Missing Hometown's Food (Pontianak Culinary)

A throwback to my last year's post, I have promised to share my hometown's food to this blog. FINALLY! I could fulfill my promise. I will share 9 of hundreds delicious foods of my hometown. 

I was born and lived for 18 years in Pontianak, West Borneo (click here if you don't know about Pontianak). Pontianak (坤甸, Kūn diān) is close to Malaysia, so people generally speak Bahasa with Malay accent. Chinese-Indonesian generally uses Teochew and Hakka for daily conversation. It's also used by the Chinese in Singapore and Malaysia. So, don't be confused if the name of some foods sounds weird and not familiar. 

Chai Kwe (Choi Pan) 

First food, Chai Kwe (also familiar as Choi Pan)! It has been my favorite hometown's food. I never miss to eat this food when I go back. Chai Kwe consists of 5 flavors: soybean, yam, chives (kucai), bamboo sprout and  bengkoang. Yam, bengkoang and chives are my favorite. This food is easy to  be found, you can find this in the morning at the market or in the afternoon and evening at restaurant or cafe.  Anw, I can eat 20 pcs in one meal :> oops. 

Koi Sai Tin Kwe

Next is Koi Sai Tin Kwe. I'm not sure about the name, but my mom told me that is indeed the name and she said that there is no Indonesian name as Indonesian doesn't really eat this. Koi Sai means chicken's sh*t and kue means cake, so Koi Sai Tin Kwe means... umm (fill the following blanks by yourself). The names of this food are super weird and disgusting, but the taste is good. Mom said that the black color was made by Daun Kentut (Fart Leaves). Omg, the facts about this cake are too silly. This cake is a little bit difficult to be found, I found this in the morning at the market. It also reminds me about the trend of black colored food in nowadays. 

Egg Tart 

Egg tart is the third. Pontianak's egg tart is quite similar with Hong Kong's egg tart but it has a bigger size. It is baked on a plate and cut into 8 pcs (click here to see original size). I love this egg tart more than Balinese or Portuguese as it has a bigger size of the custard. I can easily find this in the market or traditional cake shop. Nowadays, there are chocolate, green tea, oreo flavor, but my favorite is always the original one,

Crab Noodle (Bakmi Kepiting) 

Pontianak's Crab Noodle (Bakmi Kepiting) is quite famous in Jakarta. There are 2 options to enjoy this noodle, with soup and without soup. Mostly, the restaurant also serves Kwetiau and Dumplings. And, I prefer the noodle with soup. This food could be enjoyed at breakfast or lunch. 

Chicken Rice (Nasi Campur) 

In Pontianak, this food is called Chicken Rice. I don't know the story of its name, but it's totally different with Singapore Chicken Rice (hmm.. the roasted chicken is almost the same btw). There is no Hainanese rice in this chicken rice, and there are many pork with less chicken inside. In Jakarta, this food is called Nasi Campur. Until this time, many friends of mine ask me why it's called chicken rice in my hometown, and I just answered with laugh haha. I enjoy this food for lunch, btw. 

Tiam Mie (Sweet Fried Noodle)

Sweet Fried Noodle? Weird? It tastes good, guys. The sweet taste was made of palm sugar. It's quite difficult to find this food since not every person can cook this noodle. My mom has ever tried to make it by herself, but it was too sweet. Btw, I enjoyed this for lunch. 

Che Hun Tiaw + Bongko

Che Hun Tiaw is just like Indonesian Cendol with plain color, and Bongko is just like Selendang Mayang with green color. It can refresh me up in the super hot weather of my beloved hometown. Mix up two of them is an option, some people enjoy Che Hun Tiaw or Bongko only, but I love to mix them up. I can easily find it in the afternoon.

 Lek Tau Suan (Green Beans Dessert) 

Sharing about Lek Tau Suan reminds me to my dearest ex-roommate. She made this for my friends and me when we were living in the dormitory. Lek Tau is green beans that have been peeled off and Suan means diamond as the beans shine like a diamond, they said haha. The best part of this Lek Tau Suan is the Chakwe or dough fritter, I won't eat it without chakwe. I can easily find this at the market, but it's definitely cheaper to make this at home. This is so easy to make, the ingredients are simple and easy to find. There are many recipes about it on the internet. 

Tofu Pudding 

Last but not least, Tofu Pudding! It's a combination between pudding and Soy milk. Sweet and soft are perfect are two words that suitable to describe it. Tofu Indonesia has many variants of their product, such as tofu tart, tofu ice cream, tofu bean curd with many flavor and topping. And, they have opened their store in Kemanggisan, Jakarta, but I have never gone there. Maybe I should go there and introduce Tofu to Fili :)

That is my story about my hometown's culinary. Hopefully, there will be part 2,3,4 and 50, I hope you guys will never get bored about my hometown hahaha. Well, for those who are going to have a culinary trip in Pontianak, you should follow Kuliner Pontianak on Instagram. This account was made by my friend ((and I was helping her to make the logo :>)). And, I got my references about Pontianak Culinary from there. The caption of the photos is detailed enough, location until prices. The way she describes the food is fun. Hopefully, I could do a collaboration with her someday :)

Btw, me and Fili are in the last term of our university life! We are doing our final project now. We pray that this project will be completed smoothly and finished on time, yohooo! Wish us luck! :>

Yey! 

Yelny

[Versus] Cacaote, Senopati

Hello there! We are on our second installment of Versus, the feature where we talked about our different experience visiting one same place. This time around, we are going to talk about one pretty restaurant located in Senopati, one of the hippest culinary place in Jakarta. Just by looking at the exterior, you can already see how pretty it is. The outer appearance looks a bit Victorian and princess-y to us.

Turns out that the inside do look as princess-y as the outside. If I am not mistaken, Cacaote has two floors. Both floors have a contrast vibe. On the pictures, you can see the details of the first floor that looks more girly and feminine. While on the second floor, it looks more glamorous and such.

It happened on our visit that we both went to different floor. Yelny enjoyed her dessert on the first floor during the day and Fili went to the second floor to enjoy not only the dessert but some food as well during dinner time. Either ways, we love the ambient there. The place itself is pretty big and the space between tables are distant enough to give each group of customers the needed privacy.

Some more pretty details on the first floor. Super cozy to enjoy your afternoon tea and dessert, isn't it? Also, look at those chandelier and curtains and pillows, like, everything coordinates very well,

Also, just one picture from the second floor ((huhu, sorry)). The lighting up on the second floor is a bit dimmed, to give you the much needed romantic vibe and coziness. Thus it explains that some of the pictures turn yellowish. Haha.

Now, moving on to the food, shall we? Uh oh. I am typing this in the middle of the night and I am craving for these not just pretty but delicious dessert.

First up is the battle of eclairs. Yelny ordered Crunchy Nuts Eclair for IDR 50,000 and Fili forgot already what she has ordered. lol. Both eclairs are pretty good. Fili also loved the macaron. It was pistachio flavor and it cost IDR 12,000. Love the texture of the macaron and the pistachio flavor is lovely as well. 

This one is called Intense Chocolate and cost you IDR 50,000. Just like how the name suggested, it is rich with chocolate and would be a perfect choice if you love chocolate. 

Here's the Dark Chocolate cake. I could not remember it correctly if the sides are hazelnut or popcorn. If I am not mistaken it was popcorn, but cmiiw okay? The chocolate cake is nice but the popcorn is a bit soggy, if it is a bit crunchier, I guess it would be very nice.

I also ordered the Tropical which has a good combination of sweet and sour. Also, on the bottom picture you can see another round cake which is coffee banana. As for me I do not really like the coffee banana combination because the banana is a bit too moist. 

Also, one of my friend ordered this duck sandwich. I didn't get to taste it but he said that it was nice.Well, I bet it is! hehe.

It wouldn't be complete with some beverage. I ordered Matcha Latte which turns out to be okay, because I am not a big fan of green tea and stuff. My friend ordered the selection of tea which came out in a very pretty teapot and sugar pot. What a pretty tea set. 

All in all, both of us had a pretty pleasant visit to Cacaote. The place has a very nice ambient and cozy vibe. I really wanted to spend whole day just chit-chatting or doodling in this pretty place. The desserts here are also pretty nice though not all of them are suited to our preference.

Yeey, cheers!

Cacaote
Jl. Senopati no. 80, Senopati, Jakarta
T: 021 2930 6127

[Versus] Three Buns, Senopati

Hello everyone! Today we shared with you our new feature called Versus! Well, according to Cambridge dictionary, Versus is used to compare two things or ideas, especially when you have to choose between them. Well, that is what we are going to do in our feature. We did or did not by chance visit one place and compare our experience there. 

On our first installment, we proudly present you Three Buns, a burger and cocktail restaurant located in Senopati, the area that is undoubtedly growing to become a high-end food paradise. While Fili visited the place back on April, when Three Buns have just opened for few weeks, Yelny visited it on September.

The first thing we noticed to be very different is the kind of services that we got. It's not that either of us experienced bad service there but it was the different treatment that we got. As you have seen in the picture, customer is supposed to order in the food truck. After that we will get a queue number, when it appears on the board, we should take our food on the counter then head to our seat. Well, that was what I experienced, as expected from a fast-food restaurant anyway. But for Yelny, since she went there during less crowded time, the waitress guided here to her seat, gave her the menu, helped her to order and delivered it right to her table.

There you can see the huge difference in the ambience. I went there when it was newly opened and also, on Saturday night, so I will leave it to your imagination on how crowded it was. When Yelny went there, the craze of newly-opened-store started to tone down. Also, she went there on Friday afternoon so it was not that crowded. 

One thing that we agreed about the place itself is that it is pretty comfortable. The restaurant has one and a half floor and pretty much a semi-indoor place. The natural light pours through the window and roof. Even if it is semi-indoor, it is not that hot because they have a good air circulation system.

Still talking about the place, you can see on the first floor that is the food truck where customer is supposed to order the food when it is more crowded. Also, on the next picture you can see the bar and a counter where you can pick the food. If you noticed, on the left side of the bottle shelf, there is a board with numbers there. When your food is ready to be picked up, the numbers there will light up, kinda reminds me of playing Bingo.

Well, and that's what we said about having good air circulation. They have enough fans and standing ACs to balance the hot temperature. The interior itself is pretty much dominated with natural wood color, giving a more comfortable feels. Customers can either sit in the kind of seat (on the picture) or regular chairs like what you saw on the first floor pictures.

Moving on to the food now! Woohoo. There are not much selection of the food here anyway. Their main star has to be the burger, definitely, with the mouthwatering patty. Other than that they also had a variety of side dishes and selection of drinks.

Now I apologize that I do not have any proper photo for the actual burger. It was taken at night when I have just bought my camera for a few days, so I hope you understand that I am still a newbie. haha. Anyway, I ordered Foor Floor burgers. Here is the explanation: double prime 100g beef patties, double cheese, triple onions, lettuce, pickles, ketchup and den miso mayo. How does it taste? Oh-so-delicious! It is actually a bit expensive for student like me, but since it is beef patty, well, I gave in. This burger will cost you IDR 125,000 but I think it is okay to spend more for one good dinner every once in a while ^^

This side dish is called Naughty Fries which is filled with spiced bearnaise, beef chili, crisp shallots, parmesan and sesame seeds. This extraordinary fries cost you IDR 55,000 per portion and both of us happen to order it on our visits. I like this fry because it is filled with beef and cheese as well which will be perfect for snacking. But Yelny doesn't like it, she loves it, especially because there are lots of crisp shallots which is rare to find in fries, in any fast-food restaurant. So, though it is a bit pricey, again, the price worth it. And also, Yelny assumed that the fries is made by mashing the potato, forming it into a solid dough then cut into strips. But it is only an assumption, okay?

Now about the drink, Yelny and her friends ordered Mexican Mule for IDR 95,000. It is none other than tequila with lime and ginger beer. This beverage anyway is kind of a hit-and-miss, neither of us is a fan of alcoholic beverage but it is okay to step out of comfort zone sometimes, right? For us, it is a bit weird, and Yelny doesn't like to have a ginger in her drink. So, I guess this is a matter of preference. If you like ginger and tequilla, this might suit your preference.

The next is Cappucino, one that Yelny ordered. She said that it tasted just like an ordinary cappucino. The bitter and sweet in a cup is all in all balanced. And it cost around IDR 35,000.

Well, with the different experience we had in Three Buns, we think that it will be fun to share more perspective that we had when we went to a same place. We are looking forward to post more Versus posts in the future and hopefully give you an insight. We believe that what I think as good is not always good for Yelny or vice versa. Everyone has the right to have the freedom of speech. Therefore, it is okay to have your own opinion.

Yeey, cheers!

Three Buns

Jl. Senopati Raya no. 90

Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta Selatan

12190

T: 021 - 2930 7780