Spice Islands Indonesian Restaurant

It’s closed, so will never know. Too bad, been meaning to try it, especially since it’s won many accolades.

Lots of really nice dishes.

It’s been awhile since I was last there earlier in the year, so wasn’t memorable considering what one paid for the meal.
Tiger Prawns for $ 15, about 6, never mind the quantity, taste was just ok. Same for the appies, meat skewers, nothing special or different from other places.
Probably the sambal long beans were the best, a veggie dish! And boy, it was spicey, the way i liked it.
Very nice resto, white table cloths, surprising for the area, then again, it’s a stoney high end area once you get to Dunbar area ;)
small resto, and the service was actually quite good, he came regularly to refill water glasses and sure knew his menu.
but not worth a repeat.
Limited parking on W.41^st.

The service was nice enough (though very butler-​esque) and the food was tasty but portions small especially for the price… however the thing I disliked here was that you had to pay for krupuk & sambal… that’s like going to a western restaurant and having to pay for the bread and butter they serve you before your meal, or ordering Chinese and having to pay for the fortune cookies and soy sauce… etc.
An expensive restaurant like this can at least give you SOMETHING when waiting for your meal without you having to pay for it, and since those two things are the Indonesian staple I would expect to get them for free with my meal.

Great for a novice. A little pricey though for the portions. Great service. very friendly

This is a 2.5 rating.
My Mom is Dutch so I am a veteran of many a rijsttafel in the form of maternal family potlucks. I was really hoping to find a restaurant facimile to indulge my Indonesian food cravings, but alas, I will still have to keep looking.
We ordered the rijsttafel for the table ($ 35 per person) and sides of Krupuk and Nasi Goreng. We explained that we wanted the food spiced for an Indonesian palette and what we got instead was a very mild rendition. The owner was very personable and came to our table to check in with us often and even brought us his secret stash of sambal oelek to try and spice it up but it was too little too late. Frankly the portion sizes were quite small, the food was subpar and the peanut sauce on the gado gado was a thing of nightmares.
If you don’t know Indonesian food you MIGHT find the food enjoyable but your wallet will be a lot lighter and you would probably be far more satisfied at any number of asian food restaurants.

«MEH» is right. Although the chef came out and was super nice, his food was not. If you want good food in Vancouver, stick with the Chinese food. The place is tiny and dark as well.

There is a limited selection of Indonesian restaurants in Vancouver, so I wanted to really like this place. I was a bit suspicious based upon the location since the quality of Asian food in Vancouver seems to be inversely proportional to how far West or North you go in the city (with a few notable exceptions). I was hoping Spice Islands would be one of those unique gems. But I left with the feeling of, «It is ok I guess, but could be a lot better.»
The head chef, Joseph Boon, is an Indonesian-​Chinese born in Indonesia and raised in Indonesia and Holland. Ok, that is a good start. He and his sous-​chef, Grace Yu, use seasonal ingredients and make most of their own sauces. Ok, that is another positive.
I was a bit worried when the waiter suggested that you can get things at a spiciness level of 1 – 3 stars, which in his words, are on a Canadian spice range and 4 if you want Indonesian spiciness. This was a real dilema — «Do I adjust for the Vancouver West factor or not!!!» If the spice levels are «real» then 3 would be fine for me. But if they are adjusted for Vancouver West, then I would need a 4.
I’m a chicken after an experience with an Indonesian chef that once offered me a spicy curry that had me drinking gallons of water and placing sugar on my tongue to cool it off for several hours I didn’t want to tempt fate (and I like spicy food), so opted for the «spiciest Canadian» level of 3. Canadians are a bland bunch apparently (at least this far West in Vancouver). I should have «risked it.» Dishes had mild hints of spice. Normally Indonesian food has a lovely blending of unique spices (not all hot — just flavorful complex profiles), and I just didn’t get that here.
We ordered a wide range of the menu to sample a variety of their offerings. The roti prata was overly greasy. There are better renditions of it available at Chili Padi, Prata Man, and even Prima Taste and several other places around town that get the roti out of the fryer so it isn’t soaked in oil as much. The curry sauce was pleasant, but didn’t have any «kick» to it. I much prefer other offerings around town on this front too.
I was really looking forward to a good gado gado. But what came was more of a Western style salad with some fusion hints of gado gado. It was very disappointing for gado gado, but would be satisfying as a salad course at a fusion restaurant. The produce was fresh at least.
Also had the Gulai Udang (prawn curry), which was bland. I missed the complex spices I have had in this dish before. My guess would be that the shrimp were frozen previously based on their texture. The sambal green beans were also bland. I don’t think I have ever put those two words in a sentence together before (sambal and bland). But alas sadly I have to.
I should clarify that the blandness isn’t just the level of heat for me. It is the complexity of the flavour profiles, and they just weren’t there for me.
Ok, so you know what I think about the food. And now let’s turn to the price. It came out to about $ 35/​person. Not good value for the money in my opinion. I imagine the feast I could have for two people for that price if I just go further East in Vancouver, and considering that overall I was pretty disappointed, I don’t see myself returning anytime soon. I am sad.