Bunga Raya

Wow. We were driving to IKEA Croydon. We never go to the one in Croydon. Live closer to Edmonton branch. Just wanted a change of scenery. We haven’t got there yet but even if it ends up a horrible disaster the mere fact that we happened upon this gem of a Malaysian restaurant would make it all worth it. Delicious! It was crazy because I was craving Malay food and so we stopped and looked on Unilocal and we were two doors away from here. Pure serendipity. I was meant to savour these great flavours and I will again. Next time I won’t be coming this far for IKEA. I’ll be driving out of my way to get to Bunga Raya!

Ladies and gents, for my (slightly biased!) views on Malaysian food, please read my review below about C&R café. However, in my opinion, Bunga Raya serves the best Malaysian food in the Greater London area. Also, being a buffet, it offers the opportunity to sample a wide selection of different dishes.
The restaurant is located closer to Thornton Heath than Croydon. There is parking on the residential roads opposite the restaurant though sometimes you may have to search a little bit. The restaurant has been refurbished recently with a bar area, a dining area with the open kitchen immediately behind that where you can see and smell the cooks preparing the yummy food. There are a few big screen TVs which show live football when it is on but also supplies the means for the popular karaōke on Fridays and Saturdays. A small area is available for private functions.
There is an a la carte menu available but most customers just eat from the big buffet which is very competitively priced. The food is organised into starters, main courses, curries, specials and desserts. I can recommend the satay as the most authentic in the UK that I’ve tried (and I’ve eaten at a lot of Malaysian restaurants!). The curries represent the best of Malaysian curries — slightly spicy but an intense depth of flavour belying its roots in being prepared from scratch, not from some bought spice blend. There are some great noodle dishes too. There’s even a nod to British palates with chips. The great thing is that the menu is always rotating so repeat custom brings new surprises. In addition, there are regular special one off dishes like laksa.
Bunga Raya also has special celebration evenings which are quickly booked up — join up their e-​mailing list to be informed about these in advance. On such nights, there may be dishes like Singapore chilli crab on the menu.
The owners KT and Henri are always circulating to chat to customers and offer them some authentic Malaysian hospitality.
This is a perfect introduction to Malaysian food. Give it a go!