I hate restaurant chains but dinner at this funky Edinburgh newcomer won me over
This place has sprung up in a prime city centre location
The last time I was inside 8 South St Andrew Street, I was getting my roots touched up.
That’s because, for an incredible 30 years, this corner spot was Edinburgh hair salon par excellence Charlie Miller.
Now, it’s had its own glow up of sorts, with a quick turnaround transformation into Malaysian and Singaporean street food chain Roti King.
This place is owned by chef Sugen Gopal, who grew up in his family’s restaurant in Malaysia and moved to the UK in 2004. This is his first Scottish restaurant, following recent expansion into Brighton and Spitalfields, which makes six in the UK in total.
I am not au fait. To be honest, I try to avoid chains. There are too many brilliant independents in our fair city.
I’ll make an exception for a few - Dishoom, say, or a cheeky Pret - but the swift influx of post-lockdown new ones in the Capital, from Blank Street to Popeyes, is rather overwhelming.
Still, I come with an open mind, and a freshly washed beehive, though my roots are peeping through. No matter, this is a casual jogging bottoms fast food sort of place.
The former salon reception is now an open kitchen, and we’re led through to the back, where the space is unrecognisable and there’s now rather unflattering lighting, Malaysian pop music playing, and a mural of a dragon being pestered by tiny and pesky-looking monkeys that remind me of my nieces and nephew after imbibing Coca-Cola.
As their speciality is the flatbread that is roti canai, we have to go for one of those options, along with beef rendang (£12.50), though you can also have yours with dhal or mutton, chicken or fish kari. We’re not disappointed. The shammy soft and airy bread, with flaky layers like mushroom gills, is gently concertina-ed onto the plate, and comes with a bowl of four or five beef chunks with a rich, sweet, mild and tangy coconutty sauce.
The roti is the perfect mop - better than any squeegee.
We also went for the murtabak - a stuffed roti - with tons of spinach and gooey cheese (£10.50) inside. It’s presented with a bowl of a wholesome tasting and soupy turmeric and ginger-infused dhal kari.
We enjoyed both these dishes, but they’re slightly wee on their own. Be warned, if you have more than a chaffinch’s appetite, you’d probably want a side dish per person as well. Say, the prawns balado (£8.95), which consisted of four shell-on critters, coated in a messy sambal sauce, with handwipe sachets included. Among other smaller starter or sharing dishes, there’s also the ayam goreng berempah (£4.95) - aka chef’s special fried chicken, and the morning glory based dish that is kangkung belacan (£10.95).
However, it was overkill for us to have also ordered the nasi lemak (£12.25) - Malaysia’s national dish. I’d probably come back here and have this option for lunch, though our server said it’s a breakfast staple. It’s sort of like the Southeast Asian version of a ploughman’s, with almost every food group on the plate. There was a neat pile of coconut rice, a fried chicken breast and a thigh, both of which were coated in a flaky mahogany-coloured batter, a pile of skin on red peanuts, sliced cucumber, the school lunchbox staple that is a cold boiled egg, delicately papery crispy anchovies, and a lake of fish-saucey and lemongrass flavoured sambal. Very wholesome.
Since I’m a Seventies and Eighties child and, thus, a sucker for condensed milk, we had to try the planta roti (£4.95) next. I hate when you go to pizza restaurants, and they have a sweet version on the menu for pudding. Double pizza seems OTT. However, having a second round of roti seemed much more appealing. It’s just so light.
This was lovely - flat as paper, crisped up and varnished with condensed milk, with a large scoop of coconut ice-cream on top (£2).
If you want a drink, they have a neat list, with three cocktails, a couple of wines and Lucky Buddha beer, but we sampled the more interesting non-alcoholics.
My teh o’ais limau (£3.95) was a zingy iced tea with lime, and the Malaysian national drink of teh tarik (£3.95) is the condensed milk sweetened foamy ‘pulled tea’ that is poured from cup to cup in street markets, to aerate it. I will try it with my Tetley at home.
So, I am a bit sad that there’s one less place to get my roots done in Edinburgh, but at least there’s an extra restaurant to visit, even if it is a chain.
This could be one that I’m willing to make an exception for.
Roti King, 8 South St Andrew Street, Edinburgh, www.rotiking.com
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