation for dishes like the achar pickles and rose milk. And who knew cities like Melbourne have laksa bars all over the place? Glad London is catching up.
Needless to say, we ordered all 4 of the snacks. While perhaps the achar pickles stood out less for me as a newcomer to Malaysian cuisine, I can highly recommend the fenugreek crackers, gado gado salad, and especially the Malaysian fried chicken, of which we ordered two. You could literally see the specks of whole cumin on it, and the peanut sauce was divine. The chicken portion size is pretty generous, so you should probably split that snack between at least two.
For the rest of the menu, we ordered the beef rendang and the assam fish curry from the rice plates, and shared two of the special laksa with additions of aubergine and soft boiled eggs. Again, from the newcomer to Malaysian cuisine perspective, I liked the beef rendang, but everyone else preferred the fish curry. We got the laksa with a mixture of rice and egg noodles and I think the egg is a must have. The flavours were great and it wasn't that spicy for those that are concerned.
With all this, we enjoyed a bottle of the Riesling trocken, which was reasonably priced. I suppose it must be difficult to pair wines with Asian foods, but I suspect they've chosen a Riesling-heavy wine list because it's crisp and light, to let the flavours shine through.
Overall, everything on the culinary side was excellent. On the admin side of things, they did take away our friend's chair without asking when he didn't arrive for the first hour, and we were unable to get it back as it had been given to a walk-in. Also, they don't have takeaway up and running yet, which I am very much looking forward to. read more