Lime Tree: Southeast Asia's greatest hits for under $10

Map: 450A Irving Street San Francisco, CA 94122

Let me start off by saying it's worth the table hovering.

The first time I ate at Lime Tree I was hungry and bitter from having to fight over a table with another famished couple. I was turned off by the techno-green colored walls and the lack of process for seating (since it’s a first-come, first-serve café style). This time, in a more emotionally stable mood, I had enough sense to relish Lime Tree’s fobbiness.

This place screams value. The entrees were less than $8, and with rice included the dishes were pretty filling. The beef rendang came as tender cubes in a gravy had hints of coconut, garlic and spicy oil. The glass noodles had bits of spinach and mushrooms, with a half dozen fresh, buttery shrimp buried underneath. I loved the yogurt chicken because the dark meat was falling off the bone, and because I’m a sucker for stewed chicken over rice.

My fiancée Ellen and I couldn’t figure out what kind of food we ate, so we asked the head chef and part owner Ming, who described the origins as a mix of “Malaysian, Singaporean, Indonesian, Philippino and some Thai.” Somehow Ming, who’s from Indonesia, found a way to make everyone get along through the elegance and simplicity of his cooking. We left satisfied, more educated about Southeast Asian cuisine, not as broke, and convinced that Bali would be an ideal honeymoon spot thanks to Ming's cajoling.

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