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Very good, but as my first foray into Malaysian I can't judge it authoritatively. Spring rolls were memorable. We loved the Murtabak. Knowing their connection to Central Steakhouse I expected more from the FIlet Mignon with Bok Choy, but the sauce was overly sweet to my taste and I felt the greens were overcooked.
It's busy, with a smart, younger crowd. There's a small bar and a knowledgeable bartender. Our waitress was a bit green, and service was a tad slow, but it was a busy weekend night. I would go again.
Penang in NYC, once the best Malaysian in the Northeast, has decamped from Second Ave at E. 83th to more locations where some of the sizzle has been lost. Bentara does not equal the best of the original Penang but has its own distinctive and interesting approach.
At lunch, roti chanai came with sweet curried lentils, fragrant with cardamom. Popia had perfectly crisp wrappers but needed a bit of lime leaf or ginger bud. Goreng padas was aromatic with chicken, sliced long bean, and onion. The scale of seasoning seemed to run hot, and a guess at "medium" proved about right. Mi kari was satisfying, with a rich broth and generous proportions. Vegetables kept some crunch and were not at all overcooked.
Bentara offers a typical Malaysian mix of Indian, Chinese, Thai and Indonesian styles, featuring Basmati rice but, alas, no mention of naan on the menu. Strong on Indonesian and Thai dishes, although apparently nothing with pandan leaf. Service was prompt and attentive. Prices are reasonable for the location and quality.
I was at Bentara earlier this summer and it was my first experience with Malaysian food. I cannot say whether or not it is authentic. I'd guess that it was.
The food was good and spicy but didn't leave me blown away at all. It is a nice ethnic option for New Haven without going into New York.
The service was poor. Food was mediocre, bland despite the claims of tumeric and other spices. My salmon was horribly charred despite my ordering of medium as opposed to well done. Portions were reasonable. The setting is supposed to be really nice, I didn't think it was anything special. I don't think that I will be going back.
I have mixed feelings about this place. I've been with friends and then my family. Good and bad experience.....the first time was great, had a few appetizers/cocktails which by the way I cannot fault....delicious! Then the second time I was there with the family/parents etc for dinner....My husband is vegetarian and his tofu dish was awesome but the other dishes weren't too tasty- i would say taste-less and bland. Now it was a late reservation and the kitchen was going to close in half hour so perhaps they didn't feel like cooking or making an effort but what makes a good restaurant is no matter what time you go - the cuisine should blow you away. Hit and miss really!
I love the soups at Bentara! I was back in New Haven for a visit over the weekend, and Bentara soup was tops on my list of treats I was looking forward to. I ordered the Tom Yum soup with Shrimp, and it really hit the spot on the drizzly fall night.
The service was quick, efficient, and friendly, which was a nice surprise, as often the service is spotty at best. We started our dinner with a couple of appetizers, the Roti Telur and Crispy Spring Rolls. Both appetizers arrived at our table quickly, and both were hot and delicious! The variety of dipping sauces served with appetizers are both tasty and unique.
Bentara did not disappoint last night with the food and drinks.
Excellent flavor and service. I'm not sure whether it is all that authentic.
This place is well-decorated and HUGE. Servers are knowledgeable - I don't even know how this woman had memorized all of the proper names for these Malaysian dishes - since she was clearly NOT Malaysian. She was nice and well-spoken. But once we ordered, service was SUPER slow!
Here's a rundown of what we got:
Roti Murtabak (ground beef, onions, egg and spices served with a curry lentil sauce and sweet and sour onion sauce): not bad, but I definitely could've skipped this and had a better overall meal. It was dry and not very flavorful.
Wok-fried Rice Noodles(stir-fried w/ cabbage, carrots, yu choy, bean sprouts w/ garlic, shallots, onion, soy sauce, ketchup and sweet sambal sauce garnished w/ crispy fried shallots, green onion disks, sliced boiled eggs, tofu and lime): great flavor, perfect amount of spice. Tofu was a bit cold for my taste, but I gobbled it all up.
Filet Mignon w/ Curry: um, this was ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS! Tasty, but I don't know if I could've eaten such a heaping portion of filet mignon (I prefer rib eye or sirloin)
Filet Mignon Bentara: while not as pretty as the curry version, this could've been more manageable for me to eat. But again, I'm all about the sirloin and rib eye...
Bentara is a surprising find in New Haven, would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting.
In Summary: Skip the roti and go for the wok-fried noodles and a filet mignon.
I have to go with the three stars for Bentara like Jenny, Mike and Jonathan. Although I had never tried Malaysian food before the Saturday NH Yelp luncheon gathering I have previously had dishes similar to:
'Curry Blackened Salmon ..... $10.95
Grilled Salmon filet dusted with curry powder, mesclun mix, balsamic vinegar, sesame seed and walnut oil dressing'
This basically amounts to grilled salmon over/under a mescalin (or young greens) salad; it sounded interesting so I proceeded to order it. The fish was a little dry and nothing memorable, the portion was quite small considering that for the price lunch did not include any "extra's" such as bread or soup. I have no recollection of the walnut oil dressing as it was probably overpowered by the balsamic vinegar over the greens.
Overall I have to say I was disappointed this time around but I would be willing to give it another shot and order the noodles. I am also curious about Kari and think I will give it a try in the near future.
Meeting the other NH Yelpers was a lot of fun and the time literally "flew" by on a lovely but brisk CT afternoon.
Funny. I am also giving Bentara 3 stars after our Yelp New Haven gathering there.
I had the Nasi Lemak for my meal, which is apparently the same thing that Jenny got. Huh. Anyway, I enjoyed the coconut rice and the beef itself, but the crispy fried anchovies were just chewy and hard to eat. I only ate a couple bites of that and then left it alone.
The rice cubes that came with the Satay had this weird grainy/gritty texture to them and were not very palatable. Not a fan.
As far as our server goes, if he called me "sir" one more time I was gonna pelt him with the aforementioned rice cubes. No joke. "Sir, can I get you something to drink, sir... Yes, sir... Sir, I'm sorry but we're out of that, sir..." It's not that I mind being called "sir", it's just that I can't take it over and over and over and over...
Anyway, I don't want to kill the guy because he did do a good job and was very nice and attentive.
Overall, the food was decent but not great, and I'm glad the prices were lower than I expected. The service was good, and they didn't rush us out of there even though we were there after they closed for lunch. I'm probably leaning more towards 3.5 stars on this place.
For the large party we went with (10 yelp peeps) the service was quite good, sir (especially cause the meal happened after they were supposed to be closed). I thought the fried noodles I had were kind of bland. A spicy sauce, yes, but it didn't have a lot of depth. The Satay was pretty good, I liked the peanut sauce with hints of coconut. The rice cubes were kind of off-putting.
Decent, but I prefer Kari (1451 Whalley Ave.).
Circumstances brought me to Bentara, not a week after the great Yelp Event of 2008, which produced a number of somewhat unenthusiastic reviews for this restaurant, and from Yelpers I trust. But let me explain.
I wanted wine, walking distance, curry, and quality, in downtown New Haven. Those Thai places have awful reputations. Hence Bentara. And I'd been twice before, both times a few years ago. It was good then - I'd had a whole fish which was excellent and the seafood curry, which wasn't excellent, but wasn't bad either.
This time, I got the hot and spicy calamari. The green beans were nice and firm and bright green. The sauce (and, after all, no matter where I am, I do get seafood in tomato sauce) was a nice warm spicy (I ordered med) but not *just* spicy. Also very fishy, as in anchovies (menu said shrimp paste and I say maybe, but I tasted anchovy, which I love and so does Bentara, apparently) and sweet and fruity and tangy but not too much so.
My dining companion got the Mee Soup Istimewa which was really, really good. Hot and hearty, but with nice herby flavors. And huge.
We asked for a dish and a bowl so we could share meals. This had happened automatically on my previous visits, but then I had been with a slightly larger party. Server really couldn't recommend a wine, but we found a nice pino grigio that went well with the food and really made the meal, actually.
We also had roti murtabak for an appetizer, which was piping hot, and the sauces were tasty, but the crepe was only eh.
I went to Bentara on a FABULOUS first date the other night! I've been wanting to visit Bentara for a few years now, so this alone was exciting to me.
For my entree, I got the Vegetarian Kari (green peppers, tomatoes, potatoes and green beans in coconut curry sauce - with Tofu). It was mouth-wateringly good. I savoured every bite, and had enough for two more meals afterwards. SO so good.
My date got the Kerutuk (simmered in a mixture of spices (coriander, fennel seed,cinnamon, cardamom, star anise and chilies) with potatoes and coconut milk reduction), which was also delectible.
Of course the night I decided to venture out to New Haven to go to Bentara, it was super icy outside. As we were driving to the restaurant, we saw people slipping and falling on the sidewalks left and right. And you guessed it... I fell too! But it was after the meal, so I was not too injured (my physical self or my ego) to enjoy this meal! I'll definitely go back!
I gave Bentara two stars because it had a nice wine list and some interesting things on the menu. One mention on the wine list, the white wines were very approachable and diverse in price, but the red wines were either over $100 or around $50. There was nothing between $60 and $80.
The food menu looked great, but read very complicated. It appeared to have two different fonts and nothing flowed together. Still looked good and I would have loved to try a few things.
Ok, here is what happened. We arrived at 5:22pm for a 5:30pm reservation. The only reason I know the time was that it was a 1000 point reservation on Opentable and I wanted the points. If you are too early or late, they will not give you the 1000 points.
A colleague and I, both in town working at a hotel helping out during a busy week, decided to go to Bentara for a little ethnic food. Like I said, the menu looked good. We were immediately greeted at the door, they had our reservation and seated us promptly. A server assistant came to our table immediately and poured water. This all took maybe two minutes.
There were three other tables in the dining room and at least 1 bartender, 3 servers and 2 server assistance working that I observed. Needless to say, nobody came to our table for 18 minutes. When we left, the host looked at us, but did not say a word.
After relaying this story to a worker at the hotel in New Haven, she stated, oh yeah, I always eat at the bar, that is where the staff always is, and you know what? That is where all the staff was hanging out when I was there and I just watched to see how long we would be ignored, the answer, 18 minutes.
I can only give Bentara 3 stars because I still believe Kari (1451 Whalley Ave.) is a better choice for Malaysian food.
We met up with the New Haven Yelpers and had a great lunch. The service and company were both great.
For appetizers we shared roti and chicken and beef satay. Both were very good. The sauce for the satay was a bit different then the plain old spicy peanut sauce that I am used to. I really dug the addition of coconut to the sauce. I will agree with everyone, in saying that the rice cubes were pretty gross.
I ordered Nasi Lemak for my meal, a dish that consists of beef stewed with onions in a tamarind and chili pepper sauce, coconut milk flavored jasamine rice, and fried anchovies in a garlicy sauce.
I enjoyed my meal though the anchovies were overly salty so I only ate a few. The portion was generous enough that I had a few leftovers to bring home.
Bentara was decent for lunch and the prices were much lower then I expected. I still say give Kari a try for Malaysian :)
Food is really good. Malaysian seems to be a mix of my favorite flavors although the menu is hard to figure out. What the hell is a mee goreng? But three of us ordered three different dishes and shared. LOVE. Table next to us had this pretty looking dessert so naturally, we had to order also. Why think for yourself when you can crib ideas off the next table. Again: LOVE.
I'd give it 5 stars if the dishes were written in words I understood. But you have to read the cheat sheet to know what you're ordering. Still, I'd go again in a heartbeat.
Bentara is incredible. That's all you need to know.
We've been here probably half a dozen times in the past few months and it never gets old. For the best Thai food we head to Queens, but for Malaysian, we go no further than New Haven. We've been to Penang in Boston a bunch of times and it's pretty good, but in a street fight Bentara would drop Penang in a second with a single shot to the windpipe. Lights out, game over.
I can't say Bentara is bad, but Kari (1451 Whalley Ave) is soooo much better when it comes to authentic Malaysian cuisine. Once you eat there, you'll know what I'm talking about.
Still, I'll be back to Bentara because of the location. Decor is lovely. Go to Bentara for lunch, service is not as slow and prices are more reasonable. Soup bowls are huge with enough food for two meals.
I was adventurous and ordered a spicy beef dish served with fragrant coconut jasmine rice and dried "poisson" (dry, salted fish) and I must say that the fish were very overpowering. Each mouthful had dozens of small salty fish, their eyes were peering up at me from my plate, their little bones crunching between my teeth, the taste akin to a mouthful of anchovy paste. Appetizing, yes? While my lunch mates looked away in disgust, I actually quite enjoyed the dish, although after a while the salt was too much to take, so I simply ate the beef and left the fish.
I'm disappointed at the number of mediocre reviews here. I've eaten here twice now and the food has been superb on both occasions. We probably weren't all that adventurous in our choices this time, but that doesn't make it any less impressive. The curry blackened salmon with mesclun and medley of flavors and seasonings was outstanding. The truth is that I think they did some ingredient substitutions (I'm not sure the medley is quite what the menu claimed), but the balance of flavors was impeccable. My companion had a curry dish that was subtle, tender and delicious. The appetizers deserve the same adjectives.
Our service was actually quite prompt. I reserve five stars for meals that are truly unforgettable - this may not have reached such heights, but it was a truly outstanding meal.
As Lawrence said, I have to say that Bentara is pretty fresh. It is not the only thing I miss about New Haven (I miss interpersonal rancor the most, I think), but I do miss it. I've had a lot of different stuff at Bentara: Blackened Salmon, Keratuk, who knows what else? Lots of stuff. Those two were my favorites and they are excellent.
I don't have anything horrible to say about Bentara, the only issue with it to me is that, it's a little... um... you know... it's very good, not AMAZING. It's not someplace I would definitely hit on a trip to New Hellven, I would save that for Pepe's. It's just really good and if you're in the mood for Malaysian food, this is the best NH has to offer.
Most of the time the food at Bentara is 4 stars. It has been one of my favorite restaurants in New Haven since it opened in 9th Square.
The noodle soups pack a punch if they are prepared correctly and how you order them and at $8 (for lunch) they are an awesome bargain. The noodle dishes never disappoint. Try the Mee Goreng! If you go for dinner and are willing to spend $32 on a filet Bentara does a great job with theirs. I'm a little guy with a big appetite so I'm typically disappointed with the size (8oz?). But hey, does the size of your meat really matter? For appetizers the satay is unremarkable but the Roti Murtabak is a must have.
Service more or less sucks. At lunch today I ordered the Tom Yum Soup, Mix (chicken, beef & Shrimp), regular (moderately spicey). What I received was Tom Yum Soup with Shrimp, mild. If the server (Andrea?) took the time and asked how things were I might have told her. But she was busy on her cell phone. As it were, she barely filled my water glass twice. Another time, I ordered the Goreng Pedas where one of the primary components is string beans. I was not too happy when brocolli came out instead. It was then and only then that the server mentioned they were out of beans.
Unless Julie or Kala wait on you you're not going to get good service. And even when they do wait on you the kitchen is so slow that it doesn't really matter. I've mentioned this to the owner a few times and one time he shrugged it off and told us to drink more.
Go for lunch if you can. If you have a lot time and want to hang out for a few hours make reservations for dinner and prepare to drink.
UPDATE: Just returned from a perfect lunch where I had a perfectly prepared Mee Gorang (regular, mix - of course). Service was flawless and YES - my water glass we refilled several times.
One of my favorite restaurants in New Haven. Best spring rolls in town! They make a delicious peanut sauce for their chicken and beef satay that is served with quirky cubes of cold rice and sliced cucumber to cool the palate. Their stir fry is the best I've ever had and priced to let you enjoy it on a regular basis. I would absolutely recommend this restaurant!
My wife told me that Bentara might be the only place she will miss when we leave New Haven.
She lunches there once or twice a week, but I eat there far less frequently, preferring it for celebratory dinners. I had one such dinner Wednesday night with a couple of friends.
We got there around 8:30, and there was no wait to seat the three of us. Service was fine, a little slow considering that there weren't a ton of people present in the restaurant. My water glass remained empty for a large portion of the appetizer course. We shared the Roti Murtabak & the Roti Telur - both were delicious.
I had the Kerutuk with chicken, and it was fantastic. I've also enjoyed on other occasions the Curry Blackened Salmon (served with mesclun greens), and the Goreng Kang Kong (stir-fried water spinach). The only thing that I've had here and did not enjoy was the Goreng Pedas, but that probably has more to do with my being picky than with their preparation.
Given the celebration, we decided to share desserts, and they did not disappoint. The molten chocolate torte was good, but nothing special. The fried banana spring rolls and vanilla gelato were quite amazing.
My only criticism for Bentara is that, for what it is, dinner is pretty pricey. It's better to go for lunch, as the lunch portions are fully satisfying, for nearly half the price.
I love bok choy and salmon so the Ikan Percik was a layup and I really enjoyed it. The rendeg was excellent. I could use a littl emore heat in my dishes. I love eating this style of food and would give it 5 stars if they start playing some 'eastern' downtempo.
Excellent food, very nice atmosphere and decor (but very loud with terrible acoustics). But terribly S-L-O-W and inattentive service by our waiter. Bentara management needs to step up the service and either train waiters properly or move them out the door.
O.K... My stars have gone down here since the last gathering here w/ the Yelp crowd. I've come here once since then, and my favorite noodle felt a little too spicy and felt flat and overcooked. Oh well... I guess they can disappoint every once in awhile. But I am still a fan of this place, especially for their lunch specials.
Since my move to the New Haven area, Sono Bana (a sushi place) and Bentara has kept me fed. After… Read more »
We'll start with three stars after our first Bentara experience, and see how it goes from there. Our dishes were both a tad strange, although I think they are sort of going for that. I found that both our dishes (whose names I can't recall, sorry!), could have used a bit more flavor all around. The service was good, and the wine was decent, so we'll definitely try it again.
*drool*
oh kiddies, how i love the food. and bentara certainly does not disappoint. i love malaysian food. it is this amazing amalgamation of so many ethnic genres of food. and bentara does a superb job of it. granted, they are the only malaysian in the area, but even so, they fare very well.
i'm a carb girl. i'm on this special diet i call the "all carb diet". it's working amazingly well, on my mental well-being at least. and bentara is certainly an enabler of my carb consumption. i adooooore their noodle dishes. just close your eyes and point to one of their many noodle options - you can't possibly go wrong no matter what your happens to choose.
also good: EVERYTHING ELSE!!!
and if you're a clever girl, as i pretend to be, and also hungry and poor... go for lunch. it's way cheaper, but just as delicious and filling.
Bentara is my fav! They are great from their drinks, thai dishes to their Filet Mignon. It truly is a place that can satisfy all kinds of palates. I make special trips to Bentara with my girlfriends for a nice relaxing meal atleast once a month. My favorites are the noodle dishes with shrimp and Tofu. They also allow you to specify your level of "spice" which is always fun. Great atmosphere and martini's as well. On a busy night the service can be lacking but you dont even notice because your having such a great time.
I have no idea why this place gets good reviews. The food was less than mediocre for Malaysian (and a lot of the food was not even Malaysian, but wandered into the realm of fusian, with Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese crowding the menu). The service was awful - although delivered with a smile, it took forever to get the attention of any waiter, at any point during the meal. While my husband got the dish he ordered, I was given something totally different. It took about 5 minutes for them to come back and take it away, and then another 25 minutes for them to bring me the right dish. In the meantime, my husband finished his meal, which was just sitting there getting cold. No offer to take my dish off the bill, or reduce it, or comp us in any other way. The food was also generally overpriced. The decor was okay, but like a lot of poser NYC restaurants in New Haven, sterile and unwelcoming. I am in shock that this gets good reviews. I'll take a true Malaysian restaurant back home in SF any day over this.
Ok, as of 4/28, I am upgrading this restaurant to 3 stars. We went there for lunch midweek and actually had a much better experience (although it was near the latter part of the lunch period and we were the only customers). Food was better...still not amazing, but do-able. Service was still awfully slow but I think since the food was better, they deserve another star. I'm going to try it again and see if they can eke out one more star....
Bentara is amazing. The best meal I've had in my life was here.
The food was pretty good but overpriced and the service was horrible. We were a large party and it took us about 4 hours from being seated to finally leaving the restaurant -- all because the service was so slow -- it took a very long time for a wait person to ask us for our order -- we actually had to wave someone down after a very long time. We ordered two bottles of wine -- about 20 minutes later, the wait person came over saying that they were out of the wine. There was some apology here and there about the slow service and you would think that they could comp a dessert or something given the negative experience. Nope.
Amazing food. Probably my favorite restaurant and the the thing I miss most about New Haven (since I went here at least once a week for about three years). Sure the service can be slow, but the food is worth the wait. And prices are astonishingly low at lunch and reasonable for dinner. I hesitate to recommend any particular dishes because they're all excellent, but I'd go with Mee Soup Istimewa, Kuew Teow Goreng, and Goreng Pedas as three of my favorites. You can't go wrong with any of the noodle dishes or--especially--the noodle soups.
New Haven, CT
Category: Asian Fusion
New Haven, CT
Category: Malaysian
New Haven, CT
Category: Spanish
New Haven, CT
Category: Steakhouses
Branford, CT
Category: Seafood
