Sanctuary from The Mad World
Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what's for lunch. - Orson Welles

The list of food we had in Jakarta.

The discoveries:

-  Nasi Tim Ps. Pagi:  apparently an old flame.  I didn’t recognize it from Jenzcorner’s photograph but upon entering the place, I remember the smell.  It was the clean smell of fresh steamed rice lightly flavoured with pure and sweet chicken stock.  It was the sourish smell of pickled cucumber in thin chili sauce.  It was the smell of my childhood.  I used to have this steamed rice, topped with minced chicken, when I was really small.  I now know what Anton Ego felt when he tasted that Ratatouille. 

-  Ting An:  Also recommended by Jen and along the same stretch of road as the above stall.  My husband went crazy over this firm and slippery noodle while I was grateful for Jen’s recommendation of their unique pangsit ikan (fish dumplings).  We also love their simple but delicious nasi gemuk (rice cooked in coconut milk).  While their condiments are pretty undistinguished, this place serves their main fare with dignity and taste.

-  Ketupat Ny. Gloria:  following my parents one weekend when they shopped for their weekly grocery in Petak Sembilan, I spotted  Ketupat Ny. Gloria (rice cake in spicy coconut milk topped with vegetable, chili and eggs) right across the alley from my parents’ usual breakfast place, a coffee shop/turtle-soup stall.  The balanced and elegant spice in the light coconut milk soup was addictive.  We couldn’t stop slurping.

-  Crystal Jade:  I had never been partial to this restaurant.  Besides, it’s too expensive to even contemplate.  I was on someone’s account on both occasions.  But I change my mind:  they do serve refined and restrained dishes as a Southern Chinese cuisine should be.  The winner was the crisp skin of roasted suckling pig with a thin layer of juicy meat, squared neatly on top of a purple taro chips.  The play on texture and flavour was just unbelievable! 

The staple:

-  Restaurant Angke: The picture below describes the dishes that my family consistently orders in this restaurant for close to 30 years regardless of their location (they moved several times before settling down in Ketapang).  To us, no other restaurant serves such a fine frog legs in butter sauce (top-middle), tripe (stir-fried in a little liquid and sesame oil - top-right), deep-fried eel stir-fried with fumak (a type of bitter green and reddish vegetable - bottom-left) and sweet and sour fried gourami (always crispy on the outside but tender on the inside - bottom-middle).  Of course, their fried noodle (bottom-right), simply garnished with a little meat and kucai (garlic chives) and a staple of Hakka restaurant, has been steadily delicious all these years. 

-  Garuda Padang Restaurant:  This place comes highly recommended by Medanese but I felt the dishes were very salty.  To rinse my palate off, I snacked on the bitter steamed papaya leaves (pictured below).  I miss those exotic leaves.

-  Kacamata:  My father discovered this place a long time ago before they are famous for their honeyed roast pork.  I remember, as a teenager, I couldn’t decide whether my last bite would be their sweet roast pork or the crunchy crispy pork.  As a result, I ended up cleaning the whole plate.  The roast pork is still delicious but the rest is sadly going downhill.

-  Social House:  the hippest place in town is a disappointment for meals.  I was served drenched pasta and limp chutoro (at exorbitant price, too!).  But drinks are not bad especially because they serve good desserts and decent coffee.  Service can be very much improved despite the owner/manager going around the place in the futile effort of tidying up.  In one occasion, my cappuccino took half an hour to arrive, sans spoon, well after all my friends received their orders.  The spoon arrived after another 15 minutes.  It wasn’t as if they were busy.  There were like three people manning the drink station with flurries of waitress but they preferred to tickle each other rather than serving customers.  To their credit though, my cappuccino was exchanged with the fresh one when I haughtily complained (Attitude is everything in places like this).  Don’t worry.  It was an open bar and I watched for any possible spitting into my drinks. 

-  Huize van Wely:  with thanks to Joe. 

 

-  Bakmi Ko-un is a typical Chinese-Indonesian noodle sold in stalls all over town.  I am not sure what makes this one special.  The noodle is properly al-dente, just like any other.  It is tasty and simple without any outstanding feature.  It is also quite expensive for the awkward portion.  But I simply love it.

-  A famous rice-noodle stall opens near my house.  So my husband, who loves this stuff, quickly dragged me there.  I love the sticky but separate strand of rice-noodle, seasoned with soy sauce and dotted with thin slices of meat, fragments of eggs, and assorted vegetables. 

Besides the above, we too had our share of the mall eateries by tasting Sour Sally, Bali Deli, Grand Duck King (impressive prawn in herbal soup, I must say), Ootoya, and Gyukaku. 

Too many good food, too little stomach space and time.