I was never really a big fan of Malay food in Singapore but once in a while a friend of mine would invite me to eat at one of the Indonesian places in Singapore. Singapore has a large Indonesian population and it is little surprise that the food was also brought here. The restaurant I visited is named Resto Surabaya. From the name alone you should be able to tell the the restaurant specialized in food from Surabaya in Indonesia.
Probably one of the most familiar Indonesian food to me was ayam penyet, which is smashed fried chicken. I eat this on a regular basis but not at Resto Surabaya, this would be the first time I would be eating there. The idea behind ayam penyet is that the fried chicken smashed with a hard object usually a dedicated smashing thingy before it is served to the customers. I guess that is their way of tenderizing the chicken, I’m not sure how effective it is since the chicken doesn’t really need much tenderizing in the first place. I was delighted with the taste of the chicken since it seems to have been marinated in a special sauce and it is quite unlike any ayam penyet I’ve had in Singapore. My friend told me that this is a local variation of ayam penyet in Surabaya.
Another interesting dish is beef in keluak soup. Keluak is a kind of fruit that is basically cooked in soup together with the beef. My friend told me that normally keluak seed is poisonous. I am surprised to know that they would actually use something like this together with their food. Anyway, I didn’t die from the keluak soup. I would like to think that it is the Indonesian version of the Japanese fugu. The soup itself has a rather different taste and it is either you love it or you don’t like it. I could say that I don’t like it, although my friend adores the soup. It is probably an acquired taste, the beef itself is nothing fantastic either since it comes in tiny cubes. I guess they prefer their soup with more soup than stuff.
As with any large country, Indonesia also has its own regional specialties, Resto Surabaya is a good introduction into this world of taste without burning a big hole in your pocket. You can visit Resto Surabaya at the second floor of Lucky Plaza along Orchard Road in Singapore.
[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/RestoSurabaya.kmz}]