| Singaporean-Malaysian & Indonesian Cuisine |
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 992
Reviewed: 8/4/2004
Rating: 9.5
My photo gallery
|
I love going to southern asian restaurants, they have the best atmosphere with cool decor and art. The first thing I noticed when walking in the Spice Islands Cafe is the cinder wall with natural lighting coming through the glass cubes...sooo cool...so modern, yet functional. Dark wood furniture, odd shaped plates, and ambient lighting from the ceiling, Im digging it. Enough about the environment, lets talk about the food.
I ordered the Beef Curry with cucumbers. When it was first brought out, presentation was such a drag!! It was brought out on a plain white casarole dish...wtf...everyone else had triangular plates or a mini stainless steel wok. The food TASTED much better than the presentation....the meat was soooo dammm tender, it freely broke apart. Bursting with flavors, this dish was awesome! I have to steal this curry recipe. Maybe I can get a job in the kitchen. I got a chance to try the pad thai too, not too sweet and the noodles didnt stick together. Food isnt spicey at all, it could have been a little hotter but food was still excellent.
Spice Islands Cafe is one of my favorite asian restaurants! With a beautiful atmosphere, pleasant food presentation(not my dish but the other 3 dishes), bargain prices, and flavorful dishes, Spice Islands Cafe earns a well deserved 9.5
|
| |
Reviewer: Terry
Total Reviews: 723
Reviewed: 8/4/2004
Rating: 8
My photo gallery
|
Spice Islands Cafe was a place that we have wanted to review for awhile and Im finally glad to have gotten the opportunity to review it. The interior is very nice and open (which is a refreshing change from our recent rash of Palo Alto restaurants). I chose to order a lunch special - the Curry Prawns. Its offered with various levels of spiciness. I chose the Spiciest. I am here to report that it wasnt too spicy. Maybe about a Nuclear on the University Chicken scale.
The serving was a little small to fill me up but they gave a pot of steamed rice which helped. I poured the steamed rice into a plate and dropped the Curry Prawns atop it. Mmmm. Very good combination. I wouldnt hesitate to order it again. The price at about $7 was fair and service was brisk (perhaps a bit too intrusive?). Water glasses were refilled with vigor.
Overall its not my favorite type of food but was a pleasant change from the standard mexican or pizza joints we tend to favor.
|
| |
|
|
Reviewer: Julie
Total Reviews: 46
Reviewed: 8/5/2004
Rating: 8
My photo gallery |
I was pleasantly surprised when I entered Spice Island. From the street, you cant see how beautiful it is on the inside. The decor was very nice. It felt like a fancy restaurant, but the prices were reasonable.
I ordered the Pad Thai. It was served on triangular plates, and I thought that was cool – a lot more fun than eating on boring, round plates. Also, I saw something on the menu that caught my eye. It was a peanut pancake. We ordered one of these for the table out of curiosity and it was wonderful! The crepe-like pancake was full of sugar and peanuts. It was huge and very rich, so dont think you can eat even half of it by yourself, but Id recommend it to anyone. It was very unique and very delicious.
The waiters were friendly and our food came quickly. Our water glasses were also refilled constantly, which was delightful. I enjoyed this place, and the food was good. Definitely warrants a return visit. |
| |
Reviewer: Michael
Total Reviews: 40
Reviewed: 8/5/2004
Rating: 9
My photo gallery |
Went to lunch at Spice Islands Café with the JatBar guys!
I have never eaten Singapore food, so I didnt know what really to expect walking in to this rather nice looking restaurant. The place has a real nice atmosphere, lot of art on the walls. Checking out the lunch menu I decided to get the Chicken Pad Thai ($6.95) with medium spiciness.
Upon getting my order it was presented very well as seen in the photos above. I was very impressed with the amount for food I got and the flavor was outstanding. Medium spicy was not really that hot. I had a bit of Terrys dish, which was the spiciest you could order and it was just right for me. Instead of getting peanuts sauce they give you ground up peanuts that you can sprinkle on your dish.
I like this place a lot and will be coming back to try there Chicken Curry. 9 stars!
|
| |
Reviewer: Miriam
Total Reviews: 5
Reviewed: 9/22/2005
Rating: 9.5
My photo gallery |
So, I grew up in Singapore, and my life quest after six years of eating authentic Malay/Indonesian/ Filipino/Indian/Chinese food from the real deal, is to find the real deal and introduce people to it when I can. This is the closest I've found. I ALWAYS bring new visitors here - it's a great way to get introduced to the food genre.
Portions are smaller than you'd get across the seas, but are well made. Pricing is therefore more than you'd pay; you'd get a bowl twice the size of what you get in US restaurants and pay half the price. Ah well. I don't tend to get full when dining with others unless we order several plates and rice/noodles.
Locale is clean and well appointed (a mix of cultural decor - Balinese, Indonesian). Bathroom is nice (huge and tiled like it'd be overseas, *tear*). Service is good - sweet waitresses, and they've taken to wearing the Singapore official dress. Water refills often. They do use paper on the table, so you may share the table with splatters both you (and they) make for the duration of your meal (ie, water sloshing onto the paper when they pour it). Food doesn't take forever, comes out well presented.
The thing about each restaurant's take on things is they twist things around a bit. Chicken rice, for example, involves cooking real chicken bits (bone and all) IN with the rice, so the chicken is tender and the rice is thoroughly flavored and yellow (stock is also used). Their version is a bit on the bland side with no chicken in sight.
But, they have quite a lot to speak for them. Others love the mango chicken served in a pineapple shell; I'm not so moved. The real genre is not focused on looking pretty; it's blatantly stinky, and unbelievably potent. Not necessarily spicy, just potent. Potent to the point your mouth waters. Yes. Mmm.
Key dishes:
- roti prata (thick): great curry dipping sauce, and the BEST roti prata i've found. flaky, buttery, and moist with a little give in the middle, with a bit of crisp on the outside.
- chicken satay: there's is the closest to the real thing for me. succulent chicken bits, fantastic peanut sauce. sauce could do with more 'kill you with cholesterol' chili oil, but ah well. they're listed in appetizers but uh, I can eat a whole one on my own. :)
- peanut pancake: oh lord. OH LORD. you need 4+ people to eat this thing to completion after a full meal. brown sugar, crushed peanuts, cooked in a roti shell, drizzled with honey and served a la mode. heaven!
- char kway teow: a signature dish of southeast asia. it's about all kinds of meat and seafood cooked with flat noodles in a big wok with some hard core mystery sauce. generally involves squid but you can't even tell and you don't even care, cuz it's so good! theirs is my favorite (not too sweet)
- curries: since i'm a spice wimp, i need it mild; but all their curries are pretty good.
- 'ABC' ice kachang: so i think they label this dessert as something with some letters, but it's basically ice kachang. every culture has a version of this - shaved ice with some chewy additives, sweet syrups, etc. Frankly, to me, any place that has this on the menu is legit Southeast Asian food, ferreal. don't be scared. it's generally not terribly on the sweet side, but not sour or salty or anything. just involves things like 'red bean' and 'black jelly'. refreshing and best in summer. |
| |
Reviewer: wchane
Total Reviews: 141
Reviewed: 8/21/2007
Rating: 9
My photo gallery |
We wanted to go to 383 Oyster Bar & Grill tonight, however they were closed Monday nights. Just our luck, guess we'll have to drop by Spice Islands. I've heard a lot about this place, so my expectations were pretty high. I'm glad to report that their reputation did not deceive.
Upon arrival we were being seated before I realized we were following the hostess to our table, then water was poured and drinks taken. I had the malay ice tea. We glanced over the menu and settled upon tom yam soup, beef murtabak, malay fried rice and sauteed eggplants. The food also arrived fast, we were half through our soups when the entrees arrived, all the well as we were hungry and the serving temperatures remained hot.
The tom yam is extremely flavorful, with lemon grass and tomatoes taking the lead. There wer also bits of mushroom, carrots, white fish chunks, squid, and shrimp mixed in. Very eye opening and gratifying.
The malay fried rice along with the eggplant did not disappoint either. The fried rice was well separated and the basil added not only a different dimension but a bit of punch. We ordered ours medium spicy and it builds up some good heat, but not enough to distract from the food. The eggplant remained in gradients of purple, and the innards were cooked till tender. Glazed with a garlic sauce and accented with sliced carrots. One of the best sauteed eggplant dishes I've had.
We had the murtabak as an entree, and although I was hoping for a Straits version, however experience should of told me that Straits is the odd ball. Traditional murtabak was what they offered, and done extremely well. Not too much filling, and the roti was still soft and tender and slightly chewy. fantastic. We both throughly enjoyed this.
We skipped on dessert as we didn't finish anything. Our stomachs came to a halt, and 383 will have to wait until later this week.
a solid 9 |
| |
Reviewer: Dan
Total Reviews: 70
Reviewed: 2/4/2008
Rating: 8
My photo gallery |
I went to Spice Islands Café years ago for a birthday celebration and remember it being pretty good. To start my Jatbar review I visited recently with a friend. We were seated immediately and given menus with a nice selection. The waiter appeared as soon as we closed out menus. So far so good. I ordered the Roti Prata and the Curry Lamb. After ordering, they brought out some soup, but it was disappointing and I moved it aside. The roti prata arrived and I was a bit disappointed again. This was slightly better than the version at Banana Leaf Café but not nearly as good as the roti at Straits. I would give this roti a 7, (with a 6 for banana leaf and a 10 for Straits). Still, the dipping sauce was good and we ate it all. (I noticed they also offer a thick version of the roti prata, which I will have to try on another visit). My curry lamb arrived: the flavor of the sauce was delicious and the quantity was good, but the lamb was not tender at all. In fact, some pieces were quite tough and chewy. I would not order this again. For dessert we opted for the deep fried mango ice cream. Weird to see this on the menu. The ice cream had been covered in dough and then deep fried, leaving a pastry on the outside (not unlike a sopapilla) and hard cold ice cream in the middle. This was just so-so, the outer pastry being a little to heavy for my taste and the ice cream inside was hard as a rock. At this point the service became very slow and we had some trouble getting the waiter to take the credit card. All in all I had higher expectations of this place and this trip rated 7.5 at the most.
On my next visit I was by myself and was in the mood for a Malaysian mixed rice and vegetable dish called Nasi Goreng. I quickly spied it on the menu and ordered it almost as soon as I sat down. I also asked for hot tea, and they brought me a cup of hot water with a tea bag. I guess I was expecting something fresh made in a pot. Oh well. My food arrived in about 5 minutes. Lo and behold it had chicken in it instead of tofu. Turns out there is both a regular and veggie version on the menu. They had guessed I wanted the lunch special version which included chicken. I should have studied the menu more, but it would have been nice for the waiter to confirm the version I wanted. What I got - A good quantity of peppery rice with onions, basil, peas and chicken pieces, perfectly cooked. I polished it off in no time and sipped my tea. The bill incl. tip was $12. Turns out they charged me $2 for the teabag and hot water. Considering some places include better made tea with the meal, I find this kind of annoying. Service was good this time and I had no wait in getting a seat. An 8.0 for this visit.
Other items I have tried:
Green Curry (lunch special) – Was able to order with toned-down spiciness which was still pretty spicy. Used fresh ingredients but the overall flavor was not quite up to expectations. Total was $9 incl. tip, pretty standard for sit-down asian food in the area. 7.5 for this meal.
Mango Chicken – Beautiful presentation in a mango shell on a triangular dish. Absolutely De | | |
