If you feel like ordering in, Soya offers a wide variety Asian delights fit just right to the local palate. Yonatan Sternberg tastes a few of Soya's eggrolls and more.
From time to time, I feel like just picking up the phone and ordering in. When one is too lazy to look for parking or wait for the bus, shop, cook or do dishes, take out is the ideal solution. After spending about 10-15 minutes on line trying to decide between sushi, pizza, jachnun (a traditional Yemenite dish), stir fry or hamburgers, we eventually called up Soya, a Pan-Asian take-out joint in the German Colony.
Situated on Rachel Imeinu Street, just off Emek Refaim, Soya was established some five years ago by former computer engineers, Eran and Tomer, who felt that it was time for a change. Soya's menu includes a wide variety of stir fried dishes, eggrolls, sushi, salads, soups, sandwiches, desserts and more. When ordering from Soya one has the opportunity to mix and match, choosing the type of noodle (egg or rice noodles), vegetable and meat/tofu combination and even the type of sauce used to season the dish. "Unlike other Asian restaurants that season the dishes according to preset recipes, at Soya we let the customer decide, offering a variety of six different home-made sauces" says Eran. "After spending some time in Asia, we decided to bring some of the flavors back home with us, offering a taste of traditional Asian cuisine modified to meet the Israeli pallet".
We sampled Soya's vegetarian and chicken eggrolls, both nice and crispy. I was very happy to see that despite being transported in classic cardboard take-out boxes, they were not soggy at all. Another dish that I enjoyed was the Thai inspired Chang Mai chicken: tender pieces of breaded chicken, thin slices of carrots and apple cubes in a coconut milk – teriyaki sauce. The Vietnamese special was also quite interesting: beef, carrots, peanuts, bean sprouts, sweet potatoes, fresh Portobello mushrooms and a piquant peanut butter sauce. The vegetables and meat were cooked well, remaining firm and crispy as well as juicy and flavorful. There is no doubt that Soya offers excellent value to its customers. Portions are extremely generous, the service is prompt and friendly and, as previously mentioned, there is no need to do dishes or clean up. I only wish that they would have brought fortune cookies as well.
Soya also offers business lunches, caters private events and even prepares family style take out meals for the weekend.
