Lunch at the Straits Cafe

Fedora and I had a tasty lunch at the Straits Restaurant at Santana Row while Wilson and Michelle took the kids to the Children's Discovery Musuem. The atmosphere is modern, chic, and airy. The food was better than the other Singaporean restaurant I've been to recently (Shiok! in Menlo Park) -- though more pricey as well.

From their small plates menu (which you can see on their Web site), we had

• Roti Prata: the day's hands-down winner. Great Indian bread, generous portions, and tasty coconut curry dipping sauce.
• Tahu Goreng: ok but not spectacular. The tofu was not as crisp as I would have liked, but the cucumbers, bean sprouts and sauce were a good complement.
• Mee Goreng: tasted more Malaysian than Indian, but was satisfying nonetheless. Fedora thought she tested ketchup -- quite possible, as it was very tomato-y.
• Mango, Avocado and Shrimp Salad: this was from their "Island Brunch" menu so it might be seasonal. But it featured a fantastic sauce for the barbequed shrimp. The avocado and mango salad was served as a tower and it was a great complement to the shrimp. Overall, this was very reminiscent of a recipe they did on America's Test Kitchen recently (Crab Towers with Avocado and Gazpacho Salsas).

We didn't have room for dessert at the restaurant, but did manage to have a light Japanese-style strawberry cheesecake (just the right richness) and a mocha cake (curiously sweet) at L'epi D'or in Cupertino, a Taiwanese bakery I've been curious about ever since I read an article on Asian bakeries in the San Jose Mercury News.