Category: Indonesian

Traditionally varies between each region of Indonesia. The majoriy of Indonesian food in Sydney is influenced by Western Java and Padang region.

Medan Baru

Medan Baru Review:

The restaurant I am reviewing this week (I believe) is a restaurant that has achieved the legendary status in the capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta. When you ask someone from Jakarta about Rumah Makan Medan Baru, they would most likely have heard about the place. We went to the original place in Pasar Baru, Jakarta.

You can feel the old-fashioned air as soon as you entered the restaurant. There was no menu being handed out in Medan Baru. Instead you are given plates of pre-selected dishes. The number of plates were not as massive as other similar restaurants in Indonesia.

Please be mindful that you do not need to finish them all. You are only charged for the number of plates you take the food out from.

Medan Baru is famous mainly for their following three dishes. You have to order it separately as they don’t come in that pre-set menu laid out above.

The first on the list is Sambal Ganja. Unfortunately (or fortunately and strangely, I might add), they ran out of it when we were there. Sambal ganja is a chili sauce that was native to Medan area. Ganja is actually an Indonesian word for cannabis leaf. Whether or not they actually put ganja in the ingredient, you would never know.

I was happy that I did not have to try chili sauce. It did leave a sour note to the whole experience.

Burung Punai

Burung punai is the local name for pink-necked green pigeons. So (yeah!), you are basically eating a whole pigeon. To make things more interesting, they actually left the frame intact. You got everything minus the head and feet.

There was not that much else to talk about.

Gulai Kepala Ikan

This is the bit that made me consider to revisit Medan Baru. Basically, it was fish head curry… A really big fish head. They have quite thick curry sauce and very fragrance dish.

The final verdict for Medan Baru

Personally, I was not too impressed with the quality of food at Rumah Makan Medan Baru. I believe my brother has oversold it a tad too much.

Did you know?

Rumah Makan Medan Baru has two more branches in Jakarta: Sunter and Puri Indah.

Rating for Medan Baru:

6.5 / 10

Taste: 6.5 / 10

Price: Rp 20k onwards per plate

Place: 6.5 / 10

Details:

Jl Krekot Bunder Raya No 65, Pasar Baru, Jakarta

+62 21 384 4273

Medan Baru on Zomato

Mar 2, 2017
Solo Culinary Tourism | What to eat in Solo?

On this occasion, our family went to Solo to attend a big family reunion from my father’s side. This week’s review is probably a little different because instead of roaming through the city of Solo, our host already prepared the best food Solo had to offer in their place (or more like a palace ^^).

For those of you who have never been to the city, this article can probably help you to answer “What to eat in Solo?”

Solo Culinary Tourism

Tengkleng

Tengkleng is one of the few dishes originated from Solo. This dish resembles Indonesian goat curry with additional internal organs thrown in the mix.

Tengkleng that we enjoyed came from Warung Tengkleng Mbak Diah – Tanjung Anom, Sukoharjo – 0271 644069.

Bebek Remuk H Slamet

Bebek remuk is loosely translated into smashed duck. It wasn’t that pleasing to see.. considering that it looked crushed up with bones everywhere. You actually need to scoop up the meat that falls off the bone.

Bebek Remuk H Slamet has quite a few branches spread around the city of Solo.

Soto Gading

Soto in the city of Solo has a similar appearance to a clear soup. Personally, the main attraction in Rumah Makan Gading II for me is the little bites that are served on the table (no you don’t need to finish them all!).

Also, don’t forget to remember what you are eating, because they do not keep track of it.. thus your honesty is appreciated here!

Shi Jack

Shi Jack was one of the more interesting phenomena in Solo. Quite a lot of people in Solo likes to hangout in a street stall and drink milk at night! There are quite a few Shi Jack branches in Solo. We happened to visit their branch in front of Lapangan Kota Barat in Solo. In addition to their milk products, they also serve snacks such as quail egg satay.

What to Eat in Solo? What else is available on this Solo Culinary Tourism?

Pasar Gede + Dawet Selasih

I enjoyed my time roaming through the traditional market of Solo, Pasar Gede. There are quite a lot of things that you would not be able to find in a supermarket, including traditional herbs and medicines. While we were at the market, we managed to try Dawet Selasih Bu Watik. This rice-flour-based dessert, also known as Cendol, was pretty refreshing in a hot weather of Solo. A lot of people also goes to Pasar Gede to find some food to be given out as souvenirs (it’s normal to give souvenirs in the form of food in Indonesia).

Srabi Notosuman

Srabi Notosuman is one of my favourite snacks. It is now available in other parts of Indonesia, but Solo is where it all started!

Nasi Liwet

Nasi liwet is available everywhere in Solo. On this occasion, we had the one served at the party in Solo Paragon Hotel.

Others

There are quite a few dishes that I tried whilst in Solo, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to take individual pictures. In no particular order they are: Gudeg mbak Yati, Ayam Sukoharjo mbak Yuli, sate ayam pak Tukri Ponorogo, Selat Solo and Gempol Pleret.

What is Culinary Tourism?

Indonesians love to eat (including me). Their overabundance love of food enables them to create a whole new phrase dedicated to the journey of finding good food. Hence, the term ‘Wisata Kuliner‘ was born. It was hard to find the English phrase for it. However, after brainstorming session with my friends, we decided to use the term ‘Culinary Tourism’ to describe this phenomena because someone has written a thesis about it.

The City of Solo

Solo, or officially called Surakarta, is located in Central Java, East of Jogjakarta. One of their main attractions, besides the food obviously, are the palace of Kasunanan and the traditional Batik Solo.

Solo is also the birthplace and residence of Indonesia’s first Formula 1 driver, Rio Haryanto.

Feb 10, 2017
Medan Ciak

Medan Ciak Review:

Another brand new restaurant we went to for this week’s blog entry. I was quickly drawn into the restaurant because of my friend. He visited this new establishment fairly regularly in the past few weeks and always said that it was worth a visit. Considering he is from Medan and the restaurant is called Medan Ciak, I guess there is no hurt in trying.

The menu was quite a simple one-pager. These days, I like having to choose from a smaller list. So that we can minimise our errors in choosing the wrong dish.

Yong Tofu – Weekend special

Every weekend, Medan Ciak has a special menu. For the weekend we were there, the special menu was Yong Tofu. It was a slightly spicy meatball soup with assortments of meatballs, including whole-chilli meatball!

Medan Cah Kwe Tiau – $13 – Fried flat rice noodles with BBQ pork, Chinese sausage, prawn, fish cake, egg, shallot, bean sprout

I went with my usual choice of kwetiau. Kwetiau is one of a few baselines I used to decide on my scoring. They gave quite a generous portion for the price. The ingredients are not premixed, so you are able to exclude some of the ingredients from the list (i.e. you can ask for no pork or no seafood).

Nasi Lemak Komplit – $11 – Coconut rice served with fried chicken, beef curry, boiled egg with sambal, peanut, anchovy fish, crackers, cucumber, fried shredded coconut

Nasi lemak originally comes from Malaysia. However, some parts of Indonesia (especially Sumatra), does offer similar rice dish and call it ‘nasi lemak’ as well. Their fried chicken, albeit quite small, was quite good. However, the sambal potato was the star of the dish. They were so good.

Nasi Simangunsong – $13 – Steamed rice served with stir fry kangkung (water spinach) & fried chicken.

Nasi simangunsong is the one thing that we have never heard of. It’s quite an interesting mix of fried chicken and water spinach. I am quite curious about the prawn they put on top of the rice. Although it’s a nice surprise addition for us. People with seafood allergies might not be too thrilled.

The final verdict for Medan Ciak

I quite enjoyed the kwetiau from Medan Ciak. Their other dishes really felt like having a real Indonesian dish in a typical Indonesian restaurant.

Did you know?

Medan Ciak can be quite busy these days due to the sheer number of Indonesians eager to try.

Rating for Medan Ciak:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $11 – $14 per main

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

Shop 3 / 460 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010

+61 403 363 326

https://www.facebook.com/MedanCiak/

Oct 26, 2016
Sop Buntut Bogor Cafe

Review:

This is probably the most bizarre signature dish (for non-Indonesians) that I have ever written. Sop Buntut Bogor Cafe is a restaurant that serves grilled oxtail soup as its signature dish… and Indonesians (or at least most people I know) LOVE them!

These days, you can find grilled oxtail soup in quite a lot of places. However, I daresay Bogor Café in Borobudur Hotel Jakarta is the first one to do it. For this review, we went to its branch in one of the shopping malls in Jakarta.

There are quite a few dishes that use oxtail as their main ingredient at Sop Buntut Bogor Cafe.

Tahu Pong – 45k – with sweet soya – chilli sauce dip

Tahu pong is a typical Indonesian snack that is made of tahu (tofu). The tofu is then deep fried and served with sweet soya and chilli sauce.

To be honest, this one did not really look like the real ‘tahu pong’, which was usually more round with crunchy edge. However, taste wise, it did not disappoint.

Martabak Buntut – 45k – Sweet soya sauce dip and pickles

Martabak is also an Indonesian snack that you can pretty much find everywhere. However, it can be considered as a pretty ‘heavy’ snack. I think most of you would know ‘martabak’ by now (or you can read it from wiki).

The filling for its martabak was oxtail meat. Taste wise, I couldn’t really tell the difference between oxtail meat and regular beef meat. To make a good martabak, it is very important that you serve nice pickles and sweet soy sauce with it!

Oxtail Nasi Goreng – 125k – Fried Javanese rice with oxtail, pickles, stock, melinjo crackers

It is probably one of the more expensive nasi goreng dishes that you can find in Indonesia. It is the same cost as fried rice in quite a lot of Sydney restaurants!

You only got one small oxtail piece and a few shredded meat in the fried rice. Honestly, I think I would rather have three martabaks than this fried rice.

Hotel Borobudur’s Legendary Oxtail Soup Specialties – 160k – Served with steamed rice, melinjo crackers, pickles, chili sambal and lime

This is what we came here for… and yes they now actually put the word ‘legendary’ on the menu. They have two sizes, medium and legendary. The ‘legendary’ size is actually not that big for non-Indonesians. You can have the oxtail stewed in a soup (regular), grilled or fried. Traditionally, Indonesians love stewed oxtail but it also means quite a lot of fat. Grilled (and fried) oxtail on the other hand have less fat.

I’m pretty sure they were legendary because they were one of the first ones to grill oxtails. These days, you can find grilled oxtail in quite a lot of places.

The final verdict for Sop Buntut Bogor Cafe

Although Sop Buntut Bogor Cafe might be the first one to grill oxtails, it’s apparent that they are quickly losing its competitive advantage and become somewhat overpriced nostalgic restaurant… Nevertheless people are still coming in for that reason.

Did you know?

Whenever you are in Indonesia, always on the look for Avocado juice (like the one pictured below). It is such a nice drink to have!

Rating for Sop Buntut Bogor Cafe:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $4 – $20 per dish

Place: 6.5 / 10

Details:

Street Gallery, Ground Floor, Pondok Indah Mall

Jl Metro Pondok Indah, Jakarta

+62 21 2952 9718

Apr 20, 2016
Komune Beach Club

Review:

In our last leg of our holiday at the end of last year, we went to an area in Bali (possibly) least visited by tourists called Candi Dasa. It was a very nice and peaceful area where divers love to visit. However, the place has a huge drawback: food. There was practically none that’s worth mentioning.

Luckily one day we went a bit out of the area and was recommended to this restaurant by my cousin who live in Bali: Komune Beach Club. It was a pretty modern beach club with beach-side pool and a nice bar area. The menu sounds very Australian with Australian slang such as chook.

Super club sandwich – 85k – Grilled chicken tomato lettuce avocado fried egg and bacon

It was quite a regular club sandwich that you can find in Sydney (I guess it can be considered ‘super’ in Indonesia). They also give you wavy potato chips.

‘Island of the Gods’ salad – 80k – Freshly seared sliced tuna on a bed of mixed greens, sesame seeds and mushrooms, with A special Asian dressing.

I am not going to talk about the mixed greens salad because… well… it’s just a mixed greens salad. I’m more intrigued with the seared sliced tuna. For a country not known for fresh fish eaten semi-raw, the tuna was actually pretty good!

Fish and chips – 55k – Fresh local fish delicately crumbed served with fries and salad

The fish and chips that we ordered was from the kids menu section. It was quite a decent portion for a kids menu. I also love that they actually gave salad for the kids!

Cheese burger – 70k – Homemade 180gram juicy beef pattie with sliced cheese topper

Cheese burger was the one that I actually ordered in Komune Beach Club that day. I would normally think that 180gr is a bit small but I had to take what’s available. It was quite a decent burger with (interestingly) pasta-like sauce, crinkle cut chips and a curious side of pickled gherkin and salt.

It wasn’t the most amazing burger ever, but it was quite an antidote for our deprivation of good quality food.

The final verdict for Komune Beach Club

Komune Beach Club menu is heavily influenced by Australian cuisine. The portion is quite big when compared to regular Indonesian dishes.

Did you know?

I later found out that Komune also has a hotel in Gold Coast. I guess that explained the Australian theme.

Candi Dasa, and its surrounding area like Padang Bai, is actually a well-known diving area.

Rating for Komune Beach Club:

7.0 / 10

Taste: 7.0 / 10

Price: $5 – $10 per dish

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

Keramas Beach, off Jalan Prof Dr Ida Bagus Mantra Bypass, Bali

+62 361 3018888

http://www.komuneresorts.com/

Jan 28, 2016
Hotel Bumi All You Can Eat

Review:

This week, we review a restaurant that has been generating quite a buzz in my hometown, Surabaya – Indonesia. I think most people just refer it to as ‘Hotel Bumi All You Can Eat’. It is a new-ish concept that they introduce by combining two restaurants into one gigantic all you can eat eatery. I am actually tempted to just say ‘Don’t read this and just go to the place’. You’ll know why…

We actually arrived at the Japanese wing of the restaurant. It used to be known as Kizahashi restaurant. There are three big stalls in this restaurant: Tempura, Teppanyaki, and assorted Japanese stalls. The tempura stall also serves udon, whilst you can get Japanese fried rice and okonomiyaki from the Teppanyaki stall. The other stall is the most exciting. You can get sushi, sashimi, sorbet, Japanese salad and some desserts. When we were there, they ran out of salmon sashimi and there was only a white fish sashimi and crab stick.

Japanese Tempura

Japanese Teppanyaki

Sushi, Sashimi and Salad

We now move to the Indonesian wing of the restaurant. I think officially they still use the restaurant name, Arumanis. The stall I was interested in the most was rujak cingur. It’s a traditional dish from Surabaya that use cow’s nose as one of the ingredients with vegetables and peanut-and-shrimp-based sauce. In addition to that they also have other Indonesian and Chinese-Indonesian dishes.

Rujak Cingur

Assorted Indonesian

The fun actually starts outside of these restaurants. They have more than a dozen of small stalls. The two things that I love to try when going to a new Indonesian restaurant (if available) are chicken satay and sop kaki. I am sure you should know about Indonesian chicken satay. Sop kaki is a bit more exotic. They are predominantly a soup made of cow’s leg and other innards (or you can always have the meat part).

Chicken Satay

Sop Kaki

Another dish that I always try to find when in Indonesia is Tahu Tek. It is a traditional fried tofu with egg and peanut-based sauce. It is usually enjoyed with rice cake and crackers. You can also find Shawarma in one of the stalls. However, it didn’t look to exciting for me. You could also find Kikil (a different version of cow’s leg soup) and martabak.

Tahu Tek

Shawarma

Kikil, Martabak and Nasi Bakar

Last but not least, we also tried a few nice desserts. The lightest of all is crepes with sprinkled cheese and chocolate. My favourite, although it doesn’t look apetising in the picture below is sweet martabak. They are very lovely! You can also have an assortment of drinks like Malaysian’s Teh Tarik and Indonesian ginger-based drink called Angsle.

Crepes

Martabak Manis

Teh Tarik and Angsle

There are also some stalls that I did not go to (just because I already felt really full!). Some of the food that I did not get to try: Soba, BBQ chicken, dumplings, steamed stuff, traditional drinks, ice cream, es teler, Javanese fried rice and noodles, and soto.

I have also included pictures of all of the stalls that you can try in Hotel Bumi All You Can Eat.

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The final verdict for Hotel Bumi All You Can Eat

Overall, it might not be the best restaurant in Surabaya. However, the vast number of dishes you can try at Hotel Bumi all you can eat was overwhelming, to put it mildly.

Did you know?

This all you can eat package is actually done by two different restaurants merged together.

Hotel Bumi was formerly owned by the Hyatt group.

Rating for Hotel Bumi All You Can Eat:

8.0 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $20 all you can eat

Place: 6.5 / 10

Details:

Jalan Jend. Basuki Rakhmat 106 – 128, Surabaya, Indonesia

+62 31 531 1234

http://www.bumisurabaya.com/

Jan 12, 2016