betty loves blogging

Potatohead

Potatohead is now one of my favourite restaurant/bars in Jakarta.  The food is fab.  The drinks (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic) are fab.  The decor is fun, quirky and cute.  And they have sofas OUTSIDE that you can sit on!  That's right!  Outside!  That place where there isn't airconditioning!!

I've been there at night twice before, and today went for lunch as was pleased by the offerings on the brunch/lunch menu as well.  Plus, the service is amazing when compared to Social House at Harvey Nichols... Social House has good food but SERIOUS problems with service.

Today I had the wagyu beef burger with salad on the side and sweet potato fries.  It was really yummy, and the portion size is good.  It wasn't a huge burger, just the right size.  I also had a strawberry muesli lassi, and my friend had some sort of juice.  It was all very tasty, well prepared and fresh.

During the day, the atmosphere is really different.  While at night the place is full of trendsters, at day time it's more laid back and there's even some kids running around, with slightly older kids dressed in white uniforms (usually known as nannies... seriously, there was one nanny there that looked barely older than the kid she was looking after) running after them while mum and dad enjoy the swanky sofas.

Potato Head
Pacific Place Mall (outside)
Kuningan, JakSel
(021) 5797-3322

Oh babi, oh babi.

THIS IS THE BEST PORK EVER.  (Sorry Mum, your Christmas roasts are pretty good too.  But not quite in this league.)

Babi guling, or Balinese suckling pig, from Ibu Oka's warung just behind Ubud Palace.

AMAZING.

For Rp 30,000 you can get the special with a drink.

It's a mix of crackling, the most tender pork, greens, Balinese sausage, other bits of pig that tasted good but I'm not sure what they were, all coated in Balinese spices served on white rice.  It has a bit of a chili kick to it, but not too much.

Apparently they cook up about four of these babis (babi is the Indonesian word for pig) a day and when they have run out, that's it.  No pig for you.  So don't leave it too late, there's never any pig left by dinnertime. The place is buzzing.  Some regular tables out the front, and out the back, low tables with mats to sit on the floor.  You kick your shoes off in to the bulging pile before plonking down on a mat to share tables with locals and tourists from all over.  The topic of conversation primarily revolves around just HOW AWESOME the babi guling is.  There were a few other Jakarta expats there as well, who, like me, were just relishing being able to eat pork, which is not that readily available in the more Muslim parts of Indonesia.

If you go to Ubud, you have to eat this.  As long as you are not Muslim or vegetarian or vegan.  (Sorry... but there's other good stuff to eat in Bali too for you guys...)

Did I mention that it is absolutely delicious?

Sunflower seed snaps

I bought these sunflower seed snaps from Healthy Choice organic deli in Kemang on the weekend.  I was desperate for some healthy food because I wasn't feeling well.  These are really yummy... basically just a mix of sunflower seeds and some peanuts toasted into little discs with honey.  I had an awesome smoothie at the cafe there as well.  It's definitely worth checking out for a health fix.  The range in the deli is pretty small though.

Healthy Choice Organic Store and Restaurant
Jl. Kemang Raya No. 32
Jakarta Selatan

Kitsch pudding

Had a yummy dinner at a Chinese restaurant on Saturday night.  This is my mango pudding dessert. I found it so delightfully kitsch, and I think having it served on a table with a white table cloth added to that effect...  it tasted yum though.  The rest of our meal was delicious as well.  The restaurant decor reminded me so much of all the lame touristy Chinese restaurants in Sydney's Chinatown though haha.

Ah Yat Abalone Forum
LG Floor, Mid-Plaza 2
Jl. Jend. Sudirman Kav. 10-11
Jakarta Pusat

Waiting for Indomie.

This is my bowl of condiments, waiting for my pack of IndoMie (the most popular brand of instant noodles here) to finish boiling on the stove top.  I try and draw pictures in the bowl after snipping open the little packets of sauces while I am waiting for the noodles to cook.  I always add some extra kecep manis too (sweet soy sauce).

IndoMie noodles got me through university back home.  Now, they every now and then get me through when I am hungry after work and have absolutely no food in the house.  So tasty, yet unhealthy and MSG-laden.

There is an amazing array of flavors available as well.  Except once I accidentally bought "sausage" flavoured noodles and they were kinda gross.

Wong Fu Kie

Mike and I decided, during our wanders up in Kota and Glodok on Chinese New Years' Eve, that we wanted to sample one of the options in the Jakarta Good Food Guide, the holy bible of expats looking for good grub.

After finding our first choice closed for the holidays, we decided to track down a place called Wong Fu Kie.

After a taxi, a detour by Fatahilla Square to see a bird singing competition and to be interviewed by schoolkids wanting to practice their English, a bajaj ride where the driver stopped many times to ask for directions... we were dropped off outside a little back alley in a residential area.

After walking down the alley and enlisting the help of the local police, we finally found our restaurant.  Entering through the rustic little kitchen which was practically open-air ("don't look at the grime, don't look at the grime" I muttered to myself), we found ourselves in the restaurant, which hosted four tables, thirteen calendars (I counted) and a whole family busily preparing for Chinese New Year.

My favourite calendar was one with photographs of different kinds of shoes on it.

We were warmly welcomed, and were even shown previews of our dishes from the polystyrene takeaway boxes that were being stuffed with noodles and other delights and taken out by a delivery boy who was being loudly henpecked by the doyenne of the diner.

We decided to go with the food guide's recommendations, as well as our friendly host's suggestions.

We had a yummy ayam rebus (top left), a steamed chicken dish that was subtly seasoned and very tender.  We also ordered a fried noodle dish that had beautiful fresh prawns in it.

But the absolute standout was the lindung cah fuma, a combination of breaded eel and tasty fuma (an Asian green).  Ohhh... mi.... gawd.  It was good.  I don't even know what it was seasoned with.  It had a very subtle garlic flavor, but there was something else there that I couldn't put my finger on.  Each piece of eel just burst with deliciousness in your mouth.

It was definitely worth the trek.

Wong Fu Kie
Jalan Pasar Gelap No. 22 (also known as Pasar Pagi Lama apparently)
North Jakarta
I think it's only open for breakfast and lunch... no dinner.
Ph: 021-690-6374

Nasi Gudeg

Nasi gudeg is one of Yogya's specialties.  And it's good.  I had already developed a liking for it before I came to Yogya, so on my first night here I went on a mission to find some.  I was starving cos my stupid AirAsia flight was delayed by hours.

I didn't have to search hard.  The main street of Yogya, Jalan Malioboro, is home to a number of warungs dishing out the gudeg goodness.

The most exciting part is that they have no chairs!  You sit on the floor on woven mats and you leave your shoes at the entrance to the warung.  It's got a cool communal vibe that way.  The people sitting next to me were Yogya locals (Yogya locals I have found are frightfully friendly) who thought my Indonesian was hillllllllarious, especially their small children.  They spoke a bit of English and we had a bit of a chat.

The pink-jilbabbed matriarch of the family was shocked I was here sendiri! (on my own).  Repeat that sentiment times a million and you will get a general idea of what it's like to travel around Indonesia on your own as a woman.  People are just generally quite shocked that you are doing it, but they don't think badly of you or anything (I think)... they are just surprised.  But throw in a marrage proposal or two from a becek driver (yep... add another to the tally of marriage proposals screamed from the side of the road)..

Anyway, sitting on the floor brings me to one of the fundamental differences between Jakarta and Yogya... there is no way in hell I would sit on the floor in a warung in Jakarta.  It's just too filthy.  I'd be worried the giant rats would attack me and knaw me to death. While Yogya is filthy as well, it's much less filthy than Jakarta.  There is a scale of filth.

On to the food.  I ordered a nasi gudeg komplit and an ice tea.  Confusingly, when I tried to ask if the ice was made with bottled water, I was delivered a bottle of water.  Indonesian language FAIL once again.

Wow, I've made it this far without actually explaining the wonder of gudeg.  It's stewed young jackfruit, served with some tempe, tofu, egg and grilled chicken in this case.  And rice, of course. The chicken was amazing, so tasty, and the gudeg had been stewed until it was a lovely sweet-savory goop with the interesting texture of the jackfruit.  A lot of fruit and veg when they are stewed go super soft, but the jackfruit in gudeg retains some of its firmness, giving it an unusual texture.  Tempe had been finely sliced and served in the gudeg with this one... mmm.

It was awesome.  I need to eat more street food.  Where I live in Jakarta, I am rarely in the street.  How sad is that.

Mal Ambassador Appreciation Day

At Mal Ambassador, who needs shelves when you can have floor perfume? This method of displaying stock is also particularly popular with shoe and handbag sellers at other working class malls like Mangga Dua... even though they are selling genuine Louis Vitton and Gucci apparently. Sometimes they even use elastic bands to keep the pairs of shoes together. Handy.

Today I decided to appreciate Mal Ambassador.  Even though I was feeling a bit sick with sniffles, I had to get some groceries so I headed there. It's one of my favourites in Jakarta now, because it's a working class mall where you can buy everything from fake perfume to fake software, DVDs and CDs (not that I would ever be that naughty cos piracy is really bad and stuff), as well as do your groceries at the Carrefour hypermarket and eat something Indonesian at the food court.  A one stop shop.

As much as this expression sounds like it comes from a bad wildlife documentary, it's teeming with life.

The food court is particularly spesh, it kind of resembles a hawker centre in Singapore really, with heaps of little shops selling food from all over Indonesia.  And it's really big... much bigger than a similar one I saw at Mangga Dua Mall. It's not like the middle-class and high-end malls where all the stores are boring chains.  It has character.

Today I ate some yummy Sundanese food (from West Java) from a place there.  For Rp 18,000 (roughly $2.20 AU), this is what I got:

It's really a good example of some Indonesian food staples that you eat a lot of here.

From left to right, starting next to the classy plastic fork:

Sambal- chili sauce. Everything here comes with sambal. I've even acclimatised to eating most things with a bit of sambal.  I bought McD the other night cos I was desperate, and I even ate the fries with sambal.  This here in the picture is real dinky-di homemade sambal, there is also the bottled supermarket type which doesn't have anywhere near as much kick.

Tempe- this big chunk of tempe was fried.  I wasn't that keen on tempe at first because it can have a bit of a fermented taste.  The solution?  Some sambal, of course! For the unaccustomed (anyone reading this blog from outside of Indonesia or Australia's metropolitan areas probably), tempe is Indonesian fermented soybean cake.  I had some amazing tempe that had been oven-baked when I was away at the beach, and I've managed to perfect the art of cooking tempe that has been marinated in soy sauce and fried and that's really tasty too.  The soy sauce knocks that fermented taste off a bit.  Every time I've had it in Sydney it's been heavily seasoned, which isn't the trend here. It's a very good source of protein, apparently.

Ayam bakar- Grilled chicken.  This piece was particularly yummy because it had a hint of lemongrass flavour to it.  And some spicy taste too, of course.  It's hard to escape the spicy here.

Tahu goreng- A big hunk of fried tofu.  Tofu is another big thing here.  Which in my book, is a good thing.

And of course, in the middle a big pile of nasi (rice) and some decorative green on the side, as well as crackers which come with a lot of stuff.  You don't see that much green stuff in Indonesian cuisine besides banana leaf packaging, I've found so far.  But wait, there's more.  My meal also came with a bowl of a traditional vegetable soup that I forget the name of.  You get it a lot and it has a pretty distinctive flavour.  I'm pretty sure it's got turmeric in, as well as chili (derr!).

But my runny nose didn't appreciate the sambal.  I thought it would fix it but it just made it worse.

While I was at Mal Ambassador, I also went to go buy some intellectual DVDs and walked away with the latest series of America's Next Top Model.

I also went to Carrefour, which is quickly becoming my favourite hypermarket for a few reasons.  I think Grand Lucky will stay my number one because it has such a good range of fresh produce and a mix of bule and Indonesian items, but Carrefour has quite a few positives too.

1) You can buy mixed mini muffins by weight, and they are all the colours of the rainbow.
2) You can buy a plasma TV in the same store as a packet of IndoMie (I'm sure it will come in handy some day)
3) They sell green bags!  And unlike Grand Lucky, when they pack them, they don't put things inside a plastic bag and then inside the green bag, they understand what you are trying to do with saving the environment and stuff!
4) The "deli" section sells heaps of good Indonesian food for cheap.  Exhibit A:

5) They sell bule bread, without added sugar.
6) It's at Mal Ambassador, with easy access to grow one's somewhat illegal DVD collection. (What?  You mean this photocopied DVD cover isn't the original?  I'm so shocked, especially since it cost me about 70 cents to purchase!)

I'm starting to get a lot more in to Indonesian food (despite my previous post), it's definitely one of the perks here.  I had some somay and some pempek last week, and they were pretty awesome, and I've had the thought cross my mind a few times of "hmm... I'd dig a good gado-gado for dinner".  But some days I really can't deal with it.

After I did my groceries though,  I started to feel really sick and had to go home.  I don't know whether this fever is illness or sambal induced though...

Din Tai Fung. Food of the gods.

The restaurant chain Din Tai Fung rocks my world.  It rocks a lot of people's worlds, judging by the queue at some of its stores in Singapore.

We also have DTF here in Jakarta, and a branch opened in Sydney just before I left Oz, so this is a food rant that knows no geographical bounds.

The soup filled dumplings, or Xiao Long Bao, are amazing.  They are handmade, always have at least 10 delicate folds, and in lots of stores, you can see the hatted and face masked people making them in a glass windowed kitchen.

They burst in your mouth, full of flavour.  The tastiest dumplings I have ever eaten in my life.  And I love them, so I have eaten a lot. Sadly, in Jakarta, we don't have them with pork because pork isn't very popular in this mostly Muslim nation, but they are still really good with chicken as a substitute.  But I had the pork and crab dumplings in Singapore though, and life, including dumplings, is better with pork... sorry Muslim friends.

Everything else is good there too.  The wantons.  The vegetables. The steamed buns.  The gyoza.  The neverending supply of tea, filled up so quickly, you can't keep track of how many litres you may have consumed. I've been a couple of times, this wasn't all in one sitting!

So if you have a Din Tai Fung in your city... GO!  I implore you.  It's worth having to wait for a table.

Singapore: Hawker Love

One of the best things about Singapore is the food.  The hawker centres offer such a great variety, the cultural fusion of Singapore's inhabitants mean you can get some pretty special nosh for a pretty good price.  I was back in Singapore again for another visa run (hopefully the last for quite some time), and I spent the weekend gorging myself on Singaporean delights like Hainese Chicken Rice, Laksa, BBQ Pork Buns and more.

One of the things I tried that I didn't get a chance to try last time was Fried Carrot Cake.  It comes in two varieties, white or black.  I went with the sweet black kind, which was all manner of wonderful. The main ingredient is white radish, which is known as white carrot in Singapore, hence the name. White radish is pretty awesome, I have had it before at a vegan restaurant in Sydney.  It has a reall robust taste, especially when fried.

Some of the hawker food around is pretty crazy, especially some of the sweet stuff.  Because I am an adventurous sort, I was at a dessert stand at one of the hawker centers and decided to go for the weirdest dessert on the menu.

Peanut and Corn Sweet Ice.

All the other ices were fruit flavoured.  But no, that's boring.

Despite looking a bit like vomit on ice (some might argue that's the same as Disney on Ice), it actually wasn't bad at all.  It just tasted like sweet peanut, with chunks of corn, on ice.  A bit weird, but not unpleasant.  Down the bottom there were bits of jelly and sweet red kidney beans.

One of the other hawker places I found myself at was satay street.  I didn't eat any, because satay is pretty run of the mill in Indonesia so I was focusing more on the food you can't get as readily here, but it was interesting.  The stalls along the street only sold satay, so of course, the competition was fierce.  Which meant the hawkers weren't going to let you walk peacefully down the street.  And they didn't stick with the polite Indonesian "hello misses" either.

"Hello sexy, come here to eat, I will find you a beautiful boy to sit with you."

"Where are you from?  I know exactly how to make satay that Australians will like."

"You are walking away?  You are breaking my heart!" (complete with mime of heart being ripped from chest).

Intense but comical.