After a hard hour (yes, hour - I'm male) of Christmas shopping it was time for some refreshment…read more The city centre did not appeal so I took a trek through Garnethill to Charing Cross, arriving at St. George's Road outside Satu Satu. Satu means 'one' in Malay. Satu Satu translates exactly to 'One One' or, more correctly, to 'One by One'. The brand speaks Malaysian Chinese. It's one of a few Chinese restaurants in what's becoming (or become) Oriental Row. It's informal, a largely open plan space with 18 covers, informal decor in good order. A third of the floorspace is given to the open plan kitchen. It's warm and, because of all the wok activity, a bit smoky at times, despite the industrial extraction hood. Don't go in your tuxedo if you're attending the Opera after. There is the aroma of nice things frying and the happy clatters of blenders punctuating Chinese pop music. A couple of small Chinese children amused themselves with electronica while their carers worked. All in all a homely feel. The welcome was fine. I was seated quickly. The two-course lunch deal appealed to the wallet. The soup of the day was sweetcorn chicken, that staple of Chinese restaurants west of New Delhi. Not a dish that gives the chef to demonstrate his ability so I opted for the sambal tofu instead. A pot of Chinese tea filled the space while I waited. Service is speedy and the food cooked to order. The alarming flash of flames from the wok is proof if you need it. The sambal tofu was disappointing. It's not a complex dish and, much like the soup, only requires correct assembly. The tofu had been fried too long and was charred on the outside though edible. The samba was cold, in contrast to the hot tofu. Though laced with translucent onions, it was oily, too sweet and lacking the chilli bite of proper Malaysian sambal. That last, in its proper avatar, is all heat and no sweet. Pork hor fun, on the other hand, was the high point. This would be fried char kway teow to Malaysians: the flat hor fun rice noodle stir fried over immense heat with soya, blacan, seafood, egg and meat, depending on your taste. Satu Satu's version was not comparable (perhaps not meant to be) since it had, apart from noodles, only beansprouts and slices of pork. Not an issue - you can't expect the the real deal as part of a value lunch deal. What it did have was good texture (proper hor fun noodle bite), the smoky aroma and crispy bean sprouts. It lacked a certain depth of flavour that frying in lard (the Malaysian way) gives. It took a smattering of chilli oil (freely offered) and a bit of mixing to improve it. Overall, for five pennies short of a tenner, it was satisfying and reasonably good value. What could be improved? Well, what distinguishes the simply good from the truly excellent is detail and consistency. Make your own sambal. It's not difficult. We like authentic. Don't make what you think people want. Make what you want to eat. And warm it. Would I go back? Yes but this time I would go for one of the 'Signature' dishes.

Quirky and a little bit different. This latest Glasgow Malaysian/Chinese restaurant is a real gem…read more Quirky = Ribena ( hot or cold) on the drinks menu = awesome. Great food - Malaysian chicken wings and a curry soup broth with noddles, both were superb and had just the right of spice The staff were very friendly and helpful to. Two drinks, two starters and two mains were 33 quid.

Went over with my partner today for dinner as there was a special weekend event by Julie MacLeod of…read moreMasterChef! The amazing thing is, she was cooking up a special Malaysian inspired dinner! AMAZING. I was immediately sold! During the dinner, we were served a started of Roti Canai with dahl (a type of flat bread with gravy that's usually made of chick peas), a main of either Beef Rendang (traditional Malay dish) or Sayur Ladeh (also traditional from back home) with rice, and a dessert of Banana Fritters and ice cream (known as Goreng Pisang in my language!). I'm happy to say that I'm very happy with Julie's version of these different traditional foods from Malaysia! Was very happy with the tenderness of the beef rendang, and the banana fritters got me all nostalgic! She's also such a friendly person. We chatted for a bit and I learned that she's actually half Malaysian! We truly have a connection (75% of through food I assume). I love Babu as an Indian street food place on its own, but these small special events just take the cake for me (and has bumped my precious 4 stars to 5!). Julie might host more of these events in the near future and I'll be sure to be one of the first to book a table! Loved it!

I'm a huge lover of Babu Bombay Street Kitchen, and when I heard that their new chef Julie was…read moredoing a Malaysian menu, I knew I had to try it. It's only on this weekend (Thursday 23 - Saturday 25 April) and there's two sittings each night. We were a little early for our seating at 7.30pm but the place was totally ready to go so we took a seat at the communal table and looked over the menu. It's 3 courses for £18 with a set starter and dessert, and choice of two mains. Now, I am a huge fan of roti canai and thought I'd tried the best one in Glasgow but this one was served with a slightly sweet, coconutty curry sauce which was just delicious. For my main I had the sayur ladeh (veggie curry) which was packed with aubergine at my request (thanks chef!) and the flavour of the curry sauce was amazing. I personally prefer my aubergine cooked really well to the point of collapse, whereas this had more bite to it but it was still a delight to eat. I will admit I had a bit of food envy as I tried some of the beef rendang and that was amazing. Finally, there was fried banana balls. Graeme doesn't like banana and I can't eat ice cream so we did a bit of a switcharoo and we were both happy. The fritters were lovely, super crisp with a nice hint of ginger. Two is the perfect sized portion; 4 was a struggle! Ha! While you're eating you can order drinks etc from Babu which are interesting and reasonably priced. I believe you can also BYOB if you fancy drinking. This was one of the best popups I've been to - it was executed in such a relaxed, calm manner and you'd never have known it was the first night. The staff were all so sweet and lovely, and you could tell they were so excited about the night as well which makes it all the more enjoyable.

Ever the creature of habit, stumbled past this place on a Sunday lunchtime & saw the reviews on…read moreYelp, so decided to give it a whirl. First impressions, busy and bright/airy interior. Lady who saw us over to the table was a wee bit brash, but didn't think much to it. Waited for around 5 minutes before anyone came over to offer a drink. Quite a difference from Asia Style. Went for Jasmine Tea, which is a £1 charge. You don't pay at Asia Style, so seems strange to even charge a token £1 for it. Thai Green Chicken curry & the special, Okra with Crispy Pork. Didn't have to wait too long, around 10 minutes. Beautifully presented, but I'm afraid the taste is no match for Asia Style. Pungent smell of fish sauce overpowered both the dishes, which didn't help the enjoyment. Okra was not fried enough, so as you bit in, it was quite watery. Overly salty pork (that'll be the fish sauce) and quite fatty. The Thai curry was more of a soup. Chicken was well cooked, but again a lot of fat on the chicken and that fish sauce...arrghh! It just over powered everything. Service.. well, it made Asia Style look positively in the same league as The Black Sheep! Not very attentive and brash. Certainly wasn't trying to win you over with personality or attentive service here. £28.00 in total for a tea, 7-up, two mains and a boiled rice. Not the cheapest & certainly not outstanding enough to make me want to try this place again. The location is by far the winner here - certainly no competition for Asia Style. You Don't Gotta Eat Here... Sadly! :-(

Wat Tan Ho. Or 'flat noodles in egg gravy'? I think I'll stick to the Malaysian name, thanks…read more.. This is what I've been looking for! A simple, clean little cafe serving noodles, rice dishes, soups - it's perfect. The staff were lovely, too, recommending my noodles and bringing them fast because I was in a hurry. Yum. Slurp. Yum.

Disclaimer: This is a michelin guide restaurant. Not a michelin star restaurant…read more Im actually amazed that a malaysian food can be part of the michelin guide in the uk and its not even in london. The food were good and some of them are indonesian. So its more of a south east asian food or maybe javanese as all these people came from java. If you are in glasgow, this is the place you should come to eat since they are super amazing and worth them. Beware this place needs to be reserved since there are only 4 tables and open at specific time. Also, it might be a little bit expensive as per glasgow city. Nevertheless, this is definitely recommended me. P.s. you can trust me since im an expert of south east asian food. Havent found a good one in london they are usually whackk.

Julie MacLeod needs no introduction (Masterchef 2014) and neither does her restaurant (2018 The…read moreList Eating & Drinking Awards). I noticed it first walking past it on a winter's evening. Huddles of people waiting patiently in the Glasgow drizzle, looking in at happy faces behind the glass looking out. Nearly always full, midweek or weekend. There's no booking. We expected to wait but, surprisingly, it was less than half full on a Sunday lunchtime. An hour later, though, there was not a spare seat in sight. They do have a booking system that lets you know when your table is ready. 'Kopitiam' translates to coffee shop. In Malaysia, it's an informal restaurant: formica tables, open kitchen, minimal decor, a small menu with good quality food at reasonable prices. In that sense, Julie's delivers. It's a tiny space, barely 20 covers, and the kitchen is a nook but for all that, it's cheerful, informal and means service is immediate. The playlist is old-school Motown, soul and funk. I approve. A friendly greeting and we were quickly seated. Menus were produced in a dash. A useful talk through the changes on the day followed. The bill of fare is not extensive. In my book, that's a good thing. Much promised often means much disappointment. My companion is Malaysian so we opted for the small plate 'nasi lemak' to share followed by a 'nasi goreng' for her and 'pork belly mee broth' for me. Nasi lemak was as near to the real thing as we've had in the UK. Fragrant, slightly sticky rice cooked in coconut milk and panda (screwpine) leaf served with a splash of spicy sambal, fried anchovies (ikan bills), boiled egg, peanuts and crisp slices of cucumber. Sounds bizarre but it isn't. Overall, very nicely done. Pork belly noodle broth: a decent broth with rice noodles, a couple of leaves of bok choi, with a bit of backbone to it, a soft-boiled egg and (the star) roasted pork belly flavoured with Chinese five spice. A winning combination. Prawn nasi goreng: rice well cooked, not overdone, having a bit of a bite to it and a pleasant smoky edge, prawns well cooked and slivers of cabbage adding a textural contrast. Altogether the food was well done though slightly under-seasoned for our taste. We asked for some soy sauce which was brought to the table by Julie herself. She suggested that a little chilli prawn paste might also enhance the flavour. We happily agreed and she was right. It certainly boosted the 'zing' element of it. Allergies are well catered for. The table next to ours had a few. Julie took care to speak to them in person. It's not possible in such a small space to guarantee the food will be free of a particular allergen but she took care to talk through the options and what was delivered gave no room for disappointment. £23 for three dishes is not cheap but well worth the money. The whole enterprise deserves to succeed, not least for being a fresh take on dining that moves away from franchised catering, that delivers an individualised, almost curated take on traditional cuisine and where the experience is direct, personal and unfussy.

I've been a fan of Banana Leaf for many years. Prior to its refurb at the end of last year, the…read morerestaurant itself was really shabby and kinda run down - awesome food though. We recently popped in with some friends a couple of weeks ago - and I'm impressed. The refurb has worked wonders. It's managed to retain the friendly atmosphere it previously had, but now has a bit of style to go with its substance. As it's a traditional Malaysian restaurant, the tables are set with chopsticks. Ordinarily I have no issue using them, but I've a health issue that causes my hands to shake, so I asked for a fork. And I got this, delivered with quite a smirk. I'm not justifying in a restaurant why I needed a fork, but I wasn't particularly happy with being (innocently, I'm sure) belittled in this way. I had chicken satay skewers with peanut sauce to start with - really tasty, in a properly cooked, 'falling off the skewer ' kinda way. For main, I had kung po chicken and steamed rice. This was AMAZING! And much spicier than I had expected. Overall the staff were really attentive and the food was awesome. I'm knocking 2 stars off: one for the fork thing; and the second for only having one toilet (it gets really busy here).

I could eat in this place every single night!…read more I am not sure I have enough words to cover how good this place is. Ok so here goes. For starters we ordered the platter, but only for one person which was plenty and the Salt and Pepper squid. I would recommend the salt and pepper dishes every time, they are that good! For mains we tried to do the whole lets share but when we both tasted our dishes we didn't want to give them up! We got a Braised Beef curry ( spicy!!) and Salt and Pepper scallops! Oooo mmmm geeeee! Nice! We also ordered 2 portions of rice, Which seemed to be more than enough. As we watched more people being served their food we noticed they seemed to be all doing the same thing which was ordering your own portion of rice and then sharing all the mains with veg as well. The only negative thing I would say (and I really don't want too) they don't have a great selection of beers that are local to their cuisine, so we both selected the tiger beer. I really want to mark this place higher than I can. 10 stars for me!

Now, I've walked passed this place hundreds of times as I'm ALWAYS somewhere in GWR, and every time…read moreI walk pass, it's empty. It looks super sad and there always 2 people eating which I assume are the actual staff members. Every time I build up the motivation to try Asia Ma, I went up straying to Ka Ka Lok as its more "happening". Well for once, we managed to pull through with our decision and enter this empty restaurant. Yes, it was just me and Gian dining in at a Malaysian Chinese restaurant at 930pm. A bit awkward but, we figured maybe cause it's late? Who knows. We were seated by the window by a friendly Malaysian (I assume) auntie, given menus and two baskets of prawn crackers (how generous ey) as we skimmed through the choices of food. Went for the menu with the Chinese words because that's where the good stuff is ey! Hehe Anyway, I chose the dinner for us and we had fried rice, steamed chicken with fungi (takes 20 mins to prepare and no, it's not the fungi you think! It's herbal mushroom!), deep fried homemade tofu, and pot of Chinese tea for 2. So 20 mins of chatting and prawn crackers later, I will quote Gian, "you chose well Sarah". Yes, the food was amazing. SUPER delicious! And huge in terms of portions!! We had extra for lunch the next day! The steamed chicken with black fungi was very herbal, gingery and just plain delightful in terms of light flavours! It complimented the deep fried home made tofu super well because that was seasoned with Malaysian soy sauce, shrimp, spring onions and all kinds of robust flavours! Along with fried rice, it was TWO THUMBS UP FOR ME! Altogether it was 15quid per person, and FYI, I have a lot of left over for lunch haha it's like you're paying for 2 meals! Guys, don't be fooled by the emptiness of Asia Ma, their food is AWESOME! Next time, imma go try the fish head tofu hot pot and Assam fish. Exciting!!

Is it a rebrand or is it brand new? I'm not sure. What I do know is that it is very good and much…read moremuch better than Asia Style that was here previously. I'm surprised I'm the first to review TBH as Asiama has been here for a while. I have wanted to visit it for ages and I am glad I finally got the chance as the whole experience was really good. From the moment we arrived the staff were friendly and welcoming. It felt a bit like a Hong Kong cafe with the roasted meats hanging in the kitchen. We ordered a selection of dishes to share between four.... Here goes.... Roast duck, salt and chill chicken, Malaysian beef curry, char Sui Sichuan, authentic peppered chicken, fried rice, boiled rice and even some cheeky chips to help soak up the hangover. The food was all pretty good. The Malaysian curry was superb, spicy and with loads of sauce it was a favourite. The salt and chill chicken was really tasty and it was a great size portion. The Sichuan char Sui was my next favourite and was cooked really well. I also enjoyed the peppered chicken which had loads of peppers and onions as well as chicken. The only dish I was not that keen on was the roasted duck which was just a bit to chewy and fatty. The staff obviously thought we did not have enough food as they then brought out some really tasty and authentic dim sum which they informed us was complimentary. It was a great touch. By the time the free oranges arrived I was stuuuuuuffed! I'm tempted to give it 5, but I'm gonna go with four. Reason being the roasted duck was a Wee bit disappointing and the competition for authentic Chinese restaurants in Glasgow is now red hot. Don't get me wrong this place is excellent and I will definitely be back. Nearly forgot.... All that food and only 15 quid a head, bargain! Check it out soon Yelpers, it deserves more reviews.

Wau Cafe has been on my radar for a while now, ever since Serbian Cafe, "Seb's" shut down a while…read moreback. They offer traditional Malaysian food in a relaxed, no frills cafe style environment. Oh and they don't have a booze licence, just in case that is a problem for some of you ;) Firstly be warned, if you bring your cat, there will be no room to swing it as the place is teeny, but they've managed to ram around 6 tables in here. Even if the place is half full, you may feel slightly intimated as people are pretty much eating on top of you, therefore, they will be able to hear everything you are saying. Not a place for a romantic dinner then, remember that! The floor is manned by a solitary, lackadaisical waiter, who seemed to struggle with the half full restaurant, so service was a tad slow. I don't want to get the young chap into trouble but it did seem like he had been 'puffing the magic dragon' that night. My suspicions were confirmed when a glass was smashed (in this, the smallest cafe in Glasgow) and he didn't hear it, so we kindly let him know. He seemed slightly surprised but happily dealt with the situation. Unfortunately some of the food we ordered ended up being unavailable but were only told after 10 minutes of ordering, so it was a rush to pick something else but I just opted to swap the meat from my dish. On to starters, the roti was great, but the chicken wings pretty tasteless and greasy. Also, it may be authentic in the far east but seeing hairs on a chicken wing doesn't do it for me. Mains were packed full of flavour but unfortunately just didn't taste that fresh. The mains we ordered seemed to have been cooked to death, or perhaps just reheated to oblivion. The whole feel of the place is that they are still trying to find their feet but I have a strong feeling they could be on to something good here. But, certainly for the moment, they are still trying to discover their Wau factor.

The idea of the Sunshine Soiree is to mingle with other diners in an informal, relaxing environment…read moreand sample Asian cuisine. It was a £10 donation - to cover ingredients, decor, and towards start up costs of the Sunshine Tea Lounge business - and BYOB. We were shown around the secret location (address private messaged to attendees a couple of days before) and presented with a refreshing ginger & lime mocktail. There were little dish name cards spread out on a table but I didn't note them all down so I may be slightly off with descriptions. There were around 20 guests and we spread ourselves out in different rooms, some people sitting on a sofa or on provided chairs, and some of us standing. This wasn't an official Yelp event but there were quite a few of us Yelpers there. First dish up was two bowls of lotus root dip and fried crispbreads. This was one of my favourite dishes of the night, the dip had lots of flavour and the breads were delicious. Next was the lotus root crisps with a lotus root dip, this one a bit more creamy in consistency than the previous ones. The crisps were very thin so these were not really as suited for a dipping style, but also tasted great. Following this were green peppers in a garlic and black bean sauce - this was very tasty and I could have eaten a bowl of this to myself easily. We then had a salad of greens and carrot topped with sesame seeds, and some hoisin chicken wings were also brought out. Next was firecracker rice with either a vegetable curry or a chicken curry. As the plates that had come out were for sharing with a large group of people I was quite hungry by this point and was looking forward to loading up in carbs. The curry was nice, very mild. I did wonder what happened to the dumplings as I'd seen place cards for different varieties of dumpling - and mentions of them on social media for tonight's event, but none ever materialised. Lastly, there were desserts of orange and cardamom cakes, and sweet potato mochi in a coconut sauce - the latter being suitable also for vegans. Again, these were all shared and self service, so I felt I had to be considerate with watching portion sizes. It was good to be able to chat with chef & host, Susan, at the end of the night about the food and other Chinese dishes. I have opted to give it a 4 as although I enjoyed the event, the Yelp event a few weeks ago - where there were only 8 people - looked a bit better in that everyone had a seat to themselves for the evening, their own portions of food, and more opportunity for chat about the Sunshine Tea Lounge concept - discussing the mood boards, etc. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for future events; unfortunately I can't make Susan's pop-up in two weeks' time but I hope to make another of her events soon!

I visited their pop-up shop in Buchanan Galleries and was really pleased to see a couple of vegan…read moreitems. I started with dumplings - shitake mushroom & vegetable, with mooli pickles. I then had a beng - a mighty big fried thing stuffed with shitake mushroom & vegetables. Both items were fried, so not exactly the healthy choice, but my gosh they were tasty. Ideal hangover/comfort food. It would set them off nicely to perhaps be served with some fresh salad. I'll watch with interest to see what Sunshine Tea Lounge do next.

This is by far the best place in Glasgow for authentic Southern Chinese dishes. They do a verity of…read moreregional cuisine all reasonable well done, however it's the Guangdong specialities that really shine. There are dishes here just unavailable anywhere else in Scotland. The service is excellent. The place has recently had an refurbishment though don't expect a Waldorf tea room ambiance.

Strangely, there seems to be a distinct lack of quality Chinese restaurants in Glasgow, either that…read moreor I've had my head buried under the sand for the past 10 years or so that I've lived in the city. When Ka Ka Lok appeared next to long standing Chinese / Malaysian restaurant Asia Style with its bright red signage and funky Chinese style cartoon logo I thought to myself, "ooft that's brave opening up next to a Glasgow institution". But, to my delight, this place more than stood up for itself. Although the restaurant is rather big and sparse looking, it was busy and loud enough, with a regular turnover of local Chinese customers to give the place a good vibe. We were warmly greeted on arrival and taken to our table. The waitress promptly gave us two menus to look over, one an 'English' menu and the other a 'Chinese' one. The English menu contained your typical Black Bean / Sichuan / Sweet & Sour type dishes, probably curated for the westerners. Not Fish & Chips and Chicken Pies as I had originally imagined being on an 'English' menu. The Chinese menu was a Hong Kong style fare, with more traditional dishes such as Clay Pot stews, seafood/fish dishes, roasts etc. Needless to say we all ordered from the Chinese menu and the staff were ever so friendly in helping us to make our decisions. In fact the owner was key to helping us have a great meal as he picked out some great dished for us. We opted for a dozen dumplings to nibble on as an appetiser, which were delicious. Then a feast of Clay Pot dishes arrived, including aubergine and salt fish, XO Seafood, an outstanding and tender beef stew, three kind roast containing pork belly / char sui / duck, Singapore style noodles and a giant vat of rice. It has to be said the quality of the food and ingredients was second to none and the portions were hugely generous. Again the owner and his staff made us feel incredibly welcome and they kept checking up on us to make sure we were happy with the food. Although they don't have a drinks license, we were treated to endless supplies of refreshing jasmine tea. Furthermore they have a great tasting Aloe juice, which I think I may now be addicted too. To summarise Ka Ka Lok, weird name, amazing food and cheap as chips!

So this was a second choice for lunch today. I had agreed…read morewith the girls in my team we would go out for a quick lunch catch up and although our first choice was closed Dragon I certainly did not disappoint. we decided on the 2 courses and drink for £7.95 which I believed to be a nice offer given the size of the portions. I ended up ordering the black pudding pancakes and beef stir fry. The food was lovely and service friendly. I would definitely recommend for anyone wanting to fit in a decent lunch time catch up.

My friend took me for a wee Itison deal, and obviously it had to be the evening half of Bath St was…read moreclosed off due to high winds knocking the sh** out of Marks Hotel roof, so after having to navigate round town, when what should have been a straight road from the Pot Still to the other end of Hope St, we finally arrived a mere 5 minutes late for our booking. The staff we so friendly and welcoming, and unaware of the closure obstructing the route to their workplace. As there was only 2 other sets of diners we were seated immediately. The decor is very grand, and if it wasn't so dark, it would probably be very warm. We presented our voucher and ordered some drinks. It didn't take long to choose our mains, which in turn, didn't take long at all to arrive. In fact, it was disconcertingly quick. No more than about 5 minutes had passed from order to arrival, raising concerns about the means of cooking, and freshness of the dish. We'd both ordered a chicken dish (I cannot for the life remember the name, but it had apples and pineapples) which was a basic sweet and sour esque dish with some fruit on top. There wasn't much flavour, which, was to be expected from something that was probably pulled out of the fridge and nuked. If it wasn't for the lovely service from the staff I wouldn't even rate this one star. The quality of the food certainly does not live up to the price (around £10+ per main), and I certainly won't be visiting again.