Sometimes I wonder about the things I get myself into, like plan a birthday dinner at a restaurant nearly two hours from my house by public transportation. On the muggiest afternoon in recent memory, I managed to drag my eleven year old sister and friend, both as unwilling and lazy as two people could have been, down to Little Italy for my Dad's birthday dinner. The heat and humidity were not alleviating the frustration from the long commute. Arguments unfolded and bribes were made but we finally arrived at Nyonya two hours later and entered just as we all experienced the most deafening crack of thunder. We were last in the never-ending line of impatient customers waiting for tables, but glad to be inside and not caught in the violent rain that ensued shortly after.
The Roti Canai, a sculpture of an impossibly crispy, buttery thin flatbread, arrived resting on a small bowl of chicken dipping curry. We ordered three portions and all of us greedily attacked the pancake, tearing them apart like "wild barbarians"(quoting my sister here) as soon as the plates reached our table.
The Seafood TomYam rice noodle soup, to our surprise, came with egg noodles. The seafood component was overcooked and mushy, while the lo-mein-like noodles buried underneath were too dense for a noodle soup. We were all quick to consume the lemongrass broth though, serving ourselves small portions and savoring every last drop.
This sizzling tofu platter was delicious - the fried-then-drenched tofu was incredibly silky on the inside yet still retained the crispiness on the outside.
The pieces of chewy fried squid oozed a lot of grease and didn't have much flavor besides that of overused oil. The unappetizing vegetables were lukewarm and almost completely raw.
The Hokkien Char Mee consisted of thick yellow noodles tossed in a dark-soy based sauce. I'm not a fan of dark-soy, whose taste is much bolder than that of light soy. The tangy and spicy red sauce of the side was a mix of Sriracha and shrimp paste, which gave the noodles a pungent twist.
My mother is obsessed with any sort of stewed beef, and she was very pleased the tender chunks of beef in the Beef Rendang.
By far the most disappointing dish of the night was the fried green tea ice cream. The over-battered ice cream, which was icy and almost inedible in itself, rested on top of a messy drizzle of tart artificial strawberry syrup. A banana fritter, which seemed like an afterthought, turned out to be only edible thing on the plate.
What made the experience an Nonya so memorable was the inviting and modest design, speedy service, and cafe pricing. The informality of the atmosphere allowed for shameless conversation. Despite being incredibly packed on a Friday night, our quirky waiter never missed a beat and everything was served on time and attended to promptly. The bustling dining room, which we had managed to settle comfortably into in the past hour, was still as packed as it was when we had walked in. We braved the rain and began our journey home, with the taste of the aromatic Malaysian spices still lingering on our palettes.
Nyonya
199 Grand Street
New York, NY 10013
