Betel

Tried Betel on a whim while on a business trip to Manhattan not too long ago. It was pretty fantastic much to my surprise. I was staying in Battery Park, and didn’t want to venture out too far. And while the Spice Markets and Buddakans of the world were booked solid for the night, I wanted some place less frilly, but with good food. Betel fit the bill perfectly.
The restaurant is a cozy one in the West Village, and is situated on Grove St., nestled between other store fronts. When my colleagues and I first arrived, it was somewhat quiet. But it seemed that the dinner train soon followed behind us, and all the tables around us started to fill quickly. Incidentally, it was also the start of restaurant week (or restaurant month, really) in NYC, and a lot of the guests took part in the special menu. Regardless of how packed the space became as the night went on, it was extremely comfortable, the atmosphere was light-​hearted, and you could still manage to hear the dinner conversation with ease.
Our server was extremely knowledgeable of the menu, and made some great suggestions — some of our favorites were the chicken betel leaf, twice-​cooked duck and caramelized braised beef. The betel leaf «bites» were interesting; the leaves left a refreshing taste in our mouths. The duck was cooked perfectly, and was not gamey at all. The skin was crispy, and the meat was delicate and delicious. The braised beef, too, was perfectly cooked and full of flavor.
Mind you, Betel is not a traditional «Asian» restaurant by any sense of the word. It offers a modern take on Southeast Asian favorites. If you go in knowing that, then that is half the battle. Is the food tailor-​made for the American palate? Probably, but not without overly compromising its true Asian identity.
As the drinks flowed, so did the conversation. And the balance between laughs, eats, and drinks was perfectly drummed up at Betel. Like I said, it was casual, cozy, yet completely «New York.» That night it was a little piece of heaven in the West Village.

I liked this place so much I bought my husband and friends here for dinner over the weekend. They loved it! My husband not so much… but than again he’s not writing the review :-D
The restaurant is beautiful and the atmosphere was fun yet intimate, with the noise level just right so you can hear everybody at the table without having to say «Eh what did you say??» every two seconds. I would definitely recommend this place for a date night.
Service was excellent, the server messed up our order by not bringing a couple of things out right away like we asked for, but they came over and apologized and then didn’t charge us for those dishes. Now that is how a restaurant should be run!
Now to the food:
— Son in law eggs– yummylicious, a bit on the sweet side, but than again I like sweet. Its basically a hard boiled egg, filled with something (I was too busy stuffing it in my mouth to notice) and drizzled with tamarind sauce
— Spiced corn fritters-​YUM! They’re spicy, filled with corn and fried… enough said.
— Yellow Curry of Eggplant– a little milder than the green curry they have, but oh so delicious. Green curry is spicier and this one is a bit sweeter, I would order both!
— Braised Tofu– again I haven’t had tofu like this before and I loved it! Must have!
It’s a great place to come for a date or just with friends. I will definitely be coming back!
*If you are vegetarian, ask for the separate vegetarian menu*

Betel is a great place to grab a drink or dinner in the west village.
The food is Vietnamese fusion and it is done really well! I was skeptical at first, but I found that I really enjoyed the ambiance and the food here!
I came a bit early, and sat at the beautiful bar. The bartenders were really nice, chatting with me until my friends got there. They had a happy hour special and the drinks they made were really good.
When my friend’s arrived, we were seated immediately. The menu is broken out by small medium, or large plates with two prix fixe menu’s. If you order the prix fixe, everyone has to get the same thing, so we opted to just order a la carte so that we could do family style and have more variety.
I highly recommend the pork rib, the beef with rice noodle, the crispy branzino, the salt and pepper squid, and the lobster curry.
We ordered so much I can’t remember all the plates. But I do remember the experience. Which can be rare sometimes when you go out and eat out a lot. So to me, that actually leaves a bigger impression and increases the chances that I’ll be back or that I’d recommend it to my friends.

It wasn’t easy to search for a place for a group of 7 people for a birthday, and we settled on Betel, which everyone ended up enjoying.
We got:
Chicken Betel Leaf — the chicken was dry and the bite was salty
Son-​in-​law eggs — I loved the flavor of this dish
Salt & pepper cuttlefish — the cuttlefish was cooked to the perfect texture
Braised beef — it was good though not particularly memorable
Swordfish — very spicy
Fish of the day — delicious
Twice cooked duck — the meat was juicy and scrumptious
Beef ribs — the meat was falling off the bones and tasted great
Lobster — just slightly over cooked
Overall I liked most of the food here and would come back.

I should know by now not to have high expectations for «Southeast Asian» food in New York. I might go back to this place to check out the other dishes, but overall I found the food to be over salted. The flavors were nice but over the top.
I grew up in Singapore and have eaten a lot of authentic and delicious foods around Southeast Asia and I’m often disappointed with the stuff I find here, whether it be Vietnamese, Thai, Malaysian or Indonesian (though I did have great Indonesian food out in Elmwood!).
The problem I had with the food here is the same with most places– too much salt, too many spices, too much sauce and not enough rice.
I wouldn’t say the pad thai tasted like pad thai I’ve eaten in Thailand (though this dish seems to vary within Thailand anyway) but it was probably my favorite dish. Apparently they make the rice noodles in house.
Maybe the intense sweet and salty taste is what the majority of Americans are used to, but it was a little too much for my palate.
The place has a nice ambiance and the service was good, and I think many people would enjoy a meal there. And as they say on their website, it’s a great place for big groups because you can eat family style.

Had dinner while visiting NYC a few days ago.
Fascinating and fantastic location pulls Empire State visitors off tourist grid.
West Village excellence.
Like so many city spots, Betel’s interior: cool, dark, sexy, slightly raw.
Like so many city spots, Betel’s food: ok, nothing to write home about, tries too hard, overdone in general.
I hope you enjoyed this Haiku.

We came here as a party of 5 for Mother’s Day Brunch — not only was it easy to get a reservation for 12:30, but service was also really great, and they comp’d the meal for the mother of our party in honor of Mother’s Day — how great! This left a really good impression and makes us want to come back to eat here again.
FOOD was excellent. The Foon Omelette was flavorfully made, and when I requested non-​spicy, they took extra care to meet my ask. Large portion with a generous salad on the side with the omelette. The fruit salad, fries, taro hash, and cuttlefish appetizer were all delicate, interesting, tasty, and well-​made.
The seating was pleasant — windows were thrown wide open to the sunshine and beautiful spring day. Fresh flowers were standing tall and elegantly in the center of the restaurant.
Positive, pleasant experience!

Beautiful interior, dimmed lights, Good service.
” why am I having dessert during dinner? Every dish is so sweet «said my sisters and my mom
I had the stir fried bass. It was very good but way tooo sweet so I couldn’t finish my meal. My brass and vegs were soaked with sweet sauce.
The caramelized beef ribs is extremely sweet. The sweetness along with the dryness and fat make the dish a little overwhelming.
The twice cooked duck was poured with sweet, sticky sauce. It was impossible to eat the dish without getting your hands and utensils sticky as well. Despite the overwhelmingly sweetness, the duck was very flavorful and cooked very well!
Mango sticky rice has improved. Last time I came it was super sweet but this time it was pretty good.
I had better experience the first two times I came here.

What a surprise find!
Upon reading fellow-​Yelpers’ reviews, I was hesitant to try Betel, even though for many times I’ve been intrigued by its huge street-​front windows, off-​white paper lanterns and welcoming green plantations hanging above the dark brown market table
Finally, as my friend is in town, we decided to take a chance. Risking my reputation as a foodie host, by the end of the night I was glad Betel did NOT disappoint!
Food:
VERY flavorful, nicely executed Asian FUSION food
Usually I stay away from fusion, cuz they are so prong to be yet another greasy plate of Seasame chicken. Here however, the chef definitely knows his SPICES and SAUCES.
PORK AND PRAWN DUMPLINGS– steamed and plated on betel leaves.
The Skin is very tender and thin and the stuffing was decent. The sauce really gave the dish its full flavor. The stuffing didn’t quite taste like prawn though. Pork was too overwhelming
3.5÷5
(link to picture:
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CUTTLEFISH– yeah, it’s FRIED. no more comments
PORK SHOULDER– def the STAR of the night
when the dish was served you could smell the armoa from the next table! Meat was roasted to have a chewy texture; coupled with thinly sliced cucumbers, green peppers, basil leaves and the plum and ginger sauce, it was just perfect.
⁵⁄₅
DUCK with LYCHEE PANCAKE (
)
To help you understand this, it’s a dish with salads stuffed in an open faced, lychee-​flavored pancake; the ducks are shredded and fried to crispy
Very flavorful indeed
⁴⁄₅
SERVICE
Standard service; no frills, no major flaws
Reserve 1 star as the night was quite loud– the table next to us were rowdy at best; I don’t know if that’s the crow Betel tend to serve, or just we were not lucky

Came in here on a weird night when they were closed for a private party that was cancelled but had a nice meal anyway! The best things were the different options wrapped in betel leaves — smoked duck with jalapeño was my favorite. The vietnamese beef was overcooked and too salty.
I’m intrigued by their fried chicken offering but I’ll have to come back for that one.

Date night, in NYC. Got the Gilt City tasting with 10 courses.
It didn’t end up being 10 courses but more like 5 because we don’t eat pork. The staff refused to make any accommodations. Very rude and unapologetic.

How have I never noticed Betel with its large storefront windows right off of 7^th Ave South? I have not had much Vietnamese food in my time, but am totally a fan of Asian Fusion, so was definitely down for checking out with spot with my pal Louis R.
We opted for the $ 50 chef selection, which included 10 courses. Don’t even ask me what they were, because it was just such an overwhelming amount of food that I couldn’t keep track. I do recall the ribs being very tender and falling off the bone and the cuttle fish to be ridiculous! Add a bottle of wine into the mix and you have a recipe for an awesome dinner!
P. S. Andrew (or was it Andy) our server was awesome, attentive and informative. He deserves some recognition.

Solid 3.5 stars
Wanted to do the 10 course tasting menu, but our server told us the whole table had to do it. WHATTTT, I was looking forward to that all week! Meh, okay fine. So this is what we ended up ordering:
Son in law eggs — was told this was the most popular dish BY FAR and that it was amazing. First reaction was, that’s it? It was pretty good, but I didn’t think it was as good as the sell for it was
Chili/​lime prawns — you really can’t go wrong with lightly fried prawns and sweet/​super spicy chili sauce
Corn fritters — decent, but not great
Papaya salad — this was one of my favorites, a little spice, sweet, and UBER fresh
Swordfish — MEGA spicy, but REALLY REALLY great. It comes with iced cucumbers to cool off your mouth lol… so take heed even if you can handle the mega spice of other asian cuisines (Sichuan), this dish is up there. The sauce is kind of like a coconut curry but that burns your lips upon entry.
Cocktails — I enjoyed my Honey Fig old fashioned’s quite a bit
The bill came to about $ 40/​person not including drinks, so not bad for the West Village. Overall, this was a nice meal in a well decorated, intimate space. Most of the dishes we ordered played the sweet & spicy combo with a different protein. Dunno if most of the other plates are like this, but some variety would have been nice.

Came here with my Unilocal show pony, Julie J.
Polished off a bottle of red and delved into the $ 50 Chef’s Selection which included:
— Hama Hama Oyster (so F’n good)
— Smoked Duck Sausage Betel Leaf (good)
— Pork & Prawn Dumplings (yummy)
— Salt & Pepper Cuttlefish (OMGawd)
— Sweet & Sour Pork Ribs (Mmmmmm)
— Duck & Lychee Vietnamese Pancake (it was a mystery, but deelish)
— Yellow Curry of Delicata Squash (Holy ish, Julie licked the plate)
— Caramelized Braised Beef Rib (OMGGGGGawd…I need a time out)
— Cassia Bark Banana Fritter with roasted coconut ice cream (sweeeet mmm)
— Rice (they didn’t skimp)
Great ambience for dates, dark, full of mirrors and very spacious. Solid and affable service rounds out this dope resto.

Great spot in West Village! Friend picked this restaurant so I cant take the credit:). Excellent Asian fusion food, nice ambience and good service.
We enjoyed well balanced flavorful food with sweet and spicy combination — In my opinion, good chef must know how to embrace various spices to enhance flavor. Kudos to Betel’s Chef!!!
Only minor issue! one friend complained that food serving was rather small.
I would definitely recommend this place to fellow Unilocalers…

I had a great experience here. What an awesome restaurant to sit back and get a couple of well crafted drinks. They have a huge list of creative cocktails as well as a large selection of beer and wine.
Now on to the food, everything is served on small plates but well crafted and the flavors are very complex and bold. I understand how some of the dishes may be thought of as too salty or too spicy. However, choosing an array of plates will touch each part of the palate allowing for balance.
I chose the tasting menu which was great. I highly recommend the food.
Also, the service was impressive, maybe because I came when they just opened for dinner.

I was walking around the West Village waiting to meet up with some friends for brunch when I spotted this cute spacious spot on Grove that compelled me to go in. The brunch menu was a bit of a surprise throwing in influences from all over the world — Australia, Thai, and Vietnamese to name a few, but I figured it was a good opportunity to try out a new place.
I’m glad I did because I had a really great plate of food. I ordered the Pork Belly Hash and Poached Eggs. This was basically a deconstructed Thai-​style Eggs Benedict as the pork belly hash was beautifully seasoned with savory and sweet notes accented with kaffir lime. The eggs were poached beautifully soft and the yolk oozed out to create a sauce after that I could dip the grilled sourdough in. I ate my entire plate of food and I ate it fast.
The downside is that the drinks are relatively overpriced and weak. Cocktails range from $ 12 – 13 and I’m sorry but $ 12 for a mimosa is practically criminal. I opted for the caipiroska thinking they should at least do a little work for my $ 13 but in the end, it just tasted like watered down juice.

Went to the Unilocal Elite event here on 2÷13÷12, and man oh man, what an excellent choice of venue. Betel is such a great place. Ambiance, food, drinks and crowd are all A+ The Aussie owners are so cool too. Rarely met a bunch of friendlier guys.
Ok, so here’s how good Betel is: I hate eggs, all eggs. But at the event, Betel served it’s signature quail eggs dish. In a word, I am all about quail eggs now! Soooooo delicious. I imagine that eggs like those are easy to make pretty gross with the wrong recipe, so I’ll give Betel the credit for making them to perfection. The sweet sauce they come with is devine.
The drink selection was great too, particularly the lychee drinks with the chili infused salt. Yum! And the ginger drink was awesome too. Betel also has a very good selection of Kiwi (NZ) red wines. Try it all.
We were able to sample just about everything on the menu here for this event. Everything was absolutely delightful. Make sure to try the quail eggs!
Definitely try this place. You will fall in love with Betel.

I first came to Betel for a Unilocal Elite event and hands down, would definitely come back again!
Tucked in the heart of the West Village, Betel has a warm, romantic candle-​lit atmosphere. It has a larger front room and a more ‘intimate’ back room.
To preface the review of the food, I only sampled a handful of appetizers from their menu, but they were all delicious! I highly recommend the son-​in-​law quail eggs — they are TO DIE FOR and the best of the night. I also liked dishes that incorporated the betel leaves — the restaurant’s name sake — since they do a great job pairing it with the food.
Drinks were great, food was amazing. Must try!

My best friend had raved about Betel for so long & I wasn’t disappointed. Some of the dishes weren’t too memorable, but the ones that were good were AMAZING — hence 5 stars.
I loved Betel from the moment I walked in. Simple & natural design: dark wood paneling & hanging paper lanterns. It was a warm summer evening & they have big windows that are open to the sidewalk — you feel like you have outdoor seating & can people-​gaze w/​o having to deal w/​the noise/​weather/​pedestrians. The size of our group kept changing & our server was really understanding about this.
Decided to share the tasting menu ($ 55 for 5 appetizers & 5 cocktails — worth it if you can go through 5 drinks in one meal!) & one entrée w/​a friend. Very glad I did it to get the variety. I did get pretty tipsy. (Note: the appetizers are small serving sizes, e.g. one egg half for the son in law eggs while if you’d gotten the full appetizer it’s four egg halves. Drinks are full sized cocktails!) The timing of the food wasn’t too great — some people who only got an entrée waited a LONG time (our 4^th course?) before getting their food, while we’d been eating/​drinking away for a good 30 – 45 minutes.
TASTING MENU:
Chicken betel leaf w/​roasted shallot & eggplant relish lemon grass & mint — unfortunately our server didn’t tell us to wrap the chicken in the betel leaf like a wrap, which would’ve added some great texture/​crunch. The way I ate it, I found this to be a rather plain dish, & the flavors not unique (sweet/​sour-​ish).
Summer — very light, bubbly, subtly sweet, w/​just a subtle kick to it. Delicious.
Salt & pepper cuttlefish w/​vietnamese dipping sauce — like fancy calamari. Fried lightly w/​a nice minimal crunch, & w/​a good spicy kick to it. Good but the meal gets better.
Blackberry passionfruit caipiroska — I love blackberries, thus I loved this drink. Very tart, which I love, like a wonderful sweet blackberry juice w/​just enough alcohol.
Pork & scallop cilantro dumplings w/​garlic chives yao choy & chili oil — oh yummy. so soft, & the broth is so good. Like my mom’s homemade dumplings but so much more fresh. The crunch of the chives = perfect.
Nashi-​citrus fizz — not too impressed, the lemongrass syrup was a little too overpowering & otherwise there wasn’t much flavor to it, though the bubbly was nice.
Son in law eggs w/​sweet yellow bean tamarind sauce & fried shallots — WOW absolutely delicious. The sauce is amazing. I ate this in one giant bite, which you have to, & all the flavors just melt together perfectly into the egg yolk. Oh I wish that bite could’ve lasted longer.
Southeast julep — don’t usually like this drink but this was probably the best julep I’ve had. Light & subtly sweet, though I could’ve used a little less cucumber flavor.
Grilled bo la lot w/​vietnamese mint & red nahm jim — good texture to the meat, & it goes well w/​the lettuce leaf you wrap it in. However I didn’t find the flavors very memorable — a little bit of a sweet & sour.
Bold fashioned — the sweetest drink I had, which I loved. It tastes like wonderful alcoholic fruit punch, but actually well made.
OTHER ITEMS ON MENU:
The lotus flower — very very delicious light, slightly sweet drink. We all loved this one.
Poached chicken & crab salad w/​coconut, cherry tomatoes & green nahm jim dressing — this dish is giant! (see my picture) I think the cashews & tomatoes definitely made this dish — if you had a bite w/​o either of these things, it really was a rather plain salad w/​a big jumbled mix of things. My friend loved this dish a lot more, a big fan of the sauce & the pulled chicken.
Vietnamese braised wagyu brisket w/​long leaf cilantro Vietnamese mint & chili lime dressing — OHHHHH SO GOOD. So so good. The sauce/​soup was amazing. AMAZING. The beef was sooo tender & soft & full of awesomeness.
Jungle curry of monkfish cheek w/​baby corn spring onlion snake bean & fried garlic — Not too impressed w/​this one. It was really spicy, which I liked, but the sauce didn’t have much more flavor to it, & the other ingredients didn’t add to much to the dish. I’ve had amazing monkfish (great solid texture) & was expecting to taste something similar but the texture was a little rubbery, nothing special.
Hung lae curry of pork belly w/​peanuts cilantro & sticky rice — ALSO AMAZING. SO GOOD. From the crunchy skin to the layer of fat to the pork to the sauce. it was all a big fatty amazing piece of heaven. A bonus that it came w/​sticky rice — enough to share w/​a few people.
OVERALL PROS:
— Very cute restaurant, love the décor, nice fun atmosphere, big windows open to the sidewalk.
— Delicious cocktails! Get: summer, blackberry, bold fashioned, lotus. Tons more I want to try.
— Must-​haves: Son in law eggs, wagyu brisket, pork belly.
OVERALL CONS:
— A little pricey! I wouldn’t do the tasting menu a 2^nd time. Would come back for entrees (which also come nicely in half sizes).
— Food came out with bad timing — entrees came way way after appetizers.