Sedap’s diverse selection of Nyonya Chinese and Malaysian fusion food offers high levels of flavour at a low price in the heart of the City.

The Venue
Sedap is one of the few London restaurants to specialise in Straits or Nyonya cuisine, which came about as the food of the Chinese and Malay cultures amalgamated through intermarriage. The restaurant isn’t really about decor or atmosphere – it’s as much of a takeaway as it is a restaurant, really. Diner-style tables and almost bare white walls ensure the food is the focus.

The Atmosphere
Whilst there’s no unnecessary finesse in the surroundings, though, service is on a par with the finest of fine dining - extremely friendly and attentive, eager to discuss and recommend dishes even when rushed. With a large and somewhat confusing menu to those unfamiliar with the cuisine, asking for advice is definitely recommended.

The Food
The varied menu spans dim sum, salads, soups, curries, rice dishes, noodle dishes, and more. Sesame prawn toast (£3.60) from the dim sum menu is one of the less exotic offerings, but impressive for its intense shrimp flavour, as is the case for their homemade prawn crackers (£1.50). Seafood crab (£5.90) from the starters selection is a more intriguing dressed crab Nyonya style. A crab shell is generously stuffed with not only crabmeat, but shrimp, cuttlefish and whitefish – a tasty seafood cocktail lightened by zesty Asian herb flavours.

Penang char kway teow (£6.95) is one of Straits cuisine’s signature dishes and is a highly recommended main at Sedap. These stir-fried flat rice noodles come with prawns, beansprouts, Chinese sausage, egg and fish cake with soy sauce, chives, and chilli paste. The freshness of flavours really stand out and there’s an incredible smokiness, whilst the unusually vast assortment of ingredients gives a fun pick ‘n’ mix element to the dish. Kerabu salad is another favourite which comes recommended, and is available in vegetable (£3.80) and prawn (£6.50) varieties. Along with a (very) generous helping of chilli, the star is the special lime sauce it is dressed with – sour, tangy, and just a bit salty, it hits all the senses.

Another side worth trying is archard (£2.80) a chutney of spicy pickled vegetables with peanuts and sesame seeds, and this goes very well with roti prata (£1.80) the dense, slightly chewy bread popular in Malaysia but probably best known in this county from Indian cuisine. Curry tumis is another highlight, and comes in prawn (£7.25) and fish (sea bream, £7.35) versions. This sweet and sour curry kicks with lively flavours of tamarind, lemongrass and galangal. So thin to almost be a soup, though, bread is a necessity (as is a spoon) in order to ensure no wastage.

Onto desserts, and Sedap is notable for its daily changing selection of freshly made Nyonya kueh – sweet, steamed bite-size cakes made from glutinous rice flour and flavoured often with coconut but also a range of other ingredients including pandan leaf. Delectably chewy, these cost £2 each and are also available to take away.

The Drink
Sedap has a small but very reasonably priced wine list (around £12 a bottle) and most soft drink bases are covered along with some Asian beers (around £3 a bottle), but it’s definitely the food that’s the focus rather than the drink.

The Last Word
As one of just a handful of restaurants serving Nyonya cuisine in London, Sedap is worth exploring – and at such good value, why not?

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