Cobain Sate Bulus Siong Banjarmasin

Sate bulus siong Banjarmasin

Suka sama saté? Sate ayam atau sate kambing? Tunggu dulu, ada yang sedikit berbeda satenya kalau main ke Banjarmasin, yakni sate bulus.

Wait, what?

Iya. Sate bulus. Hewan jenis labi-labi ini selain terkenal dengan minyaknya, dagingnya juga bisa diolah sebagai sate. So actually I've known this place for a year already, tapi baru sempat coba. It's a small warung yang ada di ujung jalan Simpang Ulin, tembusannya Jalan Veteran Banjarmasin. Warung ini dikelola secara turun temurun, dan sekarang adalah generasi ketiga. Warung ini buka setelah tengah hari, mulai jam 2 siang sampai petang. 

Untuk harganya Rp7,500 per tusuk. Ada 4 potongan daging bulus di setiap tusuknya. Saya beli 1 tusuk saja, karena ini benar-benar pertama kali dan sayang nanti kalau tiba-tiba berubah pikiran sate ini akan terbuang sia-sia. Mau dikasih ke orang juga mereka belum tentu mau. I mean, it's a little bit unusual (okay, mungkin lebih tepatnya weird).

Rasanya?

Personally, rasanya enak. Just good. Kan ada 4 potongan daging, 3 diantaranya berupa daging dan 1 seperti lemak kenyal. Rasa dagingnya enak, warna dagingnya cokelat muda dan berserat. Namun tidak seperti daging sapi yang terkadang terasa sekali serat-seratnya. Dan ada bau khas I dunno how to describe, tidak terlalu mencolok tapi lumayan. 

Untungnya ada saos yang menjadi penyelamat. Saya yang terbuat dari cabe kering dan bawang merah ini mengurangi kesan "aneh" dari daging bulus dan membuatnya lebih diterima oleh lidah. Tapi tetap saja, bagian yang kenyal tidak aku makan because it's just too weird for me. 

Hmmm...penasaran gimana buatnya...

Tempat ini hanya membeli bulus yang masih hidup, jadi mereka mengolah sendiri dari proses awal. Dan tidak ada bulus yang disimpan di lemari es karena rasanya akan berbeda. Pengolahannya sendiri membutuhkan waktu sekitar 4 jam. 

Oh iya, selain sate, di sini juga ada minyak bulus yang dijual dengan berbagai ukuran. Mulai botol kecil sampai botol kemasan 100 ml. Minyak bulus ada yang berwarna kuning dan ada yang berwarna putih. Harga yang kuning lebih murah dibandingkan yang putih. Ini karena minyak bulus yang berwarna putih didapat melalui penjemuran bulus di bawah sinar matahari, bisa dibilang sedikit intervensi jadi lebih pure. 

Manfaat minyak bulus sendiri banyak, bisa Google aja sih. Haha. Karena penasaran, aku coba oleskan di punggung telapak tangan. Its just normal, like olive oil or sort of. Sampai akhirnya tercium bau yang sangat menonjol, dan tidak mengenakkan. It's just distinctively gross, to be honest. I mean, the smell. 

Overall, sate bulus is unique dan ini salah satu makanan yang relatively okay lah, apalagi ada saosnya. Not really bad at all. Though I'm still unsure whether I can take the complete portion at one time. 

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Explore Belitung: The Delicious Mie Atep

This cuisine is something you should not miss when you’re visiting Belitung. Maybe Laksa Singapore is what I like most among mee (noodle) menu, but this one is exceptional.

It was typical Saturday daytime in a very hot Tanjung Pandan, the biggest town of Belitung. I went for lunch with my friend and we just dropped here. I heard  this “restaurant”—it didn’t look like a restaurant by the way, instead it looked more like a hawker stall in Paya Lebar near New Century office—is a must-visit and soo famous even President Megawati had a pose in here!

Once I had my seat, I asked for Mee Atep and Jeruk Kunci for the drink. Just so you know Jeruk Kunci (green/yellow Key lime) is what you must find in every restaurant in Bangka-Belitung. Its sour sweet taste is just fresh for drink, and to add the flavour to Mee.

What I saw on the plate was mee (noodle), cucumber, grilled steamed potato, tomato slices, shrimp, emping crackers (Thank God, it’s a perfect mate!!!), and a very good taste of sauce. What made it different with any other mee was its sauce’s ingredients that contained grilled shrimps and –trust me—I had no idea the secret recipe like the way they made but it’s nice!

It only cost me IDR15,000 (USD1.20) for a plate of Mee Atep and IDR6,000 (40 cents) for Jeruk Kunci drink. Simple look, perfect taste!!!

Location: Jalan Sriwijaya, near the round-about in the downtown. It’s a small town so everyone knows it I’m sure.

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Dae Jang Geum: Korean Food in Batam

It's not about Korean Drama or anything like that. It's more about Korean food restaurant in Batam where you can satisfy your gastronomical desire! Well, I went to Dae Jang Geum again last Saturday night, and chilled out with my peers there. It was fun as you know, Korean food are somehow are unfamiliar to most of us. At least, some of the menu. Alright, let's go to the table for the dish.

We had Bibimbap, Ramen noodle (Mie Ramen), Korean Sushi and 3 bowls of rice on the table, that's it! Maybe you will say "What? That's it?" as we were 7 persons gathering and craving at the same time. Just so you know that Korean food is a big family portion. I ordered Bibimbap, Korean tea and rice. My friends ordered Korean Sushi, Mie Ramen, Bibimbap and another Bibimbap and another rice along with it. After 20 minutes of waiting, the condiment was served. There were kimchi and the other 5 things I don't even know what it is. It' okay anyway. Only 3 of us apparently like kimchi like very bad. The rest said it tasted different. When they asked me why I liked kimchi so much I just said as it tasted good even though it's rotten vegetable and they're just like "....okay....".

Some moment later was time for the pancake. I think, it was the most "making sense" dish for all of us as it tasted familiarly Indonesian, even for Korean food with NATIVE Korean Chef working on it. Now let's go to Bibimbap.

After searching in Wikipedia, it's said that Bibimbap is "mixed rice". It is served as a bowl of warm white rice topped with namul (sautéed and seasoned vegetables) and gochujang (chilli pepper paste). A raw or fried egg and sliced meat (usually beef) are common additions. The ingredients are stirred together thoroughly just before eating.

Yes, that's what laid right before my eyes on the table. There were mushrooms and the other kinds of "green", carrot (?), mushrooms, nori (seaweed), and they covered the rice (cold rice, not hot rice) underneath, with the fried egg on it's peak. Not to mention the paste that was served on a separated plate. All we have to do was just to stir and mix it all like crazy before eating. You can add the paste if you like but I don't recommend it (it's weird). Maybe the proverb saying that "When the people is craving they will even eat garbage" is right. I mean, it looks so much like garbage, but this one is a delicious garbage. Next!

Korean sushi is GOOD! I mean, the sticky rice with crab inside and the nori wrapping up. It's just gone less than 10 minutes. Like Godzilla found fish! You gotta try!

The Mie Ramen is more like any other ordinary instant noodle. But it's much much much bigger portion! All is just the same. I mean, like, you eat 5 Indomie at once. That's it!

Anyway, it was fun having some quality time with friends with good dishes.

Sure I'm gonna come back again for more delicious Korean food.

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Explore Batam: Tanjung Piayu's Kampung Tua's Seafood-Heaven-In-Disguised!

Forget about Nagoya with its night clubs, shopping malls or whatsoever there is.

First thing first you have to seize (the moment) when you're in Batam is enjoying Barelang Bridge (so sad that I haven't even been there yet!), the icon of the island. But, you know what, there is another perfect getaway destination for your gastronomical desire. It's about 20 minutes southward from Kepri Mall and do not worry as it is money worth it. Okay, let's start the journey from Kepri Mall. Instead of going straight ahead if we go to Nagoya from Batu Besar, we turn left in Kepri Mall intersection. After about 3 miles away we'll find another junction and we turn left and down the road until the edge of the island (Kampung Tua Tanjung Piayu, Batam). The road condition is a little bit worse in 500 meters away from the place. Along the way there you will see the iconic Barelang Bridge on the other side of the island on the right and sea on the left. So, we're down the way southern-ward to the peninsula. I recommend you to go there in the daytime or afternoon just before the sunset as there will be WAY more beautiful view you can see. 

I don't know the name of the seafood restaurant as it is like, you know, traditional right-above-the-sea restaurant and I went there in the evening. We were like 20 persons and the total cost we had to pay was ONLY IDR1,000,000.00 (USD100 for 20 PERSONS! 5 BUCKS EACH!) and you know what, LOTS OF THINGS! Crabs (a buch of crabs!!!), shrimps, sauteed kale, gong-gong (a kind of seafood snail cooked with its shell and it tasted simple, natural and delicious!), buckets of rice, Lebam fish (with spicy dressing), coconut (a whole coconut and a straw attached just like summer time), sambal,  even though sadly the fried-crispy-cuttle fish were sold out, but still, delicious!

While you're waiting the dish to come, you can enjoy the islands view just outside the restaurant. You can chill out in a--let say--mini dock and see the islands spread out there. It took a little bit long time until the dish were served. I asked the local guy whether I can go around the tiny island (it's uninhabited!) but sadly it's evening. By the time the dish were served, all you're crave was like...paid off! Those things mentioned above just rushed on to the table and waited for your appetite!

One more thing to know is that there were many fish, I mean, Lebam fish below us. I saw a kid fishing, using a bait attached in a string and you know what, he got 2 fish in less than 5 minutes and I was like "Oh my God, how could he do it?"

Overall, it was a very memorable moment and you gotta try! Just take a look at pictures and you'll see. I mean, it's not a lux place. Instead, it's more like local people's housing that's set to be a restaurant but the seafood rocks like the hipsters in the downtown. Lol

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