Cooking styles vary greatly from one region to another. The
Sundanese of West Java are fond of raw vegetables, eaten with
chili and fermented prawn paste (lalab / sambal trasi). Minihasan
food in North Sulawesi is very spicy, and includes some interesting
specialties: fruit bat wings in coconut milk, sambal rat, and
dog. In the more isolated parts of the archipelago, the food
can be quite plain.
There are restaurants everywhere in Indonesia that specialize
in food from Padang, West Sumatra. This spicy, and very tasty
cuisine has a distinctive way of being served. As many as 15-20
different dishes are displayed in the glass case in front of
a restaurant. You tell the waiter what you want and he sets
a whole stack of the little dishes in front of you. At the end
of the meal, you are charged for what you have eaten and any
untouched plates are put back in the case.
In most Indonesian restaurants there is a standard menu of
sate (skewered barbequed meat)--most common are ayam (chicken)
and kambing (mutton), gado-gado or pecel (boiled vegetables
with spicy peanut sauce) and soto (vegetable soup with or without
meat). Also common are Chinese dishes like bakmie goreng (firied
noodles), bakmie kuah (noodle soup) and cap cay (stir-fried
vegetables).
Indonesian fried chicken (ayarn goreng) is common and usually
very tasty-although the local -grown chicken can be a bit stringy.
Then there is the ubiquitous nasi goreng (fried rice); the special
(istimewa) comes with an egg on top and is often served for
breakfast.
Balinese Specialties
Balinese specialties include roast pork (babi guling) in which
the pork is rubbed with turmeric, stuffed with spices and roasted
over a spit; and roast duck (bebek betutu), where the duck is
stuffed with vegetables and spices, wrapped in banana leaf and
either smoked or steamed.
Balinese brews include tuak (palm beer), arak (palm brandy)
and brem (sweet rice wine). However, beers such as Bintang and
Anker are commonly found. Both are brewed under Dutch supervision
and rather light (perhaps appropriate for the tropics).
Balinese Fruits
The various colours and textures of freshly picked tropical
fruits bombard the streets and markets of Bali. Between months
November and March is the season for indulging in the exotic
tastes of fruits such as salak or manggis (mangos teen), which
are famously found in Bali.
With a combination of the sweet tastes of apple and walnut,
segments of the salak is wrapped in what appears to resemble
a similar texture of snakeskin, making the uniqueness of the
fruit more encompassing. Manggis share the similar heavenly
taste. The juicy white segments are protected in its thick purple-brown
shell.
