Makan La

We are frequent visitors to Makan La and have never been disappointed. The food is excellent and great value. Staff are efficient and friendly. What more can you say? A real find in a city with so many disappointing chain restaurants.

NickyG (Unverified), 16/05/12

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Great food, very enthusiastic waiting staff!

John from Hamton Poyle (Unverified), 11/05/12

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We found this restaurant by chance on a weekend whilst shopping and, looking through the menu outside, resolved to visit as soon as we could, especially as I spotted a Beef Rendang main course, a particular favourite of mine from the days when I lived on Java.

Well, reading the previous review, I can only say things must have improved considerably in the last few months! We had a thoroughly enjoyable evening - the food was excellent and the service quick and friendly. I was half expecting to be irritating my partner with 'this isn't how I remember it', but the Beef Rendang and Nasi Goreng were just perfect. The mixed platter starter was a good combination and the Chicken Satay just right - succulent and not dry.

It wasn't too busy on the Thursday night we went and the atmosphere was pleasant and relaxing. I can imagine it might be quite frenetic on a busy Saturday night though! Would we go again? Absolutely!

Denis (Unverified), 05/11/10

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We went there for dinner last night. Apparently the chef has changed, the food was horrible. The spicy tomato sauce was sweet- and not chilli sweet, sugar sweet! (and it is supposed to be one of their specialties). The ingredients were not fresh, the dishes were drawn into a lot of heavy sauce -- although they were not supposed to be stew!
Don't go, you will spare yourself a disappointing meal.

09/02/10

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Delicious food, friendly and efficient - one of the better bets in this area.

Caro (Unverified), 30/05/08

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I didn't know what to expect when I heard there was a Malaysian Restaurant in central Oxford. My expectations of Makan La were of a lavishly decorated, exotic looking restaurant with South East Asian batik hanging on the walls and carved furniture. So I was surprised when I entered the twee looking English tea & cake cafe, with little tables and chairs and a dainty counter at one end. However the overwhelming aroma of Malaysian cooking encouraged me to hastily order my food which was a Vegetable Malaysian curry. (I'm vegetarian and nearly went for the tofu, but decided the vegetable would be sufficient.) Having sampled the cuisine of Malay/Singapore from visits to both places I have to say the food is FANTASTIC and every bit authentic, well the chefs are Malaysian so I expected nothing less. The prices are great too - if you go on a lunchtime - you can have a meal off the menu for around £6.50 and the portions are generous!

Book a table now - you will not be disappointed!

bethany (Unverified), 28/05/08

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This very reasonably priced, centrally located venue is the more exotic downstairs counterpart to the Nosebag restaurant (serving the same amazing cakes, whole or in large portions). I'm not at all familiar with Malaysian cooking, but recently had a home-cooked Malay-style feast at a friend's house, so wanted to do some more investigation. I'm not sure that this visit helped me reach any conclusions!

Our starters of Tum Yum Gong (the characteristically Thai hot spicy seafood soup flavoured with lemongrass and fish sauce) and shrimp dumplings were promising. The soup was more gently flavoured than the average Thai version, with a generous amount of shrimp (but no mussels), and some pleasingly non-rubbery squid. Dumplings were like a cross between prawn toast and prawn cracker, with minced shrimp in crunchy, grabbable packages (the flavour being best appreciated without the overpowering sweet chilli dip). To follow we had Malaysian curry with tofu and Ayam Papriek (fried chicken with chilli, garlic, lemon grass and green beans), with plain and fried rice respectively. Firstly, unless you haven't eaten for a week, two people can easily share one rice portion. Secondly - the 'fried' chicken was clearly boiled, and the glutinous orange sauce was - as a reviewer mentions below - disappointingly reminiscent of bog standard takeaway sweet-and-sour. The Malaysian curry - 'in spicy coconut sauce' - was not very coconutty or very spicy, and whilst there was loads of tofu (yum), it was not in any way a remarkable dish.

Fizzy water and a Tsingtao beer each contributed to our feeling of excess fullness (though the half-eaten chocolate cake on our neighbours' table looked strangely enticing), and weren't overpriced - in fact, if you're after simplicity and quantity rather than subtlety and high quality, you could do far worse than trot out to this place occasionally. In addition, service was great - our glasses were refilled immediately by the waitress at all times, and we didn't get the impression that we needed to leave in a hurry, yet the bill arrived very promptly after we requested it. Seating is simple, with café-style wooden chairs at rather small tables, and I imagine the place could get crammed at peak times. There was a small beeping noise (the door sensor malfunctioning perhaps?) throughout our meal that we could've done without, but overall it was not an unpleasant environment. The menu is not extensive, but has a mix of curries, rice and noodle dishes - it may be a case of trying a few until one finds something one likes, then sticking with it on repeat visits. I have heard really good things about Malaysian cuisine, so I'm unwilling to give up on it at this stage, but I was disappointed to find that Makan La was not quite the hidden gem I had hoped it might be.

Two beers, water, two starters, two main courses: £29.35

Su Jordan (DI Staff), 22/10/07

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Stumbled upon this tiny restaurant by chance, and found it well worthwhile and definitely value for money. Not many tables in this somewhat cramped diner, and only one waitress and one cook, so as you can imagine very busy on the Saturday night we visited.

The food however made up for the inconveniences, we had a prawn dumpling starter (6) with a sweet chili sauce and they were superbly light and tasty.

For a main my partner had a Chicken curry with boiled rice and this was delicious and not too fiery. I had a Special noodle dish with chicken, squid et al and this also was very tasty. With a beer and a large glass of wine the bill came to £22 for two, so value definitely. I will visit again as the waitress said that she would recommend dishes from off the menu if they were not too busy. All round score 8/10 for food, 7/10 for service, 7/10 for comfort.

All in all I was impressed by the taste/ingredients, all freshly prepared.

Andy Ham (Unverified), 08/10/07

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The previous review is written a long time ago, and I think they have sorted out any problems they may have been having then. I discovered the place this summer, and as my husband is half-Indonesian, we were very pleased to have discovered it! Malaysian dishes are often very similar to Indonesian ones, and Indonesian restaurants are few and far between, even in London! So far I have tried three of the noodle dishes, their mie goreng, vermicelli with egg and fish sauce, and singapore noodles were all fantastic, and too large for lunch - a good amount for dinner though. I also once tried their ayam papriek, chicken in a sauce with chilli and some other things which I can't remember, which was quite tasty, but a little chinese takeaway in quality somehow. Also at the time you had to buy your rice seperately, and the complete dish was far too huge, even for dinner. I think they have a lunchtime special now where you can have the rice for £1 or less extra. I saw someone eating the beef rendang, which looked delicious, and I'll probably try that next time! All in all, not quite my mother-in-law's cooking, but very good, and great value. They do a nice latte and iced tea as well. I haven't tried the English food, but I noticed they do cream teas - will have to try that one soon as well; I am from Devon, and I have yet to find a really good cream tea outside of Devon, Cornwall or Pembrokeshire! Let's hope I will at Makan La. Makan means 'Eat' by the way.

Ruth McGuire (Unverified), 30/10/06

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Makan La has a couple of identity problems. It's managed by the Nosebag, but has branched off into a whole new thing occupying the downstairs part of 6-8 St. Michael's. Furthermore, one side of its two page menu is devoted to Malaysian food, while the other is dedicated to European fare. Despite its psychological issues, Makan La is a decent place for a relatively cheap meal, and an acceptable compromise if you and your dining partner can't agree on a cuisine.

Small and casual, the restaurant offers table service, but you generally seat yourself upon arrival. Someone will eventually come and get your order, although on my last visit there was only one waitress working and so we had to wait about ten minutes.

The mini vegetarian spring rolls are a good place to start, but eat them quickly - they're a bit tough when cool. You get 8 for £3, so they're good for sharing. The tofu satay for £3.50 is also a nice vegetarian appetizer. The six skewers of tofu squares with red and green peppers are presented very aesthetically, and livened up with peanut sauce.

I recently tried the Chicken Masak Sambal for £4.70. It came with a generous serving of white rice, chunks of tomato, and far too many slices of fresh onion. I avoided the onions and slogged through the sweet, orange-coloured tomato sauce to get to some tasty pieces of chicken.

While the meal was certainly edible, I felt envious of my friend, whose choice looked wiser. She gave her approval to the £5 Char Keay Tew, a complicated mixture of wok-fried flat egg noodles, chicken, squid, peppers and even more onions. Her only complaint was that it could really use more spice, a comment I would apply to all of the food I've had at Makan La (but perhaps a feature of Malaysian cuisine?).

I was more favourably impressed by Makan La's English breakfasts, which you can get for £4.75 until 3pm daily. If you only want three options from the spread of bacon, egg, mushroom, tomato, sausage and toast, you can go for the small English breakfast for £3.95. I enjoyed mine - the bacon was a good kind of chewy, the tomatoes weren't overcooked, and the toast was fresh. With coffee or tea, it's a pleasant way to nurse a hangover or just enjoy a morning. Other items from the European side are traditional sandwiches and salads, although how a Thai Chicken Salad legitimized its place on the European side is beyond me.

You have to be somewhat aggressive in order to get attention from the wait staff, but the plus side of this is that they're happy to let you sit and chat after your meal without bothering you. Since they're open until 10pm Monday to Saturday, and 9pm on Sunday, this is actually quite a bonus.

In the end, you don't end up spending much, you may have tried something new, and the food is satisfactory if not dazzling.

Lindsay Oishi (Unverified), 08/08/04

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