Indonesian Delights

By Crivenica

I’ve been back in Jakarta for almost two months now. I’ve been back to work for a month, getting together with friends and family, and getting back into the groove of a cosmopolitan city. Though my days are filled with work and fun time with friends and family, I can’t wait until I get that peaceful feeling when we’re settled in our new home. I’m hoping with our belongings arriving in a week or so, we’ll get to that soon.

In the meantime, since I can’t really cook in the apartment yet, David and I have been going out a lot for meals. We tried new restaurants that didn’t exist when we left in 2008 and we went back to those that we love. Sure we got italian places, french bistros and some other western fare places in Jakarta, but what I love the most is that I got unlimited access to Indonesian food again!

There are just so many simple humble places serving delicious food that I can talk about. However, most of the time, I got too excited about the food, I forgot to take any pictures to show you. My bad! But here are some samples of those places that I’ve been visiting and revisiting that I think are worth recommending.

Beautika

We weren't kidding around when we ordered!

I think most Jakartans know about this Manadonese restaurant. I was never really that big of a fan of the place a couple of years ago because their dishes are just so damn spicy! Look, it’s a given that most Manadonese dishes are spicy hot, but man, this restaurant’s standard of hotness is way beyond my league. However, hanging out with gal pal Shilla who is a Manadonese-Makassarian and whose tolerance for spicy food is beyond atomic, going to Beautika for lunch is sometimes unavoidable. Plus, my husband just loves Manadonese food, so strike two for me. But you know what, after a few lunches, I found some of their dishes with level of spiciness that my tongue can relish and those few not-spicy ones that I came to love.

For those of you who don’t know Indonesia and its food, here’s a little background. Manado is the capital of North Sulawesi, a province in one of Indonesia’s five big islands called Sulawesi that looks like the letter ‘K’. I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard from those who have, it is a very beautiful spot and a good place for scuba diving. I might not have visited the place yet, but at least I know enough to say that their food is awesome. If you get a chance to go to Manado and sample the food there, great! However, if you’re in Jakarta and Manado seems a bit far to go to, Beautika is a good place to have a taste. There are tons of fresh tasting dishes with varying spiciness to pick from: seafood dishes, chicken dishes, veggie dishes and even for those hardcore Manadonese, a bat dish. Yes, I wrote BAT, as in the first syllable in Batman. To my Manadonese friends, bat, also known as Paniki in Manadonese, is a delicacy, but I will stick with my favorites: the skewered squid, corn fritters, and beef Brenebon (kidney bean) soup.

Beautika has three locations in Jakarta: in Jl. Abdul Muis No. 70A, Tanah Abang; Jl. Hang Lekir No. 1 near Plaza Senayan and Senayan City malls, and in the SCBD area.

Warung Tekko

The mouth-watering ribs on top of hot chili paste

Next to the SCBD area’s Beautika, stands a new favorite of mine, Warung Tekko. You can find a Warung Tekko in several locations in Jakarta because they are so popular. Their specialty is Iga Penyet, which is fried ribs served in sambal (freshly made hot pepper paste) and eaten with rice. They also served other ribs dishes like grilled ribs and ribs soup along with vegetable dishes and fish dishes. However, ever since the first time I ate there, I only wanted to focus on the ribs.

The first time I stepped inside a Warung Tekko, I actually didn’t eat. I was only keeping my friend, Hanny, company as she ate because she missed lunch and I already had mine. Being a good girl that I am now, I restrained myself from ordering a portion even though I was drooling the whole time Hanny was eating. The ribs just looked so yummy and though I’m not much a sambal eater, I really really wanted to try it. So soon after, I did get to try it and I was not disappointed. The meat was so tender and the sambal actually tasted really good and I could ask them to make it really mild or really spicy.  This past week alone, I’ve gone back twice to have my Iga Penyet, white rice and Coconut water drink. I better watch it or the numbers will go up on the scale! But do try this place if you haven’t yet.

Queen

The picture didn't do this yummy crab soup justice...

Well, Queen is really a Chinese restaurant, but it is an Indonesian Chinese restaurant; an old style Indonesian Chinese restaurant that I love. There are a bunch of newer Chinese places opened up in malls all over Jakarta with a modern twist, but I’ve always loved the old style Chinese food because those were what I grew up with. I remember how I used to look forward to some special occasions that would take us to restaurants like Angke or Queen. Well, Angke has changed, but I think Queen stayed the same in term of the food they serve and how they serve it. Unfortunately, Queen is in Bandung, an hour and a half hours drive away from Jakarta. And whenever my family and I drove to Bandung, we always made a point to have dinner there. So, we were so happy when they opened a branch in China town of Jakarta, called Queen Palace.

My parents and I went there last Saturday and we ordered dishes from my childhood that I love to these days: my favorite and a must, crab meat soup, then fried frog legs in butter sauce, sweet and sour fish, and Queen’s specialty, seafood Ifumie. I savored that crab meat soup with each spoonful of savory liquid laden with huge crab meat chunks. And when I took a really big frog leg, I thought of my sisters in Chicago and Norway, and how they would envy me right then. It was a trip!

Sweet & Sour Fish; Frog Legs in butter sauce

Stuffed Crab Claws or Cingkong Kepiting in Indonesian

I remember just before I was moving to Nepal in 2008, my girlfriends, Indri and Shilla, joined me and my family to a day trip to Bandung and of course we took them to Queen for dinner. They loved them. And when I told Shilla about the branch in China Town (Kota), she said we should go there soon. I can’t agree more and I would definitely urge any of you who love good Chinese food to try Queen soon!

Queen in Bandung is located at Jl. Dalem Kaum No. 79, and Queen Palace in Jakarta is at Jl. Roa Malaka Utara No. 49.