Category: Indonesian

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

Choco Corner

My Choco Corner Experience:

Located in Mal Artha Gading (North East Jakarta), I must admit that I would not normally visit the area as I tend to stick to Central or South Jakarta (due to the traffic). However if you are around the area, I can say that Choco Corner truly worth your visit.

Established in 2010, Choco Corner have quite a large variety of food on their menu, from classical Indonesian, Indonesian fusion, Spanish, and other – what Indonesians called – the ‘Western’ food.

Beef Nachos Grande might not be as ‘grande’ (large in Spanish) as one would expect. However, it was actually big for Indonesian standards. When you order Nachos in Indonesia, you usually get a few pieces of tortilla with half-heartedly put tiny pieces of meat. So looking at this serving made me quite happy.

Beef Nachos Grande – 43.9k

Our next entree is a hidden gem. It is also appropriately named as the Exotic Delight! The image might not do justice as it only showed French fries and capsicums. However, I can tell you that they are not your usual French fries.

Exotic Delight – 34.9k

I ordered Nasi Goreng Kambing (lamb fried rice) because I wanted to make a comparison (that might sound a little bit unfair) to the legendary Nasi Goreng Kambing Kebon Sirih. In terms of aesthetic, there was no doubt that their fried rice fared a lot better than the legendary site. It was still a good alternative if you didn’t want to travel to Central Jakarta.

Nasi Goreng Kambing – 35.9k

They also have decent-sized ribs, such as Iga bakar balado or Rib original barbecue. Iga bakar balado had quite a unique taste to it as it was meant to be hot and spicy (not your typical ribs, eh?). Rib (notice that it is only one rib) original barbecue on the other hand resembled your typical ribs with slightly juicy twist, Indonesian-style.

Iga bakar balado – 78.9k

Rib original barbecue – 78.9k

The dish that I actually ordered myself was smoked chicken with creamy mushroom sauce. You get nearly half a chicken with a hint of salsa and green veggies at the top. The chicken was perfectly cooked (well, in this case, smoked) and I was impressed with the combination of mushroom sauce and sweet and sour. They also have other flavours for the smoked chicken you are welcomed to try!

Smoked chicken with creamy mushroom sauce – 69.9k

I didn’t get to try the next two dishes. Its Spaghetti Bolognaise was nicely presented with two edible curiously-looking things sticking out of the noodles. If you look at its Lasagna alforno you have to admire its juicy and messy feel to it! Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty in it!

Spaghetti Bolognaise – 36.9k

Lasagna alforno – 36.9k

The final verdict for Choco Corner

All of the dishes were beautifully presented and done at Choco Corner Mal Artha Gading. Our favourites of the day were the Exotic Delight and Smoked Chicken. They were exotically different than other dishes I’ve eaten in Indonesia.

Did you know?

Choco Corner was a brainchild in 2009 of a reunion of classmates from Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB – Bogor Agricultural University) that wanted to promote cacao commodity. From a simple coffee corner, they expanded to full-blown restaurant service without leaving their core cocoa values!

Details:

Mal Artha Gading – Ground Floor

+62 21 458 641 99

Oct 24, 2014
Java Restaurant

Review:

I have wanted to go to this week’s restaurant for as long as I could remember, but we just kept delaying it… until now. Located in Randwick, Java Restaurant (the name is quite easy to remember, isn’t it?) is quite unassuming and you can easily miss it because of the old decor.

We were quite optimistic about the place because as we went for an early dinner, there were people already dined there. Sometimes good restaurants can simply be seen by the number of patrons eating there at odd hours of the day.

While we were there, we skipped all the regulars that we could find in other Indonesian restaurants around Sydney, with the exception of fried kwetiau. There were still quite a bit to choose from and we tried to order as much as we could eat them!

First off is Nasi Goreng Babat. It was Indonesian specialty fried rice with beef tripe (cow’s tummy). This dish came with traditional Indonesian crackers (melinjo), egg and sliced tomatoes. I have this guilty pleasure of enjoying quite about everything even when they are not the healthy option, because that’s where most of the great taste comes from!

Nasi Goreng Babat – $11.90 – Indonesian style fried rice with beef tripe and tomato slices

For the second dish, Semur Kepiting Sokak, I do not think the name reflects the description given. Traditionally speaking, semur is a rich, soup-based dish. Whereas this dish is deep fried soft shell crabs with sweet soy sauce and lots of onions and capsicums. It is still a great dish, but I think it should be named Kepiting Soka bumbu kecap (Soft shell crab with sweet soy sauce) instead of semur.

Semur Kepiting Sokak (Soft Shell Crab) – $20.90 – Lightly battered fried soft shell crab pieces topped with shallots, onions, and capsicum slices in butter sweet soya sauce

At the end of last month when we went to Ester, I was quite disappointed that they did not serve bone marrow. So I quickly made up my mind at the first sight of the word “bone marrow” in this restaurant. Better yet, it’s salt and pepper bone marrow with chopped chilli! They called the dish Sum sum Goreng.The Indonesian word for bone marrow is supposedly sumsum.

Sumsum Goreng – $14.90 – Salt and peppered lightly battered fried beef bone marrow pieces with cut chilli

Sumsum Goreng – $14.90 – Salt and peppered lightly battered fried beef bone marrow pieces with cut chilli

Kwetiau Goreng was our last dish of the day. It is quite a well balanced dish with good amount of chicken, fish cakes and prawns atop the thick rice noodles.

Kwetiau Goreng – $11.90 – Stir-fried thick rice noodles with chicken, egg, vegetables, fishcakes and small prawn pieces

Last, but definitely not least, Indonesians love to have avocado for desserts and/or drinks. Es Alpukat is a shaved ice (the menu said ‘crushed ice’) dessert with fresh avocado, coffe and condensed milk.

Es Alpukat – $5.80 – Fresh avocado pieces in coffee and condensed milk with crushed ice

The final verdict for Java Restaurant

There are quite a few ‘interesting’ descriptions in the menu at Java Restaurant. However in terms of taste, I must say they were up to my expectations!

Did you know?

A couple of months ago, my Dutch colleague asked me a question that he assumed every Indonesian should know: Where can I get a Rijst Tafel in Sydney?

Very clueless, I replied “What is Rijst Tafel? “. Apparently rijst tafel is a kind of extravagant, old-fashioned Indonesian meal that they have in the Netherlands that people spends countless hours preparing to impress their guests. They cook several Indonesian dishes and prepare them as a banquet-style meal where people share and enjoy the dishes together.

I knew NOTHING about it.

Amazingly, Java restaurant managed to actually have rijst tafel in their menu. So, I am even more impressed with them!

Rijst Tafel menu

Rating for Java Restaurant:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $10-20 for main dish

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

151 Avoca Street, Randwick

+61 2 9398 6990

www.javarestaurant.com.au

Oct 14, 2014
Boemi Joglo

Review:

For this week’s review we travelled up and down mountain side in Bandung to a place called Boemi Joglo. It is quite an interesting name choice that can be translated into ‘The World of Joglo’. Joglo is a traditional house of Javanese people. You can read more about Joglo in Wikipedia as usual.

Boemi Joglo has this fantastic one-page listing of stuff you can eat and drink. It is very simple with no pictures. So, you kind of have to know what you want to eat.

The first thing you have to order is Tempe Mendoan. Tempe mendoan is a deep fried soy bean cake with yummy spices. The difference between regular and great tempe mendoan is its ‘sambal kecap’ dipping sauce. This restaurant has a pretty tasty dipping sauce to complement the dish!

Tempe Mendoan – 7k

Their ‘signature dish’ is Nasi Liwet. There are two options of Nasi Liwet: Nasi Liwet Ikan Asin or Nasi Liwet Ayam Jamur. You need to order the nasi liwet based on the (perceived) number of people on the table. It has a serving for 2, 4, 6, 8, or 10 people. Nasi Liwet Ikan Asin has salted fish as its core ingredient. They put quite a few vegetables in the dish, but I don’t really mind it this time.

Nasi Liwet Ikan Asin – 35k -140k

Nasi Liwet Ayam Jamur’s core ingredients are chicken pieces and mushrooms. I guess this one is for the less adventurous people that have ‘regular’ taste palate. The rice is cooked on a clay pot. Clay pot cooking presented a nice dimension to the rice you are eating.

Nasi Liwet Ayam Jamur – 35k -140k

What I love the most about the place is its Sate Maranggi. This satay has 1/3 of fat content in every stick -> Yes, it’s crazy fattening but incredibly yummy! Sate Maranggi is usually served with chopped chilli, sweet soy sauce and vinegar.

Sate Maranggi Sapi and Kambing – 23k

Sate Maranggi Sapi and Kambing – 23k

The next one might be good if you have fussy eaters: Kentang Sosis, which translates into Fries and Sausages. Nothing can go wrong with fries and sausages… or can it?

Kentang Sosis – 16.5k

This last dish is pretty good if there is only a few of you. Nasi Timbel Joglo + Sayur Asem is the name. You get a pretty good deal for this one: A quarter of grilled chicken, two pieces of Tempe Mendoan, rice cooked in banana leaf, chilli sauce, some vegetables and sayur asem. Sayur asem is a sweet and sour vegetable soup with tamarind as its main ingredient.

Nasi Timbel Joglo and Sayur Asem – 26k

Teh Poci – 15k

The final verdict for Boemi Joglo

Being Javanese I do not normally eat these dishes, except maybe the Satay. Moreover, I usually pass on Nasi Liwet, let alone eating them. However, Boemi Joglo delivered such a killer Nasi Liwet that I cannot get enough of!

Did you know?

Dago is quite a large (and famous) part of Bandung. They have shops, cafes, boutiques on the lower part and restaurants with nice view of the city at the Northern part, called Dago Pakar.

One small warning though: Going there on a weekend would seem like a struggle, because of the tiny road being run over by millions of people.

Rating for Boemi Joglo:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $3 – $5 per person

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

Jalan Rancakendal Luhur No. 17, Dago Bandung

+62 22 250 1344 / 9112 1679

Oct 3, 2014
Ria Galeria

Review:

Ria Galeria is famous in Surabaya for its vast array of dishes in their arsenal. It is one of the few good restaurants in Surabaya that doesn’t consist of only one champion dish. Established in 1985, Ria Galeria is trying to live up to its slogan ‘authentic taste’.

There are two dishes that we always ordered: Tumis Lurjuk and Sate Sumsum. Unfortunately they ran out of marrow for the satay sumsum this time around. Stir fry ‘lurjuk’ in sweet soy sauce is a rarity dish that you can only find in a handful of restaurants in Surabaya. It is a seafood-based and taste pretty exotic. Read more about lurjuk on the ‘Did you know?’ section below. Seriously, you must order this dish as you would never find anything like it in any parts of this world.

Tumis Lurjuk – Stir fry ‘lurjuk’ in sweet soy sauce – Rp. 42k

Tumis Lurjuk – Rp. 42k

Still from the seafood department, we have Gurami Asam Manis. Gourami is also quite a unique fish from South East Asia. On this occasion, we wanted it to be deep fried with sweet and sour sauce. It’s quite similar to sweet and sauce condiments in Chinese food, but usually Indonesians add shredded carrots to the sauce.

Sweet and Sour Gourami

We also ordered Kepiting Gembos Dadar Telor (soft shell crab omelette) and Deep Fried Calamari. Considering that Surabaya is a port city, there is bound to be loads of fresh seafood products.

Kepiting Gembos Dadar Telor – soft shell crab omelette – Rp. 50k

Deep Fried Calamari

Moving away from seafood dishes, we have Sate Ayam Ria Galeria. They claimed it to be the ‘special’ chicken satay. As I have been eating it for a very long time (every time I visit the restaurant), I have grown accustomed to its unique taste. From the beef department, we have Sop asam-asam Iga, loosely translated into spicy sweet and sour ribs soup. Although the name is sweet and sour, this version incorporates quite a distinct flavour compared to the gourami one above.

Sate Ayam Ria Galeria – Special “Ria Galeria” Chicken satay – Rp. 55k

Sop Asem-asem Iga – spicy sweet and sour ribs soup – Rp. 65k

They also have varieties of green vegetables and bean sprouts which I would normally care less about. The important thing about eating all of the dishes above is when you eat them with steamy rice and ‘sambal pencit’ (for those of you who eat spicy stuff).

Nasi Putih and Sambal Pencit

Last but not least, it’s the refreshing taste of Es Siwalan Special. Most people mistaken Siwalan as ‘young coconut’ but, it is a very different fruit altogether.

Es Siwalan Special – Sweet young coconut drink – Rp. 35k.

The final verdict for Ria Galeria

Ria Galeria put decent efforts in keeping up with its ‘authentic taste’ slogan. They also offered several hard-to-find dishes originated from East Java, such as Lurjuk.

Did you know?

Tumis lurjuk is quite an interesting delicacy native of Surabaya and Madura island that is pretty hard to find in restaurants even Surabaya. Some said that it derived from ‘kerang bambu’ (bamboo clam), but I don’t think it’s quite right as lurjuk is typically a lot smaller than that.

In addition to the dish above, people deep fried lurjuk for snack!

Rating for Ria Galeria:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $3-5 for main dish

Place: 7.5 / 10

Details:

Jalan Bangka 2 – 4, Surabaya

+62 31 5030181

Sep 9, 2014
Bakmi Jowo DU 67

Review:

This week review is a restaurant in the city of Bandung called Bakmi Jowo DU 67. Bandung and most part of West Java consist of mainly Sundanese that has quite distinct Sundanese language and culture. Therefore, having authentic Javanese cuisines in Bandung is quite rare. I understand the irony of Bandung being in the island of Java.

The amazing thing about this place is that they cook our dishes using ‘arang’ (charcoal). Bakmi Jowo DU 67 is located in Jalan Dipati Ukur 67, Bandung (hence the ‘DU 67’ name).

Bakmi Jowo DU 67’s signature dish is its Bakmi (Noodles). They have three versions of the noodles: Goreng (fried), Godhog (boiled, with soup base), and Bakmi Nyemek. Nyemek is a Javanese word for a dish that’s neither dry nor soupy. The noodles dish was served with green vegetables, eggs, ati ampla (liver and gizzard) and chicken.

Our next dish was Bihun (glass noodles/vermicelli). Similar to the noodles, you can have Bihun Goreng, Godhog or Nyemek. It has quite a similar configuration to Bakmi Nyemek, but the Goreng version was cooked with sweet soy sauce.

I chose its Nasi Goreng Mawut as I love good fried rice! The word ‘mawut’ (chaotic) is for mixing noodles into the fried rice. It is chaotic as one would not normally mix rice and noodles!

All of the dishes above are priced at Rp 20.000,00. That’s less than AU$ 2. They are also served on a pandan leaf that enhanced flavours.

If you think you can’t finish a whole plate of them, I suggest you share it with someone else. The half-portion version of the dish would cost you Rp 18.000,00 (that’s only 2k difference!).

The next two are add-ons that some of you might not enjoy. One is Krengsengan Ati Ampla and the other is Krengsengan Brutu. Krengsengan is a stir-fried dish with sweet soy sauce. It costs between 80c – $1 and you can have four different choices: ati Ampla (liver and gizzard), brutu (chicken’s butt), sayap (chicken wings), and paha (chicken thighs).

For a more authentic feel to your meal, try its Teh Poci drink for only Rp 6.000,00. Teh poci is a special tea served hot in clay pot. They also use rock sugar if you like your tea sweet.

The final verdict for Bakmi Jowo DU 67

Bakmi Jowo DU 67 offers the resident of Bandung authentic Javanese dishes without actually going to Central Java! Thanks to its char-grilled Bakmi and Nasi Goreng.

Did you know?

Our last review was an all you can eat restaurant in Jakarta costing us $40 per person. A plate of noodles in this restaurant, costs us less than a mere $2!

Furthermore, $2 won’t be the cheapest food you can find in Indonesia. It just shows the discrepancy of buying power amongst Indonesian citizens!

Rating for Bakmi Jowo DU 67:

7.5 / 10

Taste: 7.5 / 10

Price: $2

Place: 7.0 / 10

Details:

Jalan Dipati Ukur No 67, Bandung 401320

+62 22 7053 5874

http://www.bakmijowodu67.com/

Sep 3, 2014
What to eat in Madiun? | My Madiun Culinary Experience

I probably have mentioned this to you a while ago: Restaurants in Indonesia normally only have one champion dish with just a couple more side dishes if you really must have it. For this reason, I have decided to review the whole city instead of a single restaurant on this occasion. It is the city of Madiun in East Java, Indonesia.

The restaurants are so far away from the word ‘fancy’, but their dishes were great and for Sydney-siders, it would cost almost nothing to eat there!

Granted that most of you might never even set foot in this city, but when you do you might wonder “What to eat in Madiun?”

My Madiun Culinary Experience

Whenever I am in Madiun, I always have a list of food that I must eat while I am there. On top of the ‘What to eat in Madiun?’ list is Pecel.

Pecel

Obviously, when you talk about Madiun, you can never be far away from its Pecel. There are quite a number of variations for pecel and you can easily get its paste from any Indo-Asian stores in Sydney. Generally, you have a mixed of seasonal vegetables (mostly bean sprouts and green beans) on top of warm rice with Pecel sauce. Pecel sauce is peanut-based but it tastes different than satay sauce or gado gado sauce, if you are familiar with Indonesian cuisine. Pecel is usually a bit spicy, but you can always ask the level of hotness.

However, Madiun’s pecel is quite distinct because of these two elements: Kembang Turi (Sesbania Grandiflora’s flower) and Lempeng (the cracker).

Pecel is usually presented on pincuk (a plate made of banana leaf) and enjoyed with bare hands.

You also would normally enjoy Pecel with side dishes of empal (sweet fried beef) and jerohan (various parts of cow’s inner organs). Some pecel establishment also provides other variation of dishes such as Rawon (black beef soup with rice).

You can literally find Pecel establishments in almost every corner of the city. The famous ones are located in Jalan Cokroaminoto. There are quite a few options in that street and personally I think they’re all the same. My personal favourites are Pecel Bu Wiryo and Pecel Pojok. On this occasion we went to Depot Nasi Pecel 99 because they said the president has dined there (big deal!).

Tahu Telor

For this second restaurant, we have been patrons for as long as I remembered. Again, they only served one thing: Tahu Telor or Tahu Panggung. It is a plate of tofu fried with egg and served with rice cake and pickled cucumber. One thing that got me hooked to this dish was its peanut-based sauce. They were distinctively different, but very yummy!

This restaurant is located in Jalan Merbabu, Madiun. Back in the days, they are simply called by the name ‘Depot Tahu Telor’. I just found out this year that they put a name in their restaurant, and now called ‘rasa tunggal’.

Dawet Suronatan

Located in the same street as Depot Tahu Telur above was my favourite Dawet Suronatan. Dawet is largely known as Cendol in other parts of the world. Dawet suronatan is famous because of its unique presentation. It was presented in a petite bowl that everyone can finish. I usually have two or more when I am there. What differentiate dawet suronatan and the rest was its content. In addition to the cendol mixture, they also put black sticky rice, bubur sumsum (rice-flour based), and tape (fermented cassava). I usually ordered the one without tape because I am not a big fan of it.

What to eat in Madiun? What other cuisines are there?

In addition to the dishes I described above, there were several others worth noting was Bakso Simo. Named after its owner, Pak Simo, we usually went there at night time. It is well known for its bakso (meatballs). Unfortunately we didn’t get to visit this establishment this time around.

Sate Ayam Ponorogo also known as Sate Ayam Ngepos

Around 25km south of Madiun, there is a city called Ponorogo that is famous for its Satay. Sate Ayam Ponorogo (as Indonesian said it) is available in a lot of big cities in Indonesia, but they can’t beat the real deal from this city. Our family loves to go to Sate Ayam Ngepos. In this area, the whole street is filled with Satay stalls and you can pretty much choose anyone.

Again, what they sell is just a simple plate of chicken satay with peanut and sweet soy sauce. You can ask for a variation of satays: chicken skin, chicken giblets or the usual chicken meat. Personally, I love the ‘not-so-healthy’ ones!

If you have time, I strongly suggest you visit the city.

The City of Madiun

Madiun is quite a small city (by Indonesian standard) of less than 35 km2 with around 200,000 residents (that’s 20 times more densely-populated than Sydney). It is located around 180 km West of Surabaya and 180 km North East of Jogjakarta.

The city is forever written in the history as the center of the communist party uprising against the republic back in 1948.

Aug 22, 2014