Sunday, June 07, 2009

bro's bdae meal

Oh the ordeal we went through just to get here...

W E B S I T E

The address was simple: 228 Tajong Katong Road. Ok, so we know that the address has '2' and '8' and it's in the 200+ range. My mum had seen the ad in the malay paper BUT she forgotten the date of that paper.....

I had so confidently driven to the public carpark in that area (thankfully, my parents never asked how I even knew of it). And my parents (who must have been really hungry) walked ahead. So my bro and I followed suit.

After a loooong walk in the wrong direction, we finally found the place almost 1/2 hr after parking.

Seriously, if we had turned RIGHT instead of LEFT, the eatery was a mere 20metres from the alley that we came out from! Pfft!

--Ok, gripe over. Now the food--

The eatery was tucked away in one of the shophouse along that road, which played hosts to numerous eating places. It's located right beside a branch of the Donut Empire chain.


The interior was bright, one side lined with a row of long shelf with a lower compartment to tuck your drinks away (that's what my family did anyway).

The top shelf had little knick-knacks (all ornaments from the island of Java) on display, supposedly to give the 'Javanese feel' despite it's modern outlook.


The other side had walls plastered with nice graphics of various foods and their nutrition value (I'm thinking of how to feed hubby more gallangal!). It helps to distract one from immense hunger, reading all that and discussing what will be good for whom while waiting for the food to be served.

Our drinks/dessert order. (L) Jus Alpukat (Avocado juice) for mum, Happy Soda ( fizzy Bandung) And Es Dawet/Chendol (with bits of jackfruit) for dad.

Plain water is available- free flow at the front counter.


Here's MY dessert/beverage order. Es Delima (red Ruby).

Chinese chestnut coated with coloured starch, bits of coconut and jackfruit with coconut milk...


Ayam Cobek - my bro's order

It's a tad similar to the famed 'ayam penyet'. That soy sauce was available on the table and my bro added it to the chili for good measure.

Honestly, I think he's afraid it'll be too spicy.


Rawon - my order

It took me so long to decide on what I shall have, thinking that my appetite had somewhat waned that afternoon. Believe me, I was equally surprised when I chose this.

I had initially wanted the gado-gado, however, both my bro and dad had placed an order for that and a 3rd plate would have been too much.

The set comes with salted egg and sambal belacan. However, I missed the 'kecambah' (young bean sprout) that I could get when ordering the same set at Ayam Bakar Ojolali.


Close up of the Rawon.

I'm quite pleased with the cut of meat that they used in the Rawon, which is beef stewed with 'buah keluak'. They used the layered meat, the one where the meat and tendon are layered alternately, not unlike the 'kueh lapis'.

My mum said that she simply ask for 'daging kari' (curry meat) when she ordered that cut from the butcher.


Soto Jawa (Lamongan) - my mum's order.

Unlike the ones we can get from the local hawkers, it seemed that the one served at these Indo eateries tend to be overzealous with the turmeric, hence the yellowish tint.

And they tend to already squeeze the lime into the soup.

So much for Soto (Spiced Chicken Soup) Jawa. I remember that the famed 'Soto Madura' taste similarly.


'Sup Buntut' - Oxtail Soup - my dad's order

I noticed that some places also added the ribs amongst the oxtail. Well at least they didn't cut the meat up into smaller pieces....


Gado-gado - Vegetables and lontong (rice cakes) with peanut sauce and keropok (crackers).

Both my bro and dad ordered this. Seeing that my bro already finished 2 plates of rice prior to having this, both my mum and I helped him polish this plate down (yes, so much for my waning appetite!).

I can see that they chose a pretty good spot to open such an eatery, seeing that the Tanjong Katong zone is teeming with Indonesians (esp. the school kids).

In fact, when we left around dinner time, the place was slowly being filled up with various families. Yes, all Indonesians.

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