Indonesian Food is Dangerously Delicious


It was not until a close attention to the trailers shown on TV, I discovered that Pak Bondan (Bondan Winarno) is now promoting a new catchphrase "Indonesian food is dangerously delicious" on his new food show "Taste of Indonesia" aired on AFC (Asian Food Channel) TV, starting November 2011.

So the big question is, is Indonesian food really dangerous, and why?

Well it is, since the risk of addiction is really high! as Pak Bondan replied himself on his Twitter account:
"Sbg warning box, krn akibatkan kecanduan" ("As a warning box, since it causes addiction").
Though Indonesian food is not everyone's dish, and still fairly less known compared to the food from its neighbouring countries, i.e.: Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, but those that has come to know about Indonesian food usually have one or two favourites -- at least.

Among the dishes foodies enjoyed the most, are Sate Ayam Madura, and Rendang Padang. While the first is an Indonesian BBQ made with skewered chicken chunks, marinated lightly in Indonesian sweet soy and peanut sauce and then grilled; the later is a "West Sumatran caramelized beef curry" to borrow the words of another Indonesian culinary expert, William Wongso. Just like Pak Bondan, Pak William can also be reached through his Twitter account.

The other obvious almost ubiquitous Indonesian dish is Gado-Gado Jakarta; Indonesian salad made with fresh vegetables, chopped tempe, tahu, potato cubes, boiled egg, and dressed heavily in a mixture of peanut sauce. For a heavier meal it usually includes lontong, i.e.: the rice cakes, and for a more succulent dressing some vendors added cashew nuts to the mixture as well.

Another favourite dish usually served in Indonesian food restaurants abroad is Nasi Campur; a dish that's very closely resembling the day to day eats in Indonesia: a steamed rice with various accompanying dishes, usually in the formula of protein + vegetables + sambal. Rendang Padang seems to be the favourite choice for protein, along with Telur Balado (Boiled egg in spicy hot seasoning). Other choices you might find are tempeh (soybean cake) and tahu (Indonesian tofu). Indonesian sambal is the national's pride; it takes so many different form and variations but that's the beauty of it: you get to taste so many varieties yet they are all dangerously delicious. The most common form of Indonesian Sambal usually consisting of red chillies, tomato, shallots, and seasoned with terasi: Indonesian shrimp paste. Be cautious though that in its natural setting, sambal are extremely, if not volcanic, hot.

As about the slogan "Indonesian food is dangerously delicious", it is strongly related with "Indonesia. Dangerously beautiful" slogan which was invented and popularized by Iwan Esjepe from "Indonesia Bertindak", in response to the travel warning issued by northern American countries and European as well some years ago.
“Several countries have issued travel warnings not to visit Indonesia. It's now your time to make a statement that Indonesia is too beautiful to be passed” wrote Iwan in his website.
So, have you find out how dangerous Indonesian Food is? Visit an Indonesian Restaurant around you and decide for yourself. (byms)

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Breakfast shot 111125


Sunny side up (runny), smoked beef, cheese and mayo. (byms)
posted from Bloggeroid

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HTC Salsa for Food Blogging



That's me looking at the virtual shutter button on my mobile phone. HTC Salsa enables switching of camera source through clicking upon the icon at the top left corner of the screen. The photo are then processed using Almond tone and High Contrast filter available under its native photo editing application. (Btw, do I look menacing enough?)

As I mentioned in my previous article, starting from the late July 2011 food photos displayed in Epicurina blog are shot using HTC Salsa, with occasional uses of Canon EOS 550D, practically retires my old trusted Canon AS 400.

While quality-wise HTC Salsa falls short even compared with my old Canon AS 400 pocket digicam, it boasts the feature not available even on Canon EOS 550D with its very good photo-taking; mobility and connectivity, which gives way to the mobile journalism.

With the ability to do simple touch-ups right on the phone itself and upload it right away to the Internet, this is a big plus compared with having to download your picture from the conventional digital camera to the PC, resize them, adjust the colouring, watermark it, then upload it. It's just much faster done with mobile phones.

Since on most blogging activities, i.e.: uploading the photo for your blog, which requires only about 520px wide picture, then the level of details and existence of artefacts is still acceptable.

HTC Salsa's auto focus feature do helps a lot, and with its touch-based capable operation, you can choose the area where to focus your lens into, creating a nice depth and focus blurring: something that usually available only on higher camera models.

Its high light sensitivity up to ISO 800, also enables photographing under a low light, which is a common situation for food-mojo, or mofojo: mobile food journalists. Its quality however often plunged down below the acceptable standard, but you can still play with it to have a nice artwork.

While HTC Salsa also provide its own light source, its direct light and non adjustable intensity usually wiped out all of the delicate details in the food, which usually are taken at a very close range. It also shift the white balance into yellowish tone, and is unrepairable.

The biggest issue with taking picture using HTC Salsa however, as well as with other mobile phones, is in finding a way to stabilize it. With its lightweight, thin body, and pointy sides, there are no big enough surface to hold it against regular stabilizers available on your table in restaurants. If a pocket camera might be stabilized using glasspod, bottlepod, or even headpod, you can only rely on your hand's balance and stability to avoid shaking.

Post processing photos using HTC Salsa

Using its own image enhancement application, HTC Salsa are usually able to adds the much needed image adjustment with a touch of a button.

If you are also using watermarks or signature on your photos, you can also try this wonderful Android application Add Watermark Free, available from Android Market. It enables you to add texts overlay, and image overlay, to the photos taken with HTC Salsa's camera. It is also usable for other mobile phones running Android. Its limitation lies only on the size of image outputs which restricted to 800px on the long side, while the commercial version allows you to save them in their original resolution.

Creating your blog entry using HTC Salsa

And if you are using Blogger platform like Epicurina does, you might want to try out Bloggeroid, also available free from Android Market. At only 101 Kb application size, it's the lightest weight blogger client at the moment, capable to post blog entries with picture attachment. It also supports multiple blogs running on the same platform.

Should you find screen-touching individual letters on your HTC Salsa's on-screen keyboard too demanding for a longer blog entry like this one you're currently reading, you will be impressed by Swype BETA swiping text entries capability, which available free from Swype's website. It quickly closes the gap between HTC and Samsung phones who natively uses the application on their newer Android phones. It does however requires a big space, about 11 MB which resides on the phone's internal memory, which is a very valuable real estate on HTC Salsa's tiny 128 MB internal memory -- which about 50 MB of them are already used by the operating system. However from blog writing standpoint, it's worth every bites occupied.

Why I use HTC Salsa instead of an iPhone?

If in the US you can get iPhone 4s for a decent $199 for its 16GB models (Apple Store), the same unit costs about $ 1,000 in Indonesia (Versacom). Though you're freed from the mandatory 2 years data plan like in US, it's still a very big spending for a phone. 

Android on the other hand, has similar features available at a more reasonable cost, like this HTC Salsa which is one of their middle level phone at $375; even much less when I have it during its promo sales. While it's not the best, but certainly it's good enough. 

As of food photos quality, take a look at some samples below and decide for yourself. All are taken with HTC Salsa:



For more interesting Indonesian food photos, visit our Indonesian Food Photos at Picasa -- they're almost free, as long as you're following our Epicurina licensing guidelines. (byms)
posted from Bloggeroid

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Dinner Shot: Nasi Goreng Ikan Asin at RM Berkah Denpasar



Nasi Goreng Ikan Asin @13K IDR - RM Muslim Berkah III, Sesetan, Denpasar, Bali.

It has a rich and complex taste, which fits well with the salted fish. Among the identified ingredients are: rice, salted fish, scrambled egg, bean sprouts, kemangi, along with terasi, and red chilli as seasoning. The fried rice itself then half wrapped in an omelette. A wonderful orchestra on your tastebuds, and teases your eyes as well. (byms)
posted from Bloggeroid

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Mobile Journalism for Food Bloggers


Starting from July 2011 food photos displayed in Epicurina blog are shot using HTC Salsa, with occasional uses of Canon EOS 550D, practically retires my old trusted Canon AS 400.

Now, I don't find HTC Salsa's picture is better than even my old Canon AS 400 pocket digicam, even though it boasts 5 MP camera and higher ISO rate at 800. I can get far better photos using my Canon AS 400 on lower ISO -- though it has a lower 3.3 MP image resolution.

However since on most blogging activities, i.e.: uploading the photo for your blog, we requires only about 520px wide picture on Blogspot, then the level of details and clarity is good enough, and the existence of artefacts are still within acceptable limit.

HTC Salsa greatest feature however, lies in its function as a smart mobile device. With the ability to do simple touch-ups right on the phone itself and upload it right away to the Internet, it's a big plus compared with having to download your picture from the conventional digital camera to the PC, resize them, adjust the colouring, watermark it, then upload it. It's just much faster done with mobile phones.

As there are surely trade-off in photo quality and resolution, with its fast reaction and greater mobility, mobile phone is giving way to mobile journalism, enabling anyone with a good enough mobile phone to become a mobile journalist, or simply referred a "mojo" (Wiki).

Beside of taking photos, there are also a lot of things you could accomplish with using your mobile phone alone -- something you wouldn't have been able to do before smart OSes like iOs (iPhone) and Android exists.

Mobile Journalism

Thanks to the ever improving technology of mobile phones, a new generation mobile phone equipped with the highly interactive OSes can help journalism in the following ways:
  1. Taking snapshots
  2. Capturing videos
  3. Recording interviews
  4. Taking notes
  5. Storing interview outlines
  6. Sending article to your publisher
  7. Sending and receiving email
  8. Storing and retrieving digital contents online
  9. Publishing content to online media
  10. Editing of captured or recorded materials
  11. Making phone calls :)
All without having to leave the ground zero of the event covered -- given there are good enough network on site. It's practically like having all your journalism tools packed into a pocket size magic box.

Food Blogging

Blogging by no means are different with journalism. All of the above also applies if you bloggers are going out there to look for stories, instead of relying on armchair journalism, i.e.: writing your articles based solely on online research.

Especially with Food Bloggers, based on the list above, a higher concern should be put into using your mobile phone to take good food photographs, and prepares them for publication. Since many of food photographs will be taken indoor, then high ISO sensitivity, and colour correction are two important attributes of the mobile phone's camera. High resolution helps, though in the end it will depends mostly on the quality of lens used, as well as the size and quality of the sensor used.

Having post production editing applications installed would also useful, as it allows you to adjust and do simple manipulations of the picture taken; enhancing it to look more appealing.

As for accessibility, mobile phone would also be easier to use even on a restricting condition, like when the business owner specifically warn their patrons that no picture whatsoever is allowed to be taken on the premise. On such premises, a mobile phone could capture good enough snapshot, while a DSLR might creates unnecessary attention involving security guards.

Restriction to take a photo in a restaurant by the way, is a silly rules in my opinion: while it might lessen the probability of duplication or any other sort of mayhem from their business competition -- which perhaps constitutes about 1-5% of their daily customers, on the other hand it also forbids the viral marketing of their product by their regular customers -- the other 95-99%. Do the math.

And if they feared people will badmouth their bad service and bad products, a picture evidence is the least they need to worry. To their customers, it might also be viewed as putting more efforts on avoiding getting captured instead of doing the right thing in increasing the quality of their service and product.

Platform choices

iPhone has a drop of sales on the last quarter due to customers holding off the buying with the rumours of Apple plan to release iPhone 5 this 2011 Q3, a rumours proven to be false as Apple introduces iPhone 4s instead. However it's still considered by many as the best mobile phone today. 

Coming from a single manufacturer, iOs: the operating system of iPhone, does not offers too much variety or "flavours". However each iPhone device series are created with the intention to provide a memorable and meaningful experience which mean, quality of photos taken will be great, and processing powers included is guaranteed a smooth running applications.

Android at the moment is the winning party of the mobile OS choices worldwide, topping the worldwide sales of iPhones on the last quarter (business insider). Samsung has also become the winning brand of mobile phones worldwide, topping Apple from the lead (businessinsider).

With a lot of cheap -- even free choices of applications to Android users, Android is the new Nokia. Its rich user experience and affordability attracts many converts, even from iPhone users. Android mobile devices also available in a lot of flavours, thanks to the open market it supports which makes Android available on mobile phones from many major brands, as well as minor ones. It gives great accessibility and affordability, and some models are even able to match iPhone quality, with a much lower cost.

Quality standards on the other hand, varies greatly between phone series as they are no standardization on how good a device should be. Look for a high-end Android phones if you are thinking of using one to support your mobile journalism activity.

With Windows 8 coming up, and promising a lot more interactive looks, Microsoft might join the crowd of two -- iOs and Android, in offering a good user experience operating system on mobile devices. Popular brands like Samsung and Acer, has also started offering their products running on the new Windows Mobile, and they will also do that when Windows 8 is finally launched. (byms)
posted from Bloggeroid

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Breakfast shot 111121


Macaroni & cheese. (byms)
posted from Bloggeroid

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Breakfast shot 111114



Tuna sandwich with roasted vegetable. (byms)
posted from Bloggeroid

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Trendy hot Indonesian crackers Maicih

My beloved partner The Picky Eater has joined the crowd of exorbitant chilli lovers in Indonesia for her new love of Maicih chips.

What is Maicih?

Maicih is a hot new trend just recently happening, and by hot I don't mean figuratively, as the name itself implies a line of very hot snacks that includes crackers and chips, guaranteed to satisfy Indonesian appetite for super hot food.

I considers Maicih as a successful revival, especially of an old trend, the "kurupuk lada", or popularly known as "kurupuk bondon" snack that used to be popular in Bandung and its surrounding cities three decades ago.

Stringy crunchy and very hot, kurupuk lada/bondon usually incorporates the bright purplish pink coloring only attainable through artificial flavoring -- which many suspects were not even food-grade coloring. But we're young, it sold virtually everywhere in every warung and kios in Bandung, and health concern often took a back seat against monetary concerns, especially since for a good 25 rupiah we could get a plastic full of amazing treat from this highly addictive hot umami (and a bit bitter from the coloring) snack. As comparison, a plate of baso tahu costs about 150 rupiah back then, and it is 7K now; 1 USD equals with 200 IDR and it's about 9K now.

By the way, it's probably the only public-acceptable use of the word "bondon" outside of adult-only talks, for its negative connotation: it's the notorious alias for a hooker in those ages. The more decent name for the snack is "Gurilem". I'm not sure how the term came up but I can still remember the line-art drawings on the chip's label depicting a girl with overly make up and accessories -- which I believe was drawn with something beautiful in the artist's mind, but came out looking cartoon like with strange proportion. Perhaps the name itself mimics the brassy visualization both the profession and the snack shares.

Why Maicih?

At present, Maicih line of products does not contain only gurilem, but also other kind of cassava chips seasoned with dry chilli powder and other seasoning; interestingly Maicih also provide it at different level of hotness; 10 is the hottest, and only a few can actually enjoy that level of scorching.

As for the name itself, Reza Nurhilman, its creator reveal that "Maicih" emerges from his memory of an old lady who he often encountered back in his childhood upon accompanying his mother to the local traditional market.

At the time of the product launch, people queued for a kilometre long: it's roughly two thirds of a mile, but usually it's used as a general figure to describe "very long" since Indonesian are more familiar with metrics measurement. The product itself gain its popularity not by conventional marketing but through Twitter, isn't it amazing?

However, due to an internal family dispute, starting July 2011 there are two versions of Maicih available on the market, each with the exactly same name but with a different logo: the side-facing one are managed under Reza Nurhilman, while the front-facing one are managed under Dimas Ginanjar Merdeka, Reza's older brother.

To avoid the "original vs. fake" debate, for differencing I will refer to the first one as "Maicih-S" with the "S" stands for "Side-facing" or "Sisi" in its Bahasa Indonesia counterparts, and the other one as "Maicih-F" with the "F" stands for "Front-facing" or "Frontal" which is also used in Bahasa Indonesia.

Maicih-S

Maicih logo Reza Nurhilman version

With over 80 distributors over Indonesia, Maicih products under Reza Nurhilman management are also available outside Indonesia in Singapore and Japan, though distribution are still severely limited due to a very high delivery cost from Indonesia. However Reza also mentioned that his vision includes internationalizing Maicih, so perhaps you can expect it to reach Australian and US's shores sometimes in the near future.

With only after a year in operation, Reza already claimed an omzet (sales volume) of 4 billion IDR per-month. That's about 450.000 USD.

You can read Reza Nurhilman story on how he build his business in this article from Vivanews. It's in Indonesian but you can always relies on Google Translate to make it more understandable in English.

Maicih-S website is http://www.maicih.co.id, and he tweets under http://twitter.com/infomaicih.

Maicih-F
Maicih logo Dimas Merdeka version

Focusing more on quality and community support, Maicih products under Dimas Merdeka takes sales & distribution on a slower pace; focusing on Bandung as its baseline first, and actively participating in environmental, and art & culture programs, i.e.: sponsoring music tour of indie music groups.

Dimas believes that quality is of utmost importance hence they only produces what they can maintain good QC on, which is about 5,000 packages a day.

Dimas creates paper repackaging, provides clear product information including ingredients and nett weight, he also certifies Maicih products to have legal registration number from the government, as well as Halal certification from LPPOM-MUI.

Maicih-F website is http://www.maicih.com, and he tweets under http://twitter.com/maicih.

What's in the name of Maicih?

The term "Maicih" itself can be further dissected into "Ma" and "Icih", where Ma is short for "Ema" or mother in Sundanese, and Icih is among the common old traditional women name in Sundanese, along with Odah, Ucu, Enok, Eneng, Euis, etc.

Eating Maicih

If you have a fire-resistant mouth and strong stomach, Maicih might be an ideal snack for you. As for myself, even with two years eating Balinese very spicy foods, I still lacked way behind in capcaisin resistance -- the thing in chilli peppers that causes the burn -- compared with most of my eating buddies hence I only dare to eat Maicih along with my rice meal, or it will causes an upset stomach.

Else, have a glass of cold milk ready by your side, or yoghurt, as they both contain casein that binds the capcaisin better than your mouth's walls, quickly relieves you from the pain.

Alternatively you could also try rich in fat desserts and drinks, e.g.: banana split, avocado juice, es cendol, bajigur, or es goyobod, as capcaisin dissolves in fat instead of water; for the same reason, ice cold water won't help much as it would only numb your nerves for a while without really removing the hazardous capcaisin. (byms)

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Halal Status of Food in Indonesia

Halal is a term used by Moslem around the world to indicate its conformity with the Islamic rules of diet. There are some food groups that fall into non-halal status; however much more are fall into halal status.

Basic non-halal (or "haram" i.e., forbidden) food group are consisting of:
  • Pork - both farm raised pork, and wild ones or hogs
  • Blood - running blood, while traces on meat are acceptable
  • Carrion - including carcass of animal dead not by proper butchering
  • Sacrificial animals - animals used for ritual killings, or slaughtered not in the name of God
  • Top land predators  - animals which hunts by its claws, fangs, or combination of both
  • Frogs
  • Khamr - alcoholic beverages, i.e. either fermented or distilled drinks which causes drunk 
Included on the list are also food products that mimics, or originated from those forbidden eats; hence a 0% beer made from dealcoholized regular beer would still be considered as haram for both reasons.

Excluded from the list are carcass from dead sea animals, i.e. fishes, whales, which is allowed to be consumed -- given that its condition is still good for consumption.


Halal status in Indonesia

As the case with Indonesia, despite of having 85% of its 240 million population moslem, Indonesia are still considered lacked behind in Halal standardization, this is due mostly because people are still having comfort relying on ethnic stereotyping; if you looks like pribumi (natives), you're most likely to produce (and eat) halal food.

However this is a false assumption since there are many food related practices, even traditional ones from a moslem dominant population, that actually contradict with Islamic rules of diet. Especially since Islam teaching in many parts of Indonesia are still mixed with traditions, and other belief system from the pre-Islamic era, e.g. animism and dynamism. For example, the consumption of marus or dadih, which is a coagulated blood that's seasoned and cooked into a firm consistency; it is forbidden in Islam but traditionally it's a delicacies.

Also taking into concern the foul practices merchant does in the name of profit, or other misbehaves caused by simply naive unawareness.

Without too much dissecting or validating its appropriateness, following are the types of Halal status that commonly applies in Indonesia, and works on general situation elsewhere as well:

HL1 - Halal by personal observation and assumption

Food in this category are considered Halal by observer's assumption, with observation mostly based on main ingredients used; that it is not from the forbidden group of food.

It usually applies when a more thorough inspection of the food process is not possible, while the observable parts of the food/drink are considered as halal.

There's an example of this act practiced back in prophet Muhammad saw. time: once there was a gift of meat from non-muslim people but those receiving them are unsure whether Allah name was mentioned upon the butchering or not. So they asked Rasulullah about it, and Rasulullah said
"Mention Allah name upon it and eat it" (Shahih Bukhari) [1].
However due to different understanding and level of halal knowledge Moslem have, expect a diverse opinion on the conclusion, even though there are examples of this kind of practice were done in the prophet's presence.

Some would even prefer to ditch all food fell into this category in thinking that it's better to leave a doubt and choose what's firm.

HL2 - Halal by seller's claim

Food in this category are claimed Halal by the seller's claim, and most halal food in Indonesia are fall into this category. This kind of claim is usually good, and should violation of halal dietary rules ever happens, i.e., usage of seasoning thought to be halal while they are not, they most likely are not intended.

HL3 - Halal by certification from legitimate bodies

Food in this category are proclaimed Halal by one or more legitimate bodies that eligible to do formal certification. Most halal food products sold for mass consumption in Indonesia fall into this category, and is considered as the strongest level of Halal status by most people.

In Indonesia, though the general food inspection and standardization are done by the Health Department, specific for Halal certification it is done by LPPOM MUI, a branch of the MUI (Majelis Ulama Indonesia) -- Indonesian Council of Muslim Clerics.

Some moslem though, who applies a very strict halal diet, or does not acknowledge the legitimate bodies, would still prefer to use the combination of HL1 & HL2, that is only buying similar products from a vendor they validate themselves, where they're able to inspect the whole process themselves, and mostly known the vendor personally, or recommended by other brothers of the same strictness.

Beside of the main three, there is also one type of Halal-related status that grows more popular these days in Indonesia, especially in the big cities:

HL0 - Halal by no-pork claim 

Since pork is the "superstar" of non-halal foods, and it's the main judgement criteria used in Indonesia, a lot of new restaurants who don't certificate themselves as halal, but tries to appeal to as wide customers as possible, i.e.: Moslem, excluding pork from their menu and uses the claim of "no pork".

This usually applies with restaurants specializing in modern and foreign food opening in big cities where as though Moslem is still the majority population, they are less stricter or are not really religious. For example: low cost Steak houses, Hip Sushi restaurants, modern Chinese restaurants, budget Italian restaurants.

While claiming they serves no pork, those who serves imported meats usually provide no clarity on its halal status either; they don't guarantee the absence of other non-halal substances as well, which usually presented in the form of liquor-based seasoning such as wines, wine-based vinegars, sake, mirin, etc. Hence halal status in this "no-pork" claim usually is only loosely perceived, while the fact is questionable.


Halal Food in Bali

Outside of the popularity of Babi Guling (Suckling Pig), Balinese cuisines are also rich with dishes containing chicken and salt water fishes. There are also conventional meat producers that guarantees halal status of their food, and their main market is the halal food vendors around Bali. However most chicken used in Balinese traditional dishes are brought from traditional market which are not specifically prepared to Islamic standards - but does not known to contradict either. Hence of halal status, HL1 are most common.

As with other kind of traditional dishes beside Balinese, you need to pay special attention since Halal is a lesser standard applied in Bali, so the non-halal non-Balinese dishes are also abundantly sold here, including the Cwi Mie Malang with pork oil (haram substance) we encountered in one East Javanese restaurant near Renon area.

Those that applies HL2 standards usually includes Islamic connection in their business name, i.e. "Warung Muslim Banyuwangi", and so far this is your best chance of encountering halal food in Bali. Other choice in this HL2 category is the ethnic-stereotype based that is always guaranteed halal 100%: the Padangnese restaurants.

They never put "halal" in their restaurant names or stated claims as it would be considered laughable for stating something so obvious -- though not 100% people from Padang region (Western Sumatera) are muslim.


100% Halal

On a lighter note, it's a common thing in Indonesia to label halal food with "100% Halal" claim, however such claims are more of an exaggeration than fact, since: even a 0.1% inclusion of a known non-halal substance would waive the halal status, i.e. no such thing as "99% halal" label; and in practice no one can truly examines every parts or process that goes or included in the food preparation to warrant the claim.


Halal compatible standards

As about compatibility, other diet standards that is widely intersected with moslem's halal standard and are considered generally save are Kosher, and Vegetarian -- regarding the food ingredient choices. Though observation are still required to verify the presence of non-meat restricted substances, such as liquors.

The Holly Quran also mentions that food prepared by "Ahli Kitab," or people from other Samawi religions preceding Islam (Christians, and Jews), are good as well:
"This day [all] good foods have been made lawful, and the food of those who were given the Scripture is lawful for you and your food is lawful for them (...)" [QS Al-Maidah: 5]
(byms)

[1] Source: "Halal dan Haram dalam Islam," DR. Yusuf Al-Qardhawi, PT. Bina Ilmu, 1993: http://media.isnet.org/islam/Qardhawi/Halal/201172.html

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Visiting the Pangan Nusa 2011 exhibition in Bali

Last weekend we went to visit the food exhibition "Pangan Nusa 2011", which was the part of "Hello Asean" event that held in Bali from 24 October to 23 November 2011. It's a pity that we found about it a bit too late, which was on the 3rd day, and can only managed to visit the event on its 5th day, which is on Friday.

The greater event was opened by our very president Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, and there is a stand on the area dedicated to him, and the event itself was also attended by famous foodies like William Wongso and Bondan Winarno who are among the juries for the cooking contest competing for Piala Prima Boga Nusantara.

Seeing that it's a regional event and held a week long with contingents from provinces nation-wide, we're pretty confident that we'll have a good show going on that Friday, as events usually have their climax on the last days, where it's weekend thus more people can attend the show.

So we went there on this very hot Friday morning, ready to have a blast at sampling the latest culinary geniuses from around Indonesia. However we didn't have the exact address of this event; our search on Google, Facebook, and Twitter only scores vague information that the event was held in "Peninsula Island", Nusa Dua, Bali -- a location that doesn't even show up on Google Map.

Highly spirited, we're just curious and all excited so we went there anyway.

Passing the airport intersection of Jl. By Pass Ngurah Rai, we noticed that there are banners created for "Hello Asean", and since Pangan Nusa is a part of it, then we're confidently just following the banners down south.


We then arrived at this security gate at the end of the By Pass street, and after mentioning our destination the security guard pointed us to head right at the roundabout ahead, and we followed his direction. Too bad there's no further map or sort that informs about the exact location, and unlike other parts of Bali there are less people wandering around on the street to ask for information, so we just let ourself got lost and believe that we will find the place in the end.


After passed what looks like a theatre and the Trans Sarbagita bus station, we finally found the entrance gate to the event. After parked our rented car near the entrance, we then walked inside the event area, and found this beautiful sign of the event that reminded me of the good old disco era.


After some more walking under the scorching sun, we finally found this mysterious place called "Peninsula island", which is a very small island separated only during high tide, much like the rocks where the Tanah Lot temple stands upon, only about 10 times bigger.


Not far from it, was the event's entrance gate, and another security checks.

There were this three huge wooden building, some performance stages, and several white domes along with many small huts on the area. The event was huge. 

At the entrance we found this cool sign board made from food ingredients and couldn't resist the temptation to have another shoot.


Walking into the exhibition building however, was not really pleasing since we found that most of the stands are still closed -- or have been closed? A word with one of the stand host reveal the disappointing truth:
"Many of them have been closed; some have their products sold during the first day of the event, while some decided to open only until the second day since they want to have a vacation, 'when else would we have the opportunity to visit Bali?' they said".
And so we found out that Pangan Nusa 2011 was practically abandoned by most of their participating stands by the third day. While there are still some interesting stands and food samples to try out, like this Smoked Ayam Betutu, there are not much fancy food products to try out anymore. 


I just have a pity for those after us who can only set aside their time on weekends, and have to endure the scorching sun and the long ride just to find that there is no event. However we didn't really know if on the next day the participants are returning for some grande closing, and the big "Hello Asean" event itself would still continued.


After walking through all the three semi-permanent exhibition buildings, we shift our direction to the air conditioned domes next door, hoping to encounter food from the regions of Asean.


But it wasn't hosting any food, as it was intended for art exhibition.

After spent some time enjoying the cool air inside the domes, we went back to the scorching sun and did some scouting around the area but avoiding those that located on the far side as the heat was already becoming unbearable.


But first stopped by the mobile loo located near by, and it has cool design:


Outside the exhibition area there are some stands near the beach, and one of them "Warung Hade" sold our favourite Malaysian drink "Teh Tarik", so we paid them a visit. It was good, as good as the one sold in Warung Bunana and trully refreshes our sundried throats.


It also comes in a very practical and functional plastic bag!


Returning back to our car, we noticed that it was only about one and a half hour after we arrived; quite short visit for a food exhibition. Luckily we had our lunch at Nasi Ayam Bu Oki before visiting the exhibition else we'll be starved.

So far this Pangan Nusa 2011 has been confusing for us; a big regional event opened on weekdays and reached its peak on the second day -- where most of locals are working -- and then abandoned on the next days. A tweet we found even went further to question the motive of this event itself:

"Bikin acara #PanganNusa di Peninsula, di peta Nusa Dua aja gak ada. Orang Bali gak ngeh. targetnya siapa tuh? Miliaran bouw" (source)
Which translated freely as "Who's the target of this event really, when the place itself is not listed on the map, and only few Bali citizen aware of the location? And it costs billions".

Nodding on the critic, from our two years of staying in Bali we recognize several facts about Nusa Dua:
  1. It's an exclusive location full with hotels with very high rates
  2. It's a preferred staying place for international celebrities, diplomats, honeymooners
  3. It's a favourite location for national expo, exhibition, summits, and other high-profile events 
  4. It's far from Denpasar; 40 Km away or about one hour drive; about 40 minutes from Kuta
  5. Until the launch of Trans Sarbagita few months back, there are no decent public transportation heads there
So concluding on the facts above, I can't help but thinking about the validity of that tweet; was this event targeted for public consumption?

But then it strikes my mind that perhaps the event itself was indeed mainly targeted for tourists, hence it is held in a touristy area, and doesn't really matter that it's located quite far from the main population area in Denpasar, in a location less familiar to the locals, and was opened on workdays where most of the locals are working. I forgot that unlike Jakarta, Bali is a holiday destination, not business destination; hence targeting tourists might works here while in Jakarta that's a dead meat.  

All confusion aside, should you are in Bali this November, and interested to attend the other agenda held under the event of "Hello Asean 2011", you can find further information in their official webpage at: http://www.helloasean2011.com/. (byms)

1 comments:

Improving The Waiting Experience


People are emotional beings, we measure most things in our live based on how we feel about them instead of how it really happens, hence perception often takes precedence over facts, or over actual measurement.

The same case happen when people are put into a customer's role, and having to wait for their food to be served when they're eating out in a restaurant. A very fat chance is, if you feel bored, 10 minutes are probably too much a wait, while if you feel excited while waiting, 15 minutes passed quite effortlessly.

Hence the key of providing positive waiting experience lies in the restaurant's ability to provide their customers with involving and interesting activities.

This is what happen when I visited Hazara in Jl. Agus Salim, Jakarta quite a while ago; interesting restaurant ambiance, charming dining company, and comfy on the floor seating complete with fluffy pillows, are more than enough to make me feel occupied and excited for the duration of our food to finally arrive even that it passed the 15 minutes mark. On top of that, the premise also provides various table games both from local origin (congklak) to a more obscure origin games like card games or backgammon. They also have a mini pool-table free for customers to play with.

On another occasion and different topic, same positive waiting experience happens at this modern barber shop Citi: Cuts at Sarinah bldg, Jl. MH Thamrin, Jakarta. They provides the latest Men magazine, e.g.: FHM, Maxim, Cinemags, which makes waiting time passed so fast it even felt disturbing that your turn comes too soon -- while on reality I waited for a barber to finish his half-done job on a customer's hair, which normally takes about 15-20 minutes.

So if you're a business owner, which one would you aim for: the actual length of waiting your customer must endure? Or the quality of experience your customer is having while they're waiting?

Improving The Waiting Experience

As mentioned in the beginning of this writing, the Waiting Experience could be improved by providing things that could get your customers to be involved in an interesting and exciting activities while enduring the wait, e.g.:
  1. TV with favourite channel showing (e.g.: Sports for men, reality shows for women, cartoon for kids, music for teens)
  2. Live music
  3. Interesting reading materials (e.g.: Fashion magazine for women, Men magazine, Newspaper, etc.)
  4. Free starters (e.g.: bread sticks, crackers, etc.)
  5. Free WiFi (if your customers have mobile devices, or if you want to attract customers from this category)
  6. Table games (e.g.: Snake and Ladders, Backgammon, UNO Cards, etc.)
  7. Physical games (e.g. Pool tables, Dart boards, Table football)
Should you think you have taken care of the food-waiting experience, and another Customer Satisfaction Survey verified that, then let's not forget "the other" waiting experience that you have to also take notice; the waiting experience for the bills, since it also requires your customers to wait.

Waiting for the bills - The other Waiting Experience

A good eating experience preceded by good waiting experience could still result in a negative satisfaction if customers have to wait too long for their bills to arrive, and their payment to be processed.

It remind me of this lovely semi-outdoor restaurant in Bandung, the Cafe Halaman at intersection of Jl. Siliwangi and Jl. Taman Sari. In the mid nineties, the place was so popular it was hard to even get parking space on weekends.

The food is great, prices are very friendly -- even for my college year's pocket, and the ambience is just wonderful, a good place to have dinner with your buddies, or for a date -- if you can stand the chance of encountering your fellow college buddies there, which most likely would happen.

A big minus of this place however, was the length of time it requires to greet the customers; welcoming them to the premise, and showing them their seat including handing the menu. What more likely to occurs is customers look for empty seats, occupy it, and then waving helplessly at the waiters to have their attention. And it wasn't because of the super busy peak hours; it was just the waiters are not trained to be attentive; e.g.: standing in their post unoccupied but doing something not service-related, staring mindlessly or maintaining their attention into areas outside of the dining floor, etc.

The other constantly annoying thing is the amount of time they requires to calculate for the bills; one measurement resulted in more than 30 minutes of waiting, while on other occasion it even allows us to leave the place without getting noticed and get into our car.

Outside of potential uncollected profits when customers leaving without paying, negative bills waiting experience simply hurts your business reputation.

As in my case, I informed the waiter in front of the entrance anyway, and it still requires another 5 minutes of waiting.

Improving The Other Waiting Experience

When a customer is done with his eats, there might still be activities they involved in, e.g.: having a chat with their dining partners, discussion over a topic, working on their laptops, updating Facebook status, etc. For these kind of customers, long wait for the bills is tolerable. However on majority, your customer have something else to do elsewhere after their eats, or even pressed by time to get into another activities after the eats, hence making short wait for the bills is very important. In this case, involving your customers into another activities to compensate the wait might not be the best option. You need to find ways to cut down bill preparation time, period.

Orders might get recorded incorrectly, assigned to a wrong table, or even not recorded at all, especially when it is additional. Having to rearranging and reviewing them during bill preparation could be complicated and takes time. Having a good track to what your customers are ordering then, is very important.

A good order recording then, is the crucial element in bill preparation, and it occurs in the very beginning of your customer servicing process.

Afterward a good reliable order calculating tools would become handy. No it doesn't always require fancy high-tech high-cost computer application, as some restaurants could still perform well with calculators, or even abacus; for eateries with only few dishes. For restaurants with a lot of menu choices, and high occupancy rate, then it's a different case. What important is to carefully inspect what your restaurant needs, then adopt the necessary tools.

Depending on your type of restaurant, processing the bill at the same time with processing the food order could greatly diminish this bill-waiting time thus resulted in positive bill-waiting experience. The catch is, your customers would be required to pay upfront for the meal, which gives the fast-food like experience thus hurtful for a more established eateries' image and perception. However it works well for mass targeting restaurants where ambience and perception of high class takes a back seat in customers' priority. (byms)

2 comments:

Customer Satisfaction Survey - Measuring Waiting Experience instead of waiting time

The Customer Satisfaction Survey

Last weekend on my visit to the new MM Juice outlet at Kasih Ibu Hospital at Jl. Teuku Umar, Denpasar, after our lunch is completed the waiter handed us a customer satisfactory survey to fill out.

It's a regular feedback form where the business (in this case MM Juices) tries to gain insight into their customers satisfaction level, and it also contains regular questions like how their food was, their hospitality was, hygiene and cleanliness, etc.

One thing strikes my mind though, upon inspecting the first question on the list: "How long have you waited for the food to arrive?", and upon the answer choices there's "less than 5 minutes", "5-10 minutes", and so on. What made me thinking is, do we as customers really timed the length of time lapsed before our food arrives on our table, in minutes?


Timed no doubt, but in actual minutes? Which one of you have a good reliable measure of time? Can you say that you've been reading this writing for 45 seconds? One minute and 15 seconds? I doubt any of us common customers have that accurate measurement when it comes to timing; especially lapsed ones. Different case would be, if we are asked beforehand to do the measurement, then we would perhaps armed ourselves with a stopwatch, or at least consciously looking at a watch and make a mental note.

(Else if you are food critics that incorporates actual time measurement into your review subject).

A more interesting (and more reliable) result would be, if the question and answers are rephrased to gain emotional response than quantified, i.e.:

Q: "How long have you waited for the food to arrive?"
A: "short/average/long/unacceptable"

Q: "How do you feel about the waiting time between making the order and the food to arrive?"
A: "short/average/long/unacceptable"

While it's true that you won't get a quantified result from such question, but your customers should not be treated as a time tracking feedback mechanism anyway; people, especially regular customers operates more on feeling than objectiveness.

What can you do to make the waiting time more bearable then? Or even more meaningful?

It could be achieved by taking into calculation the other aspect of waiting, which is the "waiting experience".

The Waiting Experience

People are bad time measurer, but the more important fact is, people don't base their response on factual timing but more on the perception of timing; hence how the waiting time makes them feel is far much important than the actual time spent upon waiting.

This is why with a good waiting experience, 15 minutes feels short, while with a bad one, even 10 minutes are already too long.

On eateries with most of their dishes are prepared from fresh where longer preparation time is unavoidable; measuring the other aspect of waiting, the "waiting experience" -- on surveys, could also provide a more useful insight into the customer satisfaction level:

Q: "What did you do while waiting for the food to arrive?"
A: "Watching TV/reading magazine/going online using free WiFi/playing table games/conversation with other guests/nothing"

(Note: please make sure you make all those options available -- except for "other guests" -- , and not relying on customers to brings their own!)

Afterward you can follow up with a question like:
Q: "How do you find the waiting time is?"
A: "Satisfying/acceptable/too long"

Does it works only on those kind of restaurants? On the contrary; for eateries with shorter food preparation, e.g.: fast food restaurant, and buffet style restaurant, this kind of question could provide an even more useful insight into your customer satisfaction level; especially when time of preparation is considerably instant or requires only minimum time.

Combining the measurement

Should for any reasons you still insist on customers doing the timing measurement, you should tell them beforehand about the survey, and don't forget to have a readable watch displayed on any of the walls visible to the customers. This way you can avoid wild guesses, thus gain a more accurate result which you can act upon; however it might annoys the customers, or even makes them over judgemental about your service since you put them into the Jury mode.

For a more accurate result and less obtrusive means, you should let technology handles the technical aspects of your survey; have a stopwatch or other timing device that could measure the time it takes between the waiter enters the order note, up into the food is served on your customer's table, and do it automatically or with semi-automatic triggers. At the same time, held a survey to measure the satisfaction level your customers have; this way you could measure both the preparation time average, and how it makes your customers feel. (byms)

2 comments:

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