Cheap Eats 2007: Satay Sarinah

Reviewed by Cynthia Hacinli , Michele Kayal , Todd Kliman , Ann Limpert , Don Rockwell

Satay Sarinah

512-A South Van Dorn Street
Alexandria, VA
Phone: 703.370.4313

Cuisines:
Malaysian/Indonesian

Wheelchair Accessible:
Yes

Nearby Metro Stops:
None nearby

Price Range:
Inexpensive

Dress:
Informal

Noise Level:
N/A

Reservations:
Not needed

Special Features:
Kid Friendly

Website:
Click here to open in new window.


Indonesian cooking is unfamiliar to most Americans, one of the few Asian cuisines that has yet to cross over. This well-kept restaurant—the region’s best representative of the cuisine—has been on the scene since the mid-’80s, but eight years ago the owners shuttered the original Sarinah Satay House of Georgetown and decamped to an Alexandria strip mall.

The multipage menu will seem both familiar (curries, satays) and exotic (belinjo nut crackers, shrimp chips). The temptation is to order the rijsttafel, the five-course feast with the Dutch-sounding name and the Texas sense of scale. The dishes span the menu but are prone to unevenness. Better to put together your own spread. Try the sweet corn cakes called bakwan jagung; a Bogor-style batter-fried chicken; a coconut-milk-spiked chicken soup; an assertively spicy lamb curry; the fried rice called nasi goreng jawa studded with shrimp and bits of egg; and a beef satay, a standout with its roasted-coriander-seed rub and crackling edges.

The shrimp chips­? Called krupuk, they look like pink, misshapen rice cakes, and they’re utterly addictive.

Open daily for lunch and dinner.