Wednesday, November 12, 2008

soerabaja sbg

if there is anything that indonesia is famous for, it would be nasi goreng (fried rice) and sop buntut (ox-tail soup).
well, apart from nasi padang of course. nothing better than to see plates of various dishes piled high to accompany rice. rijstaffel or rice table was what the colonial dutch described the smorgasbord of dishes that went with rice.
i digress.
flew to surabaya just to visit its juanda international airport, i kid you not. by the time i landed after countless flight delays, the sun had sunk and the moon looked like a slice of watermelon.
but i was looking for lunch and chanced upon soerabaja cafe. thats the old dutch way of spelling surabaya. what is known as tempoe doloe (tempoh dulu) or olden days spelling.
back to food.
the sniffles of the day meant i was looking for something whisky. or soupy. since there was no single malt available, decided to go for the soup option.
which brings me to soerabaja cafe's sup buntut goreng, which the waiter heartily recommended as a tastier version of sup buntut.
the gourmand in me needed no prodding. anything goreng is good in my book. and in my book this will be called soerabaja sbg from now on.
lo! and behold! the dish came complete with soup, fried ox-tail, a side serving of the ubiquitous sambal and something new too, salted egg with emping belinjo (paddy oat crackers) - the bitter crackers much loved and standard on most indonesian dining tables.
of course, there was some rice too.
the fried ox-tail was to say the least, tasty. and the soup was hearty and heavenly as the caramelised onions went well with the potato slices in the beefy broth.
the salt egg and emping belinjo together with the sambal added a range of flavours to the rice which provided a great base for the soup and ox-tail.
i don't think i can ever take sop buntut as it is anymore. not after soerabaja cafe's version. well, if you want to try it, come to indonesia. otherwise, well, make it at home.

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