Kedai Makan Will Close This Month

Kevin Burzell back in Kedai Makan's early days as a walkup counter on Olive Way. In 2015, the restaurant moved around the corner to embrace a proper dining room.
Image: Olivia Brent
After expanding from farmers market stall to walkup window to absolutely indispensable Seattle restaurant, Kedai Makan has assumed a new identity: up for sale.
Owners Kevin Burzell and Alysson Wilson say October 29 will be the restaurant’s last day of service. “Kevin and I are ready for our next adventure,” Wilson wrote in an email. “Although not sure what that means just yet.”
The couple debuted their dining room in the thick of Capitol Hill in September 2015, applying their well-traveled lens to the Malaysian street food that built their fan base from the farmers market days. While menu items have evolved and rotated over the years, certain dishes have become canon: the roti jala, nasi goreng, various laksas, and fried chicken wings carpeted in spices. Anything that involves sambal. The wait for a table can stretch two hours or more during prime time.
Recent years have been a grind for all restaurants, but Kedai has always been an extremely hands-on (read: exhausting) affair for Burzell and Wilson. She handles the intensive waitlist; he puts out food that has the power to excite—whether your most recent meal here happened last year or last week. The dining room always kept a sort of night market energy about it (good cocktails helped).
Kedai Makan will retain its current hours and menu for the rest of the month. This loss hurts, but we have the better part of the month to make final visits and say private farewells to that roti jala. Better get in line now.