Langkawi Review

We had a quite satisfying meal of food from Malaysia and nearby regions at Langkawi. I think it actually surprised us in how good it was. Though nothing was amazing, nothing displeased us either. We ordered: 

• Roti parata. A very crisp rendition of roti, served with a good sauce. Reminded one attendee of home, growing up in Hong Kong.
• Chicken Satay. Maybe best dish. Served excellently grilled with the appropriate charring. Given the toothsomeness of the chicken, the accompanying peanut sauce was unnecessary, though I should mentioned it was good quality.
• Beef Rendang. A decent rendition. Very smoky / musky, rather spicy, and with quite tender meat.
• Achat. Maybe best dish. Much like a Malaysian interpretation of a Thai papaya salad, it contained long beans, cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, pineapple, peanuts, and something pickled. Spicy. "I think I like it." "I like it." "I think I like it a lot." "That stuff rocks."
• Char kway toey. An almost Thai stir fry noodle dish with squid and shrimp and a spicy red sauce. Good.

Dishes arrived quickly.

As for drinks, there were two fine Thai iced teas, one Malaysian iced tea, and one "chendol." The Malaysian iced tea was reportedly bitter -- surprising, since it too used condensed milk (that should have made it sweeter). The chendol was a funky and neat drink containing noodle-like thing (strips made of green pea flour), red beans, and topped with shaved ice and palm sugar. Having noodles suspended in the liquid bothered some. The liquid itself was very creamy and sweet, definitely too much so but still I managed to finish it over the course of the whole meal.

The decor was quite nice, highlighted by a rather pretty large tank of tropical fish by the entryway; much better than what one would expect given its location in a strip mall. When we left at 8:00pm, the restaurant was two-thirds full, with about half the people looking like Malays and the other half white.

Total was $12/person including tax and tip but not including drinks.

Original Announcement

Since this was a celebration dinner, the original announcement only had the basic facts: dinner at Langkawi (malaysian) in San Mateo.

http://www.langkawi-restaurant.com/

[new web site: http://www.langkawicuisine.com/ ]

Comments from Other Attendees

Feel free to add remarks here.

Di Yin and I went almost two years later, on July 3, 2008. We had a thoroughly pleasing meal of roti, belachan kangkung, and mee goreng (Malaysian noodle dish). I also had a similarly satisfying lychee drink, despite that its umbrella made me think it was targeted at women. -mark

I returned on August 2, 2008. I ordered nasi lemak. Langkawi's version included:

• coconut-flavored rice. Okay; tasted as if the coconut was slightly burnt.
• chicken thighs in what I believe was rendang sauce. Good.
• sambal with onions and anchovy-flavor. Decent. I'm not sure if there were actual fish in there--there might have been two tiny pieces--but the flavor was there, though overwhelmed a bit by the pickled chili taste.
• curried vegetables (pineapple, onions, cucumber, carrots, etc.). Good.
• hard-boiled egg.
• peanuts.
• cucumber slices.

-mark

I returned on August 10, 2008. I ordered rojak: a salad supposedly of "mango, cucumber, jicama and pineapple served with shrimp paste peanut sauce." I had a good version in Singapore. This one, however, wasn't good. I think it only had cucumber and jicama, both crisp, chewy, even starchy vegetables. There certainly wasn't any pineapple. As for mango, if there was some, it couldn't have been ripe. The shrimp peanut sauce got to me before I finished the salad. Given that the salad was smaller than the one I had in Singapore, that also says something. -mark

I returned on March 20, 2009.  I ordered chicken roti muttabak and asam okra.  The roti muttabak--roti stuffed with egg, onion, and dark meat chicken--was quite good.  The roti itself was of good quality; the filling was tasty; and the curry dipping sauce was the usual appealing stuff.  The asam okra was also good, okra tossed with a spicy and sour sauce.  The okra was clear and fresh and not slimy in the last, probably one of the best I've ever had. -mark

I returned on June 25, 2009.  My Indian mee goreng was a bit darker than I expected, with more of a pad-thai feel than a yellow Indian-curry-powder feel.  It was fine, but nothing more.  The tofu was fried but old: no longer crispy.  Ditto with the potatoes.  -mark

I went to Langkawi with my parents on Friday, December 21, 2010.  I tried to order so they'd get a good, balanced today of Singaporean/Malaysian cuisine.  We had:

• roti prata (with curry dipping sauce) - good.  A respectable, emblematic rendition of the dish. Roti is soft in places and crisp (non-flexible) in places, but always thin.  The curry dipping sauce was delicious.  My parents kept asking me how to make it / where to find it, and my mom even went at it with a spoon.
• chicken satay (with peanut sauce) - delicious.  The best satay I can remember having.  Maybe I should order satays more.  I found the chicken so tasty and marinated and grilled well that I didn't need the peanut sauce at all.  My parents also loved the satay.
• char kuey teow (rice noodles stir-fried with shrimp, squid, egg, and bean sprouts) - okay/decent.  My parents liked it more than I.  I thought it should be more strongly flavored, more spicy.  As it was, it was somewhat boring.  Nevertheless, it wasn't bad, and it has most of the important components of the dish.
• balachan kangkung - decent, a fairly standard rendition.  Not as melty as the best versions, but not bad.  My dad kind of liked the shrimp paste.  My mom definitely did not.  It's an acquired taste, but I felt I ought to order it.

Di Yin, Greg, and I went to Langkawi in the beginning of September, 2010.  We ate

• chicken satay - great, as on my last visit.  Again, the peanut sauce was unnecessary because the chicken itself was so delicious.
• curry puff - good, standard.  Filled with potatoes.
• seafood taro nest - decent.  Scallops, squid, shrimp, and various vegetables in a nest formed from deep-fried shredded taro.  I liked the taro in particular.  Greg did not.
• langkawi bean curd - Soft tofu with vegetables and stuff.  This was a hit for everyone but me.  (The flavors were too mild for me, and I usually don't appreciate soft tofu.)
• belachan eggplant - bleh.  Too much shrimp paste in the sauce.  And it just generally wasn't good.

I returned on October 4, 2010, and again ate the achat.  I was pleased; it was good.  It was spicy, sour, and nutty, a combination of cabbage, cucumber, carrots, pineapple, and peanuts.  Small for a dinner.

I returned with Di Yin and her parents on June 2, 2011.  We had a good meal and bonded over the fact that her parents and I like the same food.  (Of course I chose the restaurant because I suspected that they'd like it...)  We had:

• roti prata, curry dipping sauce - very good as always.  Di Yin and her mom both liked the dipping sauce enough that they poured it over rice and also dipping cucumber wedges into it.  I think Di Yin even sipped it once or twice with a spoon.
• chicken satay, red onions, cucumbers, peanut sauce - delicious as always.  Di Yin's dad really loved these.  Yet again they are (the marinate is?) so good that satays don't need any dipping sauce.  Nevertheless, the peanut sauce was decent; we dipped the cucumbers and onions into it.  Di Yin and her parents did too, but they soon switched to the curry dipping sauce.
• beef satay - similarly tasty.  Again the beef satay was so tasty that we didn't need the dipping sauce.
• belachan string beans (maybe with ground pork or ground shrimp, not just the shrimp in the spicy shrimp sauce) - good.  Short, thin green beans.
• char kuey teow (noodles with shrimp, squid, eggs, and bean sprouts) - decent/good.
• langkawi bean curd (tofu with shrimp, mushrooms, and more) - quite good.  A nice blending of flavors.  I definitely liked this more than the last time we ordered this.  And I appreciated the spongy soft tofu this time.