Street Diner

If you are living in one of Asian countries or visited one, you would know that the best food is usually found not inside an aircon restaurant, but on the street. Born n raised in Indonesia, also spent enough time in China, for me street food is the ultimate feeling of home. Often when I was away from my beloved country, I caught myself missing those food before I miss my family or friends. It's not that I don't love my family n friends, but street food, gives me the warm feeling that no matter what happened they're gonna be alright.



Why, you might ask. The answer is, they are dependably cheap and where ever you go in Indonesia, you can easily find them, from the ones on the side of busy road, to the ones tuck away in little way. Except for the occasional big holiday such as Ied or the case of family events (weddings, death, etc). You can rely on their open "doors" policy even when thunderstorms hit.

It's easy to spot them, a lot of them only open after sunset. They are mobile, meaning when they are done for the day, they'll pack everything up, haul all of the necessary tools from the dining tables for the customers to the cooking cart. Usually this is a family business, don't be surprise to find husband and wife working together, sometimes they will bring their siblings, relatives and children to help them.


You can find all sort of food on the street, from the simple wedang kopi (hot cofee) accompanied with small fritter snacks such as deep friend banana and spring rolls, chinese food, seafood, bakso (meatball soup, one Obama's favorite Indonesian food), deserts such as toasted bread with jam, lets not forget the ever popular bakmi and nasi goreng ( fried noodle n fried rice, Obama said this also his favorite)  in some cities they even sell steak (good one too).


A lot of new comer foreigner, even the few squeamish Indonesian, get turn off with the street food. Many reason to say no to, from the not so convincing location, most of the vendors set their businesses right on the road side where dust and smokes from car exhaust are the "menu", not mentioning the sighting of all sort of bugs and the occasional rat, then there is the questionable sanitary background. Yes......that's all the "bonus" you will get when eat there. And to make matter worse some of those vendors don't even own tables and chairs. Customers are expected to sit on the plastic covered pavement, sometimes the food doesn't even come on a plate, it will come on a piece of banana leave or the brown paper of food wrapper. Not to worry, all of those also come with a wonderful side effect, it's really cheap to get the food, for less than 10.000 IDR (1,1 USD) you will get a full delicious hearty meal, sometimes includes the famous es teh manis (sweet iced tea).

Now if you are a foreigner that just arrived from north america or europe, i would strongly suggest to hold the desire to try the street food until your stomach is adjusted to Indonesia. That way, by the time you are ready to venture to the wonderful world of  Indonesian street food, you will get a good experience without the food poisoning.

I haven't even mention the food that comes to your door, from early morning till midnite. From the breakfast staple of bubur ayam (chicken porridge) in the morning and the late night mie (noodle) duk-duk, that sells fried noodle n fried rice with their signature duk-duk sound, made from beating a hollowed piece of wood. And everything in between. 

Every time, I lived outside of Indonesia, and its late at night, when the hunger strike me, I have either eat dinner left over or make instant noodle.....that's when I miss all those food the most.