Local Flavors

Indonesian food is being lifted out of its simple origins in the kitchen, spruced up and served for eager customers. But is something lost in the taste translation when it moves up in the world?

There are two very different women vying for a piece of the South Jakarta restaurant action today. In one corner is your typically kindly, cooing Javanese mother figure, gently dispensing advice on good choices from the menu and hovering expectantly in the background.

In the other is a frail-looking but remarkably acrobatic older woman who will make even the most nonchalant chili eater sit up and take notice. And beg for more.

Masakan Rumah Bu Endang and Mbah Jingkrak are part of the movement to put Indonesian food in new, fancier surroundings, a place where persnickety food tasters will not fear to tread. The most upmarket of these restaurants – recently opened Bunga Rampai in Menteng and Palalada in Grand Indonesia – provide beautifully presented food in swank surroundings, at a commensurate price (something that I am often reluctant to pay).

A learned foodie friend of mine always cautions that Indonesian food does not “travel well”: one has to visit the homes and sidewalk eateries of the archipelago for the very best examples, where seasoned cooks know that it takes a pinch of this and a spoonful of that to whip up a magical taste combination.

There may be truth to his words (nothing beats mom’s home cooking after all), but I believe there is always an accommodating  middle ground between the high-style, high-price restaurants  and the bare-basics eateries.

My personal favorites are Kemang’s Payon and Dapur near the Barito flower market (they are under the same owner and have similar down-home menus), and there are more coming on the scene.

We headed out to try four recently opened eateries in South Jakarta. And meet the ladies.

Masakan Rumah Bu Endang: Jl. Wijaya 1, No. 28, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta
(tel. 021-723-7086)

Located across the street from 9 Muses restaurant, this eatery tries in every way to live up to its declaration of a home cooking experience. It begins with the simple, clean surroundings in a cozy one-story building, the sampling of traditional crackers on the table and the greeting from friendly Bu Endang. She is very much in the tradition of the hospitable Javanese host, gently guiding first-time guests through the choices: pecel (mixed vegetables in a spicy peanut sauce with side dishes), sayur lodeh (vegetables in coconut milk), nasi brongkos (the one-of-a-kind stew spiced by the kluwak black nut), Javanese-style beefsteak, various types of penyet (crushed chili and garlic with tofu, tempeh or chicken) and lontong Cap Go Meh, among others.

The menu is modest but varied (plenty of tofu and vegetables for vegetarians), and the food is good, hearty and very fresh. It’s Javanese food, so there is liberal use of sweet soy sauce, but you can have it spiced your way. Recommended; expect to pay about Rp 70,000 for two.

Sindang Reret, Jl. Wijaya 1 No. 43, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.

A branch of the successful Bandung restaurant-hotel, Sindang Reret (across from the French Cultural Center, on the same street as the above restaurant) is part of the new group of Sundanese restaurants snapping at the heels of the established favorites (Sari Kuring, Dapur Sunda) in the capital. It’s a slightly trendier take on the Sundanese tradition, with a bright, nicely decorated setting and young, cute waitpeople in crisp traditional uniforms.

A free buffet of lalapan (greens and other vegetables eaten with terasi and other various types of chili paste) accompanies the established favorites: pepes (chicken, fish, tofu or mushrooms mixed with spices and steamed in banana leaves), sayur asam (vegetables in a clear broth flavored with tamarind) grilled and fried fish, chicken, stir-fried vegetables, fresh juices, sweet drinks, etc.

Good atmosphere and the food is bountiful, when you get it: we encountered some spotty service (forgotten orders, followed by nonplussed “what are you talking about looks?”). In its defense, it was still early days for the restaurant and it was very crowded, so we will give it another try (about Rp 80,000 for two).  

Rumah Makan Mbah Jingkrak, Jl. Bulungan Raya No. 26, South Jakarta
(tel. 722-0891).

It’s hard to miss the comical Mbah Jingkrak sign, showing a spindly elderly woman doing a cartwheel, or the parked cars spilling out onto the street near the Bulungan traffic circle. Inside the restaurant’s open Javanese-style joglo building awaits a groaning buffet of treats; it boasts that it serves at least 70 different dishes, with fish in all its varieties, pepes, chicken in coconut milk, grilled, fried or sautéed with green chili, tempeh, tofu, soups, from standard soto to spinach, stir-fried vegetables such as bitter gourd and cassava leaves and huge triangles of simple omelets, eaten with white or red rice. It also has traditional iced drinks and herbal tonics to try.

It’s all very Javanese in flavor, running the gamut from slightly sweet-savory cuisine to the certified fire-breathing stuff. The rightly named sambal iblis, or devil’s chili paste, is the biggest offender in the latter category, and devilishly addictive (at your peril).

We quickly plowed through the buffet choices, feeling oversated at the end but quickly thinking ahead to our next visit. And, then, as all-consuming infatuations go, we needed to let things cool down a bit. It’s probably time for another visit very soon (about Rp 70,000 for two).

Bumbu Desa, Jl. Suryo No. 38, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta
(Tel. 720-1244)

Bumbu Desa, another in the long line of Sundanese restaurants lagi naik daun (going up in the world), is located along Jl. Suryo’s restaurant row. Again part of a Bandung chain that recently opened its doors in Jakarta, the restaurant’s tempting name – village spices – is almost certainly assured to tickle the curiosity of diners. The young waiters – who hail diners with a booming Sundanese language greeting as they cross the threshold -- wear black T-shirts proudly proclaiming, “Once a bumpkin, always a bumpkin”, part of the contemporary embracing of “kampungan” started by comic Tukul Arwana.  

Modeled on a traditional “warteg” sidewalk stall but in a modern setting (like Rumah Makan Mbah Jingkrak, it has its own website), the restaurant offers an array of Sundanese food -- pepes, fish, chicking, vegetable stir-fries, tempeh – laid out buffet style. My dining companion praised its authentic taste; the food was indeed good, but I wish they would do something about the swirling fly problem. (about Rp 80,000 for two).

+ Bruce Emond

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