I’m not one to revisit NYC restaurants too much, since there are just so many options that I always try to venture some place new. But the upside of going back is getting to photograph tasty food that was either P.B. (pre-blog) or not taken to avoid annoying a large table of friends.
Last week, my friend and I ventured to Pan-Asian restaurant Cafe Asean in the West Village, which I first went to two year’s ago for my old roommate’s birthday. I loved it that night and it’s crazy that I hadn’t been back since.
Until last week!
{Try to get reservations because the place is small. We tried and they never picked up the phone—perhaps because of the blizzard—so we ended up in the back roofed patio. It was a smidge chilly, but with heat lamps and our coats, no worries.}
What’s in it for you: Mee rojak (egg noodles with vegetable & tofu in peanut lime sauce); Haila tofu (stir-fried tofu with Asian mushrooms, lotus root and vegetables in ginger wine sauce); and you could probably get anything else and swap tofu for meat/seafood
What’s in it for them: Fun see (Hawker-style wok fried glass noodles with seafood, chives and egg in spicy tamarind sauce); clay pot rice (Malaysians style paella with chicken, mushrooms, sweet sausage and salted cod); Ikan bakar (Lemongrass-crusted filet of snapper with coconut lime sauce sautéed string beans); Pai koot (Singaporean slow braised spare ribs with grilled spicy lettuce)
{Sayur campur: Mix of seasonal vegetables and tofu in coconut curry. Had it two years ago and I had to have it again! Interesting that I don’t like coconut curries elsewhere, but this one is mild enough for me to love.}
{Gaeng kheow: green curry shrimp and vegetables cooked in clay pot)}
Its Pan-Asian menu means tons of options that go beyond just stir-fry and pad thai, and ask me, or the rest of the packed restaurant, and we’ll all tell you that this isn’t one of those places that has everything but does nothing well. It’s tasty, filling without being extravagant and positively buzzing inside.
And oh yes, happy new year!
Cafe Asean
117 W. 10th St. (between 6th Ave. and Greenwich Ave.)
212.633.0348
1 to Christopher St.
A, B, C, D, F, M, V to W. 4th St.