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<\/p>\nYou could walk past Kopitiam \u2013 a small, unassuming Malaysian caf\u00e9, just off North Oxford\u2019s Banbury Road \u2013 without giving it a second glance. I\u2019ve done so many times, assuming it was just your standard Chinese takeaway, albeit with a Malaysian burr.<\/p>\n
Named after the coffee shops found everywhere from South\u00a0Thailand and Singapore through Malaysia and Indonesia, the room is clean and utilitarian, the selection of teh tariks (pulled tea) and kopi (coffee) seemingly endless. There\u2019s plum juice, hot or cold, and kaya toast for breakfast.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Serious dishes full of real flavour \u2013 Kopitiam is Tom\u2019s new happy place<\/p>\n
There are also two menus; the first is Chinese leaning, where sesame prawn toast, dim sum and sweet and sour pork sit alongside Malaysian classics such as five spice lor bak and beef rendang. But it\u2019s the second, named \u2018Lumch\u2019, that you want, packed full with laksas and ho funs, hokkien mee and roti canai. And it\u2019s those roti canai that always set the tone of the lunch ahead. If they\u2019re turgid, wan and greasy, abandon all hope and all that. But these are magnificent; charred, just chewy and delicate as silk handkerchiefs. The homemade curry sauce has depth, carefully spiced warmth, and a handsome chilli heat.<\/p>\n
Nasi lemak, that great all-day (and night) breakfast dish, mixes pandan-scented coconut rice with crisp fried anchovies, peanuts, boiled egg and a punchy sambal. Plus a dollop of mild, mellifluous chicken curry, cooked on the bone. All is as it should be, the rice and curry a study in mellow comfort. Then, joy of joys, Nanyang prawn noodle, which is near-identical to Penang prawn mee, one of the world\u2019s great noodle soups. The broth is dark, rich and brooding, bracingly spicy with a deep crustacean grunt. Good prawn-head broth lies at its heart, and this is impeccable. Yellow noodles are firm, with good bite, while the prawns are plump and pert.<\/p>\n
Singapore laksa has its chilli punch mellowed by coconut, but there\u2019s still a robust kick, and subtle piscine depth. Flat, slippery rice noodles jostle for space with the mildly rubbery bounce (it\u2019s a texture thing) of the fish balls. Tofu puffs do their duty, and soak up all that lovely flavour.<\/p>\n
The fact that you can lunch here, on serious Malaysian food, for just over \u00a315 a head, makes me very happy indeed. So forget Pret. And come to where the real flavour is.<\/p>\n