Jun 23, 2013

Eats: Mama Yu - Indonesian Restaurant in Houston

David Buehrer, of Blacksmith, told me about this new Indonesian restaurant. It opened recently. Of course, I had to check it out. 

As you can see from the exterior shot, similar to Rice Bowl II, it actually doesn't advertise itself as an Indonesian restaurant rather, a Chinese one. I find it very sad Indonesian restaurants can't survive in Houston. It either has to market itself as a Chinese restaurant or in the case of now closed, Noodle 88, start selling sushi.  Why is that? Marketing? Location? It's not for lack of interest. I know, because I get asked if there's an Indonesian restaurant in Houston all the time! 

Anyway, enough rambling. I'm sure you're more interested on Mama Yu itself. 
Exterior
Homemade passion fruit soda
Mie bakso
Nasi pecel ayam
Nasi soto ayam
Limited Indonesian menu
Chinese menu

In my opinion, Indonesian dining can be divided into the following class - restaurant being at the top, followed by warung, and kedai second to bottom. Think of kedai as your fast food, serving mediocre food, kind of like old fashion taco trucks. That's how I would describe Mama Yu's food mostly because all the rice dishes we ordered came with just one or two items, not a complete meal with vegetables, etc. but, it's not family style either because each plate came with individual rice. The food itself was pretty authentic.

If dining there, they also have homemade passion fruit soda, young coconut drink (they were sold out when we went), and teh botol. 

Mama Yu
10815 Beechnut (and Wilcrest)
Houston, TX

3 comments:

  1. The price looks really reasonable. Will have to check it out. Thanks for the info, Yu.

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  2. The owners of Mama Yu are family friends of mine. I think the food is excellent, portions are generous, the rice is amazing and pretty authentic when it comes to Indonesian cuisine.

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  3. I was just there... it was yum. The sate padang is alright, biehong makes a better sauce though. Everything else was excellent.

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