http://www.bigapplenosh.com/2011/05/malaysiansingaporean-nyonya.html

Thursday, May 5

Malaysian/Singaporean: Nyonya

I've visited Nyonya, on the outskirts of Chinatown, so many times that I assumed I had already written it up.  Yeah, well I was wrong - no write-up on Nyonya? What a travesty!  And why do I visit Nyonya so often? Well, for the authentic Malaysian and Singaporean cuisine of course!  While I change up the dishes I order every so often, I always start with my favorite appy:

I've written about roti canai before (here and here, for example), and the light, fluffy bread with accompanying chicken curry sauce gets me every time.  Different restaurants have different roti styles, but I favor Nyonya's - light, flaky and just a tad chewy.  A mix between a crepe and a puff pastry, you'll find yourself addicted at first sumptuous bite.

On this visit, my eating buddies and I also ordered the prawn mee (mee = noodles):

Considering that prawn mee was the first dish I had the minute I landed in Singapore the past 2 times I visited (yes, this was with my luggage in tow and everything. No, I did not look great), I was a bit skeptical about how good this NYC version would be.   Well color me surprised - while Nyonya's version had a thicker, brinier broth, it was extremely appealing in its weighty manifestation.  I'll be ordering this again fo' sho'!

To round out our meal, eating buddies and I also ordered the mee siam (first picture), rice noodles stir-fried with tofu, eggs, shrimp & bean sprout in a spicy thai chili sauce and garnished with peanuts.  We ordered it "dry," which means stir-fried - if you want a light gravy, you'd order the "wet" mee siam.  These noodles were spicy sweet with a well-proportioned ratio of tofu, shrimp and carbs. Yum.


And since, FINE, we really should have veggies (grumble), we ordered the kang kung belacan as well:

Belacan (pronounced "baLAchan") is a shrimp paste and chili pepper sauce that is briny, pungent and gives the veggies the perfect kick.  Kang kung, or Chinese water spinach is a green veg (obvi) with a hollow stem and tender leaves.  On the occasions where I *must* eat veggies, kang kung belacan is a piquant choice.

Our bill came out to less than $35 for 3 people, making Nyonya an authentic, delicious and economical dinner option.  I'll definitely be returning here (as I have many times already) for my Singaporean/Malaysian food fix!

Authentic, delicious and economical to boot!

Nyonya
199 Grand St. (btw Mott and Mulberry)
212.334.3669

Have you tried Singaporean/Malaysian food before?