Skyway Cafe

In an effort to expand my food horizons, I decided to try a type of cuisine that was new to me: Malaysian. Malaysian food is influenced strongly by neighboring Indonesia and Thailand, as well as by China and India. Because of this, even though I had never eaten Malaysian before, many of the items on the menu at Skyway Café seemed at least slightly familiar to me. I wandered into the restaurant around 1pm on a Thursday, after a somewhat disorienting journey through the lower part of Chinatown.

It couldn’t have been more than two seconds after I walked in the door when 2 waitresses swooped in on me, seated me, and brought me my own steaming pot of tea. I looked over the menu, and was shocked to see that the lunch special was actually only $3.75! I had seen that price online, but assumed it was outdated. I decided to try out one of their appetizers since my lunch would be so cheap, and settled on the Roti Canai($1.95), which is an Indian style pancake that Skyway serves with a chicken curry on the side. For my lunch, I ordered the chicken with ginger and scallions. All of 5 minutes later, my food emerged from the kitchen! Talk about lighting fast service! I started with the Roti Canai, which I could tell had just been pulled off the stove.

The bread was so super flaky and sweet, I almost didn’t want to dip it in the curry! The first bite of the curry was amazing; I could really taste the coconut, the turmeric, and the chili, which are some of my favorite flavors. As I kept eating however, the saltiness of the curry became wayyy too overpowering, and I had to switch to my lunch dish. It was a shame it was so oversalted, because the flavor combo in the curry was phenomenal. My lunch dish was absolutely loaded with green onion, ginger, and chicken, and was still steaming hot when I started into it.

The vegetables were fresh and crispy with a light sauce that had a flavor that I couldn’t quite place, although I did recognize turmeric and chili again. The chicken was ok, but I feel like it may have needed a little bit more cooking time, no small wonder when you think about how quickly my food came. I only managed to finish half of my dish before I got incredibly full, and actually had to take leftovers home from a $3.75 meal. Awesome! All in all, while the curry in the Roti Canai was too salty and the chicken in my lunch was slightly undercooked, the meal was awesome. I’m eager to go back again and try some of the noodle dishes out, which are apparently their specialty.
Address: 11 Allen St, New York 10002
Phone: (212) 625-1163
Average Price: Lunch $3.75, Dinner $5-13
Grade: B