Tim celebrated his birthday last night along with 26 of his closest friends. It’s a huge party for any restaurant, but especially tight at Nyonya. We took up two larges tables and one small table! Nyonya Nyonya (translated: “the Ladies”) is a Chinese/Malaysian-fusion restaurant in the Penang chain.
Most of the guests at our table had been to Nyonya at least once, if not multiple times, so we knew what we were in for. The casseroles and noodle dishes are the way to go: inexpensive, huge, and pretty tasty. Jessica and I tried to go for some things we hadn’t tried before. Also, a quick disclosure, sorry for the blurry pictures, we had some technical issues with our photography.
First we got to taste Bill’s appetizer selection, the Satay Tofu. It was described as crispy fried tofu stuffed with cucumber & bean sprouts, served with shrimp paste & peanut sauce. I found the tofu watery and the whole dish was cold. Jessica agreed it was disappointing.
We also tasted Nelson’s appetizer, the Baby Oyster Omelette. It was quite good. A large omelette filled with plump oysters and served with a tomato-ey chili sauce.
While most people enjoy the roti with curry dipping sauce at Nyonya, we opted for the Roti Talur. Their delicious roti filled with egg and onion served with the curry chicken dipping sauce… it was ok, but in order to sandwich the roti they cooked it a second time, making the dough a bit dry. I would stick to the standard Roti Canai next time.
The winning dish of the night (for me) was the Nyona Chicken Wings: marinated chicken wing’s wrapped in screw-pine leaves & lightly fried. While we all found it annoying to unwrap the wings from the ultra tight leaves, they were sweet and crisp, while the meat was perfectly tender. A very nice appetizer.
Jessica was longing for the Kang Kung Belacan, a dish she had a long time ago. It is sauteed convolus (similar to spinach with hollow stems) with spicy Malaysian shrimp paste sauce. Jessica enjoyed it, but I found the shrimp paste way too briny.
My entree was the Sambal Shrimp, a sauteed shrimp with spicy Malaysian shrimp paste, mango, onion, and pepper. I was shocked the servers didn’t provide rice to eat with it, considering how saucy it was. We all enjoyed the flavors of sweet mango, spicy chilis, and salty shrimp. Sadly the main shrimp in the dish were over-cooked and served with tails on (a pet peeve of mine). But it was enjoyable.
In the end, we got what we expected and the price for most people were reasonable. We over-paid a bit, picking non-standard dishes (about $21 per person with tax and tip). It’s not bad in the NYC dinner scene, but a bit much for supposedly cheap Asian food.
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The Satay Tofu looks like a lame version of this cold salad my parents make: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gado-gado
Sounds good to me! although I’ve never seen convolus before…have to agree with you about shrimp tails! but then, when I’m served fish with the head on…I send it back!
Um what could be better! The satay tofu and roti top the list!
Lesley, we actually love whole fish, head on and all…and we don’t always mind shrimp tails. It depends on the type of dish. Shrimp tails are ok on shrimp cocktail and useful because you can grab by the tail. Shrimp tails should not be left on in stir fries or pasta dishes, where you are using a fork to eat.
I think the food taste bud is mostly cater to American..They dilute the spiceness and fragnant to suit tourist and American.Been there last time with friends from GB and found the food taste is so-so to us Malaysian. If you wanna authetic Malaysian food go to Queens!
Myasiankitchen, do you recommend any particular restaurants?