Awana 2

Back after nearly 2 years, this time for our Toptable rewards meal.

Food

The drinks menu was enticing as always. Even though we are now restricted to those of the non-alcoholic variety, there was still a lot of choice. I had the Ma ma Awana (£6) – passionfruit, guava, pineapple from the Specials list, and it was as I expected, tangy rather than sweet, and refreshing with the food. I told Slokky not to order such a boring drink this time, so he chose the fruity bandung (£6) - mango and raspberry purée, lychee juice, rose syrup, milk, brown sugar , which was very nice, milky and sweet, his type of drink. The fact that this came in a girly martini style glass, with the drink being pink and white, really suited him.

So onto our 3 course limited menu. The Chicken satay served with house made spicy peanut sauce was a no brainer, and like last time, the meat was charred beautifully and the sauce was magnificent. The Popiah sayur goreng - mixed Asian vegetable spring roll served with sweet chill sauce was also wonderful. The sweet chilli sauce was not as mind blowing as the satay sauce, but the spring rolls were fried to perfection, not too oily, and will good filling.

The entrees were small, so we were eagerly waiting for the mains. Ayam goreng kacang gajus - chicken fillets stir-fried with peppers and cashew nuts tasted more like a Thai stir-fry than any Malay style cuisine. Still, it was nice and tasty. The Kari sayur bermusim - mixed seasonal vegetables simmered with curry and tamarind sauce was excellent. The sauce had some heat, but also the tangy sweetness from the tamarind. The vegetables were fresh and chosen well, so that they did not go all mushy in the curry sauce.

Desserts only came with 2 choices. Dadar pandan - pancake roll with sweet coconut – can’t really taste the pandan, the coconut filling paired with coconut ice-cream was a bit too much sweetness, but both parts on their own were really good. I didn’t try the Tiga krim chocolate - trio of chocolate mousses, served on a crisp biscuit with raspberry sauce, but it was supposedly not as good as the pancake.

Rating - 7.5

Atmosphere

The last time I was here, the place was full and buzzing. Maybe it’s the credit crunch, but the restaurant was only half full by the time we left, just before 8pm. They were doing a roaring trade at the bar though. We were seated in a corner, right next to the bar, so had no view of the satay bar this time.

Rating - 1.5

Service

Excellent, as usual. Everything was prompt, they anticipated your needs well. More restaurants should try to do what they do.

Rating - 4

C-factor

As usual, the drinks were too expensive. I guess that is their strategy, to serve cheap and good food, and make all their money on drinks.

Rating - 0.5

Brownie Points - 13.5

Info

85 Sloane Avenue
London
SW3 3DX
Phone +44 (0) 20 7403 8403
Website