Roti King: the best Malaysian restaurant in London

By Halal Xplorer England Food London Malaysian December 29, 2023

Many claim Roti King to be the best Malaysian restaurant in London; I’ve even seen claims of it being the best restaurant in London period. We’ve visited a number of Malaysian restaurants in London (including Roti King itself) and we have explored and loved the food scene in Malaysia itself. And we’re big advocates of the cuisines. So, I think that puts us in a position to be able to judge the food.

New Branch

The first time we visited was their original branch in Euston. Where they always had notoriously long queues outside and the restaurant itself was like on the underground or something. You walk in and it’s a tight little dark spot where most likely you’ll be sitting next to someone. To be honest did give me kind of Malaysia vibes. Since then they’ve got a couple other branches: Waterloo and Battersea. We visited the Battersea branch, which was located right under a train line. I had heard there weren’t any queues here, but no, there was. We had to wait outside for a free table (about 15 minutes) and then once inside we sat next to other punters (still a tight and cozy atmosphere inside.

The menu

The menu boasts the classic Malaysian dishes and drinks such as roti canai (of course), nasi lemak, water morning glory, char kway teow, beef rendang and teh tarik. We decided to go for the Roti Canai with dhaal (you get a choice of different curries) and the char kway teow. We also got an iced teh tarik to drink. Unfortunately, they serve alcohol now (I don’t recall them doing so before?). Shame that.

Check out the full menu here.

How was it?

The service was great, the vibes inside the restaurant was great. I don’t mind the cozy atmosphere inside. I like that you can watch the roti chefs craftfully make their roti – it’s an art! It all adds to the experience.

But how was the all important food? The dhaal was packed full of flavour – I could drink this! The roti lacked the flakiness unfortunately, which is what they’re famous for. I don’t know if we were served one that wasn’t fresh fresh – I mean they’re constantly making it there, so you’d expect it to be fresh. We’ve definitely had better, but what saved it was the dhaal – delicious! The char kway teow took me back to Penang! The Penang one (left handed man) is legendary and right up there as one of our favourite dishes ever. So, it was never going to top that, but I tell you what, it does a good job you know. I’m pleased I opted for this over the nasi lemak as I was close to getting that, which I’m sure would’ve been good too.