Indonesia: Foodie Love

"People who love to eat are always the best people"

~ Julia Child

The Republic of Indonesia has such a huge variety of foods, flavors, and spices sure to please even the pickiest eaters of the world. The options for the pallet are vast even though this is a predominantly Muslim country, there are mostly no restrictions on meat variety if that’s your thing. I tasted amazing dishes here and the best part is that everything is all-natural.

The joke is that most locals can literally live on rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner, however my preference is additional protein as I am naturally a carnivore. One of the dishes I fell in love with in Gili Trawangan was Ayam Lalapan (Indo version of fried chicken), crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside, perfection in every way. As for the street food, gorengan was the go to snack. It's a savory, fried dumpling like pouch. One can find varieties of this treat stuffed with beansprouts, fermented soybean, carrot, cabbage, and chicken. It’s cheap and yummy. The national favorite is of course Nasi Goreng, which is chicken, shrimp or beef fried rice with veggies and an egg on the top served with a slice of tomato and cucumber.

There is a noodle version as well, called Mi Goreng, both are yummy but my personal preference is rice, as the noodles are from a dehydrated package. A specialty in the island of Lombok is Ayam Taliwang, it is a chicken thigh roasted and fried with local herbs and spices served with rice. The chicken melts in your mouth. Another worthy mention in Lombok are the Bebek goring, which is fried duck and Sate Kuda, which is grilled horse meat with spices and a sort of gravy on skewers, both are finger licking good. One cannot visit Bali and not try the Babi Guling, it’s Balinese slow roasted pork. The recipe calls for roasting the entire pig on an open fire for over 13 hours with the end result having crunchy skin on the outside and tenderly juicy meat on the inside. There are so many dishes this country offers, on the next visit a food tour of the country is in order. There are plenty of dishes which have not been tasted, too many islands I have yet to visit.

If you happen to find yourself in a very touristy destination, like Bali for example, you can find cuisines from all over the world. After spending close to a month and a half in Gili Trawangan, my taste buds were craving something different. I found myself dying for good sushi, actually sashimi out of all things. Luckily, I found myself in Bali for a few days and after a few Google searches located an amazing restaurant with high quality fresh fish. The restaurant is called Sushi Tei, it’s not easy on the wallet by Southeast Asian standards but definitely on the delicious side, you get what you pay for and it was worth every bite. One thing that my taste buds did miss from New York was great dessert. Maybe I have not found the proper place, most confections tasted “too something”; too sweet, too milky, too chewy etc. To be fair, there were plenty of other yummy things to keep my taste buds happily occupied, plus refined sugar is not the healthiest of options anyway. There was however plenty of natural options for the sweet tooth. The fruits discovered in Indonesia were incredible. Some of them I have never seen, let alone try, in my life. For the first time I tried mangosteen and rambutan; love from the first bites. Mangosteen is sweet but not overpowering and creamy in texture, which appeals to all the taste buds.

Rambutan looks like a hairy Lychee but bigger, the fruit inside looks and tastes a similar to Lychee but better. All this abundance of fresh fruits obviously produces the best fruit smoothies and juices. Since this is Southeast Asia, Durian should be mentioned as well. It’s a fruit that has thorny hard shell on the outside but a soft yellow texture and smoothly sweet vanilla like taste on the inside. Whatever you do, don’t smell it before tasting it. Most westerners don’t like it, however I didn’t hate it but wouldn’t buy it either. Lastly, I must mention the coffee culture here, it’s amazingly delicious, my addiction is now to Luwak white coffee that I can’t get enough of (dreaming of it as we speak).

Dates of travel: 1/14/17 – 2/22/17

Transportation: Bicycle, scooter, ferry, flight, car

Foods to try: Nasi goring (fried rice with egg), mi goring (fried noodles with egg), durian (fruit), luwak white coffee, variety of smoothies, rambutan (fruit), mangosteen (fruit), babi guling (roasted Balinese pig), bebek goring (fried duck), sate suda (horse skewers), ayam lalapan (fried chicken with raw veggies and sambal), gorengan (fried fritters stuffed with chicken or veggies), Ayam Taliwang (roasted chicken)