la.foodblogging

Friday night we were in debate mode. She was in the mood for India Sweets and Spices, I was in the mood for Chinese — maybe to try Hop Woo finally. What to do? Meet somewhere in the middle, of course. In this case we decided to try The Indo Café, an Indonesian Restaurant hidden in Culver City.

I re-read A&K’s earlier review of The Indo Café and we decided to give it a try. We were glad we did, and sorry that we hadn’t eaten there earlier!

After circling a couple times, we finally found a parking space about a block away. We walked in the door and we greeted by the friendly owner who showed us to our seat with a smile and a small dish of spiced peanuts. We had four menus, two regular, one regular with pictures (helpful!) and an all vegetarian menu.

After much deliberation and a few helpful suggestions from the owner, we ordered the Rendang (Spiced Coconut Beef), the Udang Asam Garam (shrimp and vegetables sauteed with tamarind sauce), and the Vegetable Bakmi Goreng (Chow Mein). We also had some steamed rice on the side.

We talked about trying the avocado milk shake, but opted for tea and water instead, we didn’t want to be too full to enjoy the food.

Enjoy the food we did. The Rendang does have a potent spice, and the subtle sweetness of the coconut is a delicious contrast. The tamarind sauce over the shrimp and veg is a unique flavor, similar to a sweet and sour sauce. Our chow mein noodles were also well received. The noodles were cooked, but slightly firm, almost al dente. I liked them!

Our only regret was that there were just two of us and that we couldn’t sample more dishes. We talked to the owner and promised her that next time we would come with more friends. She suggested that if we come on the weekend, we call ahead for a reservation. On Friday night, the place was packed, and it’s a small room anyway. She also suggested that we try the Udang Saus Mentega (shrimp sauteed with butter and lemon), “it’s not healthy, but it tastes good”.

The bill was very reasonable, right around $30 before tip. One thing we did notice was the security guard sitting next to the door packing heat. At first I thought that he was just picking up some food, but he was stationed there throughout our meal and I’m assuming that he is there to protect the place. The neighborhood isn’t that shady, I’m curious why they need gun toting protection.

We’ll be back, who wants to join us?

The Indo Café
10428 1/2 National Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90034
(310) 815-1290

By Jonah (see more of his posts). Jonah is the founder of la.foodblogging and also created Digesty, a food blog aggregator and Cheww.com, a spam free foodblog search engine.