Satay, Lye …
So on Saturday evening, we decided to go to Satay in Lye for dinner. Its an Malaysian-Indonesian restaurant on Lye High Street. This is the third time we’ve been, the restaurant itself is quite pleasant with modern decor and the food is excellent quality. On the two previous times we’ve visited, its been quite busy – the first time was Valentines night and was a set menu, the second with a couple of friends and it was very busy. This meant that the food took a very long time to come out – its a good job we weren’t in a hurry! We’ve also ordered take-away before, though only once, and it took a very long time to arrive and wasn’t particularly hot by the time it got to us (we had to microwave some of it to warm it back up).
That said, I’d still recommend people to go there as the food is excellent … when you get it.
This visit however, the restaurant was only about half full and both the service and food were excellent. You seem to get Kurpak Udang (prawn crackers with a spicy tomato/chilli dip), these have always come out shortly after ordering, so in the past despite the long wait, we haven’t starved. The tomato dip is quite pleasant, though can be quite hot. We ordered the lamb and chicken satay starters (swapping half each) which are grilled pieces of chicken of lamb served with a peanut satay sauce. I really like them… however I’m still not sure about the chilled rice cake that comes as part of the starter. For main course, I ordered the Kari Kambing on the recommendation of the serving staff. Its a Malaysian Lamb curry and it was really nice – excellent flavour and the lamb was slowly cooked meaning it was very soft to eat. As accompaniment to the main, we ordered the coconut rice. Its a “Thai” rice, which is a different type of rice to the pilau rice served in curry shops. In terms of price, it has gone up since our last visit (some dishes by £1.50 or so), but even so, it used to be very cheap and now I still think the pricing is quite reasonable. I’d also give it extra points for being a place where they don’t try to rush you out with the bill as soon as you have finished your food.
One other thing to watch out for (and caught us out on our first visit) is that its not licensed – i.e. take your own alcohol. Luckily there’s a mini-supermarket at the other end of the High Street.
Overall, I highly recommend a visit to Satay, particularly if you’d like a change from visiting a Curry house (of which Lye has a number!).
Satay now has a website – www.mysatay.co.uk which has photos of the restaurant and copy of the menu – though at the moment, the prices on the website are the old prices (its gone up), and then the take-away pricing was always different from the “eat-in” pricing, so I wouldn’t assume the pricing is correct.
Dewi said,
June 30, 2008 @ 8:36 am
We ate at Satay last week, and yes the food is excellent. For almost 2 years we have searched up and down the country for an authentic Indonesian restaurant and from all of those we have eaten in, none actually tasted authentic.
Who would of thought that the best Indonesian restaurant in the country would turn out to be 2 miles down the road from where we live!!!
Most Indonesian food is quite spicy, but all the so called indonesian restaurants cool the spicyness down for british tastes. Satay however was completely different. The chefs are actually Indonesian and the taste was as authentic as it could be.
If anyone is interested in experiencing true, authentic Indonesian food, without having to travel half way round the world, then i would highly recommend this restaurant.
On another note, the coconut rice is not ‘Thai’ as the owner of this blog claims. It is again, Indonesian and called Nasi uduk.
Jenny Davis said,
January 30, 2009 @ 12:13 pm
30th Jan 08
Thought I would add my review to yours – this restaurant needs to be shouted about!!
6 of us ate at Satay on Sunday night. We have travelled extensively in Bali and Malaysia and have been looking for ages for an authentic Malaysian restaurant. We were not disappointed, it was truly lovely! Most of the restaurants in Lye were quiet as it was Sunday night and we ended up being the only table, but this did not hamper our enjoyment.
Prawn Crackers are given to you free while you peruse the menu. Our parents had never tried Malaysian food before so we decided to share the starters and the mains. For starters we shared a Mixed Platter for two at £9.99 which included chicken and lamb satay, spring rolls, deep fried squid that literally melted in the mouth, and chilli chicken wings. We also added a corn and mixed vegetable fritter. It was all really tasty and authentic and plenty for 6 of us to have a pick.
For main we chose a range of dishes to share. The Beef Rendang (Rendang Padang) rivalled any that i have eaten in Malaysia, the slow cooked beef melting into a sweet coconut spicy curry sauce. The Special Nasi Goreng (malaysian fried rice) and Special Mee Goreng (malaysian noodles) were packed full of flavour and had good quantity of meat and prawns in. The Nasi Lemak was a triumph, completely authentic, really spicy and a great dish to try if you have not tried Malaysian food before as it comes with a little portion of Beef Rendang. We also ordered an Ayam Bumbu Bali, an Indonesian dish with a sweet an tangy sauce which was sweet and sour in style. A side dish of Bendi Goreng, okra with onion tomato and red chilli topped the meal off.
Both sets of parents fell in love with the food, their only concern was what to order if we had not been there. I guess that is what could put some people off, not knowing the style of food and the names. I would say don’t be shy – give it a go. A lovely Bangladeshi owner will help you out and recommend what you choose.
This restaurant deserves to do well, has Indonesian chefs and is simply one of the best Malaysian restaurants I have ever eaten it. Plus its ‘Bring Your Own’ so it makes for a cheap night – go on give it a try.