Sure, Aceh may be better known for the tight pants police, but the food is also rather fab.
I’ve scoffed down some mie Aceh at Meutia restaurant in Benhil before… fiery spicy tumeric laced fried noodles with a kick (the secret ingredient in some mie Aceh is reportedly ground marijuana seeds, I kid you not!). (ps… that’s not what is in the picture above, that’s some sort of shredded chicken and beansprout curry, not noodles)
But today I went back for lunch with dear friend Ella, who will pulang (go home) to Australia this week 
So, to drown our sorrows, we ordered the full spread, served Padang style in lots of little plates. You eat what you want, you don’t get charged for the dishes that you don’t touch.
In case you haven’t noticed, I am a bit shit when it comes to actually, ya know, finding out the names and ingredients of the food that I blog about. But I am a firm believer that a picture says a thousand words. Plus I’m lazy.
Little plates of beans, eggplant, nangka all tossed in spicy spicy sauce. Chicken, grilled in thick (wait for it… guess)… spicy spicy sauce! Mmm so good. Most of the curries are a little creamy with a kick, but not quite as tongue stabbing as some of the dishes in some Padang restaurants. But honestly, maybe they are, I have gotten very used to loads of chili after being here so long now.
They also do a mean Teh Tarik (ice sweet milk tea) at Meutia. Strong and just sweet enough. So yummy.
Meutia Restaurant is on Jalan Benhil Raya in Central Jakarta, just behind where that Jakarta-famous kepiting saus padang warung is at night time. It’s opposite Pasar Benhil on the right hand side of the road if you are coming from Jalan Sudirman. Sorry for not, ya know, finding out the actual address and phone number. It’s open for lunch and dinner, though the food starts to run out late. Very casual dining, and for a good price. We ate until we were stuffed and it cost us about Rp 65,000 each. It’s even cheaper if you just order mie aceh.
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I’ve been to lots of cities, many of them with reputations for romance. Paris, Rome, Florence… yadda yadda. I mostly just ate gelato or crepes there. But they definitely had the romantic vibe.
But after more than a year in Jakarta, I have to say that I have never met a city so publicly wrapped up in the idea of romantic love… even if it doesn’t have footpaths for lovers to wander along holding hands.
[keep reading…]
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It’s January 20. I haven’t written any resolutions yet or mused on 2009 or written about my hopes and dreams for the year ahead.
Probably cos this year got off to such a crazy start. New Years Eve was lovely and fun and spent with friends during the day and night, but since then I’ve had friends going though really bad times, shake ups in my office, dramas with meeting deadlines for important stuff that were completely out of my control, me going through some rather bad health that I’m still on the path to repairing and, as is the norm in Jakarta, pending farewells. As well as trying to figure out what I want to do in the future, that eternal question.
But, despite the new decade still having some trouble finding its feet, I’m excited about the year ahead. I’ve got raffle tickets in all over the place… grad school apps, job apps… and how this year turns out, and where I will be living by the end of it, will largely depend on them.
But I’m also planning to strike out as a ‘real’ freelancer for a while this year too, traveling and having the time to do some of the stories that I’m really interested in and seeing more of Indonesia and SE Asia. It will be the first time in forever for me that I’ve thrown aside the structure of school, university or a full time job (or a hellish combination of some of the above). Well it seems like forever… probably the four month university holiday I had in Europe was the other time. 2006 seems like a long time ago. I’m also planning to organize a volunteer placement somewhere along the way as I feel it is remiss that Indonesia has given me so much and I haven’t really taken the time yet to give something back in that way as well. There’s not just an indulgent purpose behind this so-called plan though… I do want to improve my journalism portfolio and I do want to increase coverage of some of the issues facing Indonesia. Though there will definitely be bumming on a beach time in there somewhere.
I have no idea where I am heading and I probably won’t have any idea until April or May what is in store for the second half of the year, so that’s kinda scary-cool.
As for wrap up of 2009? Well I think it was a year I will never forget, thanks to Indonesia. I mean that in a good way. I learned so much about news, life and people, some of it good and other things not so good. Saw some great places and had some fantastic times with good people. There were some dramas, but they are always fleeting and likely to be forgotten as quickly as all of the GRE vocab I tried to cram in during September. And as for work experience, well, earthquakes, terrorist bombings, terror raids and everything else teach you a lot very quickly.
So, may 2010 be as educative, interesting and enjoyable (I could live without the bombs and quakes though, thanks). Bring it on.
Photo: This post needed a photo but I haven’t been out shooting yet this year. This is an old one I hadn’t blogged of somewhere outside of Bukittinggi in West Sumatra, March 2009.
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1. Form
The rambutan. You see them on sale everywhere in Indonesia during the rainy season. Inside, they are kinda like lychees or longan, but it has a different type of seed and flavor.
They are yummy and sweet (they taste a little grape like, but sweeter), but the color of them blows me away more than anything else. As they progress from unripe to ripe, they move from green to yellow through shades of orange to a deep dark red that looks like I’ve bumped up the photo saturation, but it’s the real color. The deepest red ones are the most delicious.
2.Color
I also love the little spikes… the spikes change color along their length, often with a dash of green or black at their extremities.
They are one of the good things about rainy season. Unfortunately durian season is at the same time and I still can’t stand the smell of those things, let alone the taste.
3. Skin up close
4. Inside
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Door to my bungalow at the guesthouse we stayed at in Ubud.
It was on Jalan Kajeng, that street of cheap guesthouses just behind Ubud Palace. The place we stayed, Gusti’s Garden Bungalows, had gorgeous gardens (as the name would imply) with ponds and butterflies and little sculptures everywhere, really lovely laid back staff (so laid back I never actually checked in), a swimming pool, yummy banana pancakes for breakfast and clean, basic rooms, all with balconies with chairs perfect for reading. A decent price as well, a little more expensive than some of the other basic guesthouses on the street, but worth it for the pool and garden.
It’s a Lonely Planet stalwart though, so it’s probably best to book ahead.
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