Sky Cafe- Indonesian

Sky Cafe, (1122 Washington Ave, Ste B) an Indonesian restaurant located in South Philly, is one of tastiest and one of the most affordable places I ever been to. Most of their main dishes were either $7 or $8. The establishment was relatively small. I would estimate there were seating for about 20 people. My friend and I ventured to Sky Cafe for dinner. I was actually surprised that the cafe closes at 8PM. In my opinion, it was too early for a restaurant that I consider serving lunch and dinner types of food to close. Luckily, my friend and I made it before closing. The staff was very friendly and our food came out fast.

Being the greedy and fat selves we are, we ordered a rice dish to share as well as a separate rice dish for ourselves. We shared the Nasi Uduk (coconut rice with anchovy, spicy egg, shrimp cracker, and cucumber). I thought the coconut rice would be the coconut rice like the ones at Thai restaurants- rice that is fluffy and made with coconut milk. However, what I got was regular rice topped with fried shallot and surrounded by a medley of toasted coconut flakes, toasted anchovy, and toasted peanuts, shrimp cracker, cucumber, and hard boil egg halves topped with spicy hot paste sauce. The medley of coconut, anchovy, and peanuts was the star of the dish. It was delicious with it's sweetness and saltness. I would note that the medley was mostly coconut flakes and peanuts with a few anchovies. The rice is a little on the drier side. Not sure, if the rice was just a little off that day or the Indonesians prefer their rice on the drier side. The eggs were cold and topped with sauce that I considered hot, but the two cucumbers provide some cooling relief. The shrimp cracker was crispy and tasted fresh like it was homemade.

Nasi Uduk

For my personal entree, I got Nasi Sayur (steamed rice with vegetable curry, egg, shrimp cracker, and cucumber). The rice was in the center and it was topped with a spicy sauce and diced potato and carrots. Similar to the dish above, surrounding the rice were hard boiled egg halves topped with spicy hot paste sauce, shrimp crackers, and cucumber and in addition, the vegetable curry. The curry was mostly potatoes, but I am not complaining because I love potatoes. There was a lot of flavor coming from the curry and sauce on top of the rice as well as spiciness. I thought it was a great combination and my taste palate was definitely happily aroused by the spices. Overall I enjoyed both dishes. I mostly ate the components of the dish separately, but I did eat the rice with the medley and the curry. I am not sure if that was the proper way to eat it. A part of me is telling me that I was suppose give the ingredients a good mix and eat it together and maybe topped the mixture on top of the crackers or cucumber to eat. I do plan to frequent the cafe again to try all the vegetarian and pescatarian options. Maybe next time, I will observe how others consume the rice dishes.

Nasi Sayur