See Us Eat: The Roti Round-up

Monday, February 05, 2007

The Roti Round-up

As loyal readers of our blog know, we've been obsessed with roti prata since our trip to Singapore in November. In order to rationalize our sinfully carby snack, we have decided to scour the Bay Area and come up with our first ever round-up.

A roti prata dish is composed of two components, the bready, buttery goodness and the oft overlooked but essential curry sauce. Accordingly, we will rank the competitors on those two dimensions.

The Contenders:

Borobudur, San Francisco

Straits Cafe, Burlingame

Banana Island, Daly City

Straits Cafe, San Francisco

Singapore Malaysia Restuarant

The Rankings:
Best Roti:
5. Banana Island (too sweet and too thin)
4. Straits Cafe, San Francisco (too dry and too expensive)
3. Straits Cafe, Burlingame (too thick)
2. Singapore Malaysia Restaurant (pretty good, but also a bit thick)

and the winner is...
1. Borobudur
Borobudur won for the perfect ratio of flakiness to stretch and lots of butter. It is also fairly filling for the price.

Best Curry:
5. Banana Island (too sweet and too creamy)
4. Singapore Malaysia Restaurant (not enough depth of flavor)
3. Straits Cafe, San Francisco (decent, but not special)
2. Borobudur (pretty darn good)

and the winner is...
1. Straits Cafe, Burlingame
Straits Cafe in Burligame has superior curry because it contains the perfect ratio of creamy coconutiness to spice and depth of curry flavor. The consistency is also great, latching onto the roti, without overpowering it.

Labels: comparisons, restaurant, review, Singaporean