Sabang

It’s a large banquet hall sort of space, with the ubiquitous asian lacquer decor. The food was abundant, service was ok, and they accomodated our group of 11 without a hitch.

But the food was bland and lacking in spice or depth, with the notable exception of the beef rendang.

Sabang is to Indonesian what most Chinese restaurants are to Chinese: a mere ghost of the real thing. After sampling many dishes during a rijstaffel here, I can report the following: the fish and seafood dishes tasted fishy (in an unpleasant way), the chicken that’s fried then served in a sauce had a weird texture, the beef rendang rocked the casbah, the eggrolls were laughably mediocre (and the peanut dipping sauce tasted like sweet peanut butter), a noodle dish was brown and muddy tasting), and the satay was okay.

The whole experience, including decor, made me feel all too keenly why I don’t usually like Chinese food.

Conclusion: if I’m craving rendang, I’ll be back for carryout.