3. Sky Cafe
The rather unassuming Sky Cafe was started by Lily Tjia in 2010 in Philadelphia. The New York location opened in 2014. Tija gained popularity for her cooking while preparing dishes for South Philadelphia’s growing Indonesian population, and she decided to open up a restaurant with the encouragement of her diners. Sky Cafe, which takes its name from her granddaughter Skylar, started with a small menu of dishes predominantly from her hometown of Medan in North Sumatra. Tija decided to move to Elmhurst and open a location in the neighborhood, leaving the Philadelphia spot to Skylar’s parents.
The small space, which has just about five tables, serves up starters like gado gado (vegetables and tempeh in a peanut sauce), pempek (fried fish cakes), and pansit goreng (fried wontons with ground chicken). Noodle dishes include varieties of mie goreng (stir-fried egg noodles commonly prepared with seafood), mie bakso (noodles with meatballs and chicken broth), and kari bihun (curry rice noodles with tofu skin, fish balls, and egg). There are nearly 20 rice dishes, such as nasi ayam goreng sambal (spicy green chili chicken), nasi udang sambal petai (shrimp with a stink bean chili), and nasi ayam bakar kecap (sweet soy sauce grilled chicken). Es teler is a popular dessert, consisting of mixed fruit with condensed milk and syrup.