I’ve been a Williamsburg resident for almost six years now, and yet, I don’t get the opportunity to eat here as often as you might think. Most of my time is spent hiking into the city (ok, it’s hardly a hike from here), and when I am in Williamsburg, I’m usually writing whilst sitting on my couch with no pants on. Aka, a lot of my money goes to my Seamless account.
That said, occasionally I find reason to get off the couch and put pants on. I had heard a lot of good things about Pasar Malam since I moved here, and hadn’t tried it until a week or so ago. Shameful, I know. The food is Malaysian, which carries influence from Malay, Chinese, Indian and Indonesian. It’s delicious and I definitely recommend making the trip over there for some of their pork ribs or the Drunk Man Noodle. Read on to see what you should be eating.
Satay Tandoori (Chicken) and Satay Babi (Pork)
Satay is meat on a skewer. I know it sounds like something pretty basic and boring, but I assure you, these were not. We chose chicken and pork, and they were both juicy and flavorful. The chicken is marinated in tandoori spices, and the pork is topped with peanut sauce and pineapple. Get these. All of them.
Malaysian BBQ Ribs
You don’t want these in your life, YOU NEED THEM IN YOUR LIFE. They are messy and delicious. I could have had them with a little less sauce, because I actually like the meat, but either way still a home run and I recommend you eat them immediately.
Indian Mee Goreng
I was a little unsure of what this was based on the description, so I’ll make it really easy for you: it’s lo mein. That’s what it looked like, at least. Taste was slightly different but still delicious. It’s egg noodles with tofu, shrimp fritter on the side (not pictured), sambal tomatoes and eggs. Nothing will cure your hangover better than this dish. Greasy in a good way. We wanted to order seconds.
Nasi Lemak
This is the national dish of Malaysia: coconut rice, achar salad, anchovy with peanut, shrimp anchovy, onion sambal, curry chicken, boiled egg, cucumber. It comes on a large platter with separate compartments for all of the aforementioned ingredients, and you can mix/match however you want. That said, the waiters were nice enough to give us some tips on what pairs best with what. And if I didn’t have the memory of a goldfish, I’d tell you what those pairings were. Guess you’ll have to find out for yourself! I can’t do EVERYTHING for you…jeez.
Soy Sauce Braised Pork Belly
Ok, so I honestly don’t like pork belly that much. Pause for reaction. I KNOW. I love bacon, I love pork, I love pork stuffed with bacon, etc. But pork belly is very fatty and I end up not really eating it so much as sucking on it a little and then spitting it out. Pause for inappropriate joke. So…we tried this dish anyway because it came highly recommended to us. If you like pork belly, it will probably blow your mind. It was tasty from a flavor perspective, but I still couldn’t really eat a lot of it. I found SOME meat on there, but it was minimal, so I would opt out of this one next time and go for something else. Perhaps the…
Bacon & Shrimp Toast. Now that is more my speed when it comes to pork products.
All in all, a great place in Williamsburg that’s a staple for a reason. They’re also on Grubhub, so you know, I may be ordering in from there whilst writing this without pants on…
Pasar Malam
208 Grand Street
718-487-4576
Grubhub link: Pasar Malam
Website: Pasar Malam
