Satay Junction

Wow, 4 stars?!? Maybe I ordered wrong.
My meal was so completely forgettable, I’m having trouble writing this review. Everything was super bland; the curry chicken would have been like chicken-​textured cardboard if I hadn’t dumped ALL the condiments on it (and asked for more… lots more). The fried rice was SO bad, mushy and flavorless… when the flavor AND texture are bad, you just have to ask them to take it away. My chicken satay was fine, but that’s hard to mess up, isn’t it? LOVED the shrimp chips, that was the only redeeming part of the meal… and they didn’t make those.

Went in around lunchtime on a Saturday afternoon, was pretty quiet. We were immediately seated at one of their few dine-​in tables.
Was initially disappointed because it seemed that everything we wanted to order, they were out of: all beer, yellow rice, pork satay, vegetable satay. That seemed like a lot, but she explained that they had a busy rush the night before…
So, we ordered iced jasmine tea (very good and refreshing for such a hot day), 5 satay (lamb, chicken, beef, and shrimp) and a plate of fried rice. They also brought out shrimp wafer crackers and 3 dipping sauces that were all very good especially the spicy sambal.
We enjoyed ALL of the dishes. The fried rice was not just spicy but had a lot of depth of flavor and a good amount of vegetables and lamb. Of the satay choices, the chicken was my favorite which is unusual for me! The peanut sauce served with the satay is delicious!
Yes, it is SMALL. I would definitely do takeout regularly if I lived nearby. Delicious, flavorful food, and at a good price point.

So I’ve either ordered or done take out from here a couple of times, and I think it’s a good spot, but not necessarily a memorable spot. The satays are a little pricey I think for a couple of pieces of meat on a stick that were ultimately dry.
I got the Ayam Kare my last trip and it was on the bland side, with the ingredients in the description, you’d expect some bolder flavors. I feel like this restaurant just goes too safe with their Indonesian offerings, trying to aim it more towards what they think the general population would like, and that’s a mistake.
The reason why I’ve tried here a few times after being unimpressed is because the thought of Indonesian always sounds so appealing, but I think I’ve learned my lesson, this place will not deliver the adventurous offerings I was hoping for.
If you’re not an adventurous eater, maybe this place will be a good introduction for you into Indonesian cuisine, but for those who like to jump right in eating something radically different, keep looking.

Went in for lunch during the week.
1:45pm
No one in the restaurant in this tiny place. We thought we were lucky. What strike me first was to see how clean and well organized this place was.
We ordered from Lunch Special — choose one from Tahu Goreng (Crispy Tofu) or Simply garlic sauteed seasonal greens (it was Asian long beans and was boring). Since we were sharing we got each of them. Fried Tofu had no flavor but adding side condiments came with krupuk (crackers) worked. There were three condiments, spicy sambal, sweet sambal and acar (small cubic cut cucumber, carrot and Asian radish relish). Sweet sambal looked and taste very similar to Hoisin Sauce with a little spicy. Spicy sambal had a beautiful bright orange color and was very spicy and I like it.
From Satay, choose any of two that means we got to taste four different Satay! We got pork, shrimp, beef and tofu. Precooked skewers were a bit hard. I wish they grilled fresh but Sambal Kacang, Indonesian peanut sauce, under the Satay was excellent. Chunk of peanuts gave nice texture with sour, salty and sweet.
Last to choose is from noodle or rice dish. We got Nasi Goreng Fried Rice with chicken and Mee Goreng (Pan Seared Noodles and asked for spicy and it was spicy!). Fried rice was good but adding acar relish from the condiments took to another depth of flavor. Noodle dish was also good and adding squeeze of fresh lime made lighter. Heat hits later and was nice!
For dessert, we got baked cassava with grated coconut. Nicely baked coconuts on the cake made it even more interesting. There was dark and sweet sauce (palm sugar syrup?) over the cake but it didn’t make this cake too sweet but just right.
Lunch Special about $ 9 and we share a dessert ($ 5). We each paid $ 15.

Almost walked right past this place! The restaurant is the size of a hallway (seriously!).
Food is incredible! You can smell and feel the spices and flavors just as you walk in.
For two people we ordered 5 satays and a plate of the noodles.
Satays: from the vegetables to the shrimp, they were delicious! The peanut sauce/​paste is so good I could eat it up with a spoon!
Mee Goreng noodles with chicken– very good!

Delicious food and very good service.
We tried Satay Junction when we had a coupon for it and were pleasantly surprised by the place.
I ordered the Es Teller drink, which is young coconut juice, seaweed jelly, jack fruit, coconut milk and it was wonderful (even though it sounds like it could be a bit gross).
For an appetizer I ordered Soto Ayam, which is their vermicelli chicken soup, and I loved it. I’d definitely order it again.
We ordered the combo of 5 satay’s and each one was very good.
The waiter was very friendly and helpful, and was working very hard while we were there.
Tip: It’s a very, very small place, even by NYC standards. The restaurant is basically a hallways, and I think they only have 2-​person tables.

I had no idea Indonesian food was so good. Nothing was too sweet or too greasy, which is usually the issue in NYC with Chinese, Thai, or Vietnamese. And the meats are properly trimmed unlike your run of the mill Indian or Chinese joints.
We had the Mee Goreng, some chicken, vegetable, and tofu satay (I’d recommend the first two over the tofu), and the chicken soup. All of it was good, but the Mee Goreng was phenomenal, especially with some hot sauce and peanut sauce mixed in. Prices are great too, we filled up on like $ 20 bucks worth of food. Wish it were closer to my apartment.

Simple and minimalist, this place may seem narrow and tiny, but they don’t skimp at all on flavor and value!
The way to go is definitely their $ 35 dinner special for 2. It’s a great option to get a good taste of the popular dishes on their menu (even though their menu is small), and in MASSIVE PORTIONS. 5 satays, a side, large noodle/​rice entrée and dessert? – you can’t really beat that. We went with the vegetable & tofu satays, corn fritters, vegetable mee goreng, and ended nicely with coconut cassava cake. AND had about half leftover. Flavorwise, everything was well balanced – sweet/​salty/​spicy, and noodles not too over-​sauced. Satays were grilled nicely and the corn fritters were crisp, light and airy.
We were here on a quiet night, which was perfect for the space. Totally felt like we were eating at home, it was that cozy. Our waiter was extremely friendly and helpful, and overall a great experience… so I’ll definitely be back. If you wanna take a quick an inexpensive trip to Indonesia, Satay Junction is the place to go.

My friends and I came here for lunch, armed with our Scoutmob deal. It’s a small, barely decorated space with about 12 chairs, but it was nearly empty for lunch.
The menu is a bit minimal, but there’s something here for everyone. The prices are pretty good, too, though there are no lunch deals (that we could tell).
Ten minutes after sitting down, we gave our order. Our waitress then told us that they were in the middle of a catering job and that it would be 15 extra minutes. She brought over yummy shrimp chips and three dipping sauces, so we decided to settle.
As for the timeline, food came out over 25 minutes later, which really made us disgruntled, especially since we needed to leave in 10 minutes.
However, they were fairly accomodating when they realized we were in a rush; they brought out tons of plastic containers at our request.
The food was definitely good. The Mee Goreng and Nasi Goreng are classics and a must. Our skewers of tofu and vegetables were also hearty.
I would try this place again, but I feel a little deceived about the wait time during this most recent visit.

A friend was visiting from out of town, and after a few rounds of beer, we needed a little food. Having passed by this incredibly narrow restaurant earlier, we decided to check out how small the place actually was.
According to our waiter, the space is only 6′ across, which is kind of amazing. The restaurant is almost like an alley way, but it doesn’t feel too cramped. We went late enough at night during a weekday that we had the place to ourselves.
We had the oft-​mentioned dinner special ($ 35), which was more than enough for a light dinner for the three of use. I’d recommend that if you’re not sure what you want.
Highlights:
— Tapioca and shrimp chips (Krupuk Udang atau Putih). The sweet dipping sauce was great.
— Satay. We tried the lamb, pork, and shrimp, and they were all fine. The peanut sauce wasn’t too remarkable on them, but by itself? Delectable. Maybe I just like peanuts.
— Mee goreng. I really liked the texture of the noodles. Just the right firmness. These are egg wheat noodles, by the way, not the rice noodles I had naively assumed.
— The service was exceptionally nice and pleasant.
The food is a little on the spicy side, so if you’re unsure of your tolerance, I’d aim on the mild side for more palatable experience.
I wasn’t blown away, but it was a enjoyable meal further enhanced by the great service.

Great
Value,
Tiny space,
The food was fine,
And delivers free across the village.

Never been to an Indonesian restaurant before, and since I’ve had satay, we decided to go with the dinner special (appetizer + choice of 3 entrees + 2 side dishes + dessert for $ 35). Portions seemed kind of small at first, but everything together was enough.
Gado Gado Salad was interesting. The Perkedel Jagung (corn fritters) were not freshly cooked — had that taste of fried food sitting out for too long. Blech. For the entrée, chose the Daging Rendang (beef) which was kind of dry. Side dishes included omelette and seasonal greens — nothing special. Dessert was Dadar Gulung — pretty good, but I’m not a big fan of coconut.
Based on this meal probably would not make a point to come back. Other Unilocalers seem to rave over the satay, so maybe I’d stop in and try it if I were passing by.
I’d rate 2.5, bumped up to 3, because the place is pretty reasonably priced, and the waiter was nice and attentive.
Oh and, the dining area is a bit small/​narrow.

* SJ is one of the many hole-​in-​wall spots around the city… Owned by the owners of Brick Lane, this place specializes in Indonesian cuisine… a good place to get that ‘preparatory course’ in Indonesian food
* I just went in for the Satays (a.k.a skewers /​kabobs /​kebabs)… was warmly greeted and served the complimentary tapioca chips & 3 dipping sauces…
* I tried out 3 decently grilled satays (for 7 bucks) — vegetable, chicken and tofu — served on a bed of peanut sauce…
* There’s very little seating space… its good only for couples, not good for groups… Also the place serves mainly as a takeout spot…

Came here today from a ScoutMob deal ($ 15 off), because no one eats without a discount nowadays and I didn’t want to seem out of fashion.
This place is easy to miss – it’s a narrow, short hallway of a restaurant. The décor was nice though, and I didn’t really feel cramped at all. The service is friendly, but we had two different people serve us throughout the night and it was kind of confusing. I think they’re actually the owners, but they should work out a system to have the same person service the table.
Their tapioca crackers remind me of Chinese shrimp crackers, with very flavorful dipping sauces. Their lamb satay were flavorful and nicely grilled, but a tad bit on the chewy side. Again, the sauce with it were pretty awesome (as is the case with most Indonesian or Malaysian places). I had the Mee Goreng, which was super flavorful, albeit somewhat greasy. At first glance, I had wished the portions were a little bigger, since they’re all on the small side; especially the satays (for $ 10 I think there were 4 small skewers). Then I realized the prices were really cheap (the main dishes ranged from $ 6 for veg to $ 12 for seafood); so if you thought the portions were too small, you can literally order two of your dish and it would be the same price as an entrée at any other restaurant. Or order a different dish, go wild!
Beer was $ 4, which is never a bad thing. Food came super fast. Smiles everywhere. Honestly, even without the $ 15 off, I would come here. Food was great and cheap even for me (I’m very very frugal). It’s even vegetarian-​friendly. It’s too bad it’s in the west village, because I really don’t care to hang out there amongst the annoying NYU kids. I guess it’s always good to know of good places to eat in every neighborhood, even if it means having to give directions to Off the Wagon.

Excerpted from my review of the Taste of the Village: West food tour:
The sample choices here were two satay sticks with a choice of chicken, beef, pork, lamb, shrimp and tofu. Since satay is on a stick and meant to be eaten easily and quickly, and with only 45 minutes left in the tour, we figured we’d be quick here and make our way on. However, this was not the case. After placing our order, we waited 15 minutes before we even got an update on our food. While it did feel good to sit down for a bit, we were weary of missing our last stops, and I decided to walk up to the Donut Pub to pick up our samples there before the tour was over. Of course the satay came minutes after I left, as it always does, but honestly, it wasn’t that good. Oh well.

Very friendly service and the food was great. The only downside is the small space and also having your clothes smells like the kitchen after dinner.
Their satay is simply amazing. I ordered the chicken, lamb and beef combo. My favorite was the beef. Eat that with the satay sauce and kicap manis. Yum! Other notable mentions are the mee goreng, ayam kare and gado gado.
I will definitely come back for more satay and the ayam kare!

Pros:
–Very friendly service, helpful suggestions and explanations.
–Not crowded, despite it being «ALL YOU CAN EAT SATAY DAY»
–The fact that they offer «ALL YOU CAN EAT SATAY» on Mondays
–BYOB (for now, anyway)
–Free dessert if you become a fan of them on Facebook!
–Waiter was nice and provided a free pre-​dessert to free dessert b/​c it was taking a bit longer than expected.
Cons:
–It is very small and narrow. You can’t really bring a group of friends. Which is a shame, because it’s BYOB.
–Because it’s so small, and the kitchen’s just in the back, your clothes/​hair definitely smell like Indonesian food afterwards…
–I was not a fan of the es teller… stick with the avocado juice!
P. S. I actually did not participate in the «All You Can Eat Satays,» despite my hype about it. Maybe next time.

A narrow (literally holds 16 customers at a time) but quaint place, which fed not just my appetite, but also my conviction that small eateries dish out quality food.
Keep in mind that portions are small and tapas-​like. While some may be displeased by this, it actually works to my advantage, as I had the opportunity of sampling a variety of dishes.
My boyfriend and I shared the Siomay appetizer, which was steamed cabbage, Indonesian fish balls, and bite-​sized chunks of potatoes mixed in a peanut sauce. I was expecting soft and springy fish balls — the kind that I’m used to in Chinese and Malaysian cuisine — but Indonesian fish balls have a chewier texture.
For beverages, the Es Teller and Es Alpukat stand out in the menu. The former is young coconut juice, seaweed jelly, young jackfruit & coconut milk, while the latter is avocado juice + chocolate. Both are delicious, but I recommend the coconut drink if you want something more refreshing. The avocado drink is a tad filling, as it’s rather like a chocolate milkshake. I’m pretty sure that it’s healthier than milk-​based shakes though!
For your choice of satay, pick from a wide range of skewered meats/​vegetables. Satay is a also a staple appetizer in Malaysian cuisine, but I noted that Indonesian satay dip is more savory as it’s prepared with a soy sauce base. My favorite was the skewered shrimp; such a bizarre marriage of flavors — fresh juicy shrimps + chunky peanut sauce!
Sungguh sedap!

After eating so many types of food in NYC over the years, Satay Junction really hit the spot the other day! Very good portions combined with an awesome atmosphere, great tasting, well-​spiced food at a great price make it a hit with me.
Check out their menu and you will get the sense that you aren’t in NY, Kansas or anywhere close anymore. The unique tastes in the rice and satay dishes really intrigued me and I’m actually excited to go back to this new little spot ASAP!

On their 2^nd day of business, Satay Junction is doing pretty well. It’s very aptly named, the restaurant is a teeny railroad apartment that is barely 6 feet wide and about 40 feet long. With 8 tables, seating a total of 16 people, it’s cute and extremely small. Not only do you feel like you’re at a railroad junction, but in a railroad car. Whitewashed brick walls, Indonesian paintings and a mask foreshadow a design style that could be interesting when not so sparse.
They’ve got a great concept: concentrate on Indonesian food that is mostly from hawker stalls and street fare. They also have a few classic dishes that are served everywhere, including homes. They aren’t trying to do too much but are already filling a specific niche to surprising results on day 2!
Traditional shrimp crackers with dipping sauces (chili and sweet/​sour/​soy/​fish) and achar (pickled cucumber, carrots and onions) are a great pre-​meal nibble. The bamboo menu with burned-​etched lettering is cool and displays the basics: appetizer snacks, salads, sides or soups, satays, noodles or rice, beverages (no alcohol) and dessert. I sampled the Siomay– fish balls, tofu, steamed cabbage and spicy peanut sauce and was pleasantly surprised at the flavors and textures. The fish balls were gorgeous — soft and pillowy dumplings without the tendency toward rubber that some fish balls exhibit.
Satays come four skewers per order unless you choose a combo of their three or five to sample different ones. I tried shrimp, vegetable and chicken. All three were quite good, were well-​seasoned and excellently spiced. Great balance of the chili and the sweetness of the peanut with a good tang as well. The skewers are smaller than you get at most street carts, so four will equal about two from most other places. The prices are good though, between $ 7 and 11 for each order of four skewers.
There’s much more to try, I’ll be going back and updating in a while to see how they’ve progressed. And, I must try the Avocado Juice with a splash of chocolate. That sounds fantastic so next person to go, please try it!
My advice is to recognize the spirit of the place — it’s based on street food, it’s not intended to be a full dining experience. If you go with a pack of friends during peak dinner hours you’ll quickly overwhelm them. Go off hours, between meals, for snacks and it should work fine. I would expect they’ll do a very brisk delivery service too.
I’m rooting for you, Satay Junction!