Kopitiam

Value Over Replacement Player or VORP is a somewhat involved term from baseball that rates a player’s impact over a fictitious “replacement”. This replacement doesn’t really represent the “average” but usually somewhat below that, for reasons that are far too dull to explain.

Anyhoo, VORP sprang to mind today when I noticed that the truly awful Pasta Fresca had closed its doors, with a new branch of Kampung Ali called Kopitiam bringing a very handy little Malaysian cafe within touching distance of my office.

Having opened only very recently, the interior was still getting settled, but was smart enough. It was a one woman operation both on the cooking and service front, but this was very smartly handled by the friendly owner woman. She did a cracking job a keeping things ticking along, but she’ll need an extra pair of hands, in due course.

Their menu was quite focussed, with a little array of core dishes. Roti cenai, the traditional Malaysian flatbread, with curry sauce sounded like a good way to start. I followed with a rice dish, nasi lemak, accompanied with a portion of beef rendang, the traditional dry curry.

I’ve had the roti cenai a number of times from Kampung Ali and this was an identical rendition. It was quite tasty stuff.

The main course was a slightly odd confection with a lot of different elements to it. There was a good portion of coconut rice, then a little pile of pickled cabbage, some really lovely sweet onions, half a boiled egg, cucumber, peanuts, really good beef rendang and them some absolutely delicious crisp, dried anchovies.

It just about managed to come together as a coherent dish, but it could have used one or two fewer elements.

So overall, I enjoyed my trip to Kopitiam. It served me two good dishes that hit the spot, very nicely. It has some bedding in still to do, but should do quite well from its central location in the North Bridge Arcade. I look forward to visiting again.

Scores
Blythe scores Kopitiam
3.5/5 for food
3/5 for presentation
3/5 for setting
3.5/5 for service
giving an overall 13/20

I ate: roti cenai with curry sauce; nasi lemak with beef rendang

I drank: water

I wore: grey skinny tie

Total bill: £10.50