Rahel Stephanie is one to watch on London's food scene – born in Indonesia and raised in Singapore, she moved to the UK capital as a student and quickly discovered that the city's Indonesian food scene was sorely lacking. She started putting on dinner party for friends to cook the food she so missed from home, and these quickly became available to the public in the form of supper club Spoons. Here, she shares her favourite places in London.
“This is my favourite place for Vietnamese cuisine. It’s in Deptford and I’m a regular there. They serve unpretentious fare.
I always order two dishes there: the fresh and fragrant vermicelli fish soup, and the lemongrass marinated barbecue chicken. It's got a fun, buzzing atmosphere, people crowding over their food, sharing it in groups over laughter and chatter. On the walls there’s a hand-painted mural of Halong Bay, and they even have a karaoke spot in the basement, which is incredible.
” Address: Viet Rest, 113 Deptford High Street, London SE8 4NS Website: vietrestltd.co.uk “One of my favourite recent openings in the past year.
They do slightly contemporary interpretations of Malaysian food without compromising on the authenticity of the flavours. The guys are extremely lovely. Its BYOB policy creates a great vibe.
Their hero dish is ayam goreng susu, the classic Malaysian dish of fried chicken reduced in a condensed milk sauce. I'm all about that savoury-sweet combination. It's so, so good.
It's quite a small restaurant .