Sky Cafe
“We especially loved the texture and garlicky flavor of the noodles in the mie komplit and the broth and jackfruit in the the lontong sayur.”
“My friends and I tried a couple rice dishes (nasi) and a rice cake soup (lontong sayur).”
“Dishes consumed so far are gado gado, nasi lemak ayam, nasi pecel ayam goreng, nasi campur rendang, mei komplit.”
Sky Cafe
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$ Price range Under $10
8 reviews
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On Whitney Ave in Queens I have seen several Indonesian places over the years. This place has been about here two years but I just recently went there. My friends and I tried a couple rice dishes (nasi) and a rice cake soup (lontong sayur). All the entrees here are only around $7-$8 with generous portion sizes.
Indonesian rice dishes are a nice treat for the adventurous person. They all come with several items on the side such as curried pickles, anchovies, a spicy hard boiled egg, or curry. I expected the longtong sayur's rice cakes to be like Chinese rice cakes but they were more solid, more like rice balls. The soup itself was very tasty.
In fact, all the food here tasted very fresh and was bursting with sour, salty and spicy flavor. Our waiter was very cool too.
When I heard Mie Jakarta had closed down, I was heart broken. But now another Indonesian restaurant has popped up in the same location so my heart has healed!
The space is still small, although it looks like they might be opening a basement level in the future. The bathroom is located downstairs, where you have to go outside, down the stairs, into the basement and all the way back. It's a little odd.
The menu showcases typical Indonesian meals such as Gado Gado (steamed vegetables in peanut sauce), Satay Ayam (skewered grilled chicken with peanut sauce) and Beef Rendang (beef curry). I loved that they offered three types of chili sauces (aka sambal), including my favorite – Belacan, which is a sambal with shrimp paste so it's a little more potent and salty. Each dish ranges from $6-$10 and none are heavily portioned so ordering family style is a good way to go! We ordered several apps and entrees and between the 4 of us, the bill came to $47.
The one thing I wish they could add to the menu (which Mie Jakarta offered) are some traditional Indonesian drinks but could also be a dessert time, such as Es Cendol. Sky Cafe is still new so I'm hoping they might add this in the future!
This spot is CASH ONLY so don't forget to come on an empty belly and plenty of dolla dolla bills in your wallet.
I used to go to the Sky Cafe in Philadelphia and know that noodles are their specialty. I think they had a rough start but my experience yesterday was great.
As always, we ordered too much but somehow were able to finished them all.
Gado Gado – indonesian salad with peanut sauce. Note, they boiled some of the veggie and the peanut sauce is slightly warm, just how like they serve it in Indonesia.
Empek empek – deep fried fish cakes inside a vinegary sweet and spicy soup with noodles. Not the best I've had but I like the sauce. Note – super spicy soup.
Mi Komplit – the highlight. The noodle is vey different and unique to noodles in the Medan region in Indonesia. Very close to the version I used to have from home. This dish is the one that will bring me back here.
Catfish rice plater – comes with coconut rice, fried tofu and Tempe. The sambel terasi makes the dish. Pretty decent but the restaurant two doors down makes it better I think.
Service is very 'ramah' (friendly) and efficient. You have to go outside and down a steep flight of stairs to get to the restroom. I find that odd but it is very clean.
If they are able to keep this standard, I think this restaurant will break the telltale curse of this location.
I believe it is hard to find a better deal than the $5 nasi uduk served here. $5 for coconut rice and four sides! And other dishes I tried are all cheap and delicious.
I'm reluctant to review Sky Cafe because the food was so delicious and authentic that I just don't want to share this spot with others. If my friend had not recommended this spot, I never would have even known if its existence. It is so easy to walk by here without ever going in. Upon entering, I was overwhelmed with the smell of spices. The smell made me feel almost as if I were in someone's kitchen at home.
House Style Salad- Delicious! The salad is huge and should probably be shared between 3-4 people. I especially liked the peanut dressing.
Curry mie hoon- The curry was delicious. This dish doesn't come with rice, but I would recommend ordering an extra side of rice to pair with this dish.
Nasi Lemak Ayam Goreng / Sky's Coconut Rice Fried Chicken – The chicken was crispy, but slightly dry. This dish was my least favorite, but the spicy sauce was delicious.
Mie Seafood / Seafood Homemade Egg Noodles- This was delicious! It came in a generous portion of both noodles and seafood. This is a must try dish!
The service was good and the food was delicious. I will definitely be returning to try more of their dishes!
I have eaten Indonesian Snack before, but this was the first serious Indonesian meal. I chose Indonesian because I have heard about Nasi Goreng (Indonesian Fried Rice).
I chose here because of good review. Our server was friendly. The pricing was very reasonable. Most of entree are under $10. I ordered Nasi Goreng special. The server asked how spicy I want. I ordered mild. The fried rice contains chopped shrimp, chicken and fish cake. It was good and as I heard Japanese people talk about this dish, it was Japanese people's taste friendly. I liked sliced tomato, cucumber and shrimp cracker was on the side. Tomato and cucumber was not seasoned, but the rice has strong flavor, the simple slices were refreshing. Shrimp crackers were fried, but not so greasy and good. I want to eat them for snacking, too.
I had chicken on skewer with peanuts sauce for appetizer. It was flavorful, but little bit too sweet for me.
I tasted my boyfriend's fired chicken with coconuts rice, tempeh, fried tofu and spicy sauce. Fried Chicken was dry and bland. Coconut rice was fragrant and interesting. It was white seasoned rice, but I felt like I was eating Indian curry. Tempeh was fried and had a good aroma of soy bean. Fried Tofu was okay. The spicy sauce came in small container. It tried only little bit, but it was very spicy. It tasted like a Filipino restaurant's shrimp paste's spicy version. So I think this sauce was made of tiny tiny shrimps. My boyfriend didn't like the sauce at all although he likes spicy food.
They also sells sweet and savory snacks on the shelf. For example, pineapple cookies, shrimp cracker, anchovy and nuts cracker. I think they are not making these in the restaurant. They are buying from Indonesian bakery. Pricing of snacks I saw were $5 -$11.
I was a proud patron of the Sky Cafe Philadelphia back when I lived there. I've been craving to go there ever since they announced the opening of New York branch, but finally got a chance to go there last weekend! As expected, the food is just as awesome!
It's a bit of a walk from the subway station, but definitely worth it. It's a small place on a curve of a street, but they have distinctive red awning saying "Sky Cafe" so you can't miss it. It's a small hole-in-the wall place, slightly smaller than the Philly one, but it makes the atmosphere very friendly and intimate.
My non-Indonesian boyfriend bravely ordered "Mie Ayam" on his own, and boy, he fell in love with it. As usual, I ordered my favorite "Lontong Sayur" to complement the rainy day outside. If we weren't heading for a major basketball event afterwards, I would had been ordering other dishes to-go to bring back home in Bergen County, NJ. Maybe I'll come back to Elmhurst one day, specifically just to order food and grocery shop =)
Came back last night to have my boyfriend try some more Indonesian dishes. We started off with batagor and gado2 for appetizers. He wanted the gado2 because he fell in love with it when my grandma made some from him.
To my disappointment, both the gado2 and the batagor did not deliver. There were more tofus than fishcakes in the batagor and the sauce lacked flavor. Their gado2 was not any better. Why would you use American lettuce in an Indonesian dish. Just did not fit. Sure the portion was big, BUT we could not even finish it because well..we did not want to. It just was not good.
My mie komplit was meh. Props to them for handmaking their own noodles, but as a lover of noodles, it hurts me to say that I preferred Boky or ramen noodles over Sky Cafe's. My boyfriend enjoyed his ikan balado but the fish was too crispy. At first, it looked like it barely had any meat!
On a more positive note, the server was cool. Unfortunately, I won't be returning unless someone else is paying. Sad to say what they served was an insult to the Indonesian cuisine. I felt the need to apologize to my boyfriend after the meal.