Please note that the meal was complimentary. However, the opinions expressed in my blog are 100% my own!
Few days after going to The Chinese Club, I was invited at Laut, a South East Asian restaurant near Union Square, opened many years ago by the same owners, Stacey and Salil Mehta. Laut is not unknown to me, as I went there few years ago, after hearing about that place that was the first Malaysian restaurant to get a Michelin Star in New York. We went when they opened at 1pm on Sunday and there was not that many people, until maybe half an hour later when the restaurant got crowded.
We started off our meal with drinks: This Iced Tea for Jodi (notice the stripper on the glass!) and spiked Thai Iced Tea for me, made with Disaronno (amaretto flavored liqueur) and Kalhua. Both were really good, but my preference went for the spiked one that was even better and not strong at all.
For appetizers, we first tried the veggie Spring rolls that came with a cute tiny pot that had some sweet chili sauce in it: the rolls were perfectly made, crunchy, not greasy, with lots of filling in it, made with cabbage, mushroom and carrot.
The second appetizer was the Roti Telur, an Indian pancake stuffed with egg, onion and hot pepper, and served with a curry sauce. This was very good, definitely enhanced by this curry sauce that I could have eaten with a spoon.
Then, for her entree, Jodi chose the Mamak Mee Goreng, a dish made in a wok, with egg noodle, tofu, shrimp fritter, home made curry sambal, tomatoes and eggs. This was very comforting and I loved the slight sweetness of the dish.
On my side, I settled for the Nasi Lemak (National dish of Malaysia), a sampler of Malaysian cuisine composed of Coconut Rice, Achar (South Asian pickles), Peanuts and dry Anchovies Sambal, egg, curry chicken and shrimp in sambal sauce. This is a great idea to propose a sampler and everything was really good, my favorite being the chicken and the most surprising being the dried anchovies and peanut sambal. I should mention that I did not find this spicy.
Last was dessert. Similar to The Chinese Club, they propose one made with a Chinese Waffle and I could not resist trying that one over the mango and sticky rice that I love. This time, it was not served with purple yam ice cream, but rather vanilla ice cream. It was a great dessert, perfect for sharing. The waffle was delicious, a bit crispy and fluffy. I definitely recommend it.
With dessert, I got Malaysian coffee that was sublime, deliciously sweet thanks to the condensed milk that they put in it.
We had a great meal at Laut: I love their menu that has so many choices, vegetarian and non-vegetarian. I would definitely go back there to try other dishes.
Enjoy (I did)!
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Laut - 15 East 17th Street New York, NY 10003