The project.
The Roti King’s ROTI CANAI
Food-loving Londoners in the know queue up for Sugen Gopal’s superlative, freshly made flatbreads – and once you’ve mastered the technique, your family and friends will also be getting in line for a taste
FEATURE WORDS TOM SHINGLER
PHOTOGRAPHS INDIA WHILEY-MORTON
There are flatbreads – and then there are flatbreads. Roti canai (pronounced cha-NIGH) definitely falls into the latter camp. It’s a lightly enriched dough that’s stretched, then folded before it’s cooked, trapping air pockets within to create something fluffy on the inside and crisp on the outside. It is, in our opinion, the best flatbread out there
The roti canai was a relatively obscure side dish in the UK until one man put it in the spotlight: Sugen Gopal. His Roti King restaurant in Euston (there are now additional London branches in Battersea and Waterloo) serves a simple menu of Malaysian classics – but it’s the roti canai that people queue for. “Roti canai was the first dish I really became passionate about,” says Sugen. “I’ve been making them since I was 14. When I came to the UK, nobody was really offering them, so I decided to make sure mine were better than anywhere else; that roti was seen as something special.”
This Southeast Asian flatbread offers up a textural smorgasbord: crisp, flaky, fluffy, rich and light, all at the same time. While the ingredients are simple, the technique is one to master, so who better than Sugen – the Roti King himself – to show you how.
Originally from India but also heavily associated with the cuisines of Malaysia, Singapore (where it’s known as roti prata), Brunei and Thailand, roti canai has to be cooked and served fresh – which is why you’ll never see it for sale ready-made in the shops. It’s street food, pure and simple, served alongside a simple kari (dal or curry) for breakfast. When you get a really good roti canai, however, it outshines whatever dish it’s served with.