Somehow I missed the bulletin that told me that finding a parking spot on a Saturday night in Crows Nest almost rivals finding one in Darlinghurst. Its a warm Saturday night and the last thing I feel like doing is cooking so we’ve decided on somewhere local-ish to try. Little do we realise that Crows Nest is in full swing, with every restaurant and cafe full of patrons. Sentosa is a Singaporean/Malaysian restaurant with a well loved Singaporean Chef in “Willy” (complete with mustachioed picture of him in the menu). We’re not particularly hungry tonight, more peckish so its two mains for us. Service is friendly, and we don’t have to wait long before they take our order. Alas, we tried to order the Laksa but they have just run out.
Our Beef Rendang ($17.90) arrives first, a fairly decent sized serving, aromatic of coconut. The beef is soft although not as fall apart soft as I’ve had and its gravy is rich in coconut, specifically dessicated coconut. If anything it needs lemongrass and ginger and the requisite spices. Here, while its very tasty and heady with coconut, it lacks the other dimension that the other spices and flavours give it. Heat wise, it is fairly hot but the coconut tempers this somewhat.
Our Sambal chicken ($19.80) arrives, colourful with chili and snowpeas. This is delicious, we both adore the sambal, a flavoursome mix of salty dried prawns, chili and a range of spices and flavours. The chicken breast is tender and small bite sized and the snowpeas give just the right amount of crunch. Indeed I could probably just order the Snowpea sambal happily for myself.
I am looking forward to dessert as I had heard that they do a good Gula Melaka (sago pearls in palm sugar and pandan syrup) but apparently desserts aside from plain ice cream are no longer served here which is a disappointment as I had saved some stomach room for this. We are given the complimentary orange slices and hot hand towels. Oh how I love these hand towels and wish every place gave you one. We are refreshed and well fed, ready for the long walk to the car.
Sentosa
48 Willoughby Road, Crows Nest
Tel: +61 (02) 9438 5526
Lunch until 3pm, dinner 6 – 10pm. Closed Sundays.
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2 Comments | Add your own
I love meat at the “fall apart” stage which is probably why I like “pulled” meat of any kind.. all lovely and soft and shredded. But having said that, I like a steak medium rare.. and my lamb pink etc. Pity about the beef hey?
My sister is always telling me about how they don’t go to so many eateries because they know parking will be a nightmare and impossible in some particular area. They often walk half an hour or more instead. I don’t think I’ve experienced that level of parking frustration before. I mean, I have walked a block or two or three.. but the way my sister describes it in Sydney.. she says you could be driving around for 40 minutes and still come up with nothing. Ridiculous hey?!
They used to live in the main street of Crows Nest there in an apartment that looked like was above a chemist? It could even have been Willoughby road? I can’t remember now.
Thanks for sharing more lovely food.. I’m in the mood for spices now
Hi Maria-Mmm yes pulled meat is delicious, I really like the Pulled Pork Quesadilla at Flying Fajita Sistas. As long as it’s moist and has sauce of course, I’ve had pulled beef at another Mexican restaurant which tasted like someone had cut up a Chux cloth-yuk!
Funnily enough, I do like my steak medium rare too-but perhaps both are the meat when it’s at its most tender?
Parking can be downright horrible in some areas, Darlinghurst/the city on a Saturday night is awful so we always leave plenty of time to find parking. However I was shocked to see the same things in Crows Nest, what I always thought was one of the quieter suburbs!
I hope your craving for spice gets satisfied-I always find that when I crave a flavour, I must have it-or else!
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