Malaysian Food in NYC

The last time I had roti canai was in 2010 when I journeyed to the home where I grew up to say goodbye to my late father.

Roti canai is a typical appetizer in Malaysian restaurants in the United States. In Malaysia, roti canai and a variety of roti are found in Indian-Muslim restaurants. It is like a flour tortilla except roti canai is made with ghee and is fluffy and crispy – like a cross between puff pastries and tortillas.

My late father’s favorite breakfast was “kopi susu” (coffee with milk) and roti canai with fish curry. I remember every weekend he brought back a bag of curry and a few pieces of roti canai wrapped in plastic and newspapers. My sisters and I would pour out the curry in a clear plastic bag into a large bowl and distribute the roti canai around the table. Sugar was added onto our roti canai on days when we felt like having sweet roti.

Finally after four years of not eating roti canai we found a Malaysian restaurant in a basement on Doyers Street in NYC Chinatown after walking out of a Chinese restaurant a few streets away.

Sanur Restaurant is a simple and cozy restaurant with dated décor and aroma of curry. They serve typical Malaysian and Indonesian foods found in restaurants outside of Malaysia and Indonesia. The name Sanur came from a beach in Bali Indonesia.

Our orders of roti canai, mee rebus, curry noodles, fried keow teow and Hokkien noodles with brown sauce came in less than 10 minutes, typical of most restaurants in Chinatown.

Hot tea was free and chopsticks and spoons were placed on the table in a metal container.

I would conclude the roti canai was not very authentic because of the sweetness. It was not a disappointment to me since it has been four years since I had one of my favorite foods.

Sanur’s mee rebus, which is a dish of yellow noodles, bean sprouts, cucumbers and fried tofu on thick spicy potato sauce topped with hard-boiled eggs and Hokkien noodles with brown sauce were two dishes that I would recommend in Sanur.

Dinner was really cheap in Sanur. It cost $27 for four. Roti canai $2.95, mee rebus $5.95, fried keow teow $5.95, curry noodles $5.50 and Hokkien mee $5.95.

I was overcome with nostalgia for my days eating roti canai and growing up in Malaysia. It’s nice to eat food that I know well and introduced them to my teens that have been to Malaysia and tasted the authentic roti canai everyday with my late father and I. I remember one of those days they “screamed” for cereal, bread and peanut butter. They had enough of roti canai in Malaysia but not in Sanur.

Location: Sanur Restaurant, 18 Doyers Street, NY 10013.