Chuba Rasa (Malaysian) – Twickenham

What a charming little place Chuba Rasa is and how charming, affable and welcoming was the lady owner of this humble eatery. Since December 2014, this place has, it declares, been serving “authentic Malaysian home-cooked food”.

We were, therefore, compelled to take the name of the place quite literally – Chuba, meaning ‘try’, and Rasa, meaning ‘taste’, and give it a taste.

Sirap Bandung (left), Teh Tarik Ice (right)

The Sirap Bandung was a soothing rose water syrup based milk drink that’s probably the Malaysian equivalence of the popular Indian subcontinent drink Rooh Afza. Now, despite the fact that rose water is one of those Marmite type flavours, we would still say that if you’ve never had something like this before, then just give it try.

The Teh Tarik Ice is an iced tea of sorts, in that it’s essentially strong hot tea with ice cubes added to it, and can be had at most traditional street food places across Malaysia. The combination of the hot and cold is a lovely experience if you haven’t had this before, and with the hint of sweetness, possibly from the addition of carnation, coupled with a degree of bitterness running in the background, we’d recommend you give this a go too.

But, if the addition of ice isn’t your thing, then just have it plain!

Curry Puff – Spicy sweet potato and potato pasty £3

These curry puffs were similar to Indian samosas in both texture and flavour.

The exterior was nice and crispy with a non-oily light and freshly made batter.

The potato filling, however, was very spicy, though full of those distinct Indian spices we all love.

Chicken 65 – Marinated fried chicken fillet served with onions and peanut sauce £5

Note: Contains peanuts.

Now these were supposed to be chicken, but the texture was more fish-like than chicken. Don’t get us wrong though since that’s not a criticism given that we all welcomed this surprisingly delicious contrast. These mildly spicy nuggets were, therefore, soft and succulent, and quite delightful.

Sweet Chilli Chicken – Chicken fillet marinated in spices and fried with batter and coated with sweet chilli sauce mix and sesame, £5

Again these had the above fish-type texture with the sticky, gooey marinade more sweet than chilli.

Cauliflower Pakora – Vegetarian. Cauliflower florets coated and fried with batter and served with sweet chillie sauce £5

Nothing really to write home about with these.

Very simple in terms of their cooking and flavour.

Cauliflower pakoras are, in effect, what they are.

Rojak – Traditional Malaysian mixed fruit and vegetable salad made with tofu, cucumber, apple and pineapple served with spicy prawn based rojak sauce and peanuts £5.50

Note: Contains peanuts.

This was a pleasant little assortment of ingredients. Apple with tofu, pineapple, peanuts, and a light sweet sauce made for an interesting fresh fruit based nibble.

Singapore Fried Noodle – Rice vermicelli cooked with chicken, prawn, bean sprouts, cabbage and carrots, £6.50

The noodles were soft and mildly spiced with flavoursome bits of soft, succulent chicken and prawns. All in all, a fairly tasty fishy dish.

Mee Goreng – Spicy stir fried egg noodles cooked with chicken, prawn, bean sprouts and pak choy £6.50

This Mee Goreng delivered some very strong flavours that were more Thai in origin than anything else.

The lovely succulent chicken and well cooked noodles provided an overall very spicy dish that was appreciated by some of the Lions, though not all.

Prawn Nasi Goreng Kampung – Malaysian fried rice cooked with extra prawns, egg & mixed vegetables, £8.50

This was a little underwhelming compared to the pungent flavours of the above.

The fried rice with bits of chicken, prawns, carrots, peas, sweetcorn, and spring onions, were all sprinkled with what seemed like dry bits of spicy something flakes, which sadly couldn’t quite rescue the lack of flavour here.

Beef Rendang – Slow cooked beef in rich lemon grass and coconut sauce £7.50

Fairly classic standard home made Beef Rendang here with chewy portions of meat in a strong, heady coconut-based sauce that made for a nice dish.

Dhall – Red & yellow lentils cooked with mixed vegetables, £4.50

This lentil dish with soft potato was meant to be eaten with the above, and a good thing too since this rather viscousy side was relatively bland!

Jasmine Rice

Here we had thick, sticky Jasmine Rice presumably intended for the two aforementioned dishes.

Dry-Chilli Chicken – Chicken fillet cooked with dark soy sauce, capsicums, onions, dry chilli & topped with cashew nuts, £7.50

What a strongly flavoured Dry Chilli Chicken this was! This vibrantly colourful dish was arguably the star of the mains. Tangy, sticky and spicy in nature, this dish’s underlying flavour and smell reminded us of a typical South Indian pickle called an achar.

The peppers were beautifully soft, yet charred, while the sesame seeds and red onions gave an additional sweet undertone to the entire thing.

But, again, this split the crowd with two Lions swearing by it, and the other just… swearing. Can’t please em all!

Lamb Parattal – Dry lamb curry cooked with spices and potato £7.50

This Lamb Parattal was quite bland, and just about delivered the smell and taste of lemon grass along with a hint of chilli and sweetness.

Unfortunately with this, not only was the lamb dry, but the curry also left a burning sensation lingering on the palate (too much black pepper perhaps?).

Curry Laksa – Egg Noodles or Rice Noodles served with curry sauce cooked with chicken, prawn, tofu and bean sprouts £8

An okay Curry Laksa. The broth was fairly watery and, thus, bland in taste, but the constituent elements were, nonetheless, pretty well cooked.

Tom Yum Soup £5.50

This was a standard homemade Thai style Tom Yum Soup.

Fairly flavoursome.

Again, however, while everything was individually cooked very well, we all concluded that the soup didn’t quite deliver on the clean and distinct flavours we’re accustomed to with a really well made Tom Yum Soup.

Sago Gula Melaka – Malaysian dessert made of tapioca, coconut and palm sugar £4

Sago with Gula Melaka, or palm sugar, was made up of tapioca pearls floating in subtly sweet, coconut milk that reminded us all of rice pudding for some reason. Not bad; but not something we’d be doing star jumps for.

Fried Ice Cream

Fried Ice Cream is essentially ice cream inside a crisp, sweet pastry pocket that’s been lightly fried and drizzled with chocolate sauce.

What you mustn’t do, however, is procrastinate in photo taking, otherwise you’ll end up with near-melted ice cream, which isn’t the done thing here.

The idea is to tarry not, but dive right in and devour the thing in order to properly appreciate the contrast between hot and cold, and soft and crispy.

What a delicious end to a very interesting evening.