Roti King’s Brilliant Flaky Roti Canai Is Coming to Battersea Power Station

Cult Euston Malaysian restaurant Roti King will open a second permanent site in Battersea Power Station, Eater has learned.

Chef-owner Sugen Gopal, who followed up his famous Doric Way premises with a concession inside Market Halls in Victoria in 2018 — an homage to the restaurant Gopal’s parents opened in Malaysia in the 1970s — will launch later this year and for the first time will offer its many fans the opportunity to make a booking, with just 50 percent of covers being left for walk-ins.

Gopal said in a statement shared with Eater that “there is nowhere in the U.K. that makes roti canai the way we do at Roti King. Our attention to detail, fresh British ingredients and a few secret techniques makes this the most authentic place to eat roti in the U.K.

“I am beyond thrilled to see my cuisine and heritage becoming so popular in the U.K., this opening in Battersea represents the start of a very exciting period for Roti King.”

Gopal will add new dishes to the Battersea menu, “with more vegetarian and vegan friendly items.” All Roti canai will be available with four different options of kari: chicken, mutton, dahl, and fish, alongside the stuffed murtabak with a variety of fillings.

As well as roti and kari, plates of coconut rice will be served with beef rendang and/or goreng perempah — spicy fried chicken. Nasi goreng will also feature, as well as laksa, noodle dishes, and sweet options such as roti topped with condensed milk, coconut, and banana.

Gopal opened Roti King on Doric Way near Euston in 2014, having failed to make the impression he would come to make there at its original location inside the Oriental City food hall (now Bang Bang Oriental) in Colindale.

Shortly after it opened, then Guardian critic Marina O’Loughlin issued a rave review, paying particular tribute to the roti. “The bread manages to be both light and dense, crisp, flaky interior giving way to a hypnotic, gooey chew,” she wrote. For years, the review was printed in full on the reverse of the restaurant’s laminated menus.

To this day, at lunch and at dinner, a queue snakes up the steps and out on to the street from the basement dining room. It remains one of London’s most sought-after tables and cult kitchens.

Roti King will open in Circus West Village, “the first completed chapter in the regeneration of Battersea Power Station,” not the Power Station itself and will sit alongside over 20 other bars, restaurants, cafés, fitness and leisure offerings already. Those include the likes of Gordon Ramsay’s Street Pizza, Francesco Mazzei’s Fiume, Black Sheep Coffee, and Boom Cycle.

More soon.