Jom Makan! Traditional Home made Sundanese & Bakso Recipes @ Restoran Dapoer Bandoeng, Kelana Jaya, Selangor.

Assalamualaikum Readers,

Lately I keep missing our visit to Bandung, Indonesia in April 2008 and definitely reminiscing about it makes me miss the delicious, authentic Sundanese cuisine there. I read from Majalah Wanita about a restaurant in Kelana Jaya which offers authentic Sundanese cuisine so I was excited to try. I read from the article that the owner wed to an Indonesian man from Bandung. She fell in love with Sundanese cuisine and decided to open this restaurant named Dapoer Bandoeng (Bandung's Kitchen) here to share it with her fellow Malaysians. She claims that since she currently lives in Indonesia with her husband and three kids therefore she flies from time to time Bandung-Kuala Lumpur to check on the operations of her restaurant. She also claims that whenever she is in Malaysia, she misses Sundanese cuisine, while when she is in Bandung she will miss traditional Malay cuisine.

The address of Dapoer Bandoeng is :

A114, GF, Kelana Parkview, 

Kelana Jaya, 47301 Petaling Jaya, 

Selangor.

I advise that if you are not used to the directions in Kelana Jaya, it is better for you to Google Map or Garmin first or something. Since we spent a good 10-15 minutes circulating the same area until we found it. Apparently it is located among many other eateries there, and at the opposite road of Dapoer Bandoeng is the famous yet over-priced Minangkabau restaurant Sari Ratu which I reviewed one of its branches before here. 

We arrived slightly when the office lunch hour was about to end, but the restaurant was still very much packed with customers. The decor of this place is very cosy, very humble looking with Sundanese crafts and woodwork. There was also an article on the Sate Bandung which sounds like food, but actually a government centre in Bandung. I love the fact that they play traditional Javanese music which is very soothing to the ears of the diners. As for the staff, they are all smiles, polite and informative about the menu. The only thing I hope for them to change is to address their customers as Cik (Miss) or Puan (Madam) instead of addressing with Kakak (Elder Sis) or Makcik (Aunt). My family & I we prefer a bit of formality in any business dealings and business owners should always address customers with higher respect unless if we insist for them to address us with a more informal name. Even in Indonesia no matter how low the class of a food joint, the operators will always address customers as Ibu (Madam) or Bapak (Sir).

Traditional Javanese handicrafts as their main decor.

Before we dive in the menu selection, I am a fan of restaurants which educates the customers with some historical background related to the restaurant concept & menu. Dapoer Bandoeng is not excluded.

Here, they show the history of Gedung Sate. What is Gedung Sate? I only know Sate as the yummy food all Malaysians & Indonesians love. If you are a history buff like me, let's read this. If you are not just skip this part eh. =D

" Gedung Sate yang pada masa Hindia Belanda itu disebut Gouvernoments Bedrijven (GB), peletakan batu pertama dilakukan oleh Johanna Catherina Coops, puteri sulung Walikota Bandung B. Coops dan Petronella Roelofsen, mewakili Guberner Jenderal di Batavia, JP Graaf van Limburg Stirum pada tanggal 27 Juli 1920. Gedung Sate Bandung merupakan hasil perencanaan sebuah filem yang terdiri dari Ir. J. Gerber, arsitek muda kenamaan lulusan Fakultas Teknik Delft Nederland. Ir. Eh. De Roo dan Ir. G. Hendriks serta pihak Germeente van Bandoeng diketuai Kol. Pur. VL. Stors dengan melibatkan 2000 pekerja. 150 orang di antaranya pemahat atau ahli bongpay pengukir batu nisan dan pengukir kayu berkebangsaan China yang berasal dari Konghu atau Kanton, dibantu tukang batu, kuli aduk dan dan peladen yang berasal dari penduduk Kampung Sekeloa, Kampung Coblong Dago, Kampung Ganduk dan Kampung Cibarengkok yang sebelumnya mereka menggarap Gedong Sirap (Kampus ITB)."

"Gedung Sate during the reign of Dutch Indian was known as Gouvernoments Bedrijven (GB, the first stone of the construction was set by Johanna Catherina Coops, the eldest daughter of the then Bandung state leader B. Coops and Petronella Roelofsen, representing the Jeneral Governor of Batavia, JP Graaf van Limburg Stirum on 27th July 1920. Gedung Sate Bandung was an idea realized by a film by a young architect, Ir. J. Gerber graduated from the Teknik Delft Faculty of Netherlands. r. Eh. De Roo and Ir. G. Hendriks with Germeente van Bandoeng lead by Kol. Pur. VL. Stors involved 2000 workers in this project. 150 of them were stone craftsmen especially tombstones and wood craftsmen from China mainly from Konghu and Canton. They were assisted by other stone craftsmen as well as other blue collar workers from villages in Bandung such Kampung Sekeloa, Kampung Coblong Dago, Kampung Ganduk and Kampung Cibarengkok who built the Sirap Building (ITB Campus)."

After I did more research, actually Gedung Sate was referred as such by the locals since the central pinnacle of the building resembles the shape of that very famous food. Ahhhh so that explains why. =D

Yup I know I know, since we were all already very hungry, let's dive in with the food selections. I was ecstatic reading the menu, because it was indeed authentic Sundanese cuisine. As opposed to Minangkabau cuisine, which uses mostly coconut milk in its gravy, Sundanese I find as healthier because mainly it is grilled, and uses soy whether in its soy sauce or Tempe (soy cake). The menu was extensive, with its wide array of Ba'so as well as the rice delicacies differ slightly than the typical Nasi Ayam Penyet restaurants we have here in KL.

Now Jom Makan! =)

Firstly, as usual we will start with the drinks.

Deena ordered Soda Gembira (Happy Soda) RM 4.00.

It's the normal Syrup with Ice Cream Soda. Nice but we reckon that the best we had was at Asam Pedas Muar at Pasar Besar Gombak, yet to be reviewed. In the future insha Allah.

I ordered Es Teler. RM 5.40.

Disappointing. Not sweet. Quite tasteless. Sari Ratu serves better.

We chose to try the Gado Gado RM 5.90 for our appetizer. 

Gado Gado literally means Fight Fight. As funny as it sounds, it makes sense showing that all the ingredients in this dish is to be mixed together before you consume them. The portion was OK, only the boiled egg was only 1/4 if I'm not mistaken. The very finely ground peanut sauce with just the right texture, not too thick nor too watery tasted just nice. The perfect balance of the crunchy vegetables with the crackers made a great combination.

Deena ordered their signature dish, Nasi Ayam Bakar Bali (Balinese Grilled Chicken Rice) RM 9.70.

This was definitely yummy! Although the rice was placed in a banana leaf cone, however the portion is just right and satisfying in oppose with Sari Ratu's very stingy portion of cone rice. The hot rice was eaten with the juicy and tender chicken drumstick & thigh grilled in sweet soy sauce, simmered with delicious sambal (chili paste). Best of all, there was the salad, fried tofu & definitely authentic Javanese tempe (soy cake) to make the meal a balanced meal.

As for Ummi as always she didn't eat much except for sharing our meals, she ordered Tahu Telor (Egg Tofu) RM 4.50. 

Crunchy egg tofu simmered with their tasty peanut sauce, people, this one was yummy.

As for me, my oh my, bad news for me. Initially I was craving for somewhat Nasi Ayam Penyet or Beehoon Ba'so but when I was skimming the menu, my eyes was attracted to Nasi Bontot Goreng (Fried Oxtail Rice) RM 13. 

That my friend, made my taste buds automatically missing the delicious Fried Oxtail rice and Oxtail Soup Rice I ate when I went to Melbourne, Australia at their indonesian restaurants there. So fair enough, I ordered that here with the hopes that it will taste just as good. But Naaaaa-ahhh! When the dish came, it looked tempting because the rice came with a bowl of vegetable soup & my favorite Sambal Ijo (Green Chili Paste) & lime. However I was VERY disappointed to notice that the 3 chunks of oxtail were so small (you may be deceived thinking they look bigger in the photos here), nothing like the ones I had in Melbourne. And not only that, it was too fried until it became too dry, not tender and juicy and yummy. =( The ones I tried at Blok M Restaurant, Melbourne, well this is a far cry from that one.

Beef broth.

So yes, I will listen to myself next time, whenever we go dine at a new place, or any place for that matter, but more when we are unfamiliar with its food, always, always, always order their SIGNATURE DISH because most restaurants they are good at only cooking their signature dishes and not all dishes. Bear that in mind Suraya. Oh nevertheless, luckily they provided the lime for me to squeeze on the oxtail, so that almost saved the dry fried oxtail.

Also, thinking of how small the oxtail chunks were, lucky for me to order the Telur Mata Sapi (Bull's Eye Fried Egg) RM 2 which was correctly fried in very hot oil, making its expansion to the optimum. Oh yes I know it's only fried egg, but if I only relied on the puny, bony oxtail chunks, I would have had tears in my eyes literally.

We fell like it would not be right if we leave the restaurant without ordering the infamous Sundanese noodle dish known as the Bakso. Therefore we did order Baso Komplit (Complete Bakso). RM 7.00.

In the menu stated it contained beef tenderloin meatballs, regular sized meatballs, mini meatballs, tasty siomai (dumplings), pangsit (minced chicken and prawn wrapped in thin pastry) and tofu.

Well, the broth was very tasty but much to our disappointment, WHERE WERE THE VARIOUS SIZE BEEF MEATBALLS? Thus we asked one of the waiters, he sheepishly answered that the beef meatballs were out of stock, therefore they replaced them with chicken meatballs. *sigh* well, even if that was the situation, they should have informed the customers first when they ordered, because Bakso itself means Beef Meatballs. We told them that we expected gigantic beef meatballs as described and illustrated in the menu, so it was quite unfair for them not to inform in advance. Nevertheless, the taste was good. Definitely will order again, and hopefully the beef meatballs will be in stock by then.

Another down side was, the portion was too small. We were quite astonished to see that it came in a dainty bowl instead of the typical big bowl for baso.

And yes, no fire underneath confused us for a sec. So we concluded it was only meant for presentation purpose. Heh.

Indonesian food without Sambal is definitely a no-no.

Oh also Ummi ordered Baso Campur (Mixed Bakso) RM 5.50 to take away, only please remember that if you want them to include noodles (Mee/Beehoon) must order in advance and they will charge additional RM 1.50.

Deena fefeeling Izzah @ Maya Karin in Ombak Rindu.

Yup to sum up our experience here, the menu was extensive, you can basically find any type of Baso & Sundanese style rice here. The taste was also very good, except for the dry ox tail and tasteless Es Teler. The Baso portion could be better. So yes if we pass Kelana Jaya again we will not think twice to try other dishes here again. Our most favourite was the baso, really good, just too bad the beef meatballs were not in stock, just not our rezeki.  The staff is also warm and polite, so yes folks if you like to try authentic Sundanese food nearby Kuala Lumpur, do drop by at Dapoer Bandoeng ok. =)

XOXO,
Sue =)