I LOVE Indonesian food and its rare to get the good stuff in Seattle.
SO.. I was really excited to be taken for a surprise-undisclosed birthday lunch at the Indo Cafe. Neither of us had ever heard of it before, although my friend had read a little review somewhere that seemed to be pretty positive.
The place was almost invisible from the street and I didn't even spot it from the parking lot in front. Its in one of those little strip mall buildings, just past Tony Roma's on the South side of Northgate Way.
We decided to go for the lunch specials & an appetizer. I had Rendang (Beef in a dark sauce that must have coconut milk in it) and she had a Javanese style vegetable, chicken & noodle dish. The appetizer was fried tofu stuffed with shrimp... yummm. It had a bit of kedjap on it, which I have always loved. (Kedjap is sweet Indonesian soysauce.. slightly thicker than the regular stuff. )
By the way, you'll see Indonesian words spelled different ways since they changed some spellings a few years ago. Kedjap can be spelled kejap and I think there's a way with a "c" too. They changed the spelling of the sound ch (as in chocolate) from tj and dj to c or j. The "D" and the "T" have always been silent before a j, but people try to add it into the pronunciation. (Djarum cigarettes are pronounced Jarum).
ANYWAY>>>...
Both lunches came with soup (mine was luke-warm, hers was nice & hot) and a spring roll, plus mine came with a hard-boiled egg covered with a moderately spicey Sambal (Indonesian hot sauce - there are LOTS of varieties).
It was definitely good stuff. I enjoyed the Rendang (Indonesian beef is usually chewy, but very flavorful.) The noodle dish was really good too and my friend liked it a lot. The place was empty (we had an early lunch at 11:15 and worried that they needed more customers. ) Have to go back again and it looked like they had an expanded menu for dinner.
The lunch specials were $5.95, and while not huge, they were large enough for each of us, particularly with the addition of the appetizer.
Indo Cafe
543 NE Northgate Way
Suite J
206.361.0699
SO.. I was really excited to be taken for a surprise-undisclosed birthday lunch at the Indo Cafe. Neither of us had ever heard of it before, although my friend had read a little review somewhere that seemed to be pretty positive.
The place was almost invisible from the street and I didn't even spot it from the parking lot in front. Its in one of those little strip mall buildings, just past Tony Roma's on the South side of Northgate Way.
We decided to go for the lunch specials & an appetizer. I had Rendang (Beef in a dark sauce that must have coconut milk in it) and she had a Javanese style vegetable, chicken & noodle dish. The appetizer was fried tofu stuffed with shrimp... yummm. It had a bit of kedjap on it, which I have always loved. (Kedjap is sweet Indonesian soysauce.. slightly thicker than the regular stuff. )
By the way, you'll see Indonesian words spelled different ways since they changed some spellings a few years ago. Kedjap can be spelled kejap and I think there's a way with a "c" too. They changed the spelling of the sound ch (as in chocolate) from tj and dj to c or j. The "D" and the "T" have always been silent before a j, but people try to add it into the pronunciation. (Djarum cigarettes are pronounced Jarum).
ANYWAY>>>...
Both lunches came with soup (mine was luke-warm, hers was nice & hot) and a spring roll, plus mine came with a hard-boiled egg covered with a moderately spicey Sambal (Indonesian hot sauce - there are LOTS of varieties).
It was definitely good stuff. I enjoyed the Rendang (Indonesian beef is usually chewy, but very flavorful.) The noodle dish was really good too and my friend liked it a lot. The place was empty (we had an early lunch at 11:15 and worried that they needed more customers. ) Have to go back again and it looked like they had an expanded menu for dinner.
The lunch specials were $5.95, and while not huge, they were large enough for each of us, particularly with the addition of the appetizer.
Indo Cafe
543 NE Northgate Way
Suite J
206.361.0699
posted by:
|
Seattle
|
