Malaysian whispers

Edinburgh’s Chinese restaurants and takeaways tend to be humdrum and too MSG-dependent.  Its Indian places are rather better, without quite matching the flair of the best  of Glasgow’s. But what falls in between can be sometimes really interesting.

Such is Kampong Ah Lee, housed in that productive stretch of the South Side which also contains the long-established Kalpna, with its authentic vegetarian menu and, in a side street, the Cafe India, which, with its  array of small dishes, combines Indian cuisine with the .charms of Spanish tapas.

Kampong Ah Lee is Malaysian, with Chinese leanings, and thus something of a rarity to encounter in Edinburgh.Though its premises at 28 Clerk Street look plain and simple, the food impressively brightens the atmosphere, not only because it is so authentic but because it rings so vividly true.  The effect is a bit like eating an Indonesian meal in Amsterdam, where the food is irresistibly inviting   Not everything, perhaps, is perfect but it scores more hits than misses - enough for anyone’s first Edinburgh encounter with the cuisine of Kuala Lumpur.

What we ate was certainly nothing to do with  standard Edinburgh Chinese.  For a start, the rice, with tiny shreds of carrot, had its own specific individuality. The roast duck, served in chunks, had been cleavered through the bone, not sliced or shredded. The beef with black bean sauce looked  wonderfully dark and gloopy, and was conspicuously tender. Noodles were slimline, but best of all were the the large prawns in their shells, served with a fiery, sticky red sauce.

These were  fascinating twists on familiar ingredients, from a menu that took time to decipher. It was something special - though by Malaysian standards probably quite routine - and we shall be back to explore it in more detail, either in Clerk Street or what is evidently a branch in Fountainbridge.
7 August2013