June 8, 2010
The culinary revolution that has taken place in Beijing in the last few years has seen just about every international cuisine come to the capital city. The one glaring exception is Indonesian food. While there have been a few weak attempts to sell Indonesian food here, none has been successful.
A special Indonesian food promotion is going on now at the Fairmont Hotel, in the Jianwai area, that will dispel the impression that Indonesian food is limited to generic dishes such as nasi goreng and satay.
The main person behind this promotion is Chef William Wongso, an Indonesian celebrity chef and author, who has been invited to Beijing to present the authentic and complex flavors of Nusantara, the Indonesian archipelago, which is made up of thousands of islands, and which boasts a wide array of interesting and exotic spices and ingredients.
Chef Wongso and a passionate and enthusiastic kitchen team is here on a mission to unfold the mystery of Indonesia’s diverse regional cuisines for people in Beijing. Loads of native ingredients have been specially flown in for this campaign, including exotic items such as candle nuts, atap (palm nut), terasi (shrimp paste), turmeric, kencur (lesser galangal), kluwek, akin to the Brazil nut, which has a dark color and which is used to flavor a beef stew called rawon, giving the broth an onyx color. All of these make for authentic and divine Indonesia cooking, which is long overdue in Beijing’s dining scene.
Stimulate your appetite with one of a variety of appetizers: sweet and sour Asinan Jakarta, a light salad consisting of jicama, cucumber, sprouts, pineapple and crushed peanuts; Selada Bangka, turnip salad with a unique combination of peanuts and mustard sauce; Selada Padang, of which the dressing is a reminiscent of deviled eggs, with a sweet and tangy flavor.
Also highly recommend is the Gado-gado, the signature dish of Batawi, or Old Jakarta. This is an array of poached vegetables paired with fried bean curd and tempe, the latter earthy and nutritious fermented soya beans, and the staple vegetable of Indonesia, rakyat. Gado-gado is garnished with emping melinjo, also known as belinjo, which is a small oval fruit of the gnemon tree. This fruit resembles the gingko nut, but it has a slightly bitter taste. It is pounded flat and dried, and when deep-fried it has a crispy texture like chips. The whole fresh seeds and its tender leaves can be used to make a tantalizing sayur asam, sour vegetable soup, an rustic dish that is paired with corn on the cob, ground nuts and seasoned with tamarind.
The peanut sauce poured over the gado-gado contains the wonderful flavors of coconut, citrus fruit, shrimp paste, shallots, garlic, and chillies, all of which are captivated in the creamy grinded roasted peanuts.
Chinese-influenced pork belly Cien (pronounced jin) is a must try dish. The pork is braised in a concoction of kencur muda, young lesser galangal, shallots, sliced garlic, dried shrimp, cassia bark, and kecap manis, sweet soy sauce. This is one of those rare memorable and novel taste that one discovers in a lifetime gastronomic journey. Absolutely divine.
Rendang is the prima donna of Indonesian dishes, says Chef Wongso. Originating from the Pandang region, rendang, a time-consuming beef stew, with its mouth-watering savory creamy sauce. Chef Wongso says not to waste away the remaining sauce when all meat are gone, but by adding cinnamon, clove and mutton to make kebuli rice, or toss some rice or chicken to make a great rendang flavor stir-fries.
Ayam bakar is another fabulous dish, in which the chicken is completely bathed in bumbu, a mixture of spices, and then perfectly grilled to a golden brown, and yielding a complex aroma. Ikan pepes, boneless fish is wrapped in leaves and slow roasted, infusing the fish with the flavor of the spices and the leave.
Guests will also have an opportunity to sample one of the best known Indonesian culinary traditions, the rijsttafel, a Dutch word that literally means rice table. This hybrid tradition was developed during the Dutch colonial era when rice was served with a collection of up to 100 small dishes, each prepared in different ways. Many of these dishes came from Padang, western Sumatra, an area famous for its rendang, a beef stew cooked in coconut milk and a mixture of spices hand-ground in a stone pestle.
Save some room for one of Indonesia’s unique and delicious desserts. Kueh (Indonesia rice cake), jongkong kelapa muda, (steamed rice flour flavored with pandan leaves and soaked in a coconut-and-palm sugar syrup); es teler, an iced-mixed fruit drink packed with atap, a palm nut, nipah palm fruit, young coconut flesh, and jackfruit, each of the ingredients making a contribution to the overall taste; es cendol, the pearl drink of Indonesia. All of these deserts are made with creamy rich coconut milk and the sugary sap of palm trees.
Chef William Wongso, the author of several books on Indonesian cuisine and cooking, has teamed up with a crew of Indonesian chefs: Ibu Uniwis, an expert on Padang food, Benny, who specializes in Javanese cooking, Ade Suherman, who focuses on contemporary Indonesian cuisine, and Ika Jaeger, the proprietor of Waroeng Jalan, a Beijing-based Indonesian food catering company.
Beijing residents should take advantage of this rare opportunity to sample authentic Indonesian cuisine at the Fairmont Hotel’s Lunar 8 Asian Restaurant, which will be available until June 13.
Lunar 8 Asian Restaurant
Basement, Fairmont Hotel, 8 Yong An Dongli, east of LG Twin Towers, Chaoyang District. Tel 8507-3618
北京华彬费尔蒙酒店 朝阳区永安东里8号 双子座西侧