Asian Taste 86

I tried this place because my indo friend said it was authentic and I must say, the food I ordered was great! I had shrimp rolls, nasi goreng, and noodles (E10 i think on the menu) — huge/​generous portions and full of flavor.
However, I’m only giving it 3 stare because this place really lacks in its customer service and efficiency. I ordered a thai iced tea and though it tasted great, it as mostly ice! Also their décor is really dirty and they don’t seem clean :(
I’d say if you’re not picky, this is a go!

Stumbled across this place. Had the beef jerky combo with the tamarind soup. Very tasty and the service was great too. If I’m near here again, I will come back and try something else on the menu.

I took my parents here for a quick bite. They are very Indonesian and they were very impressed by the food. We had Gado Gado which was a big portion for an appetizer and then Beef Rendang and Mie Ayam Pangsit. It was delicious especially when you are craving for a home cook meal and your parents are to weak to cook anymore Anyway, not to forget the Es Cendol & Jonkon Pandan we had before our meal… uh yup we did lol! It was way too good to wait hahaha. Thanks for the service, it was great! And definitely see you soon!

The fried rice dish nasi goreng is the national dish of Indonesia, and despite the restaurant’s generic name, Asian Taste does it justice. Incredibly flavorful thanks to the shallot, garlic, and chili, with the heat balanced by the lightly caramelized rice. There’s also a little undercurrent of brine from the shrimp paste, and while I typically hate shrimp paste, it doesn’t overpower the dish.

Been here twice already. I have two reasons:
1) it costs less than other Indonesian restaurants on the nieghborhood,
2) I knew some of their waiter already!
And somehow I always order between these two: Ayam Penyet and Nasi Empal, although there’s lots of Indonesian food to offer. Ah, another useful tip: try their desserts! it’s suitable to cool down your tongue since some of the food might be spicy for some. If you claimed yourself an adventurous eater then stop by Asian Taste 86. Definitely worth it.

Thoroughly enjoyed my beef rendang with kale (vegetable of the day) pan fried tofu and coconut rice (replacement for the trad egg, which I don’t eat). The rendang wasn’t the highly concentrated, cooked down curry that I’ve read it’s supposed to be, but it was rich, tasty and only slightly spicy – something like a ²⁄₁₀. Loved the spicing of the kale. Tofu was light and tasty; rice coconuty and tender.
Second visit I tried the shrimp nasi goreng (fried rice), which came with shrimp crackers. Flavor of the rice was just ok, and the shrimp, while plentiful, really didn’t have much flavor. The crackers has a good synergy with the rice – made it tastier – but were a bit greasy and a soggy in the center. Like Vlecha H. there was some problems with special requests. Asked for a little bit of spice, got a ⁵⁄₁₀ level. Asked them to not put in fried egg, which they did, but it was easy enough to separate out. For fellow gluten tolerant people, note that there are bits of wheat noodles among the rice nasi goring.
For desert I tried their pandan leaf drink: brown sugar with what the server said was coconut milk but which had a thick consistency verging on gooey; combined with green pandan liquid which didn’t have a discernible flavor. Not to my taste.
Second visit’s made me reduce my rating by one star, but will return to try more.

This is the place i will go when i am in the city. Their food are great, taste just right. The service okay, but i don’t know why, its so hard for them to make my order right. 4 times ordering, 3 times they just not making it right.
I ordered nasi goreng 86 boiled egg on the side, no scrambled egg, extra spicy, it came out with no spicy at all and eggs still there!
A little disapointed since i am not living in NYC and bringing back the wrong-​cooking food. On top of that, the food was for someone elses.
For people who has allergic to specific food, and ordering take out, please check before you leave the restaurant.

The oxtail soup was phenomenal, the broth was complex and satisfying. Tilapia fillet with chili sauce was crisp and delicious. The waiter/​manager was warm and attentive. Very chill atmosphere.

I have been coming here several times over the years because: 1. It is near my house, 2. The Indonesian dishes are slightly better than others in the neighborhood.
Pros:
Nasi Goreng — ample portion, tasty with the option to have the dish made extra spicy, according to what you can handle. I like that there are bits of fried noodle in the dish.
Sayur Asem — you see, I usually do not go crazy over Sayur Asem but I LOVE the way Asian Taste prepares it. The soup carries the right balance of sour and sweetness. I can just order this with a side of rice and I am set!
Steak Java — perhaps this is not a typical Indonesian dish, however the soy sauce that it’s paired with is something that Indonesians use on their satays/​lontong/​etc.
Sop Buntut — flavorful but cheap on the contents. They are always recommending the SOTO Buntut (more expensive) over the Sop Buntut, but I honestly can’t tell much of a difference between the two dishes.
I really like the hot sauce they put on the Batagor, HOWEVER, I am a bit disappointed that they added too many french fries that the dish no longer feels like a Batagor. more like Fries w. Indonesian Hot Sauce. Batagor is a dish consisting of fish cakes, tofu, fried wontons, and sometimes hard boiled eggs. I can’t say the Batagor from this place can be fairly labeled as a Batagor because the amount of fish cakes is not proportionate to the french fries! I could count with one hand just how many fish cakes they actually put on this dish. You may be able to fool the non Indonesians, but you can’t fool us. Adding a decent amount of the fish cakes would make this dish more respectable and desirable.
I can do without their Ayam Penyet and Pecel Lele. Also, stay away from their Calamari Steak. You can get a better one from a real Japanese restaurant.
Overall — if you need your Indonesian food fix, this place is not bad at all. Some dishes are better than others, though, so be mindful with what you choose from the menu.

Good portions, but price fluctuate pretty fast than other joint.

Finally popped my Indonesian Cuisine’s cherry!
For those of who you strolls through Elmhurst, this is one of those places you’ve definitely walked-​by but never thought anything more of. But next time, have a double-​take!
My Indonesian friend highly recommended me to try their ‘Grilled Chicken’ and it was the best decision I made that day. The chicken had a light taste of curry, not what I expected at all, but who cares, it was so tasty! I realized many of their dish platters came with some sort of spicy bean paste? My friend said to add some sweet soy paste into it and then mix. I LOVE. (Sort of reminded me of Viet food where you add sriracha with oyster sauce, but Indonesian is this spicy bean paste with another sweet soy paste.)
Their ‘Takoyaki’ was good, but the sauce they used was a little sour for me. The ‘Fish Cake’ was so interesting… but definitely delicious, I loved the chewy texture and the lightly fried exterior.
I’m a fan. Great food for great value! Beware, seating is VERY limited.

The name of this restaurant is really misleading — sounds like an Asian fusion place. But their Indonesian food is very authentic and delicious. I had yellow chicken soup, which is very well spiced and very hearty.

We ordered Javanese steak, sop kambing, tahu tempe penyet and batagor. The batagor is such a disappointment. They should feel ashamed serving that and claiming it batagor. It’s basically a plate of thinly sliced fish cake, fried tofu and 2 pieces of fried wonton skin, topped with french fries (yesss french fries. Since when batagor comes with french fries). The pretend peanut sauce is a joke too. Sop kambing and steak are overprice. This is our first visit and we’re definitely not coming back.

I always walk by this street but was iffy to try any of the restaurants because they seem like take out fast food restaurants and it’s not located on a main street such as Broadway. But we decided to give it a shot after walking by here and seeing many locals eating here.
We ordered the gado gado, nasi goren and the nasi rendang. The gado gado was pretty good but a little bit too salty. It contains lettuce, tempeh, tofu and a soft boiled egg covered with peanut sauce. It was topped with shrimp chips. The tempeh was a little odd. At first I thought it was pork, but the texture of it was very soft and found out it was tempeh after my boyfriend googled what gado gado is. It was also a little bit bitter. Other then the tempeh, everything else was good.
The nasi goren however was delicious! It’s fried rice that was super shrimpy and flavorful and a little bit spicy, as we had specified. Like what everyone else mentioned, this is the dish I would go back for. I just wish it had more meat or proteins though. It’s quite a carb overload, and only contained very little shredded chicken on top.
The nasi rendang was just too salty. The veggies which seemed to be stewed in spices was salty that I didn’t even eat it all. The beef rendang was on the small side. It was also extremely salty, but it was tender. I had the coconut rice and it didn’t really taste like it, and I would have expected more especially since it was a dollar extra.
The other stuff on the menu seemed pretty good and I might come back, after trying the other Indonesian restaurants right next door. I noticed that there were many regulars.

I’m originally from Indonesia and can happily confirm that this place is quite authentic. Quite surprised that within the same block, there are two Indonesian restaurants. Sky Café being the more recent addition (talking about knifing business competition).
Gado Gado — I really like the tangy, and not overtly sweet, peanut sauce $ 7.
Mie goreng — must have. I wish they put more meat inside $ 8.5.
Fried catfish — moist and goes perfectly with the sambel terasi (indonesian chili sauce you must try if you can handle heat). $ 9.5.
There is only one server upfront so service can get a little slow. There are of regulars (ordered in Indonesian) here which is a good sign.

4.5 Stars!
This restaurant is very small with only about 5 tables. Most of the items on the menu are Indonesian. What’s great about the menu is that it provides detailed descriptions of each dish. It’s definitely very helpful for anyone who is not familiar with Indonesian cuisine.
We got the empek empek for appetizer, mie goreng Jawa, & mie ayam pangsit for our main dish. Empek empek is a fishcake served with yellow noodles and a dark, spicy, rich sweet & sour sauce. Mie goreng Jawa is a fried noodles, Javanese style with shredded chicken, eggs, & veggies. The mie ayam pangsit is basically a noodle with diced chicken, fried dumplings, steamed dumplings, & a meatball soup on the side.
They were absolutely delicious! We love them! Indonesian dish can be seriously spicy so if you can’t handle spicy food, make sure you tell them. They can adjust the spicy level according what you want.
The place looks clean. The service was good. Our server was friendly & polite. The portion is generous. Each of us got one appetizer, one main dish, & we were definitely full. There was not enough for us to order desserts.
If you like Indonesian food or if you simply love spicy, flavorful, type of food or maybe if you just want to try something new, give this place a try. It’s definitely worth it! We love it! We’ll definitely go back!

This is a very small, unassuming place that serves, in my opinion, quite authentic Indonesian food. Though, I will have to take my father here to verify, as he is actually Indonesian. The menu provides descriptions and lists ingredients of what is in each dish, which I find very helpful. It even provides pictures for some of the dishes.
Shrimp roll — This is a fried egg roll with a whole shrimp on the inside and served with sweet plum sauce. This was brought out with out entrees instead of as an appetizer, but it makes for a good snack.
Nasi Goreng — This was the reason why we came here and I highly recommend ordering this dish. The Nasi Goreng is an Indonesian fried rice flavored with shrimp paste with strips of chicken and sliced eggs scattered on top. Very spicy and flavorful. I love adding shrimp paste in fried rice. You can order this to be mild or on the more spicy end. It also comes with a side of prawn crackers and pickled cucumbers.
Nasi Rendang — The portion of beef rendang was on the small side. The beef itself was also slightly dry, but the sauce part was what rendang should taste like. I ordered coconut rice instead of white rice, but there was not enough flavor in the coconut rice. Might as well have gotten the white rice. My father makes this dish quite often, and I must say he does make it better, but still I enjoyed this dish.
I also ordered a Coconut Juice w/​Coconut Meat, which I felt was watered down, maybe from too much ice.
It’s hard to get Indonesian food in NYC, but Elmhurst seems to be the place to go. Looking forward in coming back to trying more dishes.

Though Asian Taste 86 rests under the banner of «Asian Fusion», its menu is quite Indonesian-​centric. We ventured one night out of our usual 3-​block radius in Elmhurst and walked down Whitney Avenue and came upon this restaurant for dinner.
To start, we had their calamari, and I would definitely steer you in another direction. I’ve not had many bad calamari experiences, but this may have been the first. I was surprised that these were a bit hard and crunchy, and lacked any breading or panko crust that gives it that extra kick in flavor and texture. These chewy morsels were not very good.
Luckily, I ordered their fried rice dish (NASI GORENG) and that was infinitely better than the appetizer. There was a very distinct and delicious flavor profile to this dish, and the strands of fried noodle that were found dispersed within the fried rice was a nice little touch, too. I really enjoyed this and would certainly come back for this alone.
The bf had the tamarind soup with a side of fried fish, rice, and some sort of tempeh patty. He was not given a warning that the red sauce that accompanied this dish was deathly spicy and unfortunately, his dinner was marred as a result. He soldiered through the meal, avoiding the death sauce, and made it out alive, but I could clearly see he did not like 50% of the meal. The soup was decent, but the fish (extremely salty), and the tempeh were very unpleasant. He must have downed 5 glasses of water and a few cans of tea (chrysanthemum) to quell the heat from the sauce. It was that spicy.
On service, the young woman who seems to be manning the small restaurant all on her own, maybe could have used an extra pair of hands. It was difficult to get her attention as she was running from the kitchen back to the tables and I actually had to flag her down a few times, which was slightly annoying.
I hear there are better Indo restaurants in the neighborhood, but I haven’t had the chance to discover them yet. In the meantime, I’d like to give Asian Taste 86 another chance, or at least, go back for that yummy fried rice dish (I think it’s called!
3.5 Stars.

The service here is spectacular. The our hostess and waitress was actually the daughter of the owners of the restaurant. She was upbeat and freindly. We also had a second guy help in with our orders. He was friendly as well.
Food ordered:
Appetizer: fried calamari
Entrees: spicy chicken teriyaki
Curry
Desserts: crêpe cakes: coconut & green tea
Receiving attention from two persons actually worked out very well. It helped to fill in the wait time.
Ordered the spicy chicken teriyaki. It is served over rice. WARNING! very spicy flavor. I thought it was just on the chicken but boy was I wrong.

It’s exactly what the stars mean, Meh. I’ve experienced better.
The food overall was very salty and dry. It also didn’t help that our waitress didn’t really care much providing good service.
1. Ayam Penyet was really dry. Think chicken jerky dry. Also, we ordered this without rice as we asked waitress if we could substitute rice with something else. She said we’ll get more tofu. All we had was 2 pieces of tofu in addition to the chicken. We still paid full price. I didn’t want to say anything to the waitress because she didn’t seem like she was all there.
2. Spicy Chicken Teriyaki was okay. It was spicy, but that was it. Not much of other flavors and it has coked cabbage without much flavor. It was also very salty.
3. Mie Ayam Pangsit was a big disappointment. Noodles were okay, but the broth was salty, the dumplings were burnt with barely any fillings. It just looked big because of the lettuce leaf in the bowl. What a terrible experience.
There is another Indonesian restaurant on the same block and the food tastes much better there and cheaper in my opinion. I probably wouldn’t go back because of the slow service and food that was practically nothing more than «meh».