(upbeat music) - [Kae Lani] Hi, I'm Kae Lani Palmisano.

Each week, three different guests recommend their favorite restaurants, then try each other's picks, and come together to tell us what they think, right here on "Check, Please."

(upbeat music continues) Hi, I'm Kae Lani Palmisano and welcome to "Check, Please," the show where regular people from all over the Philadelphia area recommend and review their favorite restaurants.

So here's how it all works.

Every week, we have three guests.

Each guest recommends their favorite restaurant and then the other two go check them out to see what they think.

This week, education program director, Alan Amtzis, says his cozy Lambertville spot is serving up Argentine flavors.

But payroll manager, Dawn Weber, thinks her Thai restaurant is the place to go for super flavorful curries.

Up first though, pediatric nurse practitioner, Gilda Johnson, swears her hidden Indonesian spot will have you coming back for more.

For rich, spicy, and hearty classics, Gilda recommends Sky Cafe.

(gentle music) - Hello, (speaking Indonesian).

So yeah, it was started off from my mom.

She's the founder of the Sky Cafe.

We moved to Philadelphia from New York due to a large community of Indonesia.

So she, first, started off the catering business.

You know, cooked from home and then delivered to them, only among friends in our community until 2009, I moved here to help her out and then we decided to open up, you know, make it legal way, open a restaurant.

Well, I learned how to cook, helping out my mom from ever since I was young, because catering businesses is my mom's source of income.

So of course when we were young, we would have to help the parents out.

So my cooking skill, I learned from my mom and obviously, my mom learned from my grandmother.

She was a housewife, cooked to raise 12 children.

So that's how the recipe hands down.

So every day, we come, we blend the curry paste from fresh ingredients from the chili, ginger, galangals, everything.

Indonesia have number four largest population, after United States.

But Indonesian food is not as famous as Japanese cuisine or Thai food.

After they come here to Sky Cafe, they eat, they leave, they can tell, "Oh, so this is how the Indonesian food tastes like."

When I eat my curries, it reminds me of my grandma's recipe.

As a matter of fact, my family start off, making the recipe into a session.

It sounded pretty good.

It was after my daughter, and the second, sky is the limit.

We have to reach up to the sky.

I mean, we are immigrating here.

So even though I don't go to the culinary school in here, my cooking skills learn from home.

That's how I am gonna raise my family with.

Same thing with my mom.

(gentle music continues) - Gilda, you really love Sky Cafe.

Why did you wanna bring it on to "Check, Please?"

- Well, I thought it was very authentic, very traditional Indonesian food.

And I like Asian cuisine, generally.

I think Indonesian food is less well known.

So I was introduced to this restaurant by a friend, and I really enjoyed, really, all the dishes.

- And this last time around, you started off with the gado-gado salad?

- Yes Very tasty.

A little bit on the sweet side with the peanut sauce.

It also had tofu, tempeh, vegetables, and just a really nice, delicious, sharp taste to it.

And I had guests with me who also said, "Oh, this salad is wonderful."

I'm not a big salad person, but I really enjoyed the flavor.

- A friend and I started with a couple of appetizers.

We got the gado-gado as well, which really did have a tang to it.

It had some fermented, something in it that I couldn't identify, but was very flavorful.

The standout for me was the crab meat noodle soup, which was really sweet and tangy at the same time.

A couple of the dishes there, there must be some staples to the Indonesian diet.

Certainly something fermented and peanuts and lemongrass.

And they showed up in a lot of the dishes, but nothing tasted like something else.

They all had a very unique profile, which was really exciting.

- So I had the shrimp fried rice with sator bean, which, it's called the stink bean.

- [Alan] Yes, yes.

- [Gilda] Because it has a bit of a bitter, - [Alan] That's right.

- [Gilda] Taste to it.

But not really so bitter that it's hard to taste.

But it was a nice contrast to the sweet peanut flavor that was also in the dish, and it had some vegetables in it and had the egg in it.

They do a lot of fried eggs, and I don't know if anyone else noticed that.

- [Kae Lani] Yes.

- So it was quite flavorful, very delightful.

- We ended up with the beef short ribs, which were phenomenal.

That was my favorite, favorite.

And then we also got, the gentleman recommended an avocado smoothie, which tasted like a milkshake, which was so delicious.

And they had chocolate flavor, and I think maybe coffee flavor that they put in the milkshake.

So that was really good.

And then, you know, my whole family went, so, you know, my husband ended up getting like, a mixture of everything.

I forget the name of what the entree was called, but it had the dumplings in it.

It had something else in it.

It was really, really good.

Very flavorful.

- I don't know how I missed the short ribs.

- [Dawn] Oh, they were so good.

- They're one of my go-to foods.

I will eat them anywhere, but now I have to go back.

- [Dawn] They were really good.

- Gilda, you had a really fun drink, the Es Teler.

Tell us about that.

- Oh, I love that drink.

It comes with fruit on the bottom, and then they add the condensed milk on top.

It's so delicious.

I love that drink.

So it was just lovely.

- How was the service, overall?

- Oh, the service was very sweet.

The waiters were incredibly helpful.

You know, asking us, are we familiar with Indonesian food.

They had a board with fan favorites and descriptions of them, which I thought was just helpful because a lot of people haven't had Indonesian food.

And the service staff was just very pleasant, attentive, but not obtrusive.

- I thought the same thing.

I love the board because it really helped identify what, you know, the entrees were.

- [Alan] Yeah.

- And the waiter was, we told him this was our first time, and he was really good at kind of guiding us, - Yeah.

- The right way to go, which was nice.

We actually got there at the perfect time because when we walked in, it was empty.

Within a half hour.

- [Alan] Yeah.

- Every seat was filled.

- [Alan] Yeah.

- Every seat.

I couldn't believe it.

- Were you able to just like walk in, no reservations?

- We were, correct.

Yes.

Yeah, we timed it really nicely.

But parking was a little bit of a challenge, but, you know, just have to be patient.

You'll find a spot.

(laughs) - We got lucky.

You know, it's in a sort of little shopping area, that there was so many of those along Washington Street and we pulled in and within like 30 seconds, somebody was pulling out.

- [Dawn] Oh, nice.

- Oh, the parking gods were looking down upon you.

Nice.

- Yeah.

- One of the dishes I had there that was really memorable, they call it the restofu fried chicken.

The restofu is, you know, obviously sort of a adaptation of a Dutch concept.

But the chicken, which was really crisp, came with like four or five different condiments that were placed around it.

So each bite could be different.

Like you could try with this or this and this, or all three or all five.

And that was really delicious, succulent and crisp.

- Was it packing a lot of like, heat, or was it more flavorful than spicy?

- I don't recall the entire meal being too spicy for me.

But I really like spice.

But it felt like it was a bit lower on the spice level, but way up on the flavor level.

- Gilda, Sky Cafe is your pick.

Sum it up for us.

- Very traditional dishes with lots of flavor, and not your typical Asian restaurant.

Different than Chinese, different than Thai.

So nice blend of delicious dishes.

Alan, sum it up for us.

- Friendly, warm, inviting, and for Americans, slightly adventurous food.

- Dawn, what's the big takeaway?

Again, very relaxing place.

And the Indonesian food was really phenomenal.

A lot of fresh ingredients, which we really enjoyed.

- Try out Sky Cafe for yourself, located at 1122 Washington Avenue in Philadelphia.

215-271-1983, reservations are not accepted and the average tab per person without drinks is $20.

Alan Amtzis loves this cozy, Argentine spot that's dishing out global flavors so unique, you'll feel like a globe trotter.

For truly unexpected tapas, he heads to Under The moon in Lambertville.

- [Eric] I'm Eric Richardson.

I'm one of the owners of Under The Moon.

- I'm Santiago Orosco and I'm the other owner of Under The Moon.

Under The Moon started in 2006 as a very small coffee sandwich shop.

And we sat about 27 people, and we used to change our menu every day.

It was handwritten.

It was my mother, my sister and I.

If you look at our menus, it varies from tacos to pizza sometimes to whatever, you know, we like that we get inspiration from different places and then we put it on our menu.

- [Eric] I like to say that we're like a Spanish, Italian, American mix.

You know, we are homemade scratch kitchen and I think we infuse a lot of flavors from our backgrounds.

You know, I come from an Italian family.

Santiago is from Argentina.

So we have, you know, a mix of American culture, but also very homegrown, you know, heartfelt flavoring.

We're very well known for our empanadas with our homemade chimichurri spice.

Works on every day.

Cold days, warm days, empanada goes all times.

(upbeat music) - [Santiago] My philosophy is, keep it simple.

Mainly for my grandmother, she used to have a huge house with a huge sunroom every weekend.

There were like my cousins and my uncles, and we were a big family.

We were about 32, 40 people, and she will cook for all of us, a lot of the time.

And so you will walk into her kitchen and you will see like trays of gnocchi, homemade gnocchi, one by one, rolling, places of the kitchen, whatever she can put in and she'd cook for us.

And she was amazing.

I'd remember that.

Then my grandfather was a member too for a really important restaurant in Argentina and he will steal recipes and that's how, you know, inspiration came from.

- [Eric] The tapas in our menu's styled to create that experience.

Take a little bit of everything and that creates engagement and people talking more and talking about the food, the flavors, and having experiences.

- [Santiago] You know, we're a gay couple.

We owned this for almost 20 years now.

Everybody needs to feel comfortable with whoever they are.

When we started out, the idea was to have like a little small, cozy, romantic little place where people can camp with a snack or whatever and then feel comfy.

And that, in Spanish, means under the moon, bajo la luna, and everybody's welcome here.

(upbeat music continues) - Alan, Under The Moon is this cute and eclectic restaurant, in a cute and eclectic town.

Why did you pick it?

- I picked it because every time I go there, even before I'm seated, I feel like I'm in for a fun time.

There's something playful, almost whimsical.

I think I once described it to a friend as being like "Alice in Wonderland," tea party kind of feel.

And I just find that very exciting, and the food lives up to that vibe.

- What are some of your favorite go-to dishes?

- Well, the appetizers we had, a friend and I, we ordered three.

The standout was definitely the seafood empanadas, which were new to the menu.

They had just introduced them, and the empanada shells were really crisp.

And then inside was a mixture of shrimp, scallops, and lobster in a saffron-y, paprika-y sort of bright orange cream sauce that was just velvety and zingy, sort of, just enough red pepper in there to wake your mouth up.

And that was, I think, my favorite.

- Yeah, we had that as well.

So good.

Wherever I go, I get empanadas if they have it, 'cause I love empanadas, and they were very, very good.

- The only thing you have to remember is that they're very well packed.

So when you bite into it, it's gonna dribble on your shirt.

- Get ready to wear a bib.

Gotta tuck in that napkin.

- Yeah.

Eat it over your plate or something.

- I had the ahi tuna, and it was cooked, it was done perfectly.

'Cause sometimes it's a little bit tough, it can be.

So this was perfect.

Very flavorful.

- I wanna say a word about the third appetizer we ordered because in contrast to the other two, it was quite simple.

It was a blistered shishito peppers, which were very simple, just olive oil, little salt, and grilled to a seared somehow, with a crumble of feta cheese and a little bit of a lemon.

And it was very simple, but really packed in a surprising flavor.

- And how about the duck mac and cheese?

- Oh, that's the signature dish, I think, because, you know, it's mac and cheese and I love mac and cheese.

I like even bad mac and cheese.

But this was really good.

And I love duck.

Duck is probably my favorite food.

The cheese they use is gouda, which, you know, is not so traditional.

Usually it's cheddar.

But the gouda and the duck give it a super richness.

And you're just about to think, "Oh, this is too rich, this is too much."

But it's studded with these little dried cherries that really do balance the flavor.

They make this sort of, not quite pickled, but this kind of tangy pop in your mouth and it really balances out the richness.

It's a stunning dish.

- Gouda is like the bacon of cheeses.

- Yes!

- [Kae Lani] It's very like, smoky.

- That's the best thing I've ever heard anyone say.

- It goes so well with the richness of the duck.

But yeah, you're right, that the cherries kind of cut that richness.

- We ended up going with the tapas for that reason.

We wanted to try a little bit of everything.

Couple things that stood out.

The Spanish style potatoes was one of the items.

- [Alan] Right.

- [Dawn] They also had a really great skirt steak with the chimichurri sauce, which was phenomenal.

It was really good.

And the service was phenomenal, too.

Our waiter, Mitch, was really good at guiding us the right way and saying, okay.

And there was one point where I wanted something and he's like, "I wouldn't get that.

We couldn't source really fresh ingredients for that."

It was phenomenal.

So I really loved it.

- My friend had the burger, the Lambertville Burger.

- [Alan] Okay.

- [Gilda] First of all, the presentation is incredible.

- [Alan] Mm, yes.

- [Gilda] The volume, I mean, it was huge.

Just the presentation was just beautiful.

She really enjoyed it.

- [Kae Lani] That's good.

- [Gilda] Yes.

- I ordered a salmon, which came with charred Brussels sprouts and potato flats, which were sort of long thinly sliced potatoes, almost like potato chips.

But I ordered the salmon because I love salmon, but it came with a maple bourbon sauce.

I think one of the strengths in their kitchen is their saucier.

Whoever's concocting their sauces really knows what they're doing.

The maple bourbon sauce on the charred Brussels sprouts was perfection.

I would go back, just for those.

- Oh, goodness.

- [Alan] My friend ordered a steak and I thought, "Well the steak, come on, what do you do to a steak?"

But it was beautifully cooked and well seasoned.

But it came with a little sort of tin of scalloped potatoes, which again, you know, a little on the rich side, but so good.

So good, and just that sort of crispy grattan, - [Kae Lani] Yeah.

- Thing on top, that was really good.

- And then of course there's a bar, like, so it's like they've got a really eclectic menu and then like really fun drinks.

And I know we hit the mojitos hard at this table.

(everyone laughing) - Yeah, we did.

My friends and I each had a mojito.

I had coconut, she had mango, and they were delicious.

But the problem with that kind of drink for me is I could just toss those back really easy.

- [Kae Lani] They're dangerous.

Yes.

- But it was very good, and not too sweet.

- We had the blood moon, and it was tequila with the blood orange puree.

- [Alan] Ooh, that sounds nice.

- [Dawn] So delicious.

Very, very good.

- My husband had the apricot wheat beer, and it was very delicious.

I had a taste of it as well.

And we had the mojitos as well.

Two different types.

I had the coconut, my friend had the pomegranate.

- [Kae Lani] Ooh.

- [Gilda] Yeah, it was delicious.

- And how about desserts?

- I had the tre leches cake, which my friend thought was a little too sweet.

I don't think I've ever used the words too sweet.

It was creamy and milky and rich and delicious.

- Well Alan, this was your pick.

Sum it up for us.

- Wacky, eclectic, comfort food with a twist.

- And Gilda, what did you think?

Flavorful dishes, everything very different.

The sauces were great and, yeah, and then the town is just a wonderful town to be in.

It's just fun.

- And Dawn, what's the big takeaway?

- I think my biggest takeaway is variety.

They had the tapas, they had the dinners, they had brunch.

So, you know, whatever you're kind of in the mood for, that's the place to go 'cause they'll have something that, you know, that will satisfy you.

- Check out Under The Moon for yourself, located at 23 North Union Street in Lambertville.

609-397-1710.

Reservations are accepted.

And the average tap per person without drinks is $45.

Dawn Weber says her classy Manayunk restaurant is serving up elevated Thai favorites.

For curry, stir fries, and more, she heads to Chabaa Thai Bistro.

- [Moon] My name is Moon Krapugthong, the chef owner of Chabaa Thai in Manayunk.

I graduated from art school as a fire art photographer.

And I love cooking and I love hosting party for my friend.

And I think all of this is a way that I can bring what I know and what I love through the work of art.

I did not have a formal training as a chef.

I learned how to cook for my dad when I was really young.

I start working in the kitchen with him, like a helper, cut vegetable, jump to the backyard, cut herb in the garden, bring it to him.

(bright music) I always love to use Thai herb, which is galanga, (indistinct) leaf, lemongrass, chilies, basil, duck basil.

So by know how to handle all this unique and strong collector in high skill and art, I want them to feel like they go to an unusual place, unexpected, it's almost like challenging, give people new experience.

The color look like fire, but when you test it, the spicy, it hit to your mouth, your tongue.

It give you such a sensation, almost like pain and pressure at the same time.

It subsides, it's satisfying.

If you can survive the spicy, which we can accommodate, you know, the supply level, we understand.

But for Thai people, they like fire.

Chabaa is (indistinct).

To me, I chose the name Chabaa, the flower itself, it's really delicate.

But the butch itself is really stubborn and resilient.

It doesn't matter the heart condition.

It adjusts.

The sense of balance, the ingredient, and seasoning is essential point, here.

So I want to present the true spirit of Thai food as much as I could.

- Dawn, when you moved to Manayunk.

- [Dawn] Yes.

- Chabaa Thai Bistro was quickly inserted into the dining rotation.

Why did you pick it?

- It definitely was.

Every time we go there, the servers are so very nice.

The food is always fresh, and there's always something a little bit different.

They always have usually a special menu and then your normal menu.

But it just was one of our go-tos.

It's a BYOB, which is really nice as well.

But we just love the atmosphere.

It's romantic and it's in a fun neighborhood.

- What are some of your go-to dishes?

The fried pineapple shrimp.

So it comes out, it's a little bit sweet.

It does have pineapple, it has fresh ingredients around it.

The shrimp are huge.

And I don't remember, but I recall this coming out in a pineapple, but it didn't this time.

I know!

But it didn't this time.

But it's really good.

The fresh ingredients is really what I like the best there.

And the creativity, it's always something, you know, there's always something a little bit spinned to what Chef Moon is preparing.

So it's really good.

But this last time, we tried the beef stew, and I'm not going to pronounce it, but the beef stew was amazing.

Came out in this pot with a lid, and it was just so fresh.

- Alan, you have been to Thailand 45 times.

- I have.

- And so, you were just like this resident expert at this table, here.

So how did Chabaa Thai bistro, like, what did you think of it?

- It passed the mustard, for sure.

I went for some traditional classic Thai dishes that I've had in Thailand many times.

My favorite thing in Thai food is, something called gaeng ped ped yang, which is spicy red curry duck.

And usually it's served in a big bowl with, almost like a chowder, but their version was deconstructed.

So you got the duck meat in the center and then all the components around it.

And it was a very beautiful plate of food, and really well seasoned.

- How were your appetizers?

- The appetizers, we had the array of appetizers.

So it had chicken satay, and it had tofu, wontons.

Very, very delicious.

Had the little, you know, peanut sauce on the side, the chili sauce.

- What did you get for your entrees?

- I had the branzino, which was a whole fish, and it had pine nuts with it and the tamarind sauce, which was very delicious.

And it came fried and chopped, so that was nice, even though the skin was over it.

So everyone could try it, which was good.

And then the traditional Pad Thai, several of my friends had that.

And then we also had crab rice.

- [Dawn] I've had that before.

That's really good.

- It was so, so good.

- This time, we also tried the fried mini donut.

- Oh, my.

- So, right, for an appetizer.

And I'm like, hmm, I'm gonna get it because I don't know.

- You can have donuts for an appetizer?

- [Dawn] It's so good!

And they had this, it was on their special menu, and it had this sauce.

It was really good.

And I don't know how they made it, but it looked a little clear and it had some fresh vegetables in it, but it worked perfectly with that shrimp mini donut.

- So we missed out on that, Alan.

- [Dawn] That was on their special menu.

- It's still there for you.

- And how about the decor?

Like when you walk in and... - I was as impressed with the decor as I was with the food.

I remember that over the main dining area, they have these sort of fabric umbrellas.

- [Dawn] Yeah.

- [Kae Lani] Isn't that beautiful?

- And they're reminiscent of the food.

Like they're the color of Thai iced tea and lemongrass and, but muted.

And I thought, this is a perfect first date place.

This is just, you know, the noise level was not elevated.

And I just thought it was such a charming environment - For someone who is so well versed in Thai cuisine, how was the service?

- Oh, the service was absolutely what I've come to expect from Thai restaurants.

I mean, they called Thailand the land of smiles.

And this restaurant lives up to that reputation.

They were very friendly, very warm.

- Dawn, this was your pick.

Sum it up for us.

- So for me, it's an upscaled high restaurant in a fun, fun neighborhood.

Their food is always very fresh.

The service is always very good, and it really is a go-to for us.

- And Gilda, what's the big takeaway?

- Very comfortable restaurant.

Beautiful decor, great food, and a fun town.

- And Alan, bring it on home.

- Thai food that incorporates genuine Thai ingredients that I don't see in a lot of other restaurants in the US.

That was very impressive.

- Try the noodles for yourself at Chabaa Thai Bistro, located at 4343 Main Street in Philadelphia.

215-483-1979.

Reservations are accepted and the average tab per person without drinks is $45.

So on this week's show, we featured Sky Cafe in Bella Vista, Under The Moon in Lambertville, and Chabaa Thai Bistro in Manayunk.

Special thanks to my guest, Gilda Johnson, Alan Amtzis, and Dawn Weber.

Join us next time for three new guests, recommending their favorite restaurants, right here on "Check, please."

And don't forget to find us on Instagram and TikTok.

We're @checkpleasephilly.

I'm Kae Lani Palmisano.

And I'll see you next time.

Cheers!

Thank you.

Thank you, all.

(upbeat music)