Top 5 Foods to eat in Indonesia

Indonesia cuisine is known as ‘spice and seasoning daredevil’ and is very tasteful! Many of them are influenced from asiatique/european cuisine, but there are so many dishes that are originally Indonesian, and western food is now actually starting to adapt Indonesian cuisine in their menus. Yes, Indonesian cuisine is truly versatile.

Here are my 5 top choices of Indonesia Food and where you can find while you visit this beautiful archipelago on your next gastronomy expedition:

Lotek

1. LOTEK & KAREDOK (Indonesia Green salad with grinded peanut sauce & turmeric)

Gado-gado is known as a very famous Indonesian side dish. Everybody loves it.

But Lotek and Karedok, specialty of West Java are a bit different, and very tasteful too! They both use lots of green vegetables (spinach, cabbage, water spinach, bean sprout, egg plant, basil leaf – oh yum the crunchiness makes me drool as I’m typing this). However, in Lotek, all vegetables are boiled first, while Karedok is all raw and fresh and a strong grinded turmeric flavor is very prevalent.

Karedok

Best LOTEK in Bandung & Jakarta:
LOTEK KALIPAH APO
Jl. Kalipah Apo no.42
Bandung, West Java
Tel : +62 22 420 5983

Branch:
Jl. Batanghari no.21
Jakarta pusat
Tel : +62 21 3866139

2. NASI BAKAR (Grilled spicy rice)

We Indonesians, cannot be separated from NASI or rice.

We even say : It’s not eating without ‘Nasi’.

My father and the whole family went to a nice steakhouse one day in Bandung, West Java. With the meat, French fries, dessert, and all the side dishes, once we got home, he asked our kitchen help to cook him some ‘Nasi Goreng‘ ! That’s Indonesia’s most famous dish everyone can make with the left over ‘Nasi’, egg (omelet or poached), chili, and add some vegetable garnish, etc. etc.

NASI BAKAR is not usual, as we normally eat steam or fried rice. At one restaurant in Tuban street, Kuta, Bali, I found this interesting ‘Nasi Bakar’, wrapped in banana leaf. They roll the rice with some shredded chicken, basil leaf and special seasoning mixed into the steamed rice before hand,  and then grill it on a traditional grill over charcoal. The perfect vegetable dish to go with NASI BAKAR is the Spicy chili long bean.

HOT Rice.. HOT!

Find NASI BAKAR at :
NASI HOT
l. RAYA KUTA 77 X (30 METER from PLAZA BALI to the north)
Tel: +62 361 803 7575
Become a Fan of Nasi HOT on Facebook

3. SATAY

From street peddlers to 5 stars fine dining restaurants, you get the satay. There are so many varieties of sate/satay (chicken, mutton, beef, pork, seafood, etc),with also a variety of sauces (peanut, sweet soy sauce, ‘Padang’/West Sumatran sauce). It’s also easy to eat as all the ingredients are cut into bite size pieces and taste good!

Goat satay – Hadori, Bandung-West Java
Best place to eat this in Bandung, the capital of West Java is behind the “Angkot station St.Hall”. The place is still the same to date since I was a little kid, from 70′s! Although it is located inside or behind a busy a bit slump public transport terminal, famous people, celebrity, army generals from Jakarta all love Sate Hadori. The young goat meat is so tender and juicy, I can’t resist…If it’s not because their savory it’s impossible they keep doing well in the business till now.

Satay Hadori

It came in two types of sauce :
-    Not so thick peanut sauce
-    Soya sauce with chopped red onion & green chili called ‘rawit’.

Satay sauce

SATE KAMBING HADORI
Jl. Stasiun Timur 11-12
Bandung, West Java
Tel : +62 22 4232312

Trio Satay – Karma Steakhouse at Karma Jimbaran
Satay in Fine dining? Certainly does exist! Check out what Karma Steakhouse did with : beef,chicken, and seafood satay. I usually avoid red meat, but this time their beef satay looks so tempting, scrumptious. It’s so tender, sweet, and juicy, ohhh…yumm…This restaurant is located in a luxurious villa in front of Jimbaran Bay – famous with its spectacular sunset and grilled seafood. No wonder their mix of tuna and prawn satay combined in the Seafood Satay, described Jimbaran’s best fruit de mer  try also they Jimbaran King Prawn cocktail, mamma mia…C’est bon!)

Trio Satay

KARMA STEAKHOUSE
at Karma Jimbaran
Jalan Bukit Permai, Jimbaran, Bali, 80362
Indonesia
Tel: +62 361 708 800
Email: res@karmajimbaran.com

4. RUJAK (Indonesia fruit salad with peanut & vinegar sauce)

Rujak (read : roojak) or the malaysians/singaporeans pronounce/spell it ‘Rojak‘ is Indonesia most favorite healthy snacks/dessert! Every region on the country has its unique and specialty in terms of what fruits used, and the kind of sauce they make. And they’re all deliciously fresh!

RUJAK CUKA – Balinese vinegar fruit salad
Balinese prefers thin liquid vinegar with sugar sauce to their Rujak instead of grinded thick javanese peanut sauce. They even have this strongly smell ‘Rujak Kuah Pindang’ where fermented fish & prawn paste is added to the sauce, and not everyone likes it (I do!). Most favorite fruit for this type of sauce : young raw mango….sour and hot!

Rujak Cuka

RUJAK ULEG
As above : this is what mostly indonesian (or javanese) like for their Rujak sauce : lots of grinded palm sugar, added by chopped fried peanut, and colorful fruits : ripe yellow mango, guava, young papaya, star fruits!

Rujak Uleg

Now look at this :
RUJAK BANCI aka sissy rujak
Why do they call it sissy? According to the owner of Lotek Kalipah Apo in Bandung, because of its inconsistency, they name it that way. The sauce is ‘in between’ Rujak Cuka and Rujak Uleg – not thick or thin…Hmm..that explains all. What’s in it? : bean sprouts, bangkuang, pineapple, young grated papaya. Get Rujak in street peddler, restaurants that serves vegetabel dishes, warungs, food courts.

Rujak Banci

5. AYAM GORENG SAMBAL MANGGA (Fried Chicken with Mango Sambal)

Ayam Goreng Sambal Mangga. We all know fried chicken.

But the unique thing about this dish has a contradictive flavor between : a savory fried chicken and the sourness of grated Mango Rujak. Sweet, sour, and freshness all well blended, you can yet feel each different flavor in every chew, yum! You can choose the spiciness level of the Mango Rujak Sambal, they use Lalijiwo Mango – known as its distinguish character in mango family as crunchy, dry, not too sour. The fried chicken will melt in your mouth once you bite it with the Mango Sambal! Delightful!

Ayam Goreng Mangga

Find Ayam Goreng Sambal Mangga at:
WARUNG WARUNG
at Mal Bali Galeria Simpang Siur
Denpasar, Indonesia, 80361
Tel : +62 361 7417169

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