Location: 651 9th Ave.
Time: 12:30pm
People: SevenC and myself
Feelings: With JLam from MeSoHungry's recommendation, StevenC and I met up for Indonesian lunch at Bali Nusa Indah in Midtown. The closest I came to eating Indonesian food was perhaps Dutch-Indonesian fusion, so I was not sure what to expect. My dry cleaning lady keeps telling me to go to Upi Jaya in Elmhurst for authentic Indonesian cuisine, so this may be the first of several.
The place was empty, but several people came in for a quick lunch pick up. They do have a reasonable lunch special here from $6.95-$8.95 with spring roll or salad, so if you exhausted the list of Thai lunch specials on 9th Ave, you may want to switch up to Indonesian. I expected the restaurant to be more hall-in-the-wall, but it was very clean and had a nice, elegant atmosphere.
I did not particularly enjoy the salad that came with the lunch special. The veggies were not fresh, and the peanut dressing was bland and not tangy enough. My veggie Bakmi Goreng ($7.50, egg noodles) was just average. I appreciated that it was not over-seasoned or greasy, but it just tasted like a mediocre stir-fry noodle dish without any spices or fragrance.
StevenC ordered Ikan Kari ($8.95, red snapper filet with lemongrass sauce), but they somehow brought Ikan Goreng Asam Manis ($8.95 pan fried red snapper with garlic, onion, scallion, red pepper in sweet & sour sauce) instead. Although lemongrass and sweet & sour look and taste completely different, we were so caught up in our conversation that we didn't even realize they brought the wrong dish until the next day. In the end, he enjoyed this spicy and flavorful dish, so perhaps it was a good thing that they made the mistake.
For the quality of meal, service and location, Bali Nusa is decent, but I recommend letting them pick your dish. I somehow ended up with the most bland dish at Indonesian restaurant, so I clearly didn't know what to order. It was a nice introduction to Indonesian cuisine nonetheless, and I am now ready for Elmhurst.
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3 comments:
I really liked this place! Delish Avocado shake! We had curry lamb and beef with chili/coconut sauce which were great! I guess you could be right about the noodles. They're good but not dissimilar to other noodle dishes I've had. We went with their recommendations which was a good idea. And the rijstafel is a great idea too.
We just went there for dinner this past weekend and thought it was excellent-- a new favorite next time I find myself in the Times Square area for a movie w/ no good dining prospects-- which happens all the time.
ALev & MGru- what the heck are you guys doing in times sq!!
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