When the old woman shuffles slowly from the back room at Café Kita, tentatively clutching a single plate of steamed dumplings for a nearby table, my dining companions snicker. If this is any indication, our quick lunch is about to slow down. I, however, take it as a good sign. A meal at this "Indo-fusion" joint on Dale Mabry might stutter slowly from the kitchen, but when the food does hit the table, it has a lot of heart.
Café Kita is a tiny space, just room for a few two-tops and one table that can squeeze in six, with a bar backed by a handwritten list of coffee and tea options that range from the usual suspects to complicated Indonesian drinks fortified with coconut milk and those giant tapioca "boba" beads you suck through massive straws. Tables are topped with "cloths" of clear plastic and the chairs are heavy, cushioned metal like remnants from a high-end patio furniture set. Humble. Until you get to the food.
Owner Henrique Budiman has a keen understanding of flavor combinations and texture that belies Café Kita's simple appearance. Indo-fusion refers to the particular culinary fetish of Budiman, who spent his early years split between Singapore and Indonesia. There's a smattering of influences from throughout Southeast Asia — Japanese udon, Indian-style curries — but most of the menu is inspired by the owner's days spent in Singapore and the island nation of Indonesia in his youth, with more influence from the latter.
Although there are similarities between Indonesian cuisine and that of its Southeast Asian neighbors — they all rely heavily on the classic continuum of salty, sour, spicy and sweet — Indonesia leans more heavily on the sweet. Tropical fruits are common ingredients, epitomized by Café Kita's salad of julienned pickled mango ($3.25). Each bite is a succession of entertainment for your tongue, tart vinegar, hot chile and sweet fruit warring for supremacy with every chew.
Gooey and sweet as candy, Chinese-style steamed pork ($3.50) is a core of barbecued pork that barely manages to cut through the blanket of sugared bread. Order potstickers ($4.25): The typical ground pork and scallion filling accented by bright ginger sauce is a necessary counterpoint to the pork buns.
Sweet soy accented by peppery heat clings tenaciously to each slender strand of stir-fried spinach noodles ($7.99), with julienned veggies and bean sprouts providing some contrasting crunch. Javanese stir-fried noodles ($6.75) are more one-dimensional, a satisfying nest of tiny chicken cubes, crunchy cabbage and egg. Both dishes are richer than you might imagine, with enough oil fortifying the sauce to give it some heft without overdoing it.
Budiman's controlled generosity also extends to the numerous curries, including the exceptional rendang ($7.75). Each big hunk of tender beef and chunky potato is doused in a plethora of fragrant spices like turmeric leaf, galangal and lemon grass, enriched by a long, slow braise in coconut milk. The dish is finished by reducing that coconut milk to a thick, decadent paste in a frying pan, tying spice and fat to the exquisite meat.
Budiman does know how to dial down the flavors when necessary, evidenced in his simple egg noodle soup ($7.25). You pour the subtle clear broth over the noodles, herbs and bean sprouts at the table; a few shreds of sweet barbecued pork punctuate the clean flavors.
Nasi goring ($6.99) — the fried rice of Indonesia — is a similarly straightforward dish, the sticky rice loaded with bits of veggies and studded with chicken and pork. There's a little bonus on top: an over-easy fried egg that allows rich yolk to permeate the rice. Egg yolk makes everything better.
It's little touches like that egg that make the meal at Café Kita. Fried shallots provide a salty burst of flavorful crunch on most dishes. A dash of sweet soy accents a typical pile of plain jasmine rice. Meat is more a seasoning than the focus of most dishes, a surprising little gift of protein, fat and flavor when you find a cube on your fork.
Café Kita is also open for breakfast, but that's a purely American affair of eggs and bacon. Lunch is your best bet to hit this little gem of a place, but perhaps not for a quick nosh. Service is well-intentioned, but about as slow as the stride of the potsticker lady, with one waiter trying to cover the entire, admittedly tiny, restaurant space. Food can also come out of the kitchen at odd intervals; on one occasion a wrap and a salad hit the table 10 minutes after a slew of vastly more complicated entrées.
A few months ago, Budiman also opened Café Kita for dinner service on Friday and Saturday nights, serving the same food as lunch.
Café Kita's biggest drawback is its nigh-hidden location at the back of a triangular strip mall between Henderson and Dale Mabry. (A tip: Ignore the address and enter from the Henderson side just a block south of Dale Mabry.)
Find your way there, though, and you'll see that Café Kita has food that far surpasses its trappings.
This article appears in Jul 16-22, 2008.