Bu Salim, Ayam Goreng dan Sop Buntut

What you see below has to be the one dish that Hanna and I crave above all others when we visit Semarang. Ayam Goreng, using 'ayam kampung', or village chickens, which have roamed freely and are so much more tasty that caged chickens.

To wash down the chicken a delicious Sop Buntut (ox-tail soup) is just the thing, and its hard to stop at one bowl. There is so much flavour!

And, you find all this at the local warung makan, basically a roadside stall/tent which is only open at night. The very first time I visited Bu Salim, I was a little put off by the surroundings, but the food keeps bringing me back everytime. And its the first place we visit on most of our trips home.

Enak Sekali!!

Alan & Hanna :-) 

Swike, Semarang

Swike...Frog Leg Soup... This is definitely an acquired taste, but once you have eaten it more than once you appreciate the great flavours, and tender meat from the frogs legs.

We usually eat this with deep fried frogs legs, but I was too busy eating to take a photo of these, just imagine a frog's leg, battered and fried, and you'll get the general idea!

Enak Sekali!

Alan & Hanna :-)

Padang Plus, Semarang

A recent opening in Semarang is 'Padang Plus', a Nasi Padang restaurant-cum-sushi train establishment. Nasi Padang, for those who haven't experienced it is a whole assortment of spicy foods, served in small bowls. What normally happens is when you sit down at the table, the staff bring out 20 or so small bowls and put them on your table. You take what you want, and then pay for what you ate. The rest goes back to the kitchen to be served to the next customer. (I've never thought that this is too hygienic but there you go).

Well, Padang Plus claims to be a more hygienic version of this, by placing the food on a train that goes around the restaurant (sushi style). Whilst I do believe that it is a little more hygienic...its a little worrying for a westerner (and one who's worked in a commercial kitchen) to see the food served at room temperature, going around the room (for god knows how long) and without any covering on it... But, at the end of the day, the food was yummy, and we didn't get sick...so who's complaining!

Enak Sekali!!

Hanna & Alan :-) 

Soto Ayam, Semarang

Another favourite, especially for breakfast is Soto Ayam.

Served with deep fried tempe and perkedel (a potato cake) its just delicious!

Enak Sekali!!

Alan & Hanna :-) 

Brilliant, Semarang

I thought I would start a series of posts about our holiday in Semarang with a picture of 'Brilliant'.

This is a Semarang cake which can be bought across Indonesia, and is really nice. Its basically just layers of sponge cake with chocolate between them, and almond on top, but its really yummy!

Enak sekali!

Alan & Hanna :)

Lucca, Beijing

I just came back from a couple of days in Beijing, and what would a trip to Beijing be without some local delicacies. Alas, there are not weird dishes here, just nice simple meals which were very delicious.


Firstly we had jellyfish, and salted pork with yellow beans (though these are obviously not yellow).


Following that, we had (and I've forgotten the chinese name) "Four Happy Balls", well, that’s the direct translation. These were pork meat balls the size of tennis balls. Delicious.


Lastly, we struggled through a steamed fish. The fish was so tender that even though my colleague and I were already full, we ate every last morsel.


Yum!

Alan :) 

Beijing, Part 1

I forgot to take a picture of this restaurant, but it was downstairs from Lucca. The place is named after the soup in the top of this photo. It’s like rice porridge, but a little different.The fried shrimp was delicious, crispy, tasty and spicy!


We accompanied this with some steamed melon (with shrimp), and the porraige (mine was oats, and some sort of large fruit/nut).


And lastly, once again, we topped it off with fish. This time schezuan boiled fish. This dish was my favourite of my trip, the fish was tender, and the soup very spicy.


I'm hungry just thinking about them all! Yum!

Alan :) 

Hito, Amoy Street, China Square Central

Hito has to be one of our favourites of late. Simple, light and delicious kaminabe (paperpot steamboat) and really yummy tori katsu curry!

I had the salmon (pictured below) which we both really enjoy. The whole thing is served in, funnily enough, a paper pot, with a little fire below to keep it really hot. This is great after a session at the gym (which happens to be next door).


It seems half the times we go to have Hito the place is either closed, or about to close (and has run out of curry, but this time we were lucky.


Yum :)

Alan & Hanna