Rendang and Nasi Goreng - World's Most Delicious Food

Did you know?

Kompas newspaper article; the title says "Rendang, The Most Delicious in The World"

I don't read newspaper much so I just know this recently. Rendang and nasi goreng (Indonesian fried rice) are the first and the second world's most delicious food! Woo hooo!!

I'm so proud really.

That's the result from a survey called 'World's 50 Most Delicious Food' CNNGo.com did, via Facebook. At first, CNNgo.com already had a list about world's 50 most delicious food in July, but many complained as the criteria were considered not clear. so they made a new one in September.

On the newest list, rendang from Minang, West Sumatra, occupied the first place, followed by Indonesian fried rice in second. Sushi, tom yam goong, and pad thai take the third, fourth, and fifth place respectively. As for my fav food, dim sums, they hold the seventh place.

Although rendang is not the first place on my own most delicious food list, I agree that rendang is devilishly good. Who can resist the tender and supple beef, slow cooked so it's not at all chewy and perfectly marinated with fragrant and tasty spices? I suspect only vegos can do that.

For fried rice, I also agree that Indo's fried rice is the best than other country's fried rice (no offense). I loveeeee fried rice. Especially Indonesian.

Indonesian fried rice

Anyways I really recommend you to read the article yourself. Have a judge yourself whether the list does the food justice or not. Personally, I am quite happy reading the list.

You can also check out the article on Kompas newspaper, September 25, 2011 on the first page.

Other related links:
1. Kompas forum
2. Rendang makanan terlezat di dunia
3. Indonesian's 40 most delicious food

Baked Beef & Potato (or Shepherds Pie) [Recipe]

I actually made this for the boy..

..because he's been extremely busy these weeks I thought it'd be nice if I make him something. And as you may have noticed, I always stick with simple recipes. So I browsed some simple but great recipes, and finally stumbled on this recipe from My Journal, My Life.

The recipe turned out to be awesome, and as it is originally written in Indonesian, I probably need to translate it. And I did make some tweaking. Here you go.

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Baked Beef & Potato
Recipe taken from My Journal, My Life


Ingredients:

THE BEEF:

• 1 onion, chop finely
• 3 cloves garlic, chop finely
• 300 g minced beef
• 3 tomatoes, remove the seed and dice
• Approx. 3 tbsp sweet soy sauce
• Approx. 3 tbsp oil
• Approx. 2 cup of water
• Salt, pepper, and sugar

THE POTATO:

• 1 kg potatoes, boiled and mashed
• Grated cheddar
• Approx. 1 cup of milk
• 1 yolk
• Salt, pepper, and sugar

Method:

1. Boil the potato. It takes a quite long time so do this first.

2. Preheat your oven (I'm not sure at what temperature I'm sorry).

3. Stir fried the garlic and onions with oil, until it smells good. Mix it with the minced beef and diced tomatoes, pour the water, and add some salt, pepper, and sugar. Keep stirring until the water is gone. I also put some soy sauce to make it tastier.

Stir frying

4. Put the stir fried beef on a heat-resistant dish or an oven-suitable dish.

5. Mash the boiled potatoes until they're really soft. Pour some milk and grated cheddar as much as you wish. I might've put too much cheese. Oops. You may also put some salt and pepper. Don't forget to try it first.

Mashed potato; the cheddar and milk

6. Put the mashed potato on top of the stir fried beef, flatten it. Spread the yolk on top, and grate some more cheese.

The beef layer; ready to put into oven

7. Now into the oven! Bake it for approx. 45 mins - 1 hour, or until the potato layer becomes firmer. I baked mine for about 45 mins and the potato looked firm enough, the cheese became brown in colour.

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Final product

It is supposed to be rested for a while, but I really cannot stand the smell. It smells sooooo wonderful. I then became impatient and cut a slice right away. Of course, the potato's still kinda flabby, but I don't care.

The taste? Amazing. I'm surprised that the beef is even more flavorsome after the baking, and the potato also tastes great. And the cheese. Cheese is a really good friend of mine.

The texture's very nice, the smooth potato paired excessively well with the beef. After a few mins, the potato became firmer and easier to be sliced. And of course, best eaten with chilli sauce.

Baked beef & potato

This dish was gone in record time, and I had to remind myself that I made this for Roo or I'll finish it. And I'm so glad he liked it!

XO Suki, Puri Indah Mall - Jakarta

I need comfort food for the upcoming rainy days..

The hot pot

..which I know will come soon. Although rainy season in Indonesia is nothing like winter in Sydney (it's almost like summer in Sydney but with some rain), it'd feel great to have comfort food to offset the slight temperature drop. I reckon shabu-shabu is a great one.

The rain hasn't come often now, but we decided to try XO Suki in Puri Indah Mall. Now, I don't really know why they named the restaurant with the word suki, because as far as I know, suki is sukiyaki which is kinda like Japanese food where we grill beef and other ingredients on a shallow pot. XO Suki, however, offer hot pots, which is kinda like shabu-shabu. So I think maybe they mean Thai suki? The Thai style of hot pot, which also involves spicy sauce called sukiyaki. Or maybe I just overthink it.

XO Suki exterior

The restaurant's quite packed when we arrived. The dining area is neat, there's a hot pot on every table. The downside about the restaurant is that they have a lot of waiters/waitresses, like seriously there are so many of them. It's kinda disturbing for me, it feels like the restaurant is very crowded with the crews.

Interior

I never pay attention of the price of suki restaurant before, so I don't really know the standard prices of this kind of restaurant. I think the price is here quite high. Again, I don't know the standard, so have a judge yourself  (1 AUD = IDR 9,000).

The price list

There are a lot to choose, but I wish they have more ingredients options. They only have two display shelves of ingredients.

The jellyfish looks interesting, I actually wanted to try, but no one would share with me so I'm kinda afraid that I can't finish one plate by myself.

Top-bottom: prawns galore, jelly fish

Dumplings galore; seafood (including fresh sliced salmon)

I don't really remember all the ingredients my mom took, but I can assure you that the ones with enoki mushrooms are the best. And I am confused with the glue. What's the fish and seafood glue supposed to be used for?

Prawn enoki, beef galore, fish and seafood glue (?)

We were given two kinds of soup; the chicken broth and tom yum soup. I love the tom yum soup more, as it has medium level of spiciness and refreshing zingy kick. The chicken broth needed some tweaking (some sweet and sour sauce and soy sauce) to make it flavorsome.

The hot pot, putting things into the hot pot

They also provide three kinds of condiments; fried and raw chopped garlic which is really great for the soup, soy sauce with sliced bird eye chillies, and delicious sweet and sour sauce.

Top-bottom: steaming soup;soy sauce with chopped bird eye chillies,sweet and sour sauce, fried and raw garlic

The lemon ice tea I ordered was not as sweet as I wanted it to be, it's refreshing but rather tasteless.

Lemon tea

So this is my first bowl. You can see that I got some kind of tofu, enoki wrapped in fish cake, and some udon. Oh how I heart the udon. The deliciously chewy, slippery udon. Yum. As I said, the fish cake with enoki is one of the best, I love the firm texture from the fish cake paired with the crunchy enoki.

My first bowl

The second bowl got another kind of silky smooth fish cake, and another enoki wrapped in fish cake.

Second bowl

The third bowl includes more lovely udon, a tofu with chicken filling (which is really great), and enoki wrapped in sliced beef. The sliced beef with enoki is another winner for me, as the beef is juicy and tender, and the enoki makes everything better.

Third bowl

Moving on to dessert now. I love the display of puddings, they are so pretty. I thought we are welcome to take anything we want from the display, but apparently we are only to choose from the display and then order the pudding from the waiter.

I have to admit that I've never been a big fan of pudding. Or jellies. I never really like them (Roo always thinks that it is ludicrous that I always choose the strong-smelled durian instead of harmless puddings), but I still love to see the lovely colours. The price range of the puddings is around IDR 15,000 - IDR 20,000 ($1.6 - $2.2).

Pudding galore

The uncle said that they have the best coconut pudding, so we gave it a try. I haven't eaten many coconut puddings in my life, but this is indeed the best coconut pudding I've ever tasted.

It arrived in clever presentation, in small coconut shell. It's velvety smooth, not overly sweet and the coconut flavour is strong. However, I don't feel sick eating this, and I love that they left the coconut flesh on the shell and give a few cubes of nata de coco (coconut cubes) on top. The combination of the textures really spoils my tongue.

Coconut pudding

The coffee pudding the brother ordered has a very strong taste of coffee. It's kinda bitter, too bitter for not-a-coffee-lover like me. It has four layers, two of them are coffee and the other two are chocolate. The nuttiness from crushed nuts on top goes excessively well with the bitterness of the pudding.

Coffee pudding

The complimentary lychee and strawberry puddings were accepted gleefully on the table. I don't like it very much as the strawberry syrup on top is way too sweet for me, although I know it's supposed to compensate the not-really-sweet lychee pudding. The uncle suggested to crush the pudding in order to mix the syrup with it, and after that they found the pudding good. Except me.

Lychee and strawberry pudding

There's something great about a warm, hearty hot pot in rainy days. Anyway, good food makes everybody happy, right?


Rating: 3.5/5 (Really worth the try)
The half rating is given for the delicious coconut pudding. Broths & dipping sauce are good, good ambiance and helpful service although can be a bit slow when busy. Price is acceptable.









Address:

XO SUKI


Lv. 1 Puri Indah Mall
No. 103. Jl. Puri Agung 75 B
Puri Indah, Jakarta 

Phone: 021 582 2487

Saung Serpong, Tangerang

Everyone has their own favourite seafood..

..and for me, it got to be bamboo clams. I love the chewy texture, but the sauce they are cooked in matters too.

So my dad has found a seafood restaurant in Serpong, and he just couldn't wait to try it. The restaurant looks rather big, but actually I am more curious about the neighbor, Garry's Kopitiam. I hope I'll try it soon.

Saung Serpong has two large dining area, the indoor and the outdoor. The outdoor's more interesting, surrounded with pretty flowers and there's a live band area in the middle of the park.

Top-bottom: the restaurant, the garden inside

I personally love the facilities and the decor. They have small three-wheels carts (becak) ready to ride. I didn't because I was wearing skirt, there's no way I could ride this. There are also pretty birds in cages too, and the lanterns are also nice.

Clockwise L-R: the menu, small three-wheels cart, the open dining area

They specialize in Indonesian food and seafood. Indeed, there are a lot kind of seafood to choose, and for appetizer we ordered tahu bom or bomb tofu. They are normal fried tofu, but filled with carrots, beansprout, and some kind of hot gravy. They're delicious and gloriously crunchy.

Tahu bom (bomb tofu) - IDR 25,000 ($2.8)

Wheee here's the highlight! Kerang bambu saus Padang or bamboo clams in Padang style spicy sauce was a clear winner. The clams are not too chewy, they're enjoyable to eat. They're generously given too, and the sauce is superb. Typical Padang style sauce, it's spicy but not enough to make me sweat. Nonetheless it's very delicious. Very recommended.

Kerang bambu saus Padang (bamboo clams in Padang style spicy sauce) - IDR 27,500 ($3.05)

Cumi goreng tepung or deep fried crumbed calamari is good, but nothing really special. They're very crunchy, although I don't think they're to be eaten with bottled spicy sauce. I'd much prefer to eat them with chilli paste or chopped chilies in soy sauce.

Cumi goreng tepung (deep fried crumbed calamari) - IDR 30,500 ($3.4)

The gurame rica Manado or snapper with Manado style rica sauce was another favourite on the table, although I think the fish is a bit overcooked. The chilli paste spread all over is devilishly spicy but moreish. I'd love to have this kind of chilli paste everyday with my rice.

For your info (in case you didn't know), Manado and Padang are the best two parts in Indonesia where spiciness is totally guaranteed.

Gurame rica Manado (snapper with Manado style rica sauce) - IDR 43,900 ($4.8)

The veggies we ordered were okay, but nothing really stood out. Kangkung cah polos or stir fried kangkung is good, preferred eaten with the Manado chilli paste from the snapper.

Kangkung cah polos (stir fried kangkung) - IDR 13,000 ($1.4)

I don't really know the English name of this veggie, but it's called pucuk labu or pumpkin shoots here. The texture of this veggie is a bit firmer than kangkung, and it's pretty much tasteless if eaten raw. We had this pucuk labu cah terasi or stir fried pumpkin shoots with shrimp paste, which tastes good, but a bit undercooked. Having said that, I like this dish more than the kangkung one.

Pucuk labu cah terasi (stir fried pumpkin shoots with shrimp paste) - IDR 13,000 ($1.4)

Sayur asem or sour veggie soup is surprisingly good, perfectly seasoned and very refreshing.

Sayur asem (sour veggie soup) - IDR 6,500 (40.7)

Strangely, my honey dew juice came last. Isn't drink supposed to arrive before the food? It's just a normal melon juice, I really like it as it's not overly sweet.

Honey dew juice - IDR 11,000 ($1.2)

Not until the end of our meal we know that there's a chilli paste counter, where we can choose any kind of chilli sauce or paste and take them as our heart's content. I really HOPED the waiter told us about this when we first arrived. We were so full so we only took some young mango with chilli (sambal mangga).

Top-bottom:chilli sauce counter, young mango with chilli

I'm actually willing to go to this place again just for the bamboo clams. But on the second thought, I also want to find more places with great bamboo clams.


Rating: 3/5 (Worth the try)
Good seafood and there's free chilli sauce station, service OK, restaurant's environment is nice and unique, price OK.









Address:

SAUNG SERPONG


Jl. Raya Serpong Km. 8 No. 2E-2F 
Serpong

Phone: 021 53127102

Pancious Pancake House, Taman Anggrek Mall - Jakarta

Everybody loves fluffy, fragrant pancakes..

Coco berry pancake

..I think. Well I do. That's why I am so glad I finally got to try this pancake specialist restaurant.

Pancious is a popular pancake house, it's like Jakarta's "Pancakes on The Rocks", and I've seen dozens reviews about them from foodblogs. I notice that this place is quite hip now, it seems to me that most teenagers nowadays are really interested in pancakes. I don't know why until I dined here. They have many branches now, but I dined at the one in Taman Anggrek Mall.

Pancious

Apparently they have two dining area. The one I chose was much smaller, it has wood-flooring and some tree branches inside. Interesting.

Clockwise L-R: interior, the usher, tree branches inside the dining

As maybe most of you have already known, Pancious offers pancakes as main menu, both sweet and savoury pancakes. They also have pasta, steaks, burgers, and so on. The pancakes options were really vary, I got dizzy choosing one.

Clockwise L-R: menu, original pancake picture, ice cream options, wet tissue

The thing that really thrilled me here was this little glass jar of parmesan. Or parmesan powder. I've been missing this stuff so bad. Pizza Hut used to have parmesan on the tables but they don't provide them anymore. I got crazy when I see this jar with pale-yellow powder inside. The jar of chilli flakes also looks good no?

Clockwise: cutlery, parmesan powder, chilli flakes

This is mojito ice tea. It's my uncle's but I love it so much. It's like sweet ice tea, but with great freshness of mint and some zing from lemon. I mourn for not ordering another glass for myself.

Mojito ice tea

Like I said, I was having a hard time choosing the menu. I finally decided to have pancakes as dessert, and try their other specialties first. As it is recommended, I settled for hot tuna pasta. It's stir fried pasta with tuna chucks, some chilli, onion, tomato, and parsley.

It arrived in a very simple presentation, yet smelled really delicious and spicy. It successfully whetted my appetite. The tuna chucks are generously given, although the pasta is a little bit on the dry side. Nonetheless, it is top notch, I wouldn't mind having this anytime soon.

Hot tuna pasta (tuna chunks, chilli, tomato, onion, and parsley) - IDR 48,000 ($5.3)

The pasta was not as spicy as I hoped, so here is where the chilli flakes took their part. And the parmesan too of course. I literally wrapped every strand of the pasta with parmesan, I even opened the jar and pour the parmesan out of it. Told ya I got crazy. The parmesan and the chilli flakes made my pasta even better.

The pasta after "some" parmesan and chilli flakes added

The crispy chicken burger was my bro's. It's also impressive, with the lightly crumbed, deep fried chicken being very crunchy and juicy. The panini bread is also soft. Everything works really well together, but my bro wished that more fries are given.

Crispy chicken burger (deep fried chicken fillet, with a slice of cheese, tomato and mayo on panini bread) - IDR 44,500 ($4.9)

The salmon steak arrived after almost 30 mins of wait. Luckily it's cooked perfectly, pinkish in the middle and juicy. The marinade is great too, there was some spiciness there. The fat, crunchy fries provide a great accompaniment.

Salmon steak (grilled salmon served with eggplant, tomato, zucchini, chilli, and coriander) - IDR 105,000 ($11.6)

Now for the dessert. At first I was wondering about how good their pancakes would be. Then the uncle ordered opera pancake (one stack), and after I had one bite, I knew I'm in for a delicious ride.

The opera was awesome. The pancake itself is fluffy and smells really good. It's warm, so it works really well with the cookies and cream ice cream. The coffee and caramel fudge are nothing but a pure bliss, and I found them not to be overly sweet. The almonds add a welcome crunch.

And oh, cookies and cream ice cream costs IDR 5,000 ($0.5) more than the vanilla and chocolate ones.

Opera pancake one stack (pancake or waffle, one scoop of homemade ice cream, coffee fudge, caramel fudge, and almonds) - IDR 27,500 ($3)

But..my coco berry pancake (one stack) is even better. It consists of one fluffy, fragrant pancake, one scoop of cookies and cream, sliced strawberries, and chocolate fudge.

Super scrumptious. That's how I describe it. Although it only has one type of fudge, it doesn't make my pancake less delicious than the opera. The fudge is luscious, not overly thick or sweet. I love making the pancake to soak the fudge. The strawberries give a great sweet-sour element, they work excessively well with all of the fluffiness of the pancake and the softness of the ice cream.

Coco berry pancake one stack (pancake or waffle, one scoop homemade ice cream, strawberry, and chocolate fudge) - IDR 29,500 ($3.3)

Well, I guess I know why people love pancake house now. Personally, I am going to get some great pancakes again soon. Real soon.


Rating: 4/5 (Recommended)
Exquisite pancakes and Western menus, really good and clean ambiance, service is OK although quite slow, price is a bit high.









Address:

PANCIOUS PANCAKE HOUSE

Taman Anggrek Mall Lv. 3
Jln. Letjen S. Parman, Slipi
West Jakarta

Phone: 021 5639130