Borneo Kalimantan Cuisine - Alhambra

They hope you like spicy because everything here has a little sass. Not enough to make you sweat but just enough to make you eat. 

Let’s be honest here, no one gets Chicken Sate for the chicken. Borneo’s sweet and savory peanut sauce is right on, simultaneously rich and deep. I do wish they had soaked the sate in it rather than keeping them separate - the meat was a little dry. 

Laksa is the curry king, like the khao soi of another country, sweet and smooth, with creamy coconut and a sniff of the sea. The egg noodles were like a dime-bag ramen so try any other instead. 

My favorite dish in any country is probably flat rice noodles, stir fried with a soy-based sauce. The Borneo Style at Borneo is wonderful, and I love the sweet sauce with a slip of shrimp. 

Roti Prata is bread and curry, competing for the title of best of Borneo. 

Nasi Lemak is a concurrent champion, with chunks of flavorful fried chicken, cabbage with a heated crunch, fantastic fried tofu and egg, and a spicy paste of peanut and tiny salty anchovies that will set you salivating.  Among all this, it's the rice that's the real deal. The coconut plays coy as the fragrant surrounding meats fill up the space. 

Delicious food, but I don't think it'd stand up to Simpang. I loved it all, and it didn't fall far, but I'm dying to try Ipoh as well.  

Sama Sama Kitchen - Santa Barbara

I always forget how Asian LA is until I leave it. The transition from Simpang to Sama Sama is abrupt to say the least. 

I was immediately suspicious when Sama Sama sold out of sate. On a menu so small, how do you run out of chicken-on-a-stick before the dinner rush?

I ordered other regrettable apps, the Vietnamese Wings to start. $16 for three flats and three drums, a total of three whole wings. They were good wings, with fish sauce caramel that “etches” the surface (a little deeper than scratching), but even Michelin would be hard pressed to pay $5 per wing. 

Cocktails for takeaway are a welcome notion, and a curiously strong Fall of Saigon features a prominent gin. A liqueur, a zest of citrus, a cool of cucumber, and a dash of basil smooths the edges.

The Crispy Duck Salad will do. The duck blends nicely with a sharp greens and sweet grapes, and the peanuts add some Asian flair. The dressing is fish sauce and spice, much like a liquid version of the wing sauce. Overall enjoyable if not for the $18 price tag.

Mie Goreng, aka chow mein. It’s good chow mein, but the price of $13 is just too much for a half-pint of Chinese takeout with a fancy label. This iteration is definitely bare-bones, and you’d get four times the quantity at any PF Chang’s. 

All the dishes have the same flavor: spicy. They are liberal with the chilis and I’ll give them props for not being shy about the spice, but I do think they diluted the colorful, strong, and diverse flavors that define Southeast Asia. Factor in the outrageous prices, and nothing about this equation adds up.

Mr. Sate UPDATE - Los Angeles

I thought I hated sate until I tried Mr. Sate. But make no mistake, Mr. Sate didn’t make me like sate. I’ve always loved sate - I just hate bad sate. 

Up until Mr. Sate, all the sate I had was ordered by someone who didn’t know any better at restaurants that didn’t know any better, and every order inexplicably featured chunks of jerky-dry white meat in a marinade that barely scratched the surface. Dunk that in the peanut butter they called sauce, and you’ll see why I never order sate. 

But there’s that sate and then there’s Mr. Sate. They make a Chicken Sate with marinated dark meat, juicy and melt-in-your-mouth tender all the way through. Topped with slices of glistening garlic and doused in a rich, nutty soy, they make the memorable sate I’ve ever seen. 

It’s rare that I would prefer chicken over beef, but the chicken is THAT good. The Beef Potato is still quite likable, though, if you’re looking for variety. Dry-marinated for a more shredded texture, this one is covered in chili sauce to add some bittersweet sting. 

Perkedel makes a greasy appetizer as it does get soggy en route. That said, what’s not to like about mashed potato patties with a hint of meat and scallion? Just try to get them fresh from the fryer. 

My favorite is the Mie Goreng, a nest of egg noodles stir-fried with medium spice. Spicy enough to tickle the tonsils, egg-citing when salty slices corned beef are thrown in with the veggies.

Soto Betawi is a rich and creamy broth of coconut milk and beef. It’s comfort food at its finest, and adding some tendon is well worth the upcharge.

All Indonesian food is an adventure, but no expedition is complete without a Nasi Bungkus. Cut the strings, unwrap the paper, and let the green-earth fragrance of a banana leaf engulf you. That aroma seeps into the rice, cohabiting with a bold turmeric chicken, sugar n’ spice shreds of beef rendang, and a slurry of veggie curry.

Finish up with some Lontong, sticky dipping-discs of rice cake that come with a thick peanut-and-oil sauce. 

I took a much deeper dive into Mr. Sate’s menu this visit, and what a journey it has been. I already liked Mr. Sate, and now I like him even more!

Mr. Sate - Los Angeles

Mr. Sate sits unassumingly on a random street in purgatory Palms, inspired sticks from the heaty Indonesian paradise. 

All the food is new to me, but it's not a far cry from the sweet n' spicy tradition of the Asian tropics. The Bakwan Jagung are crunchy corn fritters, though I would have liked the corn to come through the batter more so that the sweet dipping sauce could act more like a highlight than a need. 

The sate is their namesake, and the skewers are a spiffy selection. The Beef & Potato is thick and dense, with a not-so-spicy kick from the chili smash on top. The Chicken is sweet and satisfying.

The Popcorn Chicken delivers just that, but the Shrimp Balado is a show-stealing, light-it up pocket of spice.

The Pork Belly special is a bit bland and dry. For a belly cut, it's missing most of the fat, and the soy marinade makes it taste too similar to the chicken.

The specials board is one worth visiting. We got a Noodle special that I can't pronounce, a dish of al dente flat noodles and veg, like pad Thai with garlic chips instead of peanuts. Except it's savory instead of sweet, like a common cousin of Pad See Ew and Pad Kee Mao, a sweet inclination with a savory nature.

Tempura Ice Cream, just because. The batter layer is airy and crisp, the vanilla ice cream inside is a cold contrast. Not much can really make this dessert stand out, but this one did taste much fresher than many I've had before.

An Indonesian adventure at a price we can all afford. The skewers are fun, the noodles are hearty, and there is a down-to-earth warmth about this place. Mr. Sate keeps it simple and sweet, and it's hard not to love finger-foods for all!

Simpang Asia - Culver City

The valet lost my car. Just HOW they managed to lose one of the five cars they parked in a lot that has less than 20 spaces is beyond me, but this was no ordinary FAIL. For starters, they placed my keys with the wrong ticket, and I wish I hadn't told them as much. Considering my car is legally an adult, this error might have earned me a free upgrade. 

Well, the nice thing about a small parking lot is that it's not so hard to spot my car. Found it! Except they didn't believe me so it took several minutes of arguing to convince them to shut up and test the keys.

They did eventually find my car, and despite the hassle from their private valets, I can't hold any of it against the restaurant. Major lapse of judgement in hiring, but that's where the subpar service stops. The staff are awesome, and there was not a single person who isn't smiling, not a single person who isn't genuinely happy to help. 

I'm very new at Indonesian food, but their Chicken Sate will put a smile on anyone's face. The chicken is tenderly grilled, and the peanut sauce is uniquely thick and sweet.

The Batagor is like nothing I've ever had, a street food that has managed to escape the mainstream. The chewy fried-tofu wrapper has a firm bean-curd texture, which soaks in more of their signature peanut sauce. If you don't like fish, you may want to look elsewhere, but here the fish makes the denser chicken finish light and sweet. A lot of different flavors in one place, but every flavor has its place.

I expect southeast Asian curries to be sweeter, but the Laksa is a different kind of sweet. The soup is yellow and thick, the texture of a concentrated coconut milk. The saccharine curry complements the shrimp that stews in it, and it beads upon each ropy yellow noodle.  

The Bihn Goreng Special lightens things up a little, with al dente rice noodles, fine strands of spice snaring chunks of shrimp and balls of beef and fish. The medium-level heat is cooled by a bit of crunchy cabbage and greens. Asian sausage adds its extra savor, and bits of egg keep the noodles moist.

The food delicious but you gotta have a car to put your leftovers in when you're ready to leave. There was not a single bite that didn't resonate and tingle, and just basking in the undeniable joy that permeates this place warmed me from the inside out. If my car had stayed lost, I would probably walk right back in to eat more. The food here is not to be missed, but it probably wouldn't hurt to try to park your own car and park it somewhere else.