Among the places highly recommended by fellow foodies on our Wiskul Cirebon list, is Nasi Jamblang Ibu Fitri. Located across from Grage Mall Cirebon, Ibu Fitri opens her stall quite late, which is around 6 pm, but its popular dishes like Balakutak are usually sold out by early evening.

Perhaps the most traditional looking one compared with others on our Wiskul Cirebon list, Nasi Jamblang Ibu Fitri sets her food stall in a roadside outlet facing the street. During busy nights their customers would take seats outside on the sidewalk, as the seats inside are full, or uncomfortably hot.

Needless to say, as a port city bordering right to the Java Sea, the temperature in Cirebon tends to be on the higher end. However, compared with Jakarta, the heat was not that scorching or humid. The weather tends to be friendlier, and the nights are cool with occasional cool breezes.

How to Order?

First, the staff will prepare a plate for you, then ask how many rice portions you'd want? This is a common practice in Nasi Jamblang sellers in Cirebon as they individually wrapped the rice in Jati (Teak wood) leaves. In the past, the rough jati leaves were believed to preserve the rice better than banana leaves hence suitable for longer storage. The portions are usually very small though, meaning for a normal person it usually requires four parcels of rice.

Additionally, you can also request sambal, which is also wrapped in jati leaves despite smaller ones. Then, you simply point to the dishes that you want and the staff will grab them for you. A single portion is almost always a piece. So if you want more than one, ask for an additional serving.

Here in Nasi Jamblang Ibu Fitri, you pay for the dish after consuming it, and the staff will calculate the price based on what you informed them. Which is rather challenging for big groups or those with hazy leaky memories, not to mention less transparent.

We counted about 20 bowls of individual dishes to choose from, and while that sounds like a lot, there are places that have even more varieties! 

What to choose? For the conservative, less adventurous eaters, you will find common options like tahu, tempe, chicken, and beef. For the more adventurous ones, as Cirebon is located very close to the sea, be sure to check out the seafood dishes. 

We were aiming for their Balakutak (Cuttlefish) in black ink sauce, which is a rather rare dish to find, especially compared to its more popular sibling Cumi-cumi (Squid). From my upbringing, I recalled treating Balakutak as a special treat, as our mother usually cooked it with its own black ink and a heap of spicy kemangi leaves (Indonesian Basil). 

Unfortunately, it was already sold out by the time we came. We also didn't see any Rajungan (Blue swimmer crab) dishes here, which is another one of Cirebon's specials.

There were some other seafood options like Tongkol (Skipjack), salted Jambal Roti (Manyung), and Sate Kerang (Mussels satay). Those in the mood for Hari Raya dishes should not leave out their Semur Ati Sapi (Cow's liver), so smooth and flavorful!

Among local favorites were also Paru (Cow's lung) cooked until crispy, and Sate Kentang (Potatoes satay) with rendang-like seasoning.

In general, the food in Nasi Jamblang Ibu Fitri was flavorful, and the heat from their chili-boosted dishes is rather moderate, compared to its siblings in Jakarta. For the extra kicks, don't forget to ask for their sambal.

Conclusion

Flavor-wise, Nasi Jamblang Ibu Fitri sits highly in our chart. Thick sauces, flavorful spicy seasonings with just moderate hotness, and plenty of options to choose from. 

Price-wise it's also very affordable, with a budget of 20-30K for three different dishes.

What we found rather frustrating was the queueless ordering system which triggers our anxiety, especially against ibu-ibu who popped out of nowhere and started ordering despite definitely coming later than us.

Parking on the curb is allowed after dark, and there are also metered ones not too far away that are destined for Nasi Jamblang Mang Dul customers. 

Definitely a worthy addition to your Wiskul Cirebon itineraries.

Nasi Jamblang Ibu Fitri

Across Grage Mall, Jl. Cipto Mangunkusumo, Pekiringan, Kesambi, Cirebon City, West Java 45131 

Please visit our Wiskul Cirebon recommendations in Google Maps, for ideas of food destinations to visit in Cirebon. (byms)

One of the biggest pleasure I have as a food blogger in Bali, is when I can present you dear readers, something new and uniquely Bali, and last week we found something perfectly fit that description named Warung Basang.

Located near the Krishna gift shop in Tuban, Kuta, Warung Basang serves quality Balinese food with affordable prices, and authentic home cooking Balinese dishes.

Warung Basang itself was born out of passion to preserve Balinese cuisine tradition, which contains many wonderful delicious dishes, including those less known to people outside Bali. That's why on the menu you'd find lots of interesting selections like Lawar Klungah which uses very young coconut shells (yes its shells!), with a crunchy rubbery texture. Or Tum Ares which uses young banana stalks, beside of the well known Bebek Betutu, or Sate Lilit Ikan Laut. 

For a modern and easy to like alternative, Warung Basang also serves creations like Nasi Goreng Bongkot which uses fragrant torch ginger root and white fish meat.

Aiming for authenticity, Warung Basang ensure they only minimally adjust the flavors to match domestic tourists' palate, including toning down the spiciness standard to better fit non-Balinese heat tolerance level. And we have testimonies from our fellow Balinese foodies in #Mekulicious to certify its authenticity.

That being said, I personally find the heat level of food in Warung Basang still sits on the top end of my heat tolerance range, however my lovely spouse think the spiciness level was just standard and fits her appetite really well.

For you spicy food lovers though, Warung Basang serves six different kind of Balinese sambal to please your appetite.

Outside of the heat factor, I found Warung Basang cooking is flavorful, rich, and memorable. Something I'd happily recommend even to my most reserved, judgmental, annoyingly truthful friends.

Halal Balinese 

What's even more interesting from Warung Basang though, it's something that's very rare in Balinese eateries: a halal standard.

Therefore if you've been wondering how Lawar taste, but was hesitant as you're following a no-pork dietary like majority of muslim are, here's your chance.

Upon asked why choosing halal Balinese concept, Warung Basang's owner Anindya Mantik (Indy) revealed that the decision was come after a thorough research, and her wish to preserve a family's culinary tradition:

The Tuban area was chosen since its close to the Ngurah Rai Airport, and quickly becoming a prominent destination for domestic tourists, especially with the development of new budget hotels in this stretch of street, not to mention the famous shops already residing in this street: Krishna souvenir shop, Joger Bali, and Nasi Ayam Ibu Andika.

While there's already some Balinese eateries in the area, Indy figured none caters a fully fledged Balinese menu yet. On the other hand, one of her fondest memory of childhood was the cooking of her grandmother from Tabanan, which despite her experience living abroad, kept lingering in her mind. 

Her decision to go Halal was further fueled by the fact that most domestic travelers are muslim, and they rarely touch Balinese dishes for fear that it contains pork, while in truth Balinese cuisine is not always about pork. That's why it's becoming her passion also to introduce the halal side of Balinese cookings.  

To ensure the Halal standard, Warung Basang employs a muslim female chef, and source their ingredients from muslim sellers in the nearby traditional market.

Lending her passion in fashion design, Indy ensures that your visit in Warung Basang creates a lasting impression with its comfy atmosphere, that's ornamented with snapshots from the past.

Warung Basang (@warungbasang) 

Jalan Raya Tuban 58A (next to Rahayu), 

Tuban, Kuta, Bali, 

Indonesia. 

Phone: +62 812 3632 0603

Scouting for newsworthy happenings in Bali's culinary world often leads me to an unexpected findings, like this traditional beverage made by a home industry in Bali: Sirup Legen cap Pujaan Hatiku.

The name "Legen" itself derived from the Javanese word "legi" which means "sweet." Originally Legen sap is consumed fresh or mixed with lime, and many considers it as power booster due to its high sugar content.

A bottle this little Sirup Legen is enough to make 4-5 glasses with 1:5 or 1:6 ratio with water. It's best served cold.

While the smell of the concentrated syrup is a tad pungent, the end result was quite nice. Diluted with water the pungent aroma is mostly gone, and what's left is a thick coconut water taste with a medium sweetness and a hint of lemony sourness; a significant kolang-kaling taste follows afterward along with a bit of smokiness, and it ends with a moderate gula aren aroma; quite a refreshing and flavorful drink.

Pak Ricky the producer informs that he applies a "cold method" where there are no additional preservatives nor sugar included in the process, and it does not undergo any forced fermentation; except those that might have naturally happened in the raw material itself.

Ideally the syrup can be stored for months below 15 C temperature, because if it's stored above that temperature, the fermentation process would kick in and transform the syrup intu tuak; an alcoholic drinks.

Beside of the syrup, Pak Ricky also sells the super concentrated version which is good as honey substitute.

Originally from Java, "legen" is a palm nectar, a sap of Borassus flabellifer or Palmyra Palm, which locally known as Lontar; the tree that gains its eternal fame due to its leaf being used by the ancient civilizations to write, hence preserves the old wisdom for modern day people.

Sirup Legen at the moment only distributed in Bali, and it can be obtained from www.pujaanhatiku.com or by calling Ricky Wibowo at 082341000700. (byms)

Ever since Jl. Tukad Pakerisan was made one-way street for cars, the traffic jam is severely reduced.

However, around 5pm-7pm on working days, the heavy traffic resumes, hence I often prefers to take a detour into Jl. Tukad Batanghari for lighter traffic instead.

On one incidental occasion though, a thing happened which made me happily choose the traffic heavy Jl. Tukad Pakerisan.

Onde-Onde!

Sold in a decent aluminium showcase in a house's front yard, tens of this medium sized brown balls covered in sesame seeds tempting my eyes.

As I think "why not?" and pulled over, I then purchased some of this goodies at only 1K a piece. Went back inside my car, I begun to take a piece and bite right through it.

The result?

Never have I found onde-onde this good! Crisp on the outside, chewy dough underneath it, with crumbly creamy mashed green bean filling, and the nutty scent of roasted sesame seed lingering in between. And since I often get it hot, right out of the seller's frying wok, its delicious level doubled. While it's not the best ingredients I've ever tasted in an onde-onde, its freshness plays a great role.

Because my significant other the picky eater loves it too, therefore a visit once a week is a necessity.

What's too bad though, is that I often can't get off from the office early enough to catch the last balls of these goodies, or even if I could, sometimes the Javanese uncle who sells it feels like not opening his stall, or worse: the onde-onde are all there but...

"It's all for a special order, not for sale, sorry mas." said the man.

And seeing all those hot onde-onde resting on the frying mesh is a torture...

On some lucky days though, not only I'm able to bring home plenty of this delicious treats, but the uncle selling it often slip in an extra if you buy a lot, or when there's only one or two left on the display, and he's out of stock for the night. I know money-wise it costs only a parking ticket in Denpasar, but experience-wise those extras are worth way beyond its price: a happy customer.

While it's something that costs him perhaps only 500 rupiah for production cost, the extra has bought him a loyal, perhaps lifetime customer. And it's mind boggling how some businesses still focuses too much on one-time profit making, instead of nurturing a relationship which in turns creating brand loyalists. (byms)

There's an interesting news on The Fiji Times Online, outlining Chef Lance Seeto's recent finding on the increase of Indonesian people interest upon Fiji as a holiday destination. In the past times, due to its geographical location, and availability of direct flight, Fiji attracts mostly the holiday maker and tourists from Australia, New Zealand, and USA.

Upon further research on the subject, Chef Seeto even reach to the possibility that Indonesian and Fiji shares similar ancestral and genetic link, instead of a mere similarity in its cooking style.

Please find the full article at the link below:

"The Indonesia connection" by Chef Lance Seeto
http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=198577

(byms)

Image from http://golowesstamps.com/

Ayam Taliwang RM As Sidiq, Bedugul, Bali, Indonesia

As we are hungry and it's already 2 p.m., we have no other choice but to visit this restaurant RM Ayam Taliwang As-Sidiq specializing in Ayam Taliwang dish from the Lombok island. At the time of our research, it was the most mentioned eating place on the blogs about traveling to Bedugul. The other popular choice was Strawberry House, but it was located quite far from the travel destination, and it focuses on strawberry dishes while our hungry Indonesian stomach long for something more familiar and heavier, hence we picked the Ayam Taliwang instead.

Located right across the parking space for Pura Ulun Danu at Danau Beratan, RM Ayam Taliwang As-Sidiq is housed in a decent old building with various choices of all-Indonesian dishes. Prices are affordable, those who are under tight budget can still get a decent meal for about 20K IDR (around $2). If you are aiming for their specialty however, both Ayam Bakar Taliwang and Ayam Bumbu Taliwang costs almost 30K IDR alone. It's a whole chicken dish but please hold yourself from drooling as chicken used are young ones which is quite petite. It's closer to quail instead of a respectable sized chicken.

Lucky I ordered the Nasi Campur which consisted of rice, a piece of grilled chicken, tahu, mixed vegetable, and sambal. The portion is hearty while the taste was all right; a good hit for a 19K dish.

Scoville's Gado-Gado

My mother in law, who is the reason we're in Bedugul in the first place, is a decent lady in her late 60s. Her upbringing and cultural background dictates, that she should be humble at all times, and she doesn't eat anything unfamiliar, especially when not cooked in Minang custom; which poses a problem since the dishes served at RM Ayam Taliwang As Sidiq was mostly unfamiliar to her. Except for the Gado-Gado which is a Betawi dish, and so she ordered one.

Coming from a Minang background, she's also accustomed to the high level of chillies and oil for all that she can remember, hence instructed the waiter to have her Gado-Gado "pedas".

However, this is Bali, the land where its dishes uses Lombok type of chilli, which far more superior than regular red chillies she's accustomed with. It's more like the fondness of Jawa Barat people in using Cabai Rawit (bird-eye chilli) in their dishes instead of Cabai Merah like Minang culture does, tripled.

As comparison, when the hottest food with Cabai Merah burns your lips and tongue, the hotness of Cabai Lombok is similar with having firecrackers lit inside your mouth. And as the waiter walked away I was just realized those facts, but was too hungry to think straight hence just hoping that "pedas" here doesn't really pedas as I thought it will be.

...

We ended up ordering another plate of Gado-Gado for her, and this time not pedas at all. Anyway she's still suffers from stomach ache for two following days afterward, due to the novel attempt to finish half of the dish before giving up.

A Tame Taliwang

Surprisingly enough, the Ayam Taliwang that the waiter said is the pedas choice, and we anticipated with high curiosity, turned out to be not pedas at all. Yes it's spicy and tasty, but nowhere near pedas. Not in Balinese standard especially. My Nasi Ayam trained taste buds cried their disappointment, but I told them I have no choice.

Another concern is that while the seasoning is good and flavourful, the cooking is not. Both my one-piece grilled chicken, and the whole mini Ayam Taliwang chicken, were dried and lost most of its moisture. The Picky Eater however, think this is perfect and eat almost the whole chicken beside the charity parts she left me with.

As a wrap-up, on overall we found the food quality is still above average, prices are reasonable, service is fast, the parking space is wide, while the dining area itself is clean but a bit disorganized. Wouldn't protest if I should visit them again, however I'm wide open for other options. (byms)

Denpasar this year will again hosts a major exhibition event continuing its past success. Denpasar Festival 2011 will be held around the center point (Km 0) of Denpasar city, which is around the Candramuka monument.

Among the festival highly interesting event is its culinary exhibition, which promised to hosts Denpasar's best traditional and authentic Balinese cuisines, including its legendary sellers. During this event, Balinese culinary enthusiasts could greatly enhance their palate portfolio by visiting the festival ground instead of traveling around Denpasar scouting for each one of individual cuisine's bests.

Denpasar Festival 2011 will be held from 28 to 31 December, and its food zone will occupies the Gajah Mada street. Please refer to the map above for zoning reference.

For further information visit their website at http://www.denpasar-festival.com. (byms)

posted from Bloggeroid

Water snails satay, Warung Pan Putu, Denpasar, Bali

Having originated from a deep Sundanese cultural background, I was quite familiar with the water snails cooking. Back there, the snail is called "Tutut", and there's only one way to cook it: in a thin curry with strong galangal and turmeric seasoning.

Moving to Bali, I noticed quite happily that the same food do exist, only the difference is that people here prefers their snails on a skewer, alias as satay. "Kakul" is the name of the food in Bali, and among the pioneer of introducing the Sate Kakul to the Balinese people are Pan Putu (Pan = Mister), and he opens a restaurant which named "Warung Pan Putu" which located at Jl. Ahmad Yani No.187, Denpasar - Bali.

Just like most satay from Indonesia, Sate Kakul too, are served with peanut sauce. However unlike Sate Madura, the sauce is usually thin and not too creamy.

Still considered as Asian water snails, however Tutut or Kakul are different with the apple snails usually consumed in other Asian countries. It is mainly harvested from rice fields, its scientific name is Viviparidae Bellamyinae.

Water snails have this strong metallic and earthy taste, very much like escargot, only that with a chewy and jerky texture unlike the soft escargot; more like shellfish only much tougher. As for the taste itself, it contains only low level of savouriness and lacked strong flavour, hence heavy seasoning is almost always a necessity. (byms)

"Would you eat poo?" Coming from your English-speaking friend this question would looks like an invitation to something that would get high rating on YouTube. However, if the question refers to a brand of an Indonesian delicacy, you might not feel the request so strange and might even excited by it.

Poo pictured above is a brand of getuk pisang, an Indonesian delicacy originated from the eastern Java region of Indonesia. It is a sweet and fragrant cake made from mashed banana in form of compacted cylinder. It looks purplish or brownish depending to the type of banana it used.

Getuk Pisang image from "Oleh-Oleh Kediri" in Tokopedia

Getuk Pisang image from Zudi Susanto

Though tasted delicious, "Poo" might not gain market success abroad, especially in English speaking countries for the connotation it has -- with India as exception, as Poo is also the name of a small town in Himachal Pradesh district. (byms)

Nasi Liwet Sunda differs quite strikingly with its counterpart, the more famous Surakarta's Nasi Liwet. If the later is a dish consisting of rice cooked in coconut milk and served with chicken and pumpkin opor (white curry), Sundanese Nasi Liwet is a one pot cooking consisting of rice and seasoned with spices like galangal, lemongrass, and Indonesian bay leaves. To further enhance the flavour, usually parts of ikan asin, or salted fish are thrown in as well. Until recently, Nasi Liwet Sunda is not sold commercially for its exclusive preparation.

Just like many Indonesian dishes, Nasi Liwet originally are peasant's meal. It is cooked in a heavy pot called "kastrol", prepared raw at home and is slow cooked on open fire while the farmers are doing their daily chores. During mid day when it's time for break, the Nasi Liwet would then be ready to consume. It's a communal food that hardly ever made for single portion, hence there are no small kastrol except for two portions which makes commercial selling a bit tricky.

Back at the rice field, though people might not eat at the same time, the continuously heated Nasi Liwet provides simple yet delightful lunch to the hungry farmers. And since it's a peasant's lunch, it is hardly ever made at home on other occasions, except when the kastrol are not brought with the farmer to the field; or includes any kind of meat, as it is considered exclusive and pricey for daily meal.

The modern version sold in restaurants however, usually consisted of a newer, and more lavish ingredients and side dishes, like mushroom, jambal roti, and gepuk (Sundanese version of empal daging). This innovation in Bandung, as far as I can remember was started with the opening of Bumi Joglo restaurant in Dago area that specializes in Nasi Liwet.

It hasn't gained much momentum however, until the opening of resort-restaurants around Garut which relies on this dish, and was well accepted thus creating a new hype. Asep Stroberi ("Astro") is probably the most famous name of restaurants serving this Nasi Liwet in Garut nowadays, and they are continually opening up branches which attracts weekend tourists from Bandung and locals from Garut and surrounding area as well.

Nasi Liwet is now quickly replacing the previous hype of Nasi Timbel as the icon of Sundanese food; it is now sold in many Sundanese restaurants with national chain, like Ikan Bakar Cianjur (IBC), and Alas Daun, that extend its reach up until Bali. As for myself it's a welcomed alternative after Nasi Timbel rules the Sundanese restaurants for more than a decade without worthy contender.

It also reminds me of the good old days of visiting relatives in their rice field, and having this wonderful simple meal together at lunch.

For a good and original version of Nasi Liwet Sunda in Denpasar, you can visit Alas Daun; the new restaurant that replaces Ampera -- a big name in Sundanese food restaurant chain, at Jalan Teuku Umar, right where the Ampera was, beside the Soes Merdeka cake shop.

Kupat Tahu is a dish well known throughout Java. It's a dish made with Kupat (shorter name of "Ketupat"), and Tahu; the Indonesian soy bean curd*. Beside of those two, bean sprouts seems to be the other mandatory ingredients.

After cut down to bite sizes, the mix then are poured with peanut sauce; similar ones that used over in Baso Tahu, Siomay, Gado-Gado, Lotek, Pecel, Karedok, Ketoprak, and Otak-Otak, only differs slightly in taste composition. Peanut sauce used for Kupat Tahu are usually thick, fine grained, and lean toward sweeter flavour than the one used for Pecel or Lotek.

Version are differs from one place to another though they all consisted of those basic ingredients. Please refer to this food note on Kupat Tahu for detailed description.

Kupat Tahu Bandung usually resembles style originated from the South East Parahyangan region, like Garut, and Tasikmalaya with small (if any) modifications. Hence, it doesn't include anything fancy outside of the main ingredients, just like their precursor style isn't. The good quality of tahu (which Bandung are famous for), the rich creaminess of the peanut sauce, and the type sweet soy ketchup used, is the key to a good Kupat Tahu Bandung.

There are several popular places that sells Kupat Tahu Bandung in Bandung, but the most notably I think, is Kupat Tahu Gempol, which sold at a very modest shack in Pasar Gempol; 5 minutes driving from the Dago - Diponegoro intersection where the Pasupati fly over is.

The other popular selection I know is Kupat Tahu Cihapit which sold at the intersection of Cihapit area, across of Bank NISP office, in between the 2nd hand car audio sellers.

Find more about Bandung's interesting culinary destination at Bandung's Legendary Eateries list on Foursquare. (bay)

*I differentiates Tahu with Tofu -- which is more Japanese in nature, for they are two different products on Indonesian market, and have striking difference; tahu is more curd like, while tofu is more smooth pudding like. You don't want to mixed them up upon shopping for the ingredients.

My writing on the alternative food choices you can have when exploring Balinese eating scenery; "Alternative Bali Eating Agenda", has been published on the Hotelier Indonesia Magazine No.2 released this month, June 2011

You can get the digital edition online from Scoop Store or from Hotelier Indonesia Magazine website. (byms)

Just discovered on the show "Star Choice" on AFC channel at Yes TV, that there are some varieties of Indonesian cake sold there in our neighbouring country Singapore, just that the name had been modified a bit:

"Ongo-Ongo", is what we called "Ongol-Ongol", it is among one of my favourite "jajan pasar" or common traditional delicacies which are glutinous cake made from tapioca flour with palm sugar.

"Kue Dada", is what we called "Dadar Gulung"; a traditional pancake filled with shredded coconut in palm sugar syrup, everyone's favourite I guess.

This has got me thinking anyway, about a fellow epicurean's quest to catalogue the jajan pasar available in Jakarta traditional markets years ago... I wonder how that went off.

I'm thinking myself to put similar efforts for jajan pasar available in Bali, well not on a big scale just perhaps ones that available from the seller in front of the pasar near where I live at the moment. (byms)

Jaman dahulu kala, yang gw inget dari telur asin adalah statusnya sebagai staple food dikala bepergian. Mau itu bersama lontong ataupun going solo, statusnya tetep, kalau mau jalan jauh atau piknik, atau kemping, maka telur asin ini harus ada!

Namun seiring waktu, kebiasaan itu sendiri lambat laun semakin berkurang, dan akhirnya menghilang...

... atau masih ada yang disuguhin telur asin plus lontong instead of McD kalau lagi darmawisata?

(Membayangkan acara outing kantor di Dufan, dan semua asik ngunyah telur asin dan lontong...)

Namun walaupun konsumsi nasional mungkin menurun, tapi penggemar makanan unik yang satu ini tetep ada, dan para juru masakpun tak henti-hentinya muncul dengan inovasi. Hal ini tak lain, karena aroma dan tekstur telur asin yang cenderung unik. Tidak se-unik Telur Pitan (Century egg), tapi karena itu pula lebih mudah untuk di padu-padankan dengan aneka masakan, salahsatu yang paling ngetop adalah Udang Telur Asin.

Dari sisi produsen, baik teknologi maupun cara pengolahan telur asin cenderung tidak berkembang banyak mungkin dalam limapuluh tahun terakhir. Namun demikian, salahsatu inovasi dalam hal pengolahan sesekali muncul misalnya seperti yang banyak dipraktikkan sekarang ini, yaitu dengan melakukan proses pengasapan di akhir proses produksi. Dan masyarakatpun kemudian mengenal satu varian baru makanan ini, yaitu Telur Asin Asap.

Dari segi penampilan, makanan yang satu ini memiliki ciri adanya karakter warna marbling kecoklatan pada kulit telur. Beberapa masih memiliki warna dasar biru, sedangkan lainnya ada yang coklat penuh sehingga memiliki kemiripan dengan telur pindang.

Sistem penjualannya, biasanya di toko-toko diletakkan di dry storage, dalam bentuk kemasan satu pak tapi boleh dibeli satuan.

Dari segi rasa, spesimen yang gw temui di Carrefour (gara-gara nyokap penasaran pengen beli), ternyata memiliki kualitas yang baik. Rasanya nggak terlalu asin, dan terdeteksi adanya aroma smokey yang lembut. Lucu juga soal aroma ini, karena setelah diperhatikan betul-betul sepertinya nyaris nggak ada perbedaan rasa dengan telur asin biasa, hanya saja penambahan aroma tersebut membuat sensasi kenikmatannya cukup berbeda. Apalagi nuansa aroma smokey nya ini terus terbawa hingga ke tahap aftertaste. Yang rada mengherankan, karakter aroma smokey nya ini justru lebih kuat di bagian kuning telurnya, dan cukup mengubah karakter rasa keseluruhan dari si kuning telur tersebut. In a good way surely.

Dijual dengan harga sekitar 3K, agak sedikit saja lebih mahal dibandingkan telur asin biasa, rasanya telur asin asap ini cukup menarik untuk variasi.

Jadi penasaran pengen nyobain juga telur asin asap yang grade-nya lebih bagus daripada punyanya Carrefour... (bay)

Image dari: http://telurasinasap.blogspot.com/ - websitenya Elmata, salahsatu produsen telur asin asap di Solo.

Rating:	★★
Category:	Restaurants
Cuisine:	Asian
Location:	Lapangan Ros, Tebet, Jakarta

Lokasinya deket rel kereta api Tebet dari arah Saharjo, pas didepan SPBU. Kalo dan ngeliat resto Wong Solo, siap2 menepi... Tempatnya kecil, cukup nyempil, tapi cukup rapi dan bersih juga.

Menu untuk saat ini cuma ada Empal Gentong. Seporsinya delapan rebu rupiah udah termasuk nasi. Secara umum... cukup enak. Kuah santan kuningnya cukup mantap, walau nuansa msg nya juga cukup kenceng. Kalau secara komparatif... blank... ini Empal Gentong pertama yang saya makan secara "conscious", karena biasanya kalau nemu EG di pesta2, it came and go coment-less ly.

Daging2nya empuk dan ngga sulit buat dikunyah. Porsi sedeng; semangkuk EG di tempat ini isinya daging dan babat putih dengan jumlah yang lumayan. Cukup kenyang untuk perut normal, sedangkan untuk pejajan kelas berat keliatannya bakalan butuh lebih dari satu mangkuk.

Buat yang veteran Empal Gentong, ada rekomendasi tempat laen?