Laut in New York, NY

I kind of like the busyness of Union Square, its farmers' market, chess players, as well as other  (sometimes weird) entertainments that one can witness when going there. Food wise, there are quit e few options, cheap or not that are worth a try. As we were looking for a restaurant reservation on Opentable, we found out Laut, the first Malaysian restaurant in the world to receive a Michelin Star in the famous 2011 guide (they lost it since).

Laut means Sea in Malay; I admit that I did not know why they picked this name, considering that it is not a seafood restaurant, but learnt that it is because the straits and coastal cities played a crucial role in the region's history, navigating traders and travelers from all over the world. 

In term of cuisine, they serve South East Asian dishes, from Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. So I was ready to see what the owner Salil Mehta was proposing in his restaurant.

To start off and to accompany my meal, I ordered a Thai Iced Tea that was perfect. 

Then, we decided to share dishes and order several appetizers, as well as one entrée, having already an idea before going there as to what dessert we would order. 

The first appetizer was the roti canai. 

Roti means bread; It is one of my favorite appetizers in Thai restaurants: I love the greasiness and slight crispiness of the bread, dipped in an awesome curry sauce. Well, for the first time, I did not like it! The sauce was good, but the roti was tasteless. This was so disappointing.

The second appetizer was the satay tofu puffs:

It was served with cucumber and bean sprouts and smothered in peanut sauce. This was really good: the tofu puffs were so light and airy, perfect with this delicious peanut sauce that was a bit sweet.

The third appetizer was Sotong Goreng or marinated crispy fried squid dusted with spices, salt, pepper and chili sauce:

I really liked it: the calamari were crunchy, not rubbery and not greasy that is already a good thing, and I loved the hints of salt and pepper. I just wished there was more of that chili sauce that was a bit spicy, but addictive with the calamari.

For the entree, we chose the glass noodles:

They were prepared with snow peas, carrots, bean sprouts, mushrooms, eggs and scallions. It was overall a very good dish that had lots of veggies in it.

For dessert, we wanted to order the mango coconut sticky rice. Unfortunately, they did not have any mango and proposed dragon fruit: we passed.

Would I go back? Well, I have mixed feelings about Laut: the food was good overall, but did not stand out to the point that I would love to go back or even to make me understand how they got a Michelin Star few years ago. I was definitely expecting more and they did not deliver. I should also mention the noise level that made me want to eat as fast as I could...

Enjoy (...)!

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And Remember: I Just Want To Eat!