Tucked down a small stairwell on a quiet street alongside Euston Station, commuters, university students and locals patiently queue for one of Camden’s finest specialist cuisines. Roti King, which traces its culinary lineage back to India via Malaysia, serves a simple menu, centred around the humble Roti Canai, a staple of Malaysian-Indian cuisine. The owner, Sugen Gopal, who grew up in the kitchen of his mother’s restaurant in his native country, Malaysia, tells us “When I came to the UK, I thought I should do something authentic, whether people like it or not, I’m going to do it our way.”
After a few different changes in location, Sugen eventually landed on the backstreet next to Euston station. “People were asking me, this place is a basement, why are you taking it? It’s no prime location… And I said, no, man, for my food, it doesn’t really have to be a prime location.” Sure enough today the queues can stretch back half the way to Somers Town, despite the fast pace of the area, customers find it worth the wait.
“When I came to the UK, I thought, I should do something authentic, whether people like it or not, I’m going to do it our way.”
Sugen Gopal, founder of Roti King
What makes Roti King all the more remarkable is the diversity of its clientele. University students, office workers, travellers passing through Euston and locals from the nearby estates all find commonplace at their tables. “There was one day, where we had heavy snow,” Sugen tells us, “I told the staff that we were probably going to be light on customers but when I got there people were queuing in the snow, I was almost in tears”.
Of course, the most important customer comes all the way from Malaysia. “When my mum comes… I mean it’s very hard to pass the test, I always get one or two tips. The key is just to love the food and give the best you can for others.”
