Being of Malaysian heritage, I am always really weary of Malaysian restaurants in Europe because I've been to Malaysia countless times and had such incredible food that I become quite a difficult person to please and what some people may think of as overly-critical. In my defence, I've found a couple of pretty good Malaysian restaurants in the Western world (e.g. Satay House in Paddington, London or even Awana, which I think is now closed) so I can be won over!

My husband had heard this place was supposedly the best Malaysian in Lausanne, and after checking it out on the bible that is Trip Advisor, I started to get fairly excited (although when I checked out the menu beforehand this was starting to dissipate somewhat). We turned up on a Tuesday night, with the restaurant already starting to fill up pretty well. I checked out what was a pretty impressive menu choice-wise, and saw very few dishes that I'd hoped to see that were to me, 'Malaysian'. Sure, otak-otak and rendang were listed. But what about kangkung belachan, roti canai, wonton noodles, laksa, tau eu bak, hainanese chicken rice? Granted, this restaurant was 'Malaysian Chinese' and not 'Malaysian' but I was starting to get a little edgy already....

What made things worse was when the chef came over and tried to be friendly (although honestly most Malaysians come across as genuinely warm and this guy did not) and tried to encourage my husband and I to try the new 'prawns and cheese' - apparently all the rage in Kuala Lumpur these days. We looked at each other a bit comically, ignored him and went for spare ribs (starters), sweet and sour fish (I'd read it was good so was being a copy cat), beef rendang and sambal pork. And steamed rice. Straight away, the response from the staff was a brusque "no more rendang". "No more rendang"?!?! At 7.30 pm? I was aghast. They recommended an 'alternative' - the Indonesian beef. I promptly complied. The food came. What can I say. The sweet and sour fish reminded me of any sweet and sour fish I could have eaten in neighbourhood Chinese restaurants in French suburbs (i.e. standard and uninspiring). The sambal pork just tasted like a slightly saltier version of the sweet and sour base. No sambal hit whatsoever. And the beef?! Stir-fried beef with some green peppers and onions. Nothing exciting to me whatsoever.

What saddened me is that Malaysian food has such a unique and rich flavour profile. And although it probably isn't fair to expect roti canai or laksa, other 'Malaysian' restaurants deliver on those things and illustrate the vast array of delicious and quite unusual dishes you can find in Malaysia. For me, this restaurant just doesn't live up to the 'Malaysian' tag - indeed, Nyonya cooking is very rich and full of interesting flavours - and even there, they just seemed to fail to me. It's another "bog-standard" Chinese restaurant! I should have known better than to expect Malaysian miracles in Lausanne....