Original Padang Food

Kiko just returned from trip to Padang, West Sumatra. Along with her is various Padang Food, very famous and versatile food available almost anywhere in Indonesia. It is a special one, originally made in Padang, and probably by Padang people as well, with original spice.

The jerky meat (known locally as dendeng) is always my favorite. Padang has so many type of jerky meat, the thin crispy one with red chili called dendeng balado and the soft brown one with green chilli known as dendeng batokok is easily available here. Kiko bought the later, and another one that I've never seen before: dendeng baracik, served with raw tomato and slice of shallots.


But that's not all. There are a piece of duck, dipped in green pepper, called Itiak Lado Ijo in local language. Although look spicy, the taste was just nice, not as spiy as it look.

And finally, the one I asked her to bought: Pale Bada. Bada is some kind of fish, wrapped with shredded coconut and cassava leaves. Finally it is wrapped with banana leaves before being steamed until cooked. It is sweet and spicy, perfect complement for the cassava leaves.

Don't forget to eat all of them with a hot, just-cooked rice, with your hands. It will be your perfect dining experience

@ Sumber Hidangan, Bandung

"Was it a factory before?" The old lady behind the counter grin. "This building has been a bakery shop since 1929." She then look to the man beside me. "And I've been working here since 1964. " Forty five years working in the same place, selling the same stuff. And the shop is another amazement by itself, having survived the test of time for 80 years.

The sun shine brightly outside, scorching the town of Bandung, despite of cool breeze of wind. But once insideSumber Hidangan, all the hot weather is replaced by cool air, thanks to the high ceiling. The building has a narrow 2nd floor, which I originally used by the landlord to watch over the worker, and made me thought that this was a factory. "That was only to help cleaning the ceiling", the old lady said. She is friendly indeed, and will happily explain all the cookies if you asked.

Two glass of Ice Cream were served before us, perfect for such hot weather: Cafe Glace and Chocolate, both topped with crushed peanut and canned peach. The Ice Cream is not so special, with rough texture and slightly less sweet, but combined with the peanut, they are perfect! We can see people come and go while eating, some buy the classic cookies (such as Speculaas, Jan Hagel), other ordered a bowl of chicken noodle, and eat by himself, while probably drifting back through time.

We were reluctant to leave this cozy place. Besides, the evening sun makes this place even nicer, with the only light source coming from the front door. I soon ordered a piece of cake, and glass of coffee. My Speculaas is packed, so I took one as a company for the coffee. We spend another 1 hour just to talk about few unimportant thing, while watching people come and go.

And still afterwards, it is with hesitant that we pay the bill and leave, promising that one day we'll be back, for a piece of mind.......

Fried Champignon Mushroom

Due to canceled recipe from last week's cooking session, I have a lot of Champignon Mushroom leftover, sadly starting to rot inside the fridge. "Why not fry it with ready-made flour for frying Chicken?", Kiko gave a suggestion.

I have another devilish idea in mind when stumbling upon a pack of Flour that near its expiration date, and a pack of new Rice Flour. The soft fried Tempe Mendoan with thin soft flour coating sounds better than ready-made Chicken flour. Half from googling, the other half is from follow-your-instinct, I started mixing the following ingredients:

• 1:1 Flour and Rice Flour
• Salt, pepper
• Scallion, chopped
• Water

As you can see, the only measurement did was the 1:1 Flour vs. Rice Flour. Other are added based on follow-your-instinct thing (or maybe follow-your-taste would be more appropriate).

The Mushroom is then chopped, dipped into the mix, and fried in hot oil. Some might prefer crisp fried, but I prefer soft fried - when it start to turn brown, strain.

Thankfully my taste was properly tuned this evening. The overall result made me wished to have a piece of Tempe Mendoan to be fried with the leftover flour mix. Hmmm..... maybe next week?

Ya Udah Bistro - Quality is Understatement

Saya pikir tidak ada salahnya mencicipi semangkuk wurst kase salat yang berisi potongan german bratwurst, daun selada segar, ditaburi parutan keju cheddar yang memutih di suatu malam di penghujung minggu.

Saya kira saraf lidah dan tubuh saya sedang meradang untuk sebongkah daging dan lemak hewani yang saripatinya bisa meluncar dalam mulut dan lidah lalu serta merta melepaskan endorphin dan menggantikannya dengan kesenangan saat itu, dan memori yang akan dijadikan acuan nanti.

Sebab bagaimanapun juga ekspektasi sedang bermain main nakal dengan sejumput kenangan yang menyenangkan. Di masanya, pernah saya mendapati sepiring steak lengkap dengan siraman mushroom sauce yang sungguh menggelitik lidah. Belum terhitung sarapan pagi yang mengenyangkan dan menggembirakan. Hash brown dan scramble egg yang hangat ditemani foccacia bread yang menguarkan harum dedaunan segar, dilengkapi dengan secangkir kopi atau teh panas.

Lalu, apakah semua itu ingin membuat saya kembali?

Saya lebih rindu akan deru ceiling fan berdebu dan kursi rotan anyam yang ringan sebab rangkanya cukup dari besi tirus saja. Saya lebih nyaman duduk di tengah pengunjung yang juga bersantai dan sibuk dengan urusannya masing masing, lalu saya bisa mengamati mereka dari sudut dimana saya duduk. Dengan para pelayan yang terlatih dan bersahabat dengan tamu tamunya. Saya mengira waktu bisa berkompromi untuk berhenti sejenak lalu membekukannya dalam kesenangan.

Jika kini ia bermetamorfosa di sebuah tempat yang lebih luas dengan inner courtyard, kursi dan meja yang sama, seragam yang sama, lalu pantaskah saya berceloteh tentang terampasnya suasana dan kenangan yang pernah hadir dulu? Jika kini bongkahan daging yang hadir di depan mata ternyata terlalu kering dan asam, apa yang bisa digugat dari semua itu?

Saya pikir sejumput kenangan bisa tinggal tetap walau hanya secuil...

#Reason num 27 why you should visit Ya Udah#

The Search for Coffee Siphon is Over

Its all started from my first patronage to La Tazza Coffee Shop, just across my office few years back. Among the coffee shop, they are the only one using the antique coffee making tools, which looks like an hourglass. Later on I know that it is called Coffee Siphon. It extract the best part of coffee, resulting in the thin light nice bodied cup of coffee, with the original taste of the bean.

Since then, I've been been wandering not only in the country, but also across the ocean, to find a place that sell the Siphon. I've been to the local kitchenware close to home, Ikea in Singapore and Hongkong, patronizing Kitchen Magic in Hongkong and Jakarta with no luck. Then on one evening in Bandung, Indonesia, after a nice coffee evening, we stroll along Jalan Braga when we came across the shop: House of Culinary.

Then I stroll to the coffee making isle, and amazed with the completeness of their coffee making tools. Espresso Machine (Saeco), Vietnam Drip, Plunger, Moka Pot, and..... YES.... the Coffee Siphon. My search is finally over......


One week since the Bandung trip, we were at home, 3pm int he evening. The Coffee Siphon is brewing a cup of Excelso coffee, freshly grind. The fire is out, and the black liquid has started sipping back to the lower chamber. I took a piece of Strawberry Cheese Cake as a company, and took a sip of Coffee. Thin, light cup of coffee, with unmistakable acidity of Kalosi Toraja....