Top Malaysian Restaurant in San Jose
Chicken Licious
2863 Senter Rd, San Jose, CA 95111, United States
The FoodMalaysian restaurants are far and few, and those that serve Asam Laksa are even more uncommon. Partner and I got introduced to Chicken Licious, and mentioned they had Asam Laksa, so we decided to give it a try. My partner of course got Asam Laksa (亞參叻沙), so I wanted something different to share. I got their Ayam Penyet Smashed Fried Chicken (印尼炸鸡). We also got Curry Puff (咖喱角) and Hakka Sticky Rice Dumpling (客家粽, 咸肉棕). It is also nice that they have herbal soup for you to sip on while you wait for food. The Asam Laksa came with a flavorful broth, with various toppings, and noodles. The Ayam Penyet Smashed Fried Chicken has a spicy (sambal?) sauce to go along with the chicken. They also had nice flavored rice, fried tofu, and pickled vegetables with the dish as well. I quite enjoy the dishes, they are all well made and have a unique flavor.The MiscellaneousThe restaurant is in a plaza known as Caribbees Center. The plaza is quite big with a good amount of parking, but the parking is quite weird and narrow. The interior has a bright aesthetic. Upon entry, there is a waiting area with a flower wall decor. The main dining room is spacious with decent seating. The staff and service was good. We had a short chat with the owners on how hard it was to source all the ingredients for Asam Laksa. Their menu has a good selection of dishes, focusing on Bento and Noodle. But they also have Snack, Side, Dessert, etc. If you are looking for some authentic Malaysian food, I would recommend giving this place a try. I would also want to go back to try their other dishes.
Top other services in San Jose:
Vegetarian House - Vegan
520 E Santa Clara St, San Jose, CA 95112, United States
My wife & I have been coming to Vegetarian House for many years. Currently, they offer take out & dining on their covered porch outside, but not dine in. They have plenty of parking in their lot. If you are dining in, consider ordering in advance so your good is ready when you arrive. There is great food variety here. Some of their spicy food items have a nice tinge to them that you often do not get at other vegan restaurants - but dont worry, the items marked spicy are not going to make you cry. The deserts are also very good. We love the Malaysian Curry Chow Mien for its turmeric & slightly spicy taste, along with texture. We also love the Eggplant Bliss - but eat it ASAP so you get the crunch before it softens. The chocolate cakes are great as well.
Kusan Uyghur Cuisine
1516 N 4th St, San Jose, CA 95112, United States
We had the pleasure of ordering out from this restaurant last week. Ive heard about Uyghur food before but never did I imagine theres a restaurant so close to where we live.We had the opportunity to try it during SIP. We had ordered appetizers of sliced beef with sauce and the samsa. An order of the big plate chicken and a need noodle soup.The sliced beef appetizer was delicious. Its meant to be eaten cold. Thin slices of beef (maybe shank) with scallion, chili peppers/sauce, and cilantro. It was so herbaceous. The chili brought just enough heat to a cold side dish to balance out the flavors and temperatures. I gave that a 4/5. I think it could be a little saltier simply because I like the bold flavors.Next we had the samsa. Perfectly flaky pastry sprinkled with black and white sesame wrapped around a minced beef/lamb mixture. The meat was incredibly juicy while the crust was crisp and flaky. I thought it wouldve gotten soggy during the transport but I think we ate it just in time. 5/5.The big plate chicken... It was definitely a big plate. The braised chicken pieces were succulent and tender, potato just melted in the mouth, with slices of jalapeño peppers and dried red chilies cascading over some chewy knife cut noodles. That was SO good. It reminded me of a Chinese braised chicken dish that grandpa use to make but this was better because it had chilies in it to bring out the spiciness. Definitely another winner. We had ordered extra noodles so that there would be left overs the next day for lunch and it tasted even better the next day! 5/5Last was the beef noodle soup. Hubby said it almost tasted like a pho soup without the spices. The soup tasted very meaty. The thin round noodles were coated in the beef broth topped with thin slices of beef and daikon along with scallions. I gave that a 4/5 because I think it wouldve tasted better if we ate at the restaurant. By the time we assembled the noodles and soup into the bowls, it was luke warm. I can see potential in that soup if it was serve right out of the kitchen, piping hot...We definitely had fun trying a new cuisine we both have never tried before. Everything was good, some excellent! Will definitely go back.Remember to support small businesses! Youll want them around when the pandemic is over!
Must be Thai
3143 Stevens Creek Blvd, San Jose, CA 95117, United States
I have lived in thailand for 25 years of my life from 8 months to the age of 26. I am familiar with Thai food from every single region from northern chiang mai to southern food near malaysian border and to the east in Isarn region. The ambience of the place is relaxing and easy going. They have almost like a restaurant/canteen like decoration with a modern touch. They have a combination of benches with tables and chairs. The owners are extremely friendly, a common trait in thai people, the land of smiles :). First time I went was last year when they were just 3 months into their opening. I also then just went 6 months later and there food quality was the same. The menu is not super long and complicated. Its one page, easy to follow and divided into a few dishes across various regions in Thailand. This is the only Thai restaurant I have eaten in Bay Area so far that I consider taking authentic ingredients to make the dishes from scratch. Lets see the path thai. They are not using some ready made sauce that is for sure which many places do. They are taking the fish sauce, palm sugar and tamarind and making the path thai base from scratch. They use fresh shrimps which takes the dish to new levels, dont use frozen frozen shrimp. There tofu were good, not too mushy nor too hard. What I liked the most is the variation in Papaya Salad. I believe the owners are from the Isarn region of thailand near Laos. So these folks know how to make good papaya salad. So I ate three different variety of papaya salad including the Som Tam Thai, Som Tam Puu and Som Tam Lao. The style was authentic and very good. With it they give you fresh hot sticky rice. The staff are extremely nice and always doing their best to be attentive to you. I did not try their Hat Yai Fried chicken but I have seen others eat it and from the looks and smell I am sure its is good as I have eaten thousands of hat yai fried chicken in the streets of bangkok and even in hat yai also :). So they have put that dish together very good also. My only humble request is if they could use kosher or halal meat which would grow their customer base a lot more. To sum it up. This place is a honest effort at Thai food. It is run by a family and they run it with a smile. The menu has a good balance while being simple. The end product that comes out of the kitchen is fresh, flavorful and matches closely to what you will get in Thailand. I feel this place has potential to do better, even the path thai can be improved instead of using spring onions use garlic chives, use some sweet radish, a bit of dried prawns and add some bean sprouts also, like the way it is made in the streets of thailand. What the foreigners die for to eat in kao sarn street in bangkok. There are places in LA thai town that make it authentic as I am describing and even NYC. Those basics elements are missing BUT what I appreciate is they didnt put ketchup :) like some restaurants to do to give it a tangy sweet and color. So they ingredients are authentic but they miss some elements. The Isarn food is very good also. I am judging this restaurant in comparison to other restaurants in US including LA, NYC, Dallas and Seattle. In comparison to those places I would give this place a 4/5. But they definitely have everything in place to be rated 5/5 if they just up their game a bit with the recipe.
Fire Wings - San Jose
779 Story Rd #30, San Jose, CA 95122, United States
Excited to try this new place. It could have been great but fell short. Nothing horrendous but not really thinking I'll crave this later. The wings are TINY. we got Saigon and lemon pepper. The lemon no surprises there but the Saigon flavor needed improvement and in top of that it was barely covered in sauce so it basically was a naked chicken. When you did get sauce it just tasted like raw fish sauce and honey.The garlic noodles were a bit mushy lacking the chew it should haveThe chicken Sando was dryThe tater tots looked like they had sat under a heat lamp for awhile.A prob would be - all this was less then 40 which I guess Is good for the Bay Area. But I'm missing that big juicy wing from say bonchan, vons or 99. Even smoke eaters wings are normal sized.
Saigon Kitchen
1111 Story Rd #1005, San Jose, CA 95122, United States
Saturday, 1/20/2024 - Ate at Saigon Kitchen. Address is 1111 Story Rd, Ste 1005, San Jose, CA 95109 (East San Jose). Its located in the Asian plaza. There a little mall here. Plenty of free parking.Pros1) nice staffs2) has table covers. Clean.3) they provide each of us two paper napkins.4) foods are good. We got the medium fried catfish spring roll dish for $60. The escargot soup dish for $22. Kids pho for $14. Tea for 4 people for $10.00.5) clean bathroom.6) theres a fireplace in the middle of restaurant.7) they were very quick to process our tab when we got to the cashier counter.Cons1) our waiter never check in on us. Several times we needed extra items and had to keep looking for a server. Any server. We needed the condiment for the pho, there was none on the table. We needed an extra plate to eat the cat fish, we had to look for a server for help.2) they only provided a little cup with Sriracha sauce and oyster sauce. That was it.3) after we ate, they never brought the tab to us. We had to look for someone to ask for it.4) we had to ask someone for a to-go box to box our cat fish and sides home.ConclusionFried cat fish was good. I like the spring roll items and sauce that goes with it. Escargot soupy dish was good. But.... they dont check in on you. At all. You have to look for the server if you need anything. They dont have any pho condiments like how were use to in Sacramento and Fresno. This place was just okay. Meh. But good. Not bad.
Straits Restaurant
333 Santana Row #1100, San Jose, CA 95128, United States
Straits Restaurant in Santana Row is a great find! They offer delicious and authentic Singaporean and Malaysian cuisine. I recently tried their lunch special seafood green curry - it was fantastic! Paired with their Thai iced tea, it was the perfect complete meal ?.
Lion Market
471 Saratoga Ave, San Jose, CA 95129, United States
Somewhere along 2022:I had come to get some meat from this location and the clerk slammed the meat as it was going to get weighed out. From the way it was done, I was charged more than what it was worth. Another lady had ordered 1lb of ground meat and was shorted as well. I have been avoiding the meat area from this shop due to the fact that I felt cheated out of my money.NEW EDIT: 1/8/24I decided to come back and give the place a try again after 2 years. Im glad I made that choice today.I was in need of some quick groceries and ordered some meat. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the meat clerk who helped me did not slam the meat on the scale while weighing to print the ticket as the clerk who helped me before did. They patiently assisted me with choosing the select meats and gently weighed each item with a smile. This experience was a huge 180 degree turn in terms of service from the meat clerks at Lions.I originally vowed not to return after my previous experience there but this made me want to come back. Knowing that I wasnt being cheated on the scale and finding out that they had some rare produces/goods made for a positive experience.I found awesome fresh curry leaves and dried kaffir leaves in the store. It was also nice to see fresh flat rice noodles and grinded down frozen lemon grass (perfect for some lemongrass chicken!) as often times Id have to drive far to find these. Some bonus stuff is that they have Taiwanese beer, a beautiful selection of Filipino/malaysian/indonesian section, and a rad kitchen/earthenware cooking ware.Got sucked into buying some cheap but reliable kiwis knives (my 2nd pair!) As I love the brand due to its sharp edge.Overall this location has won my trust back and i will be coming back as a return shopper.