Pandoraspace

Dearest Uncle G,

On our last day in Jakarta, we did last minute shopping with Tita Day and she treated us to lunch at Bakmi GM.  According to her, Bakmi GM is a popular fast-food joint that Indonesians frequent.  True enough, when we got there at 3:00 p.m., the place was still packed with dinners.

 

For starters, we had cold Soursop juice (Guayabano juice).  While it was sweet, you could still detect that slightly sour taste.  The juice was also quite refreshing and just what we needed on that hot day.  I do think, however, that one should just have one glass of Soursop juice to go together with a meal.  More than a glass of this juice is too much as it is think and filling.  

After serving us the juice, the next thing that was placed on our table was Pangsit Goreng, which is the Indonesian version of deep-fried wonton. It came with a sweet and sour sauce. LS said that the Pangsit Goreng is similar to the fried wonton we get in Chinese restaurants. Only, the Pangsit Goreng’s wonton wrapper is “bread-ier”. I agree with her observation.

    

Tita D and LS were not in the mood for soup but I had Bakso Kuah, which is a clear soup with wonton and bok choi (Chinese cabbage). The soup was a tasty chicken broth. Unlike the Pangsit Goreng, the wonton in the soup was wrapped in thin (not “bready”) rice-wrapper, which is of the type that just slides down you throat.  This is the type of wonton soup I am familiar with as we have it  in the Philippines.  The familiarity of the dish was comforting considering that LS and I were, for several days before eating in Bamki GM, eating unfamiliar food. 

We also tried the Fuyung Hai, which is a Chinese-style cabbage and onion omelette. Again, I have sampled this dish before.  Only the Indonesia version of this dish is fluffier on the inside but crunchy on the outside. The version I am used to has the taste and consistency of scrambled eggs.

The highlight of our meal was the Yi Fu Mei, which is deep-fried crunchy noodles topped with bok choi, mushrooms, cauliflower and the special sauce. When you eat this dish, you are treated to the dual sensation of eating crispy and soggy noodles at the same time. The sauce makes certain portions of the noodle soggy.

Our meal was, on the whole, very satisfying. I can guarantee that you will realize why this a popular restaurant once you eat there.

Love, Pandora

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 23rd, 2009 at 12:08 am and is filed under My Indonesian Experience, Palate Pleasers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.