Pandoraspace

 

Dear Uncle G,

On our first day in Jakarta, I tried Onde-Onde.

Onde-Onde is probably the Indonesian version of buchi, which according to this article, is a stick rice ball “filled with sweet bean paste, rolled in sesame seeds and deep fried to form a crunchy crust”.  Unlike buchi, however, the crust of the Onde-Onde is lighter, crunchier and airier.  I tried the green tea flavored Onde-Onde. Following Tita D’s example, I flattened the Onde-Onde by sandwiching it between my palms before taking a bite off of it.  The taste of green tea tempered whatever oily taste the Onde-Onde had and added a new layer of taste to the sweet bean paste.  Yummy!

I do not usually like green tea because it has a grassy flavor.  On this one occasion, however, I loved the flavor that  green tea brings to Onde-Onde.  This is another thing we should try together.

Love, Pandora

 

Dearest Uncle G,

On our first day in Jogjakarta, Danang took us to an authentic Javanese restaurant called Yu Djum. Getting to Yu Djum reminds me of how I got to Alamo’s in Legaspi, Albay. That is - we drove through narrow alleys lined with small houses until we hit the end of a road, which opens up to a cluster of small houses, and in one of those houses, you will find Yu Djum.

We got to Yu Djum at 11:00 a.m. and were among the first customers there.

I instantly felt at ease in Yu Djum. It felt like one of those old restaurants in the province that remains unchanged by time. As we entered, four old men started playing Javanese musical instruments while an old lady sang. Inside, there are about six or seven rectangular wooden tables each with two benches. On each table there are a few glass jars filled with kerupuk (fish crackers).

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Ciao Uncle G!

LS and I are back from Indonesia and already we are planning our next trip there. We had a grand time. I now understand why you want to go back there and stay for an extended period of time. Given the right circumstances, I would like to be in one place in Indonesia like Jogjakarta or Bali for a whole month and just absorb the experience at the leisurely pace.

LS and I wanted to explore as much of Indonesia as we could during our ten-day stay there. But, as our schedule was packed, we had no time to try out all the restaurants you recommended we go to in Jogjakarta and Bali. We did try eating at a restaurant in Jimbaran as you suggested. We loved it and ate there twice.

It was not that we did not spend a good deal of time eating. We did. Being our father’s daughters, we always take time to enjoy food. It is just that we did not plan on where to eat. Most of the time, we simply decided what places  to see and ate whatever we found at that place. Most of the time, we let other people decide where we should eat.

On the whole, we enjoyed the food we had in Indonesia and I made it a point to take note of what I ate so I could tell you about it.

I must warn you though that, unlike you, I am no gourmand. In fact, I am a picky eater. I do not like the taste of liver or soup that tastes like fish or shrimp. While I do know how to cook, I have not stepped into a kitchen in more than six years. I do not thing that I could even cook a decent and edible meal. Worse, describing food is one of the most difficult, if not, impossible endeavors. As my college professor once told me, how can you describe the taste of chocolate to one who has never tired it?  But, in my own crude way, I will try to describe for you the food I ate in Indonesia.

Hopefully, sometime soon (maybe in Indonesia) we will finally see each other and I can sample your cooking.  Until then…

Love, Pandora

Not too long ago, I learned that Uncle G (not his real name) stayed in Indonesia for extended periods of time.  Since he is a chef and a gourmand, I asked Uncle G to recommend to me several restaurants that LS and I could try while there and he provided me with a long list of restaurants.  Although we only tried one restaurant on that long list, I was consciously taking mental notes of the food I tried in Indonesia so I could tell Uncle G all about it.  

As I was writing my letters to Uncle G on my Indonesian food trip, I decided that I should also share the letters with you since you may find them useful on your Indonesian trip.  In the next few days, I’ll be posting my letters to Uncle G.

Central Pilinut Candy

Pili is a soft oily nut that has a mildly woody taste. It has almost the same texture as a pinenut. As Pili is grown in Albay, many pili products like marzipan are sold in the market.

I have tried many pili products but the best are those from the New Albay Central Pilinut Candy (CPC). I first learned about CPC from relatives who returned from Legaspi and brought back for me CPC products such as sugar coated Pili, Mazapan de Pili, Yema de Pili, Pili Butternut and plain Salted Pili.  As I was curious about that store, Boktor and I visited it briefly on our way back to Hotel Venezia. It was then that I discovered the roasted pili coated in butternut and sprinkled with sesame seeds, which is now my CPC favorite.

CPC is located along Rizal Street in the Old Albay District. The store is actually the living room of an old house. As you enter the house, there is a lanai with lounge chairs and a coffee table. Beside the lanai is the living room, the shelves  of which are filed with Pili products. Displayed on the walls are the pictures of the more popular customers of the  store. Of course, Boktor did not recognize Piolo Pascual.  He pointed to Piolo’s picture and asked me who that was. I looked at him strangely and said, “Hello???  That’s Piolo Pascual ‘no.”  Then, with a bewildered tone of voice, Boktor said, “Oh, ya.”  Obviously, Boktor does not know who Piolo is as he is not jologs like me.  (Read this and this to get a sense of  what jologs means.) (more…)

Smalltalk Cafe:  Bicolizing Italian Food

Mr. Ketel took us to lunch at Smalltalk, a restaurant that serves Bicolano inspired Italian food.

Smalltalk looks like an Italian restaurant with a few small tables scattered around the place, a piano and old pictures displayed on the walls. The place was intimate and cozy. Smalltalk bestsellers include pasta with Bicol Express (shrimp and pork sautéed in shrimp paste, a.k.a. bagoong, coconut milk and chili), Laing (gabi leaves, pork and chili cooked in coconut milk) or the Bicolana Pizza (pizza topped with Bicol Express or Laing). I had the Bicol Express pasta and the pizzette. Both were good but I liked the pizzette best. (more…)

The Hotel Venezia

Boktor and I were not expecting to be billeted in a fancy hotel.  Lucky for us, our hotel in Legazpi, the Hotel Venezia, surpassed our expectations.

Hotel Venezia is a three-minute ride away from the airport. Surprisingly, I never saw or heard any planes flying overhead. I was told that this is because the planes fly from the opposite direction of the hotel.  The hotel is located inside a quiet and well secured subdivision away from the busy streets of Legazpi. I was able to walk around the area without fear of being run over by cars or bothered by other pedestrians.

When Boktor and I got to the hotel, we checked-in and went directly to our rooms to unload our things. When I stepped inside my room, I immediately noticed that the room had already been cooled for me. I also saw that it was very clean and the layout was simple and made good use of the space. My room had a king-sized bed with white crisp clean sheet and huge fluffy pillows, an LDC TV, a desk, a coffee table, a comfortable arm chair and a closet. When I opened the closet to put my bag in, I was surprised to note that I was provided with a cotton robe (the one with the small square pattern), room slippers and a laundry bag. I was also pleased when I saw that there was a safe, a well-stocked mini-bar (I just like seeing that there are things to eat in the min-bar but I am not one to binge on mini-bar food) and a bathroom that had complete amenities like cotton buds, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, lotion, hair dryer, comb and shower cap.  My room had a veranda, and when I stepped out, I realized that my view was Mt. Mayon. Sadly, it was cloudy so I could only see parts of it. (more…)

Alam mo…

The phrase alam mo literally means “you know” in the Filipino language and is used as an informal introduction to stories (usually gossip) told verbally to friends. Often times, the phrase is said when the person telling the story is excited to tell it. So, I start this story by saying alam mo…

When Boktor and I arrived in Legazpi, Mr. Ketel told us that he made reservations at a popular restaurant for lunch.   According to Mr. Ketel, this restaurant is usually full and we cannot get seats without reservations.   So, I turned around and excitedly told Boktor that we were going to a restaurant that not everyone gets to go to.  Then, I asked Mr. Ketel the name of the restaurant but he could not remember what it was called.  I was intrigued.

On our way there, Mr. Ketel told us that the restaurant was actually an eatery in a house.  Boktor later told me that when he heard that the restaurant was in a house, he assumed that  the place we were going to was like a Sonia’s garden or that house in Urdaneta where Chef Laudico serves gourmet food.

As we got closer to the restaurant, Mr. Ketel informed us that the owners of the house were the cooks and waiters. When I asked him what kind of food was served, Mr. Ketel said that the food is lutong bahay (home cooked food).  After hearing this, I had a strange feeling that this restaurant was not at all what Boktor expected it to be.

After a few minutes of driving through narrow one-way lanes, our driver stopped at a non-descript area full of small houses built side-by-side like jigsaw puzzles. Mr. Ketel then led us through a narrow alleyway, and before the dead-end, he pointed to a door to the right that had a sign that read “Alamo’s Eatery Please Come In”.

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Malis

Before visiting Cambodia, I had never tasted Khmer food. For that reason, I was grateful to Toe and her husband, D, for taking Padma and me to dinner at one of the more popular Khmer restaurants in Phnom Penh called Malis (the Khmer name for Jasmine flower).

The ambiance of Malis is similar to that of any stereotypical fine dining restaurant where the tables are covered with crisp white table clothes, the chairs are comfortable, and although there is background music, the place is quiet enough for the diners to hear each other and not hear the conversation going on at the next table. There is, however, a distinctly Khmer feel to the place. Outside the restaurant are a Buddha and a lotus pond. Inside, the restaurant is dotted with Buddha heads, the walls are painted red and the windows are rectangular-shaped.

Despite the great ambiance at Malis, it was the food that took most of my attention. The food not only looked appetizing and beautiful, it tasted wonderful as well.

The first dish was an appetizer of diced stir-fried scallop with bunches of fresh green Kampot pepper served on scallop shells. The taste of the sweet and tender scallops combined with the fresh, spicy and crisp peppers was explosive. As this dish was novel, I have come to associate it with distinctly Khmer cuisine.

For our main meal, we had pork ribs, kangkong (this is a green leafy vegetable that grows in water but I do not know how it is called in English) and prawns. Those dishes tasted similar to Thai or Chinese dishes but were delicious nonetheless. The pork ribs were deep-fried and basted with a salty-sweet glaze. The pork was succulent and its oiliness tempered by the glaze. The kangkong was sauteed in garlic. Simple but good. The prawns were my favorite. They were fresh, sweet and as huge as a child’s fist. The prawns were decapitated, shelled, dipped in a light gossamer-like batter, deep-fried and served to us with a sweet chili sauce. In the customary Filipino fashion, we ate these dishes with moist piping hot steamed rice.

For dessert, we shared the pumpkin crème brulee. It was slightly thicker and had more texture than a regular brulee. It did not have a pumpkin or custard taste. It was not too sweet or too bland either. The taste was rather unique and I loved it.

Malis is definitely one of the places you should not miss when visiting Phnom Penh.

The Soup Dragon

On the day we went to the Silk Farm, we asked Tony out for lunch and he recommended that we eat at the Soup Dragon. The Soup Dragon is a casual dining restaurant that serves Khmer, Thai and Vietnamese food. It is located beside the Old Market in that part of town that tourists usually visit. The waitresses were friendly and accommodating. I felt very relaxed at the Soup Dragon.

We were given a table at the second floor veranda that overlooked the street. As we were starving when we got there, we over-ordered. Of the six or seven dishes we ordered, I was only able to sample the Beef Loklak, Vietnamese spring rolls and a Khmer dish of chicken in sour pandan broth. Of course, I ate all those dishes with steaming moist white rice. My favorite dish was the beef Loklak, which surprised me. There was nothing unusual about the stir fried tender strips of beef but eating it with the dip made of lime juice salt and ground black pepper made the dish extraordinary. The tangy taste of lime and the spicy pepper gives the beef a refreshingly usual flavor and it opened my taste buds. There is no taste quite like it. If you are looking for a cozy place to eat a hearty meal, I suggest you eat at the Soup Dragon.