Located in the old Dona Cata location on Victoria Drive (near Kingsway), this new family run restaurant serves authentic home-style Indonesian food. Of dishes we ordered, my favourite was the Beef Rendang - the spicing was nuanced, and the beef was meltingly tender. It could have had more chili heat. We ordered it "hot" but it was "mild" to my tastes.
Other dishes worth ordering are the Laksa Ayam (which could have been hotter as well), the black rice pudding, and the tofu salad. Using the Beef Randang as my litmus-test - I can safely assume that their curries and stews will also be flavourful and authentic - albeit toned down for Western tastes. Their Roti Canai was a bit dense...lacking the requisite lightness and flakeyness.
The pricing is decent. They have "Rice Tables" - really more like combos than true rijstafels - starting from $7.50 to $8.25. Compared to Seri Malaysia on Hastings St - the servings are smaller and the prices are higher. Also, Seri Malaysia serves much more pungent and more authentic tasting dishes, in my opinion. Sweet Chile Cafe definitely pulled some punches on the spicing....still good, but could have had more of the dried and fermented seafood notes.
I do have one other quibble: They serve all their dishes on plastic plates and use plastic utensils. It cheapens the experience and it isn't very eco-friendly. I gave them my disapproval verbally...hopefully, they will stop using disposable settings.
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