A while back, I wrote about Nyonya in Brooklyn, which prompted many people to comment that I should plan to go to the one in Chinatown for comparison’s sake… and invite all of them along.  Due to schedules shifting etc., we wound up with just TT, Gary and DLS joining me, but it was plenty as the place was pretty crowded on a Friday evening.  We waited about 10-15 minutes for a table, but luckily, it wasn’t too cold that night so waiting outside wasn’t painful. 

When I saw Malaysian iced tea on the menu, I had to order it, as I’ve ordered Thai iced tea at Malaysian places to have them correct me… and then bring me Thai iced tea anyway.  This begat a long discussion about the differences in the two, until mine appeared and I scowled.  Thai iced tea is orange, and this was definitely not the same… and drinking it was just iced tea.  Boo. 

Roti canai was dispatched rather quickly, and I found it tasty enough – not above or below what I expected it to be.  Chewy crepe with a curry dipping sauce. 

Hainanese chicken, white meat – something was missing with this dish.  I didn’t make much comment but it just wasn’t as tasty as the one I’d had in Brooklyn, I don’t know, not flavorful enough.  It was leaps and bounds better than the one I’d had Jaya just a few short weeks prior, but I think anything would have been… 

…and of course, the rice that came with it, which was rather tasty. 

DLS ordered a noodle dish whose name I didn’t catch.  I tried some and thought it was OK, but not something I’d want to order again.  Slightly spicy, but difficult to eat while wearing a white shirt, that’s for sure… 

Gary ordered the nasi lemak, which he seemed to enjoy well enough.  I didn’t try any, and I will never be able to order this, sadface, though I love the idea of a bit of a couple of dishes to make a well rounded, varied meal… Alas, my coconut allergy does not permit me to eat these things. 

TT chose a squid dish with hot chilies, and I totally tried this and loved it.  The squid was cooked perfectly – slightly chewy, with enough give so it wasn’t like eating bubble gum – lots of heat but not uncomfortably so, just right.  The evil glow of red in the sauce was deceiving, and I put some on my rice to eat, loved it.  Super flavorful, just great.  I think he definitely won the ordering game this dinner. 

For comparison’s sake, char kway teow, which I eat at a lot of Malaysian restaurants, and here was good, but not wonderful.  Just sufficiently tasty.  It quickly became apparent that this was considered the most boring dish, as everyone ignored it in favor of the more flavorful dishes on the table. 

The first thing I ordered when we sat down was the satay, but the server told us it would take 10 minutes.  That’s fine – I’m used to satay taking a while, actually.  So it came to the table last, and while I thought it was very good, again, it wasn’t stand-out good.  Just standard level of good, because I like beef satay…

Yvo says: Our meal overall was pretty tasty, but I didn’t think oh my, this is fantastic Malaysian – it was just very standard.  The place was super busy though, and a lot bigger inside than I thought it was from the outside – tons of people waiting for tables when we arrived and still when we left.  I would definitely go back, and feel comfortable saying it’s very good Malaysian, but I didn’t notice such a great improvement from the Malaysian place I normally go to that’s in my neighborhood that I’d only go to Nyonya again. 
recommended

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2012. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: DLS, roti, satay

First up, beef satay, which I love ordering at Malaysian restaurants (especially the first time I visit), came quicker than I expected.  And way more… charred… Some pieces were pretty burnt.  There were cubes of white stuff on the plate that we weren’t sure what it was – like rice cake, with a soft texture, very interesting.  The beef was OK – the parts that weren’t burnt – but nothing I’d order again, especially given that after a few minutes, I realized the peanut sauce must’ve been made with coconut milk.  I’ve encountered this in the past, and just soldier on – some places add it for some extra creaminess I guess? – but my mouth was displeased.  No big deal as the beef satay wasn’t that good anyway, but it definitely needed sauce to make it sort of edible. 

TC ordered the char kway teow, a stir fried rice noodle dish that is generally filled with a variety of seafood and slightly spicy.  He added chili sauce to it though, because it wasn’t spicy at all… and had an interested assortment of proteins, including Chinese sausage, fishballs… no scallops, no squid… hmmm.  I think he thought it was OK… but I’m sure he’ll pipe in with his own comments. 

After waiting… and waiting… and waiting… my Hainanese chicken finally arrived.  I’d asked for white meat only because I am lazy, it was late at night, and I didn’t feel like dealing with bones.  I like the plate they used. 

But what’s that… it’s not white meat.  I think they gave me the back or something because there was very little meat and tons of bones.  Eek!  I struggled to get through it – I wasn’t even that hungry to begin with, honestly – but was really annoyed.  When it was served, the guy had said something to me about not having white meat so they gave me half/half or something… nope.  There was no half/half.  Not even a single piece of white meat.  And the chicken itself was only OK… nothing special.  Blegh.

Yvo says: It was open late, which was nice since we wanted food and every place on that block was closed, but otherwise, the dishes we had were big fat fails.  I don’t even know what to tell you because we ordered pretty standard Malaysian dishes, nothing crazy or unusual… stuff that they should just know how to make properly.  Not having white meat could be forgiven, but the odd array of stuff in the char kway teow and the over-charred satay just don’t sit well with me.  Oh well.  Next time, I’ll look for another place.
not recommended

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: satay

Though I’m still firmly within my Restaurant Hiatus, sometimes you can’t say no.  My darling friend MD/PB, whose name you may recognize from my many travels (Argentina, Greece, Turkey and Spain, for starters), took the leap and accepted a job in San Francisco.  During her last month here, our crew tried hard to meet up, but with everyone’s crazy schedules, some people met up at times and other people met up at other times… I managed to only be able to go have lunch with her the week before she departed on her cross-country drive, so I broke my hiatus just to say goodbye. 

Best of luck, my dearest.  I know we’ll see each other soon because I visit San Francisco once a year, and now I have even more reason to do so.  Muah<3

Though I’ve heard of Nyonya for ages, I’ve actually never been to the one in Chinatown nor the one in Brooklyn, which is where we went.  We started off with my standard order – roti canai, or a sort of Indian bread served with curry.  This was pretty good – chewy, crisp, with a very nicely flavored curry to dip the bread. 

Since it was sooo freakin’ hot that day, I decided to get a cold dish – Hainanese chicken, which is basically butter poached chicken served over a vinegary soy sauce mixture and chili sauce on the side.  I order the white meat for this dish because there are no bones and I’m lazy as all hell. 

This was actually really one of the best versions I’ve had of Hainanese chicken.  The meat was tender, still juicy and not overcooked, and just perfect.  A slight swipe of the chili sauce and the soy sauce blended together to make quite a tasty dish, and the butter-rice they serve with this chicken dish was great to soak up all that soy sauce too.  Yum! 

We also ordered beef satay to share, and I thought these were quite good as well.  Tender, with a great chunky peanut dipping sauce, I was happy with it. 

Yvo says: If the one in Manhattan is as good as this one, I may find myself there sometime soon. However, as neither are very close to where I live, I don’t know that I’ll be inclined to switch loyalties quite so quickly. I was very happy with all of my dishes, though, and would not be opposed to visiting again!  Service was pretty standard.  This food (plus a few more dishes; there were other people at the tables whose dishes I just didn’t photograph) – five adults and two small kiddies, and a handful of drinks… came out to $15/person with tax and tip.  Not bad at all, right? 
recommended

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 12 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: satay, thai iced tea

After dim sum, a couple of us wandered a block away to a Malaysian jerky place.  Tiny as it was, only a few of us entered, but once inside, we were greeted with this amazing smell… and the sight of a woman leaning over a grid placed over coals, turning square pieces of meat as they dried out and became jerky.  Awesome.  Beer Boor had actually been here before – this was one of the places he’d picked up jerky for the holiday potluck.

There were two types of every kind – beef was sliced beef (shown above) or just beef jerky; spicy beef, spicy sliced beef; pork, sliced pork, etc.  The texture of the sliced was very similar to what you’d expect from your “American” jerkies like what’s the one with the weird commercials, “Messin’ with Sasquatch”?  Jack Links Beef Jerky.  (I had to Google.)  The flavor was nice, slightly smoky, slightly sweet, but all beefy.  I really enjoyed this beef jerky while watching football.  (Sorry Jets.) 

I also purchased some of the pork jerky, the non-sliced, which appears to be ground, then pressed into sheets before cutting, then ‘jerkying’ on the grill.  The texture is much different from what you might be used to, if you’ve only had American-style-jerky in the past.  It’s soft, and instead of pulling pieces off like a Polly-O string cheese, I wound up biting it.  Again, flavored nicely from the smoke, slight char aroudn the edges, and the seasonings, I enjoyed this, though I think in the future I’ll generally stick with sliced, and only occasionally delve into getting the pressed kind.

1/4 pound of each was in the $4 range, which wasn’t bad at all, maybe 4-5 squares of each came to around that weight.  If you like beef (or other meats) jerky, you should definitely give this place a shot, if only for the unique angle on jerky.  I liked it and will definitely be back to buy more for snacks!  Yum!

Malaysian Beef Jerky
95 Elizabeth Street
NY, NY 10079
(212) 965-0796

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2011. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: jerky

I recently picked up FeistyMom to hang out, and she wanted to grab some grub.  I learned long ago not to interfere – when a Sin says she’s hungry, you listen.  So we headed over to Penang – I’ve mentioned this place a number of times - and proceeded to chow down.

First order of business is always beef satay – the meat extremely tender, fragrant, and flavorful, with a great peanut sauce for dipping. 

Next up, FeistyMom helped me find a dish I’d been seeking for a while – I couldn’t figure out which dish it was on the menu – “hokkien mee” or thin egg noodles in a soy sauce gravy with shrededed chicken, Chinese broccoli, and shiitake mushrooms. 

Mmm, yummy.  Savory to the extreme, and lots of noodles to satisfy my noodle-tooth.  Okay, I just made that up, but very tasty noodles that absorb all the gravy and taste yumyum.  I really like this dish – I’d eat it without the chicken, even, since the chicken doesn’t do much for me in this dish. 

And FeistyMom herself ordered “char kway teow” – stir fried thin white noodles with lots of seafood and a little bit of a spicy kick.  My family’s been ordering this for years upon years, and I always like it a little less spicy.  BF likes it with beef instead of seafood.  We’ve all got our preferences. 

I really need to expand my horizons a bit though, beyond these dishes plus “Hainanese chicken” and “Indian bread” - when you go to Penang or for Malaysian food, what do you order?  Help me expand my choices!!!  It’s so hard just picking blindly from the list…

Yvo says: My family and I enjoy going here frequently; the place has had a downturn but is back on the upswing right now after its last renovation.  I definitely recommend coming here to enjoy some Malaysian food – nice decor, friendly (!) service, and reasonable prices. 
recommended

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | 9 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: satay