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Leeds Live

National

Samuel Port

We tried the 'best restaurant in Leeds' to see if our readers are right

Leeds Headingley

Kuala Lumpur Café was voted as the best restaurant in Leeds by LeedsLive readers, so naturally we visited to see if it was worthy of that title.

The Malaysian restaurant won the Leeds Loves awards in May, with our readers voting on 10 categories celebrating the best of the city’s wonderful hospitality industry.

The unassuming small restaurant is the definition of a hidden gem as it's tucked away in a Headingley side street, just off Otley Road in Bennett Road. Blink and you’d miss it, it really is a teeny-tiny establishment.

As you enter, it does feel like you’re stepping into a broom closet. The counter is directly in front of the door and a couple of tables are crammed downstairs.

We headed up the stairs (where you have to mind your head for the ceiling!). There were about four tables on the upper floor. There were various decorations hanging up, bunting left up from the jubilee, fake wreaths and plants on the tables.

Kuala Lumpur Café in Bennett Road, Headingley (Samuel Port)

While it was small, this added to the restaurant’s appeal. It had quite a funky, trendy vibe. It really fits in to Headingley. I felt relaxed there, the staff were super friendly and I just got the impression I was in for a really authentic meal. Plus, it’s a ‘bring your own booze’ restaurant so you can’t go wrong there.

The first thing that screams out at you from the menu is just how cheap it is, with starters generally coming to about £4 and mains were about a tenner. We went for a family meal, four of us dining with three courses, and spoiler alert: the bill came to less than £70.

The presentation of the food and the taste was top-notch. We decided to share a range of starters to begin with, each of these had very generous portions.

The vegan chicken satay had tons of sauce of nutty, rich sauce and actually tasted pretty indistinguishable from actual chick. Big thumbs up. The spring rolls looked very attractive with a lovely golden crisp colour and ample size, they tasted very nice as well – although, it could have maybe done with some cabbage or spring onions inside, rather than just a mushy vegetable paste.

I’d elected to try the Tofu Sambal, it was deep fried tofu with sambal, bean sprouts, cucumber and fried shallots. It sounded like a creative dish and I’d never tried tofu. The presentation was splendid, and it was perfectly satisfactory but overall it had less flavour than the other dishes, quite bland in contrast.

For my main course, I decided to go for the prawn Kari Nyonya Peranakan, a Malaysian yellow lime curry. Each of the mains looked utterly stunning. They came with coconut rice, fried anchovies, peanuts, cucumber, half a hard boiled egg, sambal and prawn crackers.

My prawn curry came with about six or seven meaty prawns. These were soft and tender - perfectly cooked. The sauce was tangy and aromatic. It had full-bodied, overwhelming flavour. It was a real treat to not only have delicious curry but all the marvellous additional items that came with it. The rice had a subtle coconut flavour. The samba sauce was rich and had a pleasant mild spice.

My family were also very happy with their dishes, again they’d ordered some of the fake meat which tasted very convincing. One dish with salmon was really nicely cooked, with the fish delicately falling apart on the fork.

The dessert was a mixed bag. I ordered the Kuih Lapis, described as a Malaysian coconut cake, which turned out to be slices of a warm jelly-esque dish. It wasn't for me but the rest of the table seemed to enjoy the vibrant pink dish.

The Kuih Bakar was really nice, in contrast. Described as a Malaysian custard cake, it was this delicate green pie which had really light flavour and fluffy texture.

Overall a fantastic meal and lovely atmosphere. Although I would add that perhaps Kuala Lumpur Café could invest in some more comfortable seating, the seats are all quite cheap and uncomfortable.

I’m not sure it met the standards of ‘best restaurant in Leeds’ but you may just have the best experience there and you’ll certainly feel relieved when you see the bill at the end. A great spot to have tea with friends, especially if they’re vegetarian.