Epicurina - Indonesia's Good Food Hunter's Blog

Food Shot: Wing United, Denpasar Junction, Bali

2012-02-15T14:26:00.003+08:00

Chicken wings done right! Crisp on the outside while still moist inside; Wing United offers pleasure in form of chicken wings. What's unique here is the choices of sauce available, e.g.: barbecue, teriyaki, atomic, lemon & garlic, which you can mix in one order, i.e.: two for each flavours.

Its taste is finger lickin' good, and they're affordable. They will also certainly keep both of your hands busy; hence even though free WiFi is available, you might want to hold off the drive to continually checks your Facebook account, to avoid smudging your device's screen, or risking the chance that you'll want to lick it as well after all of the juices are gone from the tray.

Wing United is located in Denpasar Junction in Jalan Teuku Umar, Denpasar, Bali.
FB: http://www.facebook.com/Wing.United
4sq: https://foursquare.com/v/wing-united/4e2ffa6e62e1fbac611025b4
(byms)

Food Shot: One Chinotalian Breakfast

2012-02-14T13:41:00.001+08:00

Breakfast this morning: Macaroni with squid and white sauce, topped with preserved caisim and garlic fried shrimps, and a dash of mayonnaise. Sprinkled with seasoned salt. Created by The Picky Eater. (byms)

Invitation to BonChon Food Blogger Party

2012-02-13T20:03:00.000+08:00

I would like to express my appreciation to Michelle and Rizal from Michelindo Food International, on their invitation for Epicurina to attend BonChon Chicken Blogger's Party last 11 February 2011.

However as I'm still resides in Bali therefore I can't make it to the event due to the distance. I hope you'll be opening a branch in Bali as well!

BonChon Chicken

Grand Indonesia, West Mall 5th Fl Unit 2 - 3

Jl. M.H. Thamrin No. 1, Jakarta

http://www.bonchon.com/
http://www.facebook.com/BonChonIndonesia
http://twitter.com/bonchon_id

Up to the moment of this post's writing, there's only one writing from fellow food blogger noted by the good Google:

NiyaOke: http://niyaoke.blogspot.com/2012/02/bonchon-chicken.html

(byms)

Food Shot: Fish Head Soup

2012-02-13T19:24:00.000+08:00

As I were saying; once you get the idea and acquire the beauty of fish head soup, there's no going back.

This is my lunch last Friday, taken at Warung Bojonegoro, one of my favourite spot for lunch, and enjoying a fish head soup. (byms)

Invitation to Mr. Curry Food Testing Panel

2012-02-13T17:17:00.000+08:00

I would like to express my appreciation to Grace and Mila from Ismaya Group, on their invitation for Epicurina to attend Mr. Curry Food Testing Panel last November 2011.

It's a pity that I can't make it to the event due to distance. I hope you'll be opening a branch in Bali soon!

Mr.Curry, Japanese Curry & Sweet House
Pondok Indah Mall 2 – Restaurant Row, level 3
http://www.ismayagroup.com/mrcurry/
http://www.facebook.com/iloveMrCurry

For insights into this Food Testing Panel's result, please visit following links from our fellow food-bloggers:

Jen'z Corner - http://www.jenzcorner.net/weblog/mr-curry-food-tasting-panel
Selby's Food Corner - http://selbyfood.blogspot.com/2011/03/mr-curry-japanese-curry-and-sweet-house.html
Urukyu - http://urukyu.wordpress.com/2011/12/03/food-tasting-panel-mr-curry/
Tommy - http://yummyfordummy.blogspot.com/2011/03/food-tasting-panel-mr-curry.html
Good Food Good Life - http://goodfoodgoodlife.wordpress.com/2011/12/10/mr-curry-food-tasting-panel/
The Yummy Traveller - http://natashavl.blogspot.com/2011/03/food-restaurant-review-mr-curry.html

(byms)

Ayam Taliwang As Sidiq, Bedugul, Bali

2012-02-08T18:35:00.000+08:00

Ayam Taliwang RM As Sidiq, Bedugul, Bali, Indonesia

As we are hungry and it's already 2 p.m., we have no other choice but to visit this restaurant RM Ayam Taliwang As-Sidiq specializing in Ayam Taliwang dish from the Lombok island. At the time of our research, it was the most mentioned eating place on the blogs about traveling to Bedugul. The other popular choice was Strawberry House, but it was located quite far from the travel destination, and it focuses on strawberry dishes while our hungry Indonesian stomach long for something more familiar and heavier, hence we picked the Ayam Taliwang instead.

Located right across the parking space for Pura Ulun Danu at Danau Beratan, RM Ayam Taliwang As-Sidiq is housed in a decent old building with various choices of all-Indonesian dishes. Prices are affordable, those who are under tight budget can still get a decent meal for about 20K IDR (around $2). If you are aiming for their specialty however, both Ayam Bakar Taliwang and Ayam Bumbu Taliwang costs almost 30K IDR alone. It's a whole chicken dish but please hold yourself from drooling as chicken used are young ones which is quite petite. It's closer to quail instead of a respectable sized chicken.

Lucky I ordered the Nasi Campur which consisted of rice, a piece of grilled chicken, tahu, mixed vegetable, and sambal. The portion is hearty while the taste was all right; a good hit for a 19K dish.

Scoville's Gado-Gado

My mother in law, who is the reason we're in Bedugul in the first place, is a decent lady in her late 60s. Her upbringing and cultural background dictates, that she should be humble at all times, and she doesn't eat anything unfamiliar, especially when not cooked in Minang custom; which poses a problem since the dishes served at RM Ayam Taliwang As Sidiq was mostly unfamiliar to her. Except for the Gado-Gado which is a Betawi dish, and so she ordered one.

Coming from a Minang background, she's also accustomed to the high level of chillies and oil for all that she can remember, hence instructed the waiter to have her Gado-Gado "pedas".

However, this is Bali, the land where its dishes uses Lombok type of chilli, which far more superior than regular red chillies she's accustomed with. It's more like the fondness of Jawa Barat people in using Cabai Rawit (bird-eye chilli) in their dishes instead of Cabai Merah like Minang culture does, tripled.

As comparison, when the hottest food with Cabai Merah burns your lips and tongue, the hotness of Cabai Lombok is similar with having firecrackers lit inside your mouth. And as the waiter walked away I was just realized those facts, but was too hungry to think straight hence just hoping that "pedas" here doesn't really pedas as I thought it will be.

...

We ended up ordering another plate of Gado-Gado for her, and this time not pedas at all. Anyway she's still suffers from stomach ache for two following days afterward, due to the novel attempt to finish half of the dish before giving up.

A Tame Taliwang

Surprisingly enough, the Ayam Taliwang that the waiter said is the pedas choice, and we anticipated with high curiosity, turned out to be not pedas at all. Yes it's spicy and tasty, but nowhere near pedas. Not in Balinese standard especially. My Nasi Ayam trained taste buds cried their disappointment, but I told them I have no choice.

Another concern is that while the seasoning is good and flavourful, the cooking is not. Both my one-piece grilled chicken, and the whole mini Ayam Taliwang chicken, were dried and lost most of its moisture. The Picky Eater however, think this is perfect and eat almost the whole chicken beside the charity parts she left me with.

As a wrap-up, on overall we found the food quality is still above average, prices are reasonable, service is fast, the parking space is wide, while the dining area itself is clean but a bit disorganized. Wouldn't protest if I should visit them again, however I'm wide open for other options. (byms)

Food Shot: Assorted sandwiches on Mitrais Breakfast Day

2012-02-08T17:00:00.000+08:00

Wednesday is a breakfast day in Mitrais. On this day, people came in early in the morning, and making their sandwich at the pantry while exchanging stories. By default we have two kinds of bread; white and brown, I prefer brown ones as it has more fibres thus considerably chewier, and it keeps me feeling full longer. Along with them there are butters, jams, peanut butters, and chocolate spread. I also bring my own seasoning to make garlic breads once in a while; mostly when the toaster is unoccupied. (byms)

Food Shot: Dodol Cina or Kue Keranjang

2012-02-04T20:13:00.000+08:00

Back in Bandung and most of Jawa Barat, people know this delicacy as "Dodol Cina", where dodol is the generic name of sweets usually made from sticky rice flour mixed with sugar and cooked to obtain the sticky chewy consistency. The "Cina" label signify that it is closely related with Chinese culture; indeed it is, as Dodol Cina are seldom found outside of Imlek celebration, a.k.a. Chinese New Year.

In Bali, following central and eastern Java custom, the widely recognized name is "Kue Keranjang", which freely translated as "Basket Cake"; due to its creation which uses basket shaped container made with leafs. The modernized version, as pictured above uses plastic wrapping instead.

Originally Dodol Cina or Kue Keranjang is called Nian Gao (年糕), and has it root deeply with Chinese New Year Celebration, and beliefs that it symbolize a year-long full with sweet live-moments. On a lighter and practical application, this cake is enjoyed in three way at least; as it is, steamed, and batter fried.

Consumed as it is, Dodol Cina or Kue Keranjang taste is dominated with sweetness, a little hint of the sticky rice taste and its fine grains, with moderate caramel taste; it is also very sticky and gluey. The drier version has more dominant starchy taste, and it also loses most of it's stickiness; it provides a more interesting eating experience in my opinion.

Steaming is usually applied when the Dodol Cina or Kue Keranjang has becoming over dry, as it can be stored for a long time when it is dried. Batter frying involves coating of medium-dried Dodol Cina or Kue Keranjang with egg and little flour, seasoned with a bit of salt then pan fried until it becomes moist and limp. This last method gives Dodol Cina or Kue Keranjang added layer of savoury richness into the sweet and starchy cake. Both steamed and batter-fried, the cake is sliced thinly first.

As alternative, people are also consuming it with shredded coconut, or even treat it as substitute for jelly jam to be used in other kind of cookies. Which one is your favourite? (byms)

Foodies are firing people all the time

2012-02-03T12:00:00.000+08:00

While at first it doesn't seem related with foodies and food business, Why Mitt Romney likes firing people posted on CBS News takes food business as its examples, and it doesn't stop at that: it also highlight the thing that we all sure we're aware of, but seldom put it in such perspective: we've been firing people more often that we're aware of.

As a foodies, what would you do to an eatery that doesn't live up to your standard? If you stop visiting them, then you are firing them -- from the line of services that you allow to serve you. If you've been rudely treated by a server in a restaurant, and chosen to eat somewhere else the next time, you are firing the server, and the business he worked for as well.

Quoted:

We don't think of it as a "firing" because we don't make a formal employer/employee relationship with these people. We just kind of think of it as "not going back" or "hiring someone else." But anytime you terminate that paying relationship, you're firing that person or that company. (And let's face it, you terminate a relationship with a company because of its employees far more often than because of its product.)

Even worse, as foodies sometimes you went to the full distance by blacklisting eateries you think are troublesome, and share the list to other employers in the food business customers, i.e. fellow foodies, to create a syndicated refusal of one business's service, practically minimizing the business's chance to be "employed" by other foodies alike. (byms)

Food Shot: Giant pastel from Puri Mas, Bali

2012-01-19T13:24:00.000+08:00

A giant sized pastel, spotted on the display at Puri Mas 3 Bakery at Jalan Teuku Umar, Denpasar, Bali. Filled with mixture of stir-fried egg, glass noodle, vegetables, and grounded chicken meat; a wonderful treat to both your taste buds and eyes. Sold @13K a half (pictured above). (byms)

Food Shot: Red Spinach Soup

2012-01-03T18:02:00.000+08:00

Red spinach with corn, done in light & clear Sup Bayam style. Taken with Lumix DMC FH7. (byms)

Authentic Balinese food at Denpasar Festival 2011

2011-12-26T12:21:00.001+08:00

Denpasar this year will again hosts a major exhibition event continuing its past success. Denpasar Festival 2011 will be held around the center point (Km 0) of Denpasar city, which is around the Candramuka monument.

Among the festival highly interesting event is its culinary exhibition, which promised to hosts Denpasar's best traditional and authentic Balinese cuisines, including its legendary sellers. During this event, Balinese culinary enthusiasts could greatly enhance their palate portfolio by visiting the festival ground instead of traveling around Denpasar scouting for each one of individual cuisine's bests.

Denpasar Festival 2011 will be held from 28 to 31 December, and its food zone will occupies the Gajah Mada street. Please refer to the map above for zoning reference.

For further information visit their website at http://www.denpasar-festival.com. (byms)

posted from Bloggeroid

Happy Cinema, movie theatre for rent in Bali

2011-12-26T09:12:00.001+08:00

Having spent two years living in this beautiful island, movie watching has quickly becomes a thing of our past. From once a month at least while living in Jakarta, to only two movies for three past two years living here.

The biggest problem with cinemas in Bali is that there is almost none exist: there's only one decent theatre with two screens to cater all the movie goers in Denpasar. During new movies showing, it's not rare for movie goers to wait up for days to get a ticket. On first shows, usually the only way to get ticket is by join the early queue at 10 in the morning: very impractical.

Land price is among the top challenge for new cinemas opening in Bali, which making best location is hard to afford. Not to mention there are still the common belief that locals and tourists prefer to watch art performances than box office movies.

There were rumors of both Indonesian cinema giants to expand their network here, however the sign of 'Denpasar XXI opening soon' hanging at Denpasar Junction entrance is two years old now, and there's no indication it going to be changing anytime soon.

In the midst of this unmet demand, Happy Cinema entered the scene with offering private movie screening.

Equipped with hi tech movie projector and 100" wide screen, viewers are also treated with nice sofas, and good sound systems.

At the moment Happy Cinema has only two theatres with each suitable to hosts six people However Rocky Pramatra its owner said that expansion is a possibility, seeing that he still has spaces available, and so far Happy Cinema has garnered a positive response from Denpasar's movie enthusiasts.

With the fee of 80 K IDR (around $8) per room per movie, that's less than 15 K a person. And you're not limited to showing schedules as you can simply chooses from Happy Cinema 300ish movie collection, ranging from action, drama, comedy, horror, including Asian and Indonesian movie selections. Bollywood are also going to be on the list.

Beside of the movie, Happy Cinema also provides food and drinks to accompany your movie. Based on reviewing some of their menu, Epicurina thinks both the food and drinks are quite good, and it's about on par with the same menus served in Cafes and restaurants. No popcorn at the moment but Happy Cinema are eager to hear about your suggestions and ideas.

Located in front of the New Media College, 5 minute drive from Bajra Sandhi Park, Renon, Happy Cinema aims at the youngsters, though so far have been receiving good response from family audience a well. Mothers and fathers who usually have to go through all the ordeals of arranging baby sitting or even take turns, now can happily take their toddlers, along with the baby sitters into the movie theatre.

For reservations call 0361 239 912 03, and for their latest news follow @happycinemaBali on Twitter, or visit their Facebook page.

Happy Cinema Bali is located at Jl. Tukad Batanghari No. 36, Denpasar, Bali. Opens daily from 11 to 21 (last show). (byms)

posted from Bloggeroid

Nasi Kuning Pak Jojon, Sanglah, Denpasar

2011-12-23T06:35:00.001+08:00

This is a road side stall we discovered earlier this month. We've passed it so many times before and got curious as why this place always attracts so many customers, but was hesitant due to the absence of any sign whatsoever that could signals what sort of food they are selling.

Well it turned out that out sells Nasi Kuning, in the fashion of mixed rice/rice combo that is a common in Denpasar, Bali.

While the taste is not the best we ever had, it is enough to satisfy our crave of Nasi Kuning, not to mention it is dead cheap as well; a dinner for two including ice teas costs only 15K IDR ($1.5). (byms)

posted from Bloggeroid

Food shot: Aburi Sushi from Ryoshi, Bali

2011-12-22T17:10:00.000+08:00

What pictured here is my attempt at using Panasonic Lumix DMC FH-7 which I acquired recently from Bali Creative Festival 2011.

Compact and lightweight, it boasts fascinating features like touch-shot which enables you to pick a focus area and take a picture with a tap on its LCD display, Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) paired with a very high ISO rating up to ISO 1600 which is very convenient for close-up and indoor macro shots. It is also capable to sport a good isolation with its narrow Depth of Field (DOF) during close-range shots, producing a good blurred background as illustrated.

One definite disadvantage though: it doesn't have the comfort of on the spot publishing as HTC Salsa does :).

I'll be back with more details on its fitness for casual food photography later on. (byms)

Plate dropping happy Bruce Lim on AFC's Next Celebrity Chef

2011-12-22T14:24:00.000+08:00

My wife is among the big fans of cooking contest shows on TV, and through Asian Food Channel (AFC) available in Indonesian under the Telkomvision network in Indonesia, she has got a good choice of shows. On the other hand, I prefer more adventurous and food review kinds like the Makansutra by K.F. Seetoh, and Taste of Indonesia by Bondan & Gwen Winarno. I myself sometimes watch Australian Junior MasterChef, mostly due to the cheerful atmosphere and attitudes of both the contestants and the judges.

A new cooking show came to AFC however, garnered my attention. It's the "AFC's Next Celebrity Chef", which competes chefs from Asian countries in series of cooking competition. My intention however, lies more upon the interest if any Indonesian chefs participates in the show, and it quickly fades as well with the confusion of the show's true intention: is it a cooking contest or a drama tv show?

While I don't deny that drama attracts, but I think AFC's Next Celebrity Chef has taken it over the top. Episodes after episodes, it got more focused toward how the contestants feels about the jury's treatment, especially with chef Bruce Lim, and less on the cooking itself.

Who is Bruce Lim?

For you who are not familiar with chef Bruce Lim, he's a nice and warm looking guy who already hosts "Tablescapes" on AFC, which introduces the modernized Philippines cuisine and cooking.

On the contrary with his previous image though, on AFC's Next Celebrity Chef, Bruce had transformed into a brassy character which on many occasions does not restrain himself from sending plates of cooking into the ground smashing, as a sign of his disapproval with the contestant's cooking quality -- a show that often left the contestant gawked or frozen in humiliation.

My biggest question is, whether chef Bruce Lim is really one bad ass plate slamming chef in real life? Because if he doesn't, then this is a serious case of over-dramatization and bad role-playing.

While it might be tempting to become Gordon Ramsay, he lives his life living in that character and not just on-stage. With Bruce Lim however, the character is inconsistent hence it's confusing; on one side he shows a hearty and warm character upon hosting Tablescapes, while on Next Celebrity Chef suddenly he's becoming the over-critical plate-slamming-happy brazen jury. Which one is his true face? Because now every times I see Bruce on Tablescapes, I imagined him smashing plates to the ground, and while watching Next Celebrity Chef, I imagined his soft and mellow character on Tablescapes: confusing.

Becoming TV Personality

The key to become a TV personality is first of all, that you get the airtime (duh!). An important thing you have to do afterward, is to maintain at all time the consistency of your character's branding. Just like Gordon Ramsay is the kitchen bad boy, Andrew Zimmern is the happy adventurous food lover, Anthony Bourdain is the classy rebellious food traveller, Jamie Oliver is the smart and casual cooking prodigy, while Nigella Lawson is the Queen of Food Porn, they all have -- working through the years -- constantly shown their unique personality throughout shows they hosts, books written, hence the character sticks.

As with Bruce Lim, what will he become? He's fairly less known, even though having some impressive background and experiences, and he's suddenly in a bad mood too often. Seeing Bruce dumps plate on Next Celebrity Chef does not painting him as an someone interesting, but chaotic and a Ramsay's wannabe instead.

Even with his well known harsh chef-mode temperament, Gordon Ramsay in Hell's Kitchen still reserves himself from doing the expected, and in American MasterChef it's Joe Bastianich who does the food dumping more often than Ramsay.

The "I-must-become-the-bad-boy-personality-because-it-looks-like-fun" attitude however, seems to be prone happening to TV personalities -- or even celebrities -- without conscious awareness of their personal branding, or having one at all. I still remember raising my eyebrows during the first season of Indonesian Idols was aired on TV; almost all of the judges, who usually known as cool and positive people, suddenly turned into this over-critical and harsh Simon Cowell's (bad) imitation. And they don't share roles but all wanting to become Simon. Imagine the chaos it produced?

On the other hand I have also become amazed on most times Steven Tyler gave comments during his role as the American Idol's jury. Is he really actually that smart and warm? During the show, Steven lavishly throwing "so good" and "lovely" to performances he likes -- without hesitation, which is so humble and on the contrary to his perceived image as Aerosmith's front man, which most audience I believe expected a rather wild and bad-ass personality. And I have to raise my hat to all the American Idol judges along with Steven, who does not try to replace Simon role as the American Idol's bad boy.

Back to the show itself

As with the AFC's Next Celebrity Chef, they need to put up something more original and touching; not in the lebay* way of touching, but something that inspires. Brazen Bruce might launch the show's popularity, however it's quickly getting weary and lacked originality.

Instead, how about him doing Tinikling dance when he's happy, and Manu Siva Tau when he's not? (byms)

*over dramatization.

Bugs in food & related incident handling

2011-12-08T17:30:00.000+08:00

Now I'm not squeamish about food, in fact I'm more into xenophilia than xenophobia when concerning food. I loved sushi, I don't mind encountering a completely foreign dish, I have even eaten the various tiny bugs sold in Thailand including the ants, and caterpillars, and grows to like grasshopper among others.

However I have a strong objection when foreign things are introduced to the meal I have, while it's certainly not the intended part of the dish. Like this tiny cockroach we encountered during dining in one of our favourite spot in Denpasar Junction, Bali.

We suspected it was one of those tiny species which only introduced to Indonesia in recent years; it is most likely the brown-banded cockroach, or its counterpart the German cockroach. Never got a chance to interview them, since usually they are either running away or flattened out.

Knock, knock, who's there?

Hey wait! You look familiar...

The picky eater discovered this, after I went through like 3/4 of out dish; which is the pangsit goreng (fried wonton). What's shown here is the almost emptied sweet and sour sauce.

Upon informed to the waiter, she looked shocked and becoming stiff; a sign that's no good-enough crisis handle management or training was in place. She however, was able to resist the temptation for a self defence arguments, and decided to took our bowl of sauce away into the kitchen to confirm our sighting.

(But first we took a snapshot of it for our own reference)

Shortly afterward, she returned from the kitchen and started to apologizing, with a promise that they would improve their service. Upon receiving further complaint from my wife, the picky eater, on how such thing could happen, she revealed that there are regular pest cleaning activity performed by one national vendor in Bali.

Well perhaps it's time for them to look for other provider.

Following are our notes of the incident-handling for restaurant services:

There are different levels of misshapen possible to occur during the service of a restaurant, and business owners need to be prepared for preventive measures as well as crisis-handling
If it can, it will; so when misshapen occurs, it's best to prepare in advance what sort of reactions staffs must perform to contain the damage
Have the steps recorded into a SOP, print it, and have it placed nearby for quick access
Self-defence would only make the matters worse
Put the blame on the customers is a suicidal attempt
Most customers on most cases only wish they are:

Heard
Confirmed about their objections
Offered a sincere apology

Inclusion of bugs or other unwanted objects into customer's meal is a big incident, and it deals with not only customer feeling dissatisfied, but also disgusted, and sometimes even humiliated
On such incidents the manager himself/herself would need to be presented to offer apology, since s/he is the responsible person for the whole operation of the restaurant, not the staff
If you are thinking of retaining the customer, then damage containment alone is not enough; since that's only merely the first-aid kit. However it is usually how good the first aid was, that determines the rest of the story
Beyond containment, do something that would make your customers feel appreciated, e.g.: waive their bill, offer vouchers, write an apology letter on the newspaper, whatever the customer (not you) would feel fit
Handled, but disgruntled customers will think about some way to make them feel even
Handled, and appreciated customers often are willing to forgive such incident, even they are no longer willing to be your customer afterward

As with us, I think we'll steer away from this place, until I no longer able to feel the sensation of those insects crawling behind my throat -- which in our mind is now closely associated with this chain of restaurant. (byms)

Epicurina mentioned on Trubus Magazine

2011-12-05T13:10:00.000+08:00

Both me and Epicurina were mentioned on Ed. 505 of Trubus Magazine, Indonesia's leading horticultural magazine, thanks to Riefza. The report is about culinary potencies of sea-urchin.

Most Indonesian food photos owned and used on Epicurina sites (i.e.: website, blog), are available for publication and repost under CC (Creative Commons) license which meant they're virtually free, with some restrictions and conditions. Please visit Epicurina Licensing page for complete details. (byms)

Water snails satay in Bali

2011-12-02T08:00:00.000+08:00

Water snails satay, Warung Pan Putu, Denpasar, Bali

Having originated from a deep Sundanese cultural background, I was quite familiar with the water snails cooking. Back there, the snail is called "Tutut", and there's only one way to cook it: in a thin curry with strong galangal and turmeric seasoning.

Moving to Bali, I noticed quite happily that the same food do exist, only the difference is that people here prefers their snails on a skewer, alias as satay. "Kakul" is the name of the food in Bali, and among the pioneer of introducing the Sate Kakul to the Balinese people are Pan Putu (Pan = Mister), and he opens a restaurant which named "Warung Pan Putu" which located at Jl. Ahmad Yani No.187, Denpasar - Bali.

Just like most satay from Indonesia, Sate Kakul too, are served with peanut sauce. However unlike Sate Madura, the sauce is usually thin and not too creamy.

Still considered as Asian water snails, however Tutut or Kakul are different with the apple snails usually consumed in other Asian countries. It is mainly harvested from rice fields, its scientific name is Viviparidae Bellamyinae.

Water snails have this strong metallic and earthy taste, very much like escargot, only that with a chewy and jerky texture unlike the soft escargot; more like shellfish only much tougher. As for the taste itself, it contains only low level of savouriness and lacked strong flavour, hence heavy seasoning is almost always a necessity. (byms)

Would you eat Poo?

2011-12-01T12:00:00.000+08:00

"Would you eat poo?" Coming from your English-speaking friend this question would looks like an invitation to something that would get high rating on YouTube. However, if the question refers to a brand of an Indonesian delicacy, you might not feel the request so strange and might even excited by it.

Poo pictured above is a brand of getuk pisang, an Indonesian delicacy originated from the eastern Java region of Indonesia. It is a sweet and fragrant cake made from mashed banana in form of compacted cylinder. It looks purplish or brownish depending to the type of banana it used.

Getuk Pisang image from "Oleh-Oleh Kediri" in Tokopedia

Getuk Pisang image from Zudi Susanto

Though tasted delicious, "Poo" might not gain market success abroad, especially in English speaking countries for the connotation it has -- with India as exception, as Poo is also the name of a small town in Himachal Pradesh district. (byms)

Indonesian Food is Dangerously Delicious

2011-11-30T12:00:00.000+08:00

It was not until a close attention to the trailers shown on TV, I discovered that Pak Bondan (Bondan Winarno) is now promoting a new catchphrase "Indonesian food is dangerously delicious" on his new food show "Taste of Indonesia" aired on AFC (Asian Food Channel) TV, starting November 2011.

So the big question is, is Indonesian food really dangerous, and why?

Well it is, since the risk of addiction is really high! as Pak Bondan replied himself on his Twitter account:

"Sbg warning box, krn akibatkan kecanduan" ("As a warning box, since it causes addiction").

Though Indonesian food is not everyone's dish, and still fairly less known compared to the food from its neighbouring countries, i.e.: Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore, but those that has come to know about Indonesian food usually have one or two favourites -- at least.

Among the dishes foodies enjoyed the most, are Sate Ayam Madura, and Rendang Padang. While the first is an Indonesian BBQ made with skewered chicken chunks, marinated lightly in Indonesian sweet soy and peanut sauce and then grilled; the later is a "West Sumatran caramelized beef curry" to borrow the words of another Indonesian culinary expert, William Wongso. Just like Pak Bondan, Pak William can also be reached through his Twitter account.

The other obvious almost ubiquitous Indonesian dish is Gado-Gado Jakarta; Indonesian salad made with fresh vegetables, chopped tempe, tahu, potato cubes, boiled egg, and dressed heavily in a mixture of peanut sauce. For a heavier meal it usually includes lontong, i.e.: the rice cakes, and for a more succulent dressing some vendors added cashew nuts to the mixture as well.

Another favourite dish usually served in Indonesian food restaurants abroad is Nasi Campur; a dish that's very closely resembling the day to day eats in Indonesia: a steamed rice with various accompanying dishes, usually in the formula of protein + vegetables + sambal. Rendang Padang seems to be the favourite choice for protein, along with Telur Balado (Boiled egg in spicy hot seasoning). Other choices you might find are tempeh (soybean cake) and tahu (Indonesian tofu). Indonesian sambal is the national's pride; it takes so many different form and variations but that's the beauty of it: you get to taste so many varieties yet they are all dangerously delicious. The most common form of Indonesian Sambal usually consisting of red chillies, tomato, shallots, and seasoned with terasi: Indonesian shrimp paste. Be cautious though that in its natural setting, sambal are extremely, if not volcanic, hot.

As about the slogan "Indonesian food is dangerously delicious", it is strongly related with "Indonesia. Dangerously beautiful" slogan which was invented and popularized by Iwan Esjepe from "Indonesia Bertindak", in response to the travel warning issued by northern American countries and European as well some years ago.

“Several countries have issued travel warnings not to visit Indonesia. It's now your time to make a statement that Indonesia is too beautiful to be passed” wrote Iwan in his website.

So, have you find out how dangerous Indonesian Food is? Visit an Indonesian Restaurant around you and decide for yourself. (byms)

Breakfast shot 111125

2011-11-25T19:35:00.001+08:00

Sunny side up (runny), smoked beef, cheese and mayo. (byms)

posted from Bloggeroid

HTC Salsa for Food Blogging

2011-11-24T18:00:00.000+08:00

That's me looking at the virtual shutter button on my mobile phone. HTC Salsa enables switching of camera source through clicking upon the icon at the top left corner of the screen. The photo are then processed using Almond tone and High Contrast filter available under its native photo editing application. (Btw, do I look menacing enough?)

As I mentioned in my previous article, starting from the late July 2011 food photos displayed in Epicurina blog are shot using HTC Salsa, with occasional uses of Canon EOS 550D, practically retires my old trusted Canon AS 400.

While quality-wise HTC Salsa falls short even compared with my old Canon AS 400 pocket digicam, it boasts the feature not available even on Canon EOS 550D with its very good photo-taking; mobility and connectivity, which gives way to the mobile journalism.

With the ability to do simple touch-ups right on the phone itself and upload it right away to the Internet, this is a big plus compared with having to download your picture from the conventional digital camera to the PC, resize them, adjust the colouring, watermark it, then upload it. It's just much faster done with mobile phones.

Since on most blogging activities, i.e.: uploading the photo for your blog, which requires only about 520px wide picture, then the level of details and existence of artefacts is still acceptable.

HTC Salsa's auto focus feature do helps a lot, and with its touch-based capable operation, you can choose the area where to focus your lens into, creating a nice depth and focus blurring: something that usually available only on higher camera models.

Its high light sensitivity up to ISO 800, also enables photographing under a low light, which is a common situation for food-mojo, or mofojo: mobile food journalists. Its quality however often plunged down below the acceptable standard, but you can still play with it to have a nice artwork.

While HTC Salsa also provide its own light source, its direct light and non adjustable intensity usually wiped out all of the delicate details in the food, which usually are taken at a very close range. It also shift the white balance into yellowish tone, and is unrepairable.

The biggest issue with taking picture using HTC Salsa however, as well as with other mobile phones, is in finding a way to stabilize it. With its lightweight, thin body, and pointy sides, there are no big enough surface to hold it against regular stabilizers available on your table in restaurants. If a pocket camera might be stabilized using glasspod, bottlepod, or even headpod, you can only rely on your hand's balance and stability to avoid shaking.

Post processing photos using HTC Salsa

Using its own image enhancement application, HTC Salsa are usually able to adds the much needed image adjustment with a touch of a button.

If you are also using watermarks or signature on your photos, you can also try this wonderful Android application Add Watermark Free, available from Android Market. It enables you to add texts overlay, and image overlay, to the photos taken with HTC Salsa's camera. It is also usable for other mobile phones running Android. Its limitation lies only on the size of image outputs which restricted to 800px on the long side, while the commercial version allows you to save them in their original resolution.

Creating your blog entry using HTC Salsa

And if you are using Blogger platform like Epicurina does, you might want to try out Bloggeroid, also available free from Android Market. At only 101 Kb application size, it's the lightest weight blogger client at the moment, capable to post blog entries with picture attachment. It also supports multiple blogs running on the same platform.

Should you find screen-touching individual letters on your HTC Salsa's on-screen keyboard too demanding for a longer blog entry like this one you're currently reading, you will be impressed by Swype BETA swiping text entries capability, which available free from Swype's website. It quickly closes the gap between HTC and Samsung phones who natively uses the application on their newer Android phones. It does however requires a big space, about 11 MB which resides on the phone's internal memory, which is a very valuable real estate on HTC Salsa's tiny 128 MB internal memory -- which about 50 MB of them are already used by the operating system. However from blog writing standpoint, it's worth every bites occupied.

Why I use HTC Salsa instead of an iPhone?

If in the US you can get iPhone 4s for a decent $199 for its 16GB models (Apple Store), the same unit costs about $ 1,000 in Indonesia (Versacom). Though you're freed from the mandatory 2 years data plan like in US, it's still a very big spending for a phone.

Android on the other hand, has similar features available at a more reasonable cost, like this HTC Salsa which is one of their middle level phone at $375; even much less when I have it during its promo sales. While it's not the best, but certainly it's good enough.

As of food photos quality, take a look at some samples below and decide for yourself. All are taken with HTC Salsa:

For more interesting Indonesian food photos, visit our Indonesian Food Photos at Picasa -- they're almost free, as long as you're following our Epicurina licensing guidelines. (byms)

posted from Bloggeroid

Dinner Shot: Nasi Goreng Ikan Asin at RM Berkah Denpasar

2011-11-22T12:00:00.000+08:00

Nasi Goreng Ikan Asin @13K IDR - RM Muslim Berkah III, Sesetan, Denpasar, Bali.

It has a rich and complex taste, which fits well with the salted fish. Among the identified ingredients are: rice, salted fish, scrambled egg, bean sprouts, kemangi, along with terasi, and red chilli as seasoning. The fried rice itself then half wrapped in an omelette. A wonderful orchestra on your tastebuds, and teases your eyes as well. (byms)

posted from Bloggeroid

Mobile Journalism for Food Bloggers

2011-11-21T07:47:00.001+08:00

Starting from July 2011 food photos displayed in Epicurina blog are shot using HTC Salsa, with occasional uses of Canon EOS 550D, practically retires my old trusted Canon AS 400.

Now, I don't find HTC Salsa's picture is better than even my old Canon AS 400 pocket digicam, even though it boasts 5 MP camera and higher ISO rate at 800. I can get far better photos using my Canon AS 400 on lower ISO -- though it has a lower 3.3 MP image resolution.

However since on most blogging activities, i.e.: uploading the photo for your blog, we requires only about 520px wide picture on Blogspot, then the level of details and clarity is good enough, and the existence of artefacts are still within acceptable limit.

HTC Salsa greatest feature however, lies in its function as a smart mobile device. With the ability to do simple touch-ups right on the phone itself and upload it right away to the Internet, it's a big plus compared with having to download your picture from the conventional digital camera to the PC, resize them, adjust the colouring, watermark it, then upload it. It's just much faster done with mobile phones.

As there are surely trade-off in photo quality and resolution, with its fast reaction and greater mobility, mobile phone is giving way to mobile journalism, enabling anyone with a good enough mobile phone to become a mobile journalist, or simply referred a "mojo" (Wiki).

Beside of taking photos, there are also a lot of things you could accomplish with using your mobile phone alone -- something you wouldn't have been able to do before smart OSes like iOs (iPhone) and Android exists.

Mobile Journalism

Thanks to the ever improving technology of mobile phones, a new generation mobile phone equipped with the highly interactive OSes can help journalism in the following ways:

Taking snapshots
Capturing videos
Recording interviews
Taking notes
Storing interview outlines
Sending article to your publisher
Sending and receiving email
Storing and retrieving digital contents online
Publishing content to online media
Editing of captured or recorded materials
Making phone calls :)

All without having to leave the ground zero of the event covered -- given there are good enough network on site. It's practically like having all your journalism tools packed into a pocket size magic box.

Food Blogging

Blogging by no means are different with journalism. All of the above also applies if you bloggers are going out there to look for stories, instead of relying on armchair journalism, i.e.: writing your articles based solely on online research.

Especially with Food Bloggers, based on the list above, a higher concern should be put into using your mobile phone to take good food photographs, and prepares them for publication. Since many of food photographs will be taken indoor, then high ISO sensitivity, and colour correction are two important attributes of the mobile phone's camera. High resolution helps, though in the end it will depends mostly on the quality of lens used, as well as the size and quality of the sensor used.

Having post production editing applications installed would also useful, as it allows you to adjust and do simple manipulations of the picture taken; enhancing it to look more appealing.

As for accessibility, mobile phone would also be easier to use even on a restricting condition, like when the business owner specifically warn their patrons that no picture whatsoever is allowed to be taken on the premise. On such premises, a mobile phone could capture good enough snapshot, while a DSLR might creates unnecessary attention involving security guards.

Restriction to take a photo in a restaurant by the way, is a silly rules in my opinion: while it might lessen the probability of duplication or any other sort of mayhem from their business competition -- which perhaps constitutes about 1-5% of their daily customers, on the other hand it also forbids the viral marketing of their product by their regular customers -- the other 95-99%. Do the math.

And if they feared people will badmouth their bad service and bad products, a picture evidence is the least they need to worry. To their customers, it might also be viewed as putting more efforts on avoiding getting captured instead of doing the right thing in increasing the quality of their service and product.

Platform choices

iPhone has a drop of sales on the last quarter due to customers holding off the buying with the rumours of Apple plan to release iPhone 5 this 2011 Q3, a rumours proven to be false as Apple introduces iPhone 4s instead. However it's still considered by many as the best mobile phone today.

Coming from a single manufacturer, iOs: the operating system of iPhone, does not offers too much variety or "flavours". However each iPhone device series are created with the intention to provide a memorable and meaningful experience which mean, quality of photos taken will be great, and processing powers included is guaranteed a smooth running applications.

Android at the moment is the winning party of the mobile OS choices worldwide, topping the worldwide sales of iPhones on the last quarter (business insider). Samsung has also become the winning brand of mobile phones worldwide, topping Apple from the lead (businessinsider).

With a lot of cheap -- even free choices of applications to Android users, Android is the new Nokia. Its rich user experience and affordability attracts many converts, even from iPhone users. Android mobile devices also available in a lot of flavours, thanks to the open market it supports which makes Android available on mobile phones from many major brands, as well as minor ones. It gives great accessibility and affordability, and some models are even able to match iPhone quality, with a much lower cost.

Quality standards on the other hand, varies greatly between phone series as they are no standardization on how good a device should be. Look for a high-end Android phones if you are thinking of using one to support your mobile journalism activity.

With Windows 8 coming up, and promising a lot more interactive looks, Microsoft might join the crowd of two -- iOs and Android, in offering a good user experience operating system on mobile devices. Popular brands like Samsung and Acer, has also started offering their products running on the new Windows Mobile, and they will also do that when Windows 8 is finally launched. (byms)

posted from Bloggeroid