I don't really like Indonesian food as it's usually too sweet (and without pork). But one of the few things I will eat is soto ayam, a shredded chicken and rice noodle soup that can be pretty commonly eaten off the street. I had a pretty good one in Jakarta once, so much that the lady didn't understand when I tried to explain that I wanted another one (she didn't speak English).
Anyway, here on a neighboring island of Singapore for the weekend, I got a bowl, with rice, as apparently it is a typical but optional accompaniment (plus the portions here are really small). It was a bit boring until I remembered five minutes later that one of the magical condiments off the street was a big bucket of lime wedges. But even after squeezing in a couple slices, this indoor food court vendor still paled in comparison to the street.
I'm still not a big fan of Indonesian food. I have good memories of a pretty good rijsttafel in Amsterdam (little sampling plates of spicy Indonesian food kept warm for their Dutch colonists on heated racks), as well as a relieving soto ayam after cold hard rains (and after getting really tired of one week of non-stop pickled herring in Finland), but otherwise, I'll probably give Indonesian food a pass when given a choice.
3 comments:
Many Indonesian food contain pork also. Many indonesian moderate muslims also eat pork and even dog meat or other exotic meats. Of course this is done hidenly on certain restaurants only or they cook them at home themself (like my mother).
There is no Indonesian food in Holland! I don't actually know what the Indonesian imigrants cook there. They cook the worst food ever and call them Indonesian food!
Every Island really has their own food. As I believe you are a chinese singaporean, and I've been in Singapore too, I recomend you several of these food (just make sure you don't eat them in the touristic restaurants! all touristic restaurants are made for western tongue):
"Lawar" from Bali,
"Urab" from Jawa,
"Rica-rica" from Menado/Sulawesi
just to name a few... the rest should be discovered by accident yourself:D
And of course (I can't resist to recomend some):
"Ares" = a whole baby banana plants cooked with meat ribs with lots of spices.
"Ayam or Bebek Betutu" = whole chicken or duck stuffed with vegs n lots of spices, wrap with many layers of palm leaves and banana leaves, then buried in the mountain of rice coats and burnt overnight. You should find this in bali. There is a village where they do it almost everyday for hundreds chick or ducks/day.
"Rawon"
And all the pork organs delicacy (you would get easily in Bali or eastern part of indonesia where the muslim religion is even much less practised) like:
"Tum" from bali = steam banana leaf wraped of a mixture of fresh bacon, pork blood, lots of fried grinded spices, grated coconut, and minced vegs. It's actually my most favorite balinese food!
My second favorite food is "rica-rica" from menado. It's pork rib (or pork belly) with lots grinded green chilli peper and lemon grass, and other spices. It's greasy, but you won't feel it greasy because of the hot and perfumed spices.
happy trying!
Please try soto ayam "Joyoboyo" in lucky plaza, near nagoya hill batam.
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