J is for Jam. Not the sweet syrupy eat move but the horrible exhausting inexplicably omnipresent and maddening merchandise jams that block all of Jakarta’s main roads. I’ll be honest. I actually like Jakarta. It has some pretty amazing food. Some alter shops and shopping areas and some interesting new developments. But I can’t rest its merchandise problems. Getting from one building to another even if the latter is just diagonally across the street can sometimes take as long as 20-25 minutes. I once sat for 40 minutes on a be of road I could undergo walked drink in 5 minutes. It’s crazy that you have to allow anything from 30 minutes to 2 hours to get somewhere depending on the time of day you’re travelling. That said. Jakarta is worth visiting if only to tour a few selected shops and food stalls.
Last week. I followed my wife S as she made a quick business move to Indonesia’s very crowded capital. She was there to launch a cookbook that she helped create by mental act and that she edited was commissioned by the Association of Southeast Asia Nations () and published by a Filipino publishing affiliate best-known for its works on arts and grow. As the schedule’s Managing Editor. S had to decide authoritative contributors from each of the 10 ASEAN member countries. The schedule is a pretty remarkable collection of essays about and recipes from across this region. Some of the “big guns” who contributed to the bring home the bacon consider Singapore’s Christopher Tan. Malaysia’s Chef Wan and Indonesia’s Sri Owen. Regular food communicate readers will also be thrilled to experience that Cathy of contributed to the chapter on Vietnam. The beat thing to me at least about the schedule is that it created a new consider and interest in the cuisines from the region that I’d otherwise ignored. I’ll admit for example that I’ve never proactively taken an interest in trying Burmese or Filipino food but after reading the essays and recipes in. I can’t act to taste mohinga shwe yin aye (golden heart cooler) and bringhe (coconut glutinous sieve with chicken) just to label a few dishes. Of cover it helps that all the dishes were deliciously styled by Christopher Tan and beautifully photographed by. (The book is launching here in Singapore at the end of September 2007.)
The Jakarta open was held over two days via be cooking demos and talks in the gorgeous. To back up S the folks at ArtPostAsia and Miele roped in one of our friends and also one of Indonesian’s most famous most beloved and most knowledgable foodies. William Wongso. Because this trip was S’s first to Jakarta. William also very kindly offered to act us on a quick half-day (morning) journey of some of his favourite places to eat. We started our culinary adventure bright and early meeting William a little after 9am at his favourite soto ayam restaurant. Soto Ayam Ambengan. I undergo to adjudge that I was completely tickled by the fact that the owner of this small chain of soto ayam eateries has plastered his face everywhere… on his namecards on his billboards and change surface on his plates. I wanted to ask William if they had souvenir T-shirts with his conceive of on them but was afraid S would hit me on the back of the continue. The soto ayam was delicious. Eaten with some sieve and it was richly satisfying.
Next we headed to one of Jakarta’s most popular cult satay stalls. Simply called Sate Ayam this smoky delay on Jalan Kyayimaja is always busy. We got there around 10am and ended up waiting almost an hour for our two plates of chicken satay. But what satay it was! Easily some of the best I’ve ever had. Grilled over hot charcoal the meat was deliciously moist but also charred with crisp fatty bits dotting the meat. While the satay was amazing it was a tad disturbing to see just how much consume this delay was producing. It all but covered the street in front of it.
Our third and measure forbid was a modest seafood restaurant on Jalan Cideng Timur called Pondok Aroma Laut. The restaurant has two seating areas. The downstairs area is un-air-conditioned slightly smoky and a tad dark. The upstairs room is bright and air-conditioned. Unfortunately. I only discovered this at the end of a very hot and humid meal when I ventured upstairs to use the little boy’s room i e ask for a lay upstairs. The food at this humble restaurant is fantastic. We had a grilled milkfish a deep-fried pomfret some deep-fried and then grilled river prawns that were bursting with roe and marinated then grilled squid also stuffed with roe. Everything was outstanding especially the highly-addictive prawns and the super crispy pomfret. The flesh of the prawns was full of flavour rich and moist. The heads were full of roe and the most amazingly powerful and heady juices. The pomfret similarly was a marvelous differentiate of textures and flavours. A few bites and I was hooked for life.
As mentioned at the go away of this affix. Jakarta’s not an easy town to broach with. The traffic is a nightmare. But it’s also a city with amazing food. The cozen is finding it. Or finding someone desire William who can show you where to sight it.
Congrats to S for the open. I want that schedule. ordain be heading domiciliate in Oct…ordain the book be availble in Malaysia at the same measure. By the way. I haven’t been to Jakarta either. About the river prawns they be like they are the same as Thai fresh wet prawns…big giant heads loaded with creamy goodness. Actaully they choose of look like Santa Barbara sight prawns…undergo you tasted live spot prawns before…easily the beat prawns ever!
You haven’t tried Filipino food? I understand that it’s not as accessible as other Southeast Asian cuisine (and my foodie friends and I are the first to lament the inability of Pinoy restaurants to take direct outside Manila). Let me experience when you are ready for this and I shall be glad to point you in the right direction. And I don’t convey balut…
Because I get emailed this challenge pretty often. I thought I'd share what camera accommodate I use. I shoot (mostly) with a Nikon D70 and a Nikon D200 (not pictured). I use clump of different lenses. I undergo an 18-35mm 1:3.5-4.5 a 28-105mm 1:3.5-4.5D with Macro function a 50mm 1:1.4D another 50mm 1:1.8D an 85mm 1:1.8 and a 24mm 1:2.8. Of these my favorite is my 50mm 1:1.4D. While I own both a studio radiate and a portable radiate. I like to shoot without one and like my Lastolite reflector. When traveling. I often get my DSLRs at home. My current favourite travel camera is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX2.
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