Sambal Shiok

Such amazing twist from typical burger. I had a chicken say with peanut sauce. The chicken patty is well seasoned and tender. A burger is very full filling as well.

Okay, this isn’t a review of their regular market stand but instead of Mandy’s Sambal Shiok takeover of the Newman Arms kitchen on Saturdays for the next 5 weeks. There’s only one thing on the menu and it isn’t the Malaysian burger. Instead it’s prawn curry laksa. Laksa is a spicy curry soup with noodles and a protein, in this case prawns. There are only 2 seatings per night and we went to the later of the two on the first night. Now I was expecting trouble, most times you head to a pop up with assigned seating times, if you’re not in the first seating, it’s not going to go well. But I was surprised, okay there was a little delay, but it was for about 10 minutes, nothing like the 45 I’ve had to endure at other places. Instead we were kept informed, and got some drinks in the pub (really charming — see my review later). Mandy greeted each one of us and we headed upstairs to the small dining room, where tables were laid out with name cards so that you knew which table you were assigned to.
The menu was short and sweet, your ticket got you your bowl of Laksa, and you could get separately starters of prawn satay and pandan ice cream. My parents — big fans of the cuisine — were happy.
Satay turned up and… it was beautiful, nothing like the skewers of chicken we were expecting. Nicely plated we didn’t know what to make of it, until we put it in our mouths. Despite all of the deconstruction, the additional plating garnishes, once it was there, you had the unmistakable flavour of chicken satay. Unbelievable.
The Laksa itself was spicy, with two different types of noodles and way more prawns than I was expecting. The noisy room quickly turned quiet with only the sounds of slurping to break the silence.
Wines were ordered and served by one man who knew the history of each one he was serving. He partners with the pub quite frequently and was able to talk to us about the standard menu.
Noodles were finished and our pandan ice cream was served. I am not a fan of pandan, It’s a leaf whose juice is used to flavour cakes and the like. For me, it’s okay, but given the choice I would go for something else. I had no choice here… But it’s a good ice cream and definitely homemade.
All in all, our meal was £60 including wine and extras. Not a bad evening. And I’ve now been back to have a go at the rendang burger from their stand. Really good!

I first had a taste of Sambal Shiok about a year ago, and it has been one of my favourite streetfood stalls since. There are not that many good Malaysian streetfood stalls in London, or at least good enough to be mentioned…
Sambal Shiok’s burgers just happen to fill that gap in market, bringing the streets of London some amazing, Malaysian flavours, packed into her delicious Malaysian style burgers!
There are three different burger options, and ALL three of them are really good. The beef rendang is one of the tastiest versions that I have tried in London — tender and well marinated. The chicken satay is also a must-​try, packed into buns instead of your usual satay on sticks. And for those vegetarians out there, there is always the lentil satay option! Everyone wins :)
And of course she does THE most amazing sambal and peanut sauces that comes served in the burgers, or are also sold in jars if you love cooking up some sambal-​icious food in your own kitchen — I would highly recommend making these jars as part of your kitchen cupboard staple. Sambal after all does go with everything… noodles, pasta, toast… the list goes on.
And as if her burgers weren’t already good enough to tempt your tastebuds, Sambal Shiok has also recently added rice boxes and salad boxes to the menu. I do love a good burger, but what I love more is a warm and comforting box of rice! I have tried the beef rendang rice box which comes with some pickles and veg/​salad on the side, and it has definitely got my Malaysian seal of approval!
But enough of me harping on about how amazing her food is, get yourself down to Rupert Street during lunch hour and get a taste of it yourself. And for you lucky people working in Central London, Sambal Shiok will soon be trading on Thursday lunch times as well.
Watch this space x

Malaysia has a rich heritage of hawker (street) food. So, perhaps, it should have come as no surprise for me to find Mandy Yin’s Malaysian fusion food stall at the Street Food Union collection of street food stalls, which can be found on Rupert Street in Soho on Fridays and Saturdays
She has tapped into the burger craze sweeping London at the moment and come up with some typically Malaysian fillings. I opted for the beef rendang burger, a slow cooked curry from the Malay tradition. Mandy has taken Aberdeen Angus beef, mixed it with ten spices and a healthy dose of coconut before giving it the hours of slow cooking to render it fork-​tender and dry enough to go into the toasted sweet brioche bun. Like all the burgers, it comes with sweet pickled cucumber, red onion salad, sambal chilli and mayo
The beef rendang burger made a satisfying mouthful. The beef rendang is really good and Matt, one of Mandy’s regulars who I met at the stall said he keeps coming back because it’s the best beef rendang in town. For my palate, I think that the other contents could be even bolder in flavour — more sour in the pickle, more heat in the chilli and perhaps some flavour in the mayo — but I’m used to strong tastes
You’ll also find chicken satay and chana dal satay burgers, which did smell lovely
Good luck to Mandy for being bold in promoting Malaysian food and introducing a new genre of Malaysian with a twist cuisine. Go along, try and enjoy!