Three Stars for Lionhead; Kedai Makan's New Spot an Upgrade

In the last few weeks, Seattle's critics have scoped out Jerry Traunfeld's new Lionhead, and the newer, bigger Kedai Makan. Here's what they reported:

Providence Cicero at The Seattle Times gave a rare three-star review to Lionhead: "Lionhead’s interpretations of Sichuan cuisine are as nuanced as Poppy’s thali variations. Sichuan cuisine is known for numbingly spicy dishes. Emblematic of that is the Sichuan peppercorn, deftly used here in a way that shows off its floral and citrus notes as well as its sassy side. Acid, aromatics and gentler spices in a dish — black vinegar, shallot, scallion, ginger, star anise, fennel, cinnamon and clove — don’t get lost in a searing blaze."

And Seattle Weekly's Nicole Sprinkle had positive things to say about the new Kedai Makan: "If you love Asian street-stall food, particularly of the underrepresented Malaysian variety, you’ve spent time hanging out on Broadway on Capitol Hill, waiting for your order of stuffed rotis to be handed, steaming, through the tiny takeout window of its former incarnation. For those who haven’t experienced this, or haven’t been following culinary news, Kedai Makan has gone from takeout only to a full-fledged restaurant with plenty of seating and a separate bar area—and that’s truly cause for celebration."