malaysia vs malaysia
so monday took me to Penang in Elmhurst, a choice we made out sheer boredom. the fact that we could've gone to Pho Bac (my personal queens favorite; I stick with Nha Trang on baxter if I'm in manhattan) right next door was multiplied after our horrible meal where we spent $50 for 2 on bad food. it could've been our ordering choices but hey, the restaurant had over 100 items on the menu so how would you figure you ordered 5 of the worst things? Penang I used to like in high school when it was the only place around but now, you've got your Singapore Cafe (decent), your Jaya (expensive and bleah) across from Little Saigon, your Curry Leaf (actually pretty good, the breakfast is good there) in Flushing, your Nyonya (affiliated with Penang but so much better) in Little Italy, the old standby Indonesian and Malaysian Restaurant (this place is great, one of my firsts), now renamed Sanur Indonesian and Malaysian Restaurant, and all these other choices so Penang can be considered the local chain with I think 9 restaurants in the tri-state area. so it sucked.
we got the roti canai to start of course, a ripoff at $2.75. It was not that big, kinda greasy; the curry was decent though. We also got the bacon-wrapped-around-minced-shrimp-balls, but only because my friend really wanted it. Imagine dim sum food and there ya go. At least it came with a nice dipping sauce, very close to your typical walnut shrimp sauce (mayonnaise with grand marnier, etc.). We actually had been craving two things that are not on your typical malaysian menu, seafood over crispy or pan-fried noodles, and beef chow fun. These are your typical cantonese dishes (my go-to rendition for both is from 69 on Bayard) but anyway, since they were there, we ordered them instead of the typical malaysian mee goreng or chow kuei teoh or whatever. We also got the mixed vegetables.
the crispy noodles were undercooked and not the typical thin yellow noodle; more of a thin pale noodle that basically was neither wet enough nor crunchy enough to eat without having to physically grab the noodles with your fingers. it sucked. made for good leftovers in the morning though. The beef chow fun was like your typical beef chow fun; actually lots of tender beef, typically dark from the kecap manis or oyster sauce and you know, bleah and boring. the vegetables were just mixed vegetables in some sauce. boring.
anyway, we made it through, despite our terrible waitress who spilled sauce all over the table when putting down our "crispy" noodles, and decided to go for desssert. why not? the meal was a loss anyway, so we got the ABC and also the peanut pancake. The ABC was kinda good; the ice was too chunky and granular for me and the ingredients were really boring and generic; I'll take a Taiwanese "snow" shave-ice anyday, or even Filipino halo-halo. The peanut thing was the best part of the meal; they took the roti wrapper and filled it with what tasted like really chunky natural peanut butter and just pan-fried that sucker up. it was tasty. We couldn't finish the 10 lady-finger sized pieces but I took one to go as we walked out the door.
anyway, I couldn't believe that our meal sucked so much! so thank goodness a few days later, I was headed towards Skyway, a Malaysian restaurant in east east Chinatown, Canal and Allen. I was meeting my sister to give her a gift and wanted to give Malaysian cuisine the chance to redeem itself in my eyes, and I was hoping this joint would do it for me. This place has gotten really positive reviews all over the place and on Chowhound, where it really counts. it's been called the "Sripraphai of Manhattan," which doesn't really make sense to me since its not thai food but malaysian, so I'm going to start calling it the "Sripraphai of Malaysia" instead. But anyway, it was good. We had the roti canai of course and it was good. different from what I've ever had before, it was not a really thin pancake but big, but almost scallion-pancake sized and about 1/2-inch thick. Tasty, soft yet crispy, and went nicely in the curry. I gotta say, the curry was not spicy enough. We then ordered the okra with shrimp, the braised pork belly over dried veg, and the fried pearl noodles. I felt a little corny ordering all of the dishes that Robert Sietsama had reviewed and indeed, when I put away the printout I had of his review into my pocket after ordering, I looked up and there was a huge blowup of his review on the wall of the restaurant. I guess that's what you do with good press.
anyway, the okra was good; stir-fried quickly and still pod-like, mixed with dried shrimp and maybe minced pork, and shrimp, but you know, not quite spicy enough. The home-style pork was the bomb; braised and kinda dry, tasted strongly of coconut milk and served over dried vegetables seasoned a bit sweet. tasted very much like a family-style dish that my mom usually makes, steamed ground pork with preserved veg. We had enough leftovers to go around today for lunch. The noodles were pretty good but again, missing serious spice. our waitress (she seemed more like a busboy than a server) was kinda wack but it wasn't her fault; I think the other waitresses are probably much better but anyway, she hooked me up with some nice hot sauce. we got coconut rice on the side and it wasn't that good; nowhere near as rich and delicious as the ones at My Thai and Sripraphai ; maybe coconut rice ain't a malaysian thing.
winner
Skyway, not just for the flavor and feeling, but this time, we ordered right and I don't think it would have made a difference anyway, Penang is just tired, yo. Actually the menu is even bigger at Skyway so there is plenty of fodder for return visits. I wanna try a whole fried fish, maybe some of the noodle soups, some more of the fried noodles and fried rice, the fried squid, some of the casseroles, etc. As for Penang, if you're really going to go that route, at least go to Nyonya instead.
we got the roti canai to start of course, a ripoff at $2.75. It was not that big, kinda greasy; the curry was decent though. We also got the bacon-wrapped-around-minced-shrimp-balls, but only because my friend really wanted it. Imagine dim sum food and there ya go. At least it came with a nice dipping sauce, very close to your typical walnut shrimp sauce (mayonnaise with grand marnier, etc.). We actually had been craving two things that are not on your typical malaysian menu, seafood over crispy or pan-fried noodles, and beef chow fun. These are your typical cantonese dishes (my go-to rendition for both is from 69 on Bayard) but anyway, since they were there, we ordered them instead of the typical malaysian mee goreng or chow kuei teoh or whatever. We also got the mixed vegetables.
the crispy noodles were undercooked and not the typical thin yellow noodle; more of a thin pale noodle that basically was neither wet enough nor crunchy enough to eat without having to physically grab the noodles with your fingers. it sucked. made for good leftovers in the morning though. The beef chow fun was like your typical beef chow fun; actually lots of tender beef, typically dark from the kecap manis or oyster sauce and you know, bleah and boring. the vegetables were just mixed vegetables in some sauce. boring.
anyway, we made it through, despite our terrible waitress who spilled sauce all over the table when putting down our "crispy" noodles, and decided to go for desssert. why not? the meal was a loss anyway, so we got the ABC and also the peanut pancake. The ABC was kinda good; the ice was too chunky and granular for me and the ingredients were really boring and generic; I'll take a Taiwanese "snow" shave-ice anyday, or even Filipino halo-halo. The peanut thing was the best part of the meal; they took the roti wrapper and filled it with what tasted like really chunky natural peanut butter and just pan-fried that sucker up. it was tasty. We couldn't finish the 10 lady-finger sized pieces but I took one to go as we walked out the door.
anyway, I couldn't believe that our meal sucked so much! so thank goodness a few days later, I was headed towards Skyway, a Malaysian restaurant in east east Chinatown, Canal and Allen. I was meeting my sister to give her a gift and wanted to give Malaysian cuisine the chance to redeem itself in my eyes, and I was hoping this joint would do it for me. This place has gotten really positive reviews all over the place and on Chowhound, where it really counts. it's been called the "Sripraphai of Manhattan," which doesn't really make sense to me since its not thai food but malaysian, so I'm going to start calling it the "Sripraphai of Malaysia" instead. But anyway, it was good. We had the roti canai of course and it was good. different from what I've ever had before, it was not a really thin pancake but big, but almost scallion-pancake sized and about 1/2-inch thick. Tasty, soft yet crispy, and went nicely in the curry. I gotta say, the curry was not spicy enough. We then ordered the okra with shrimp, the braised pork belly over dried veg, and the fried pearl noodles. I felt a little corny ordering all of the dishes that Robert Sietsama had reviewed and indeed, when I put away the printout I had of his review into my pocket after ordering, I looked up and there was a huge blowup of his review on the wall of the restaurant. I guess that's what you do with good press.
anyway, the okra was good; stir-fried quickly and still pod-like, mixed with dried shrimp and maybe minced pork, and shrimp, but you know, not quite spicy enough. The home-style pork was the bomb; braised and kinda dry, tasted strongly of coconut milk and served over dried vegetables seasoned a bit sweet. tasted very much like a family-style dish that my mom usually makes, steamed ground pork with preserved veg. We had enough leftovers to go around today for lunch. The noodles were pretty good but again, missing serious spice. our waitress (she seemed more like a busboy than a server) was kinda wack but it wasn't her fault; I think the other waitresses are probably much better but anyway, she hooked me up with some nice hot sauce. we got coconut rice on the side and it wasn't that good; nowhere near as rich and delicious as the ones at My Thai and Sripraphai ; maybe coconut rice ain't a malaysian thing.
winner
Skyway, not just for the flavor and feeling, but this time, we ordered right and I don't think it would have made a difference anyway, Penang is just tired, yo. Actually the menu is even bigger at Skyway so there is plenty of fodder for return visits. I wanna try a whole fried fish, maybe some of the noodle soups, some more of the fried noodles and fried rice, the fried squid, some of the casseroles, etc. As for Penang, if you're really going to go that route, at least go to Nyonya instead.
posted at 10:02 AM
