Nyonyanomnom

My Precious Experience in Terminal Kopi

Posted on Januari 2, 2015 by nyonyanomnom

I am not a coffee lover. All I know, a coffee lover has to drink at least a cup of coffee every single day. I only have it occasionally, and what I usually drink is an instant cappuccino from quite famous brand in Indonesia. I tried to avoid black coffee, but after my experience in Terminal Kopi, I drink a little bit more of black coffee. Well, not every day but once or twice a week.

Ok.It’s all begin from a friend’s message on whatsapp. She sent me a picture with an announcement that there would be a session of coffee tasting from a kind of coffee with different roasting level. It was held in Terminal Kopi. I was interested with the event. So, would the roasting level of coffee bean create the different taste? Well, I am an amateur.

The announcement

I visited Terminal Kopi at 2.45 pm. I came earlier. The schedule actually started at 3.00 pm. I met my friend there. I hadn’t seen her for years, so I was very happy.

Terminal Kopi is a small coffee shop near Terminal Dago (a station for public transportation) and it is not difficult to find. When I entered the place, i could smell the roasted coffee and heard the grinding machine in operation. The smell was good and made me more energize. Terminal Kopi is a coffee shop which focusing in selling packed coffee, so they don’t have a big place to enjoy a cup of coffee. But, the place is comfortable.

My friend showed me two boxes of coffee beans. Roasted coffee beans and green beans. Green beans is the form of coffee beans before it is roasted. The color is green. It was the first time for me to see it. It smelled like common plant. The roasted coffee bean had a bold aroma. Which i amazingly like it. This roasted coffee bean reminds me some places at hotel or restaurant, they often put roasted coffee bean in a corner. When i told her about this, she told me that roasted coffee beans has ability to absorb odors.

I took a bite of roasted beans. It was hard, bitter and little bit sour. It reminds me eating a hard nut. At that time i ate Mandailing Robusta coffee bean. Mandailing is a place in Sumatra Island in Indonesia.

Arabica Green Bean

Roasted Robusta Coffee Bean.

All kinds of coffee contains acid. But I found out that Robusta and Arabica have different acid level. Robusta has more acid than Arabica. The industry uses more of the Robusta, because of its short harvest time and it has cheaper price.

Arabica has little less acid. Its good for you who has a gastric or heart problem. It is also cost more price. It’s because of the harvest time is a lot more longer. Arabica and Robusta are well spread around the world. Mostly in Indonesia.

Roasted Arabica Coffee Bean, appears more glossy than the Robusta.

Indonesia have many kinds of coffee and named it according to where its growing. For example Mandailing coffee, it comes from Mandailing and Toraja Coffee comes from Toraja. Beside Mandailing and Toraja, there are also Java Coffee, Papua Coffee, Aceh Coffee and so on. Every coffee has its own signature flavor. She said that climate, soil contours, even constellation can affect the flavor. Amazing.

She told me about quality of coffee bean. She said the quality affecting the flavor. She showed me Arabica green beans. She sorted out the green beans according to its shape (perfect shapes, fine shapes, and bad shapes). I did understand that the perfect shape beans must have the perfect flavor.

My friend brewed a cup of Mandailing Arabica coffee. I saw a light brown foam appeared on the cup. She said good coffee always foamy right after we pour hot water. I asked her if is there a way to enjoy coffee like enjoying tea or wine. She said just wait until the coffee powder went down and then we can enjoy it.

My friend is brewing coffee

Foamy look means good quality coffee

Mandailing coffee has bitter and little sour taste. She offered me condensed milk and sugar, just in case if I couldn’t take the bitterness. I took a sachet of condensed milk and pour a whole sachet in my coffee cup. I stir it with the spoon until it was no longer black. It tasted little bit different. Well it wasn’t good as before. I regretted. I should have put sugar maybe the taste would be better.

She said we better pour a hot water from pot than from dispenser. It will affecting the flavor alot. Well, it took a lot of knowledge just to make a good coffee. I found out that there is a school about coffee making. Cool!

I talked a lot with my friend. I didn’t realize that I drank my whole cup of (milk) coffee. Only the pulp remain.The coffee flavor that stayed in my tongue was very interesting. I wanted to taste some more.

I took a glimpse at my watch, but the speaker hadn’t arrive yet. I really had to go home because I had my maid to look after my son and her working hour almost finish and she also had to go home. I couldn’t join the main session, but that’s okay. I hope next time I will get another chance to join.

Bags of Terminal Kopi’s Coffee. Do you see the hole?

I got home with a small bag of Toraja Arabica coffee. I noticed something cool with the packaging. There was a hole to get the gas out but didn’t let the air come in. Coffee bean produced gas so this hole was made. I brewed Toraja Coffee at home. The smell was different with Mandailing coffee, and also the taste. I guess I started to like black coffee because three days after my first cup of Toraja coffee I got another one. [S]

Toko Oen, A Slice of Past

Posted on Desember 30, 2014 by nyonyanomnom

It was evening when we were on the way home and got stuck in little traffic jam at Malang. My sister looked for some place to rest on google map. Then she found a cool place to hangout or just stretch our feet. It was said that they have very good homemade ice cream. Ice cream has always been our favorite dessert. So without hesitate we told our driver to take us there. Toko Oen.

Toko Oen was a very old family restaurant. The building was totally classic. We took a step in and this huge board welcome us.

“Welkom in Malang. Toko oen die sinds 1930 aan de gasten gezelligheid geeft.” (welcome to Malang. Toko Oen is a place to hangout and socialize since 1930)

I know nothing about Dutch. But they told me the meaning roughly. When they told me the meaning i was very suprised. 1930? No wonder that the building look so old.

We took the table right in front of the cashier, because most of the chair had been taken. It was no problem for us as long as no cigarette smoke polluting the air. I didn’t see no smoking sign, but no one in the room was smoking.We were so lucky.

The waiter came and gave us the menu. They had various menu, from eastern to local menus. They said Toko Oen has very good steak. But we weren’t that hungry and the only reason we came to that place was the homemade ice cream. So we skipped the main menu and straight to dessert and beverage.

We ordered Banana Split, Oen Special, Peach Melba, rissole with mustard and croquet with mustard. But unlucky they ran out of the croquet. So we just ordered the rissole. About ten minutes later they came with our ice creams.

Banana Split.

Peach Melba.

Risolle with Mustard.

Oen Special

The ice cream was so light and soft. It wasn’t too sweat either. I like it. My favorite was peach melba. I found 3 slices of sweat peach at the bottom of the glass. So Fresh! And for the rissole, they were good but I didn’t like the mustard, I prefer mayonnaise. For the ice cream and cozy classic place I gave the restaurant one thumb up. For the price, I was hoping that I could get more than just one scoop of ice cream. Hehehe. After spent about a half an hour at toko Oen, we decided to continue our ride home with better mood. [Q]

Sakura Tea Sensation

Posted on Desember 11, 2014 by nyonyanomnom

Hi, this time I won’t talk about Indonesian beverage. I received a very special package from a friend of mine from Hongkong. Recently, she had traveled to Japan and bought me 2 kinds of tea and a good luck amulet as souvenirs and posted it to Indonesia. The tea are quite unique in my tongue so…yes i want to share my taste experience to you.

Actually she sent the package two months ago. We thought the package was missing when I told her that I haven’t received the package. By the time I got the package, i don’t hesitate to contact her by whatsapp. She was just so glad and relieved as she was so desperate before. She said that it’s a good news – added with Mr. Smile bursting with tears emoji.

The package that I received already had been opened. Maybe at the customs. Inside it, there were a can of tea, a letter and brochures about places and a hotel in Ito, Japan – the place where she stayed for several days. I’m sure that the letter had been read too because the envelope was torn. I found two kinds of tea in the can, there were also a Japanese yellow good luck amulet.

A can of tea. The chinese word means a kind of beautiful flower and also a kind of juicy fruit “plum”

She gave me two kinds of tea, a Sakura tea (sakurayu) and a tea with some kinds of flower and fruits flavor. The Sakura tea was in a little container while another tea was in a package which was unsealed. Someone had cut it, and put some salt inside the packing. I know salt is a traditional way to preserve food. But it made the taste of the tea worst. I don’t know how to separate the salt with the tea (the tea is a powder). So i failed to enjoy the tea.

The tea powder.

Then i expect the Sakura tea. First, the appearance of the tea was not interesting. It was mushy and wet and covered with salt. I brewed this tea with hot water in a transparent glass, so that i could see the flower.

Sakura tea. It is covered with salt.

In no time, i saw unbelievable view. I looked at the glass for long time, because it was amaze me. I had never seen the real Sakura flower before. So it was an exciting moment for me. The flower was really beautiful. I like the soft pink color, the soft texture of its petal, and the way it blossoming in the hot water. After feeling satisfied with watching Sakura flower, i drank the water. But it’s salty water. I forgot about the salt! I change the water 2 times. On the third water i could taste a Sakura infused water. I don’t know how to describe this taste. It’s not salty, nor sweet, nor sour, nor bitter. But i can taste Sakura aroma in my tongue. I would describe It’s Sakura taste!. It is a unique experience, i am glad to have it in my life. Thanks to my friend that she gave me the tea. Thanks to God that i have a wonderful friend.

Beautiful and exotic Sakura tea.

Then, I tried to add some sugar to the water, just to know how it taste. The taste was like a candy. But i think the taste was better without sugar. Next time, i want to try again this herbal tea which is a seasonal tea. This is a beautiful and exotic tea i have ever seen. Love this. [S]

Hungry Savior on My Hectic Day

Posted on Desember 7, 2014 by nyonyanomnom

I had to do lots of laundry that day, so I didn’t have enough time for preparing lunch for my daughters. So by the time they’re back from school, I took them to D’ COST. It is a seafood family restaurant and it’s quite famous here. It’s not just because of the friendly price, but also because the taste of the food is good.

The Menu Board

The Menu Board

It was a weekday and the clock almost hit 1.30 pm. The restaurant was quite empty, maybe because it was already pass the lunchtime break for the workers. The way of ordering food in this restaurant was quite unique for me. Right beside the main door there was a menu board, where we could see all the pictures of the menus and also the prices. For each picture, right below of it, there was a little drawer that contains of cards with the same picture. So if u want to order, you can take one card of the food you want and give it to the waitress, one card for one portion.

The Menu Card

I told my kids to took one card of the food they want to eat. My youngest daughter took one card of Cumi Goreng Tepung (Fried Calamari), while her sister took one card of Kerang Hijau Saus Padang (Mussels with Padang Sauce). I also added Kangkung Balacan (Balacan Water Spinach) and Tahu Jepang Saus Padang (Soft Tofu with Padang Sauce). We ordered spicy food because we love spicy food. For drinks, both of my daughters asked for lemon tea.The interesting thing about this restaurant is they give the rice and iced tea for free. You can also refill them for free!

As you know, mostly Indonesian eat rice. We almost eat everything with rice. So free rice is like …wow! Because other restaurant will charges about Rp 3000,- to Rp. 6000,- per plate of rice. One of my youngest daughter’s favorite seafood is squid. So whenever we go to seafood restaurant, she will ask it for sure. The fried calamari was so good. Crunchy at the outside and soft in the inside.

Fried Calamari

Mussels with Padang Sauce was also good. The taste was sweet. I bet it was still fresh when it’s cooked. The Padang sauce was not too spicy like any other Padang food I have ever tasted, so both of my daughters could enjoy it without burned their mouth. A brief about Padang sauce. Padang is a name of a city in Indonesia. Padang’s food is usually hot and spicy, so of course Padang sauce is originally taste very hot and spicy. It made from shallot,garlic, red chili pepper, ginger, turmeric and candle nut. Padang sauce can be used in any dishes, but often used for seafood dishes.

Mussels with Padang Sauce

At first I wanted soft tofu with salty egg sauce but they said they ran out that menu. But, that’s okay. I ordered soft tofu with Padang sauce and found the tofu was so delicious and soft. For me this spicy Padang sauce was just tingling my tongue.

Soft Tofu with Padang Sauce

Kangkung or water spinach, is very familiar vegetable in Indonesia. From this plant we can make alot of yummy dishes. I ordered Kangkung Balacan (Balacan water spinach).The water spinach is stir fried with balacan or terasi (fermented shrimp). It tasted so yummy!

Balacan Water Spinach

This restaurant had saved us from hungry afternoon! [Q]

Crunchy Cheese Stick

Posted on November 26, 2014 by nyonyanomnom

I was busy with my job, writing screenplay. Suddenly my son came and offered me snack. Because I was hungry, I took some of the snack and put it in the small bowl and stop writing for a while.

Crunchy Cheese Sticks

Have you ever seen this kind of snack? Here, we called it cheese sticks or simply write as “sistik or cistik”. It tasted salty and had little cheesy flavor and so crunchy. So good for snacking time. I’m not sure who invented this snack or when exactly it came to Indonesia. This popular snack also came with a lot of variants. From the very cheesy tasty one (premium) to a just simply salty flavor.

You can find these kind of cheese stick in supermarket or traditional snacks stall in Indonesia or maybe you can surf and find the recipe in the internet.

My neighbor made premium crunchy cheese stick for a high price. It was Rp 80.000 (about $6.5) for one kilogram. With that price i can buy one T-shirt for my son or 3 hotwheels. But the cost worth the taste. She only made the cheese sticks occasionally. So it made her crunchy cheese stick become more special.

You really have to try this snack when you visit Indonesia. But be careful, once you have a bite, it will be hard to stop. This cheese stick that my son gave me was also very good. I couldn’t stop chewing this snack! Hmmm…. I am wondering what snack that Qonita eats today [S].