Address:  75 Warf Street, Sowerby Bridge, Nr Halifax, HX6 2AF

Telephone number: 01422 834 314

Website: www.javavillagerestaurant.co.uk

Date of visit: 23 August 2011

Price guide: Cheap. Nearly everything is under £10 with the huge nan at £1.95

Comments on wine and beer: wines available at under £20 a bottle – nearly all screw tops. Good selection of bottled larger: Tiger, Singha, Cobra and Bintong.

Cuisine: Indian and Indonesian

Likes and dislikes: proper table cloth and napkin, food not bad, prices very reasonable but Indonesian food not on offer everyday.

Summary:

I was on my way into Halifax when I spotted this place on the main road advertising Indonesian and Asian cuisine (well, they don’t do Chinese and Indonesian is also in Asia). The Asian turned out to be the usual Indian with a few Punjabi dishes.

Well Halifax town centre was the gastronomic dessert that I remembered. 90% plus of the old buildings from the 60s are still there. The one “new” one belongs to Halifax (now Lloyds).

So, I went back to the Village. The menu said Village but the URL is Javavillage.

It is a pretty big building with a bar and seats on one side with a small dining area. The other side is a  dining room with tables well spaced apart. This room could easily accommodate up to 100 diners.

I was invited to sit in the bar area and choose my order. The menu is huge with easily over 100 dishes in both the Indonesian and Indian section. All the waiters were Indians – not a single Indonesian in sight. But then, there are restaurants in London with  a whole crew of Chinese chefs cooking European cuisine.

As I started to order, I was informed by the waiter that they only do Indonesian at the weekends! Why don’t they say so on the outside!

Anyway, I ordered a mix kebab (£2.95), meat samosa (£2.40), a chicken Madras (£5.50) and a nan (£1.95) with a large bottle of Cobra (£3.50 for 500ml).

I was then led into a dining room with white white table cloth and napkin – so civilised.

The meat samosa was good – finely minced lamb inside two “normal” size triangle pastry. The mixed kebab was pretty big. You get a piece of chicken tikka, a seekh kebab about the size of a jumbo sausage and a burger size and shape onion bajee. The seekh kebab was moist and heavily spiced, the tikka a bit dry and the onion bajee could be crisper. Both dishes were served with a “limp” side salad.

Then came the Chicken Madras – this was hotter than the ones you get down south. Best way to describe it is that it is Chicken Rogan Ghost (Murgh). The sauce was sweeter and saltier than I am normally used to. The nan was a revelation – soft and crisp at the edges and double the size you get down south.

I ordered another bottle of Cobra (small at £2.50) to finish off the meal.

The bill came to £18.80 without service and the service was good.

It was an OK meal but I came in for an Indonesian.

E

Address: 21 Great Windmill Street, London W1D 7LB

Telephone number: 0207 437 2745

Website: N/A. The melati  site on the web belongs to the other melati restaurant

Date of visit:  22 February 2010

Approximate cost per head: A la carte £20-£30. Set meal (pre-theatre) for around £10

Comments on wine list/beer: Very basic, stick to tiger beer

Summary:

This restaurant has been around for 30 years. They serve South East Asian food (Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore). The food tends to be on the spicy side.

Do not confuse this with the more “modern” and “pricier” Melati in Peter Street. They are not related.

The restaurant is arranged over 3 floors and is fairly cramped. When you enter you will be greeted by Jackie (the owne). You can’t miss her as she is always in a blue blouse whilst others are in black.

Ono of the most interesting and useless fact about Melati is that a lot of dishes are priced around £7.50 to £7.95 – starters and main course. These could be the owner’s lucky numbers!

They do a fantastic Chilli Crab which is not on the menu. There are usually 3 portions per day so the advice is to pre-order.

On the day we went, we had sate, Indonesian soup (soto madura), fried chicken with chilli and garlic (ayam bawang putih), nasi goreng and chow kway tew. The whole meal was washed down with several bottles of tiger beer and bill was £57 including service.

The soup was pleasant and tasted like a mild tom yum. Very lemony but no chillies. The chow kway tew and nasi goreng were mildly sweet as they use ketchup manis – sweet Indonesian soy sauce. Both were very pleasant.

Now the chicken fried with garlic and chilli is what I always order. It is a fantastic dish with crispy chicken blended with “hot” chilli slices and loads and loads of fried “dry” garlic which has also gone crispy. It is slightly on the oily side but it is a dish to die for.

Melati is not haute cuisine and the food is not presented in a “pictorial” manner but its good honest SE Asia food – very similar to “street food”. I have been coming here for 25 years and will continue to do so.

Eddie