Satay Indonesia

the Satay Indonesia food cart is a hidden gem of Portland! It’s hands down my absolute favorite in town. It’s rare to find Indonesian food in town and this place blew my mind the first time I ate there about 2 years ago… the owner is a professional chef who uses sustainable, organic, local ingredients, makes his own sauces & everything from scratch and the dishes are full of hearty, comforting flavors (like rice, curry) combined with unexpected twists like starfruit, pineapple, citrus dressing and the rare abundance (for food cart fare) of lots of veggies — including freshly cooked greens (like bok choi). There is always a vegan protein option and all of the meats are incredibly flavorful and perfectly cooked. I’m gluten free and able to have my favorite — curry and greens over a huge bed of organic lettuce. All is artfully presented -(i.e. pomegranate seeds on top). All of this for under $ 10! It’s like getting to experience the fanciest food creation by the best chef in town, but you get to walk up and meet him in person! I kind of feel like I’m in another country and/​or a dream every time I eat there, and the owner is so kind too! I’m a tremendous fan and a regular, so if you see someone really enthusiastic there raving about the food, it’s probably me! This cart is no longer in the SW Alder & 9^th area — I believe it moved in 2016 to SE or NE.

Couldn’t find the cart today. I think they have closed or moved :(
Don’t think this should be added to the tip list only if the business is actually closed!!! Hope to find them again– only Indonesian restaurant in pdx!

Everytime I go here, either on weekdays or weekends (afternoon), the food cart is always closed.

While in Portland it would be a tragedy not to eat at the food carts. We moseyed around the carts and picked Satay since none of us ever had Indonesian food before. One item on the menu is the Chef’s choice. We ordered 3 of those. The chef created 3 different dishes not on the menu. Since there weren’t any tables we asked the chef if there was anywhere close by where we could eat with tables. He directed us to a park 1 ½ blocks away with seating.
The food was fresh and a great combination of spice and texture. I had a lamb dish that left me not stuffed but, just the right amount of good food.
Would recommend to anyone wanting a unique food but very good. If you like Thai this is similar but different if that makes any sense.
Another 5 star experience.

This place is simple, delicious food. As a vegetarian, I was worried that the tempeh option may just be offered as a shitty afterthought, but it’s not. It’s crispy and flavorful and delicious. Yum!!!

This place surprised us for all the right causes. The satay were fairly reasonably price. For between 7 – 8 dollars, you’ll get 5 satay, peanut sauce, rice, and plenty of salad with delicious dressing. Not sure what the dressing is (maybe peanut?), but it sure is good. The owner was friendly. He was out of the premade pork and lamb satay, but made them for us from scratch. Sure it took him a good 15 minutes, but it was worth the wait. The only draw back is that this place is missing more chairs and tables to enjoy the delicious meal. There were two chairs… but I guess you’re supposed to enjoy your meal in the comfort of your car when you’re at this particular food trucks central.

First time in Portland and it was a bit of a culture shock to find that permanently parked «mobile homes» are considered a full on restaurant here. I didn’t know what to call them at first. I found out later that they were called «food carts». Coming from Los Angeles, I was very tempted to call them food trucks but they were not mobile.
This is what I love about travelling: you learn something new, and experience, in a very small microcosm sort of way, how locals do things.
So this food cart is one of more than a dozen located on this lot. Food is prepared only after you order it so expect a short wait.
I ordered the Pork Loin Satay Plate and the meat was cooked just the right amount: Fully cooked, but not overcooked.
The meat was seasoned just right and the satay sauce was very good. Truly, it was a good comfort food.

Ok, I’ve gone back numerous times now. It’s time to up my score on this and review.
Basically, I’ve been getting the paleo plate every time and basically, its really really good. Its gotten better each time, in fact. I get to ask what is currently cooking (meat wise) and usually get whatever he has going. Today is pork and chicken. So delicious.
I’m a regular since my office is two blocks away. I highly recommend at least the paleo plate. I can only assume the rest of the food is just as good. I’m sure I’ll branch out one of these days but with the sort of limited paleo options in the area, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Tried the chicken bowl. Would definitely return.
The quantity was decent for 8 $ but it was really tasty, somewhat similar to Thai curries but with different spices.
I loved the cranberries on top. Really nice touch.
Note that the posted hours on Unilocal is wrong. I got my food at around 8pm on a Friday and it didn’t look like they were about to close.

This was one of the few places that was still open as my friends and I wandered the food truck area. It was well past 7pm… I think it could have been close to 8pm, and the chef was still willing to serve us.
What a treat. Really nice guy, gave us complimentary tea, and we just couldn’t decide what to order from his menu so he gave us some sort of combo platter with shrimp and beef. We weren’t really all that hungry either, but we split 2 meals between the 3 of us. It was all very delicious, he used fresh and different ingredients, and we were in heaven. Even though by then he should have been officially closed, he let us sit at his counter and eat while he started cleaning and prepping for the next day.

I have never had Indonesian food before but I was looking for paleo alternatives and came across this cart. The $ 12 was pretty pricey but it was really good. I got the chicken (free range) and beef (grass-​fed) that comes with salad and veggies and 2 slices of fresh cut pineapples (I saw him chop the pineapple).

Frankly, it’s fantastic.
As someone who grew up eating Indo food, it’s easy to see that this is the work of an Indo chef making classic dishes (nasi, rendang, satay) that would compete with anything you’d find in Jakarta.
Best Indo food in the city. And the best food cart to park itself in that pod since Nong’s Kao Man Gai.

MY CONFESSION:
I do hereby confess that before last week, I had never tried anything labeled as «Indonesian food.»
I do confess that it’s not from lack of desire, but rather lack of opportunity and resources.
I do also confess that last week, I tried it for the first time at Satay Indonesia, a food cart in the Alder pod. As a result of my confessions, I can offer no commentary on it’s «authenticity» at Satay Indonesia, but can offer the following by way of confession:
I do confess that it was delicious. Lamb, rice, salad, chicken, everything that he threw in there for me. Lovely, too.
I do confess that I had not idea what to order, so I just asked the very nice dude who runs and owns the place (?) to throw something together for me, and he did just that.
Signed on this 2^nd day of March, 2015.

If I could give 0 stars I would. I was so excited to try this cart after hearing good things. I got the veggie nasi goreng, paid my $ 10 and took my prize back to my office to enjoy. Upon opening, my go box, I smelled the fresh pineapple slice and started getting excited, making my first bite an even bigger disappointment. The rice had ABSOLUTELY no flavor. It was dripping with oil, which started to pool in the bottom of the container. The tempeh and tofu lacked any flavor as well and tasted only if the copious amount if vegetable oil used to fry them.
The thing that really pushed things over the edge for me was that it was also filled with some sort of grit, making the dish actually inedible. For the first time in my food cart going life, I dumped out the entire thing and went back out to get Ethiopian instead.
Such a complete failure is just astounding

I don’t have much experience with authentic Indonesian food but I love this cart. They use organic meat which is a big plus for me. I had the chicken rice bowl and loved it though I could have gone for little more spice. The food was tasty especially the lemon grass flavor with the curry and chicken. The owner was nice enough to give me a complementary tea that was tasty. Overall a goof choice for a typical rainy day in Portland.

The design of this cart itself is ideal, with a small bar and stools. Sitting at them, you feel like you’re having a genuine casual dining experience. This not only allows us to avoid the urgent «where am I going to eat this?» episode that follows a food cart purchase (do normal people take their food back to their work break room? How sad), but it recreates the feel of a street dining experience in those parts of Asia that do it, frankly, better than us.
The chef is a polite guy. He seems to take his food seriously and want to give people the best experience. I appreciate that.
The food itself is ok. It’s a bit flat in flavor, safe for every palate. I like that it’s served with a quick salad and pineapple slices. There’s an attempt to plate it like a restaurant meal.
Not a bad choice if you’re in the area.

At first glance, this food truck didn’t look promising as I saw a white guy cooking for an Indonesian stand. However, upon talking to him in Indonesian I was pleasantly surprised that he spoke it quite fluently. It turns out he was born and lived there for 20 years and also worked as an executive chef!
Now, let’s talk food. My fiancé and I just told him to make us something delicious and he came up with «The chef special.» It is composed of nasi goreng (fried Indonesian rice with shrimp, squash and mushrooms topped with a fried egg with hot sauce), bakimi goreng (fried noodles) with bomb savory sauce, cooked to perfection texture and flavor beef satay, arugula salad with pomegranate seeds with a light vinaigrette, along with slices of fresh cucumbers and pineapple. All the flavors were very different, but married well together in my mouth. It was very tasty. Although, it’s not 100% authentic, it has the heart of Indonesian cuisine and has fresh ingredients.
This is a must try food truck. Plus the owner is super nice!

Been here twice so far and was impressed both times. The amount of food is consistent with what you’ll find at most food carts — it’s a lot of food and I usually can’t finish it.
I had never eaten Indonesian food so I didn’t know what to expect at first, but I was pleasantly surprised by the lemongrass chicken my first time trying it. It was like a curry basically, some some pineapple and other interesting things. This time I ordered the Nasi Goreng, a traditional Indonesian rice dish with meat and spices. For NOT being a curry, I was also surprised… you see, I like curry because I like eating the rice with the curry sauce. So when it’s just plain chicken as rice, it’s bland to me. This was very juicy and SPICY but not too spicy, the cucumber, tomatoes, pineapple, and lettuce added a tropical vibe to the meal. There was a egg on top of the rice too which was unusual but I ate it. Lot of food.
The guy who owns the cart is very friendly. I also tried the iced jasmine green tea the first time I was there and it was perfect — the right amount of sugar, and no bitterness. It wasn’t there this time around but I took an iced coffee.

I love Indonesian food. I really wanted to love Satay Indonesia once I saw their great menu. Satay, grilled shrimp, lemongrass chicken, mie goreng: the best parts of the cuisine. Unfortunately, I’ll have to agree with the only review from an Indonesian so far. This is a far stretch from authentic and is about as Americanized as you can get.
Mixed Satay ($ 7): Lamb, Chicken (two), Beef, Pork skewers covered in peanut sauce, brown rice, salad, cucumber, and watermelon. The skewers were TINY. I mean it was probably less than $ 0.50 worth of meat on there. Some were well marinated, while others weren’t at all. The lamb was mostly fat. Peanut sauce tasted like cheap diluted peanut butter. No flavor at all; a D+ at best (shoutout to my Singaporean math teacher who has a grade rating for every peanut sauce he tries). Brown rice is traditionally not used in Southeast Asia and had no place being here either. It’s a healthier alternative and fits in with the Portland image, but it just doesn’t work. I don’t remember if they have the option, but if they do, pick white rice instead. The salad was nothing special and watermelon was flavorless. This left me really unimpressed.
Mie Goreng ($ 8): A traditional fried noodle dish with various veggies and spices. Mie goreng is supposed to have a strong and vibrant flavor, but this was very mild. Noodles were of good quality, but that’s pretty much the only thing I liked about it. Good thing they let us order half a serving so we could try it without getting too full.
Overall, this was the most disappointing food cart we tried in this block. The concept has potential, but needs a lot of work.

The food was EXCELLENT!!! Warning though, if you come on Sunday he makes the food to order so there will be a 5 – 10 min wait (that’s the only reason for the four stars). The dressing he uses for the arugula salad alone is worth it, and don’t get me started on the peanut sauce — it was delicious!
The owner is new-​ish in town, just moved from Austin. He sells his dressing in the Southwest through Whole Foods — can’t wait for him to get distribution up here!