Nancy Lam’s Enak Enak – Noodles & Nostalgia.

I don’t know what it is about nostalgic eateries, a few weeks back I visited Benihana’s in Chelsea where everything, but the prices seemed stuck in 1977. Then more recently I popped into Nancy Lam’s eatery situated on the training slopes of Lavender Hill and came face to face with interior design concepts that I hadn’t seen since the fall of Thatcher.

It was the idea of my friend Capt. Moonlight, the dating king. He gets his car serviced nearby and had been intrigued since seeing the owner’s picture all over the signage outside. Like me he can remember a time when Nancy was a pretty regular fixture on TV cooking shows, someone who’s presence went a long way to showing us that there was more to Asian cuisine than sweet and sour pork balls.

Arriving around 7:30 on a Friday evening recently I was struck by a number of things: first was the number of chairs compared to the number of patrons, second it was nice to be greeted by name and last not only the décor but sound track (Heaven 17, Duran Duran) took me back to a time when Farah trousers and Lyle & Scott sweaters were the epitome of cool.

We were quickly seated towards the front of the dining room and presented with out first surprise of the evening. I haven’t been able to find a link to it online, but the wine list is one of the best chosen and best value I have seen. Mainly French with an equally good selection of reds and whites, we selected a petite Chablis which had the petite price tag of £23.50 attached. Light, aromatic without being thin this proved once again that quality French wine is one of the better choices as a partner for flavour filled Asiatic cuisine.

The Capt. having skipped lunch found had a gargantuan appetite where one dish would not be enough and so in the interests of variety we ordered the sharing mixed satay platter (prawns, chicken, spare ribs and pickled vegetables) and accompanied this with a plate of beef satay.

The satay was magnificent. The dishes were a bit rough in the presentation, but the plates were warm and each component distinctly flavourful and zinging with freshness. For me I think the beef was perhaps the winner, but it was a crowded field and as close to a photo finish as I can remember recently.

My wine consumption had reached a point where some of it was now looking for an escape route, this prompted a visit to the smallest room, but also afforded me a chance to give the rest of the establishment the once over.

The walls are painted in the sort of light yellow which when accompanied by the kitsch furniture makes you suspect that hiding somewhere nearby is Alan Whicker doing a promo for Barclaycard. The route to the loo is brightened by several Dennis the Menace toys, making me think back wistfully to my Gnasher badge.

I made it back to the table at about the same time as our main courses decided to put in appearance. The Capt. had ordered a beef rendang, whilst I’d opted for sweet and sour hot prawns. We’d gone for a Celebration Mee, noodles with meat and seafood and plain white rice as accompaniments.

Here again I would say the presentation was rather dated, but the food spot on. I’ve not had a beef rendang before, but this was delicious, the sweet and sour prawns a case where nostalgia is sometimes right, this sauce WAS better than others I have tasted recently. Even the boiled rice seemed fluffier and stickier than other bowls I’ve ordered recently. The only slight disappointment was the Celebration Mee, which despite the owner’s insistence that they didn’t do Chinese food, channelled the spirit of a special chow mein.

It was around this time that my friend the Queen of the Wharf (QOW) decided to make an appearance. She was hungry having spent a tiring half day off stress testing various bars for their ability to serve prosecco.

The QOW, as people unfortunate enough to have read more than one of these columns will remember, is allergic to nuts, a fact we eventually managed through semaphore and rhyming slang to eventually communicate to the waiting staff. Actually no, they were fantastic and pointed out which dishes came nut free.

We ordered some additional beef rendang and then a chicken rendang to go along with it. More of the cloud like fluffy rice was called for and as all this decision making was thirsty work a second bottle of wine.

The QOW thought that the chicken rendang had the edge on the beef. Me I wasn’t so sure, but I have to say it was so fresh tasting I wondered whether it’d been wandering around the back garden under its own steam when we’d arrived about an hour previously.

Nancy Lam, the eponymous owner was constant, entertaining and irreverent presence. It is perhaps a testament to how memorably ugly I am that she remembered me from my previous visit 3 and a half years ago. She is the sort of person who will put an after dinner cocktail called a ‘Cocksucking Cowboy’ on the drinks list and we were the sort of people to order it.

The bill when it came was £166 for 2.5 people (I’m counting the QOW arriving late,) please bear in mind that this was on a blow out and you could have a satisfying meal here for far less per head. Having looked it up Enak Enak is apparently Indonesia for tasty tasty which was certainly my experience. Nancy Lam is looking for this to be the last year of the restaurant, so all I can say is get your booking in whilst you can.

Nancy Lam’s Enak Enak

56 Lavender Hill

Battersea

SW11 5RQ

http://nancylam.com