Layang Layang

Layang Layang
1480 South De Anza Blvd.
San Jose, California 95129
(408) 777-8897

Vitals:
Monday: closed
Tues-Fri: 11am-3 pm, 5 - 9:30 pm
Sat: 11 am - 10 pm
Sun: 11 am - 9:30 pm
kid friendly
good for small groups

It looks like a hole in the wall, a small building on a busy street near a freeway, surrounded by other stores that sell industrial supplies (its right next to Kelly Moore), but surprisingly, the inside is an oasis, a tropical setting that is warmly and richly colored with fake tall palm trees that sets you at ease the instant you walk in. The waiters are friendly and helpful and seem to be very eager to please. While the portions are slightly on the small side, the flavors were great and made up for the lack in portion size.

The menu is informative with pictures of popular dishes. If you're not familiar with Malaysian dishes, it gives you an idea of what to expect. The inside cover of the menu also features the top twenty dishes. The ingredients used are fresh and the flavors are strong, yet subtle. While they mainly feature Malay dishes, the menu also includes popular dishes from Thailand.

Favorites here include the following: for an appetizer or salad, start with the roti canai (indian flatbread with a side of curry sauce) and the green papaya salad. Satay chicken is also pretty good, especially when it is dipped in the sweet, slightly salty peanut sauce.

If you've never had green papaya salad, it's not what you expect (I expected pieces of ripe papaya). The slivered pieces of unripe papaya (hence, the "green" part) are slightly crunchy and on their own don't have much flavor except for the sauce that accompanies the salad. The salad is refreshing and light and the salad dressing is a slightly sweet and sour fish sauce.

For the main course, choose from the many seafood choices, such as Sarang Seafood (fried taro nest with seafood), Ikan Bakar (grilled striped bass wrapped in banana leaf), or try Beef or Chicken Randang (Beef or Chicken covered in a thick curry sauce). The Sarang Seafood is a mix of seafood (shrimp, scallops and squid) and vegetables that are covered in a savory brown sauce and nestled in a fried taro root bowl. The taro root is crispy on the outside and warm and soft on the inside and the sweetness of the taro root is enhanced by the saltiness of the brown sauce. The seafood portion is quite small, but the variety is good.

If you want a vegetables dish, try the KangKung Belacan (Ong Choi sauteed in shrimp paste) or String Beans or Eggplant. If you want a starchy dish, try the noodle dishes such as the Chow Kueh Teow (spicy fried rice noodle with shrimp, squid and bean sprouts) or the Pad Thai (somewhat sweet and salty noodles with tofu, shrimp and bean sprouts).

The tofu dishes are also notable here as they are homemade, fresh and very silky. The Sizzling Princess Tofu dish is one of my favorites.

If you want to have a soup, I would probably skip the Seafood Tom Yam Soup. I'm pretty picky whenever I order this soup, and their version is too sour and somewhat bland at the same time. I haven't tried the other soups, but perhaps I was turned off by how they made this soup.

Layang Layang is a member of restaurant.com, and you can buy gift certificates to Layang Layang for a discount. For instance, you can buy a $10 gift certificate for $3 or a $25 gift certificate for $10 (sometimes if you look online you can get these even cheaper by using another coupon!). The gift certificates may only be used for dinner/dine-in and requires a minimum purchase (for instance, to use the $25 gift certificate you need to purchase at least $50 worth of food (excluding alcohol and gratuity of 18%)).

Enjoy!