Indonesian festival fills that missing gap

Photo provided to China Daily

I especially liked the peanut sauce, a signature condiment in Indonesia. The peanuts are roasted to bring out the full flavor, before they are ground with a special pestle and mortar called cobek batu, which will grind the peanuts, but not make them too fine, thus depriving them of their bite.

Then the ground peanuts are mixed with garlic, onion, salt, chili, sweet soy milk and shrimp paste to make the special-flavored peanut sauce that can make vegetables savory.

The hot dishes, including all kinds of meats, especially fish and shellfish, vegetables, soups, satays of chicken, lamb, and fish, and fried rice and noodles, resulted in a large family of Indonesia's most famous delicacies, and it was hard to say which one was the best.

Among them, I preferred the roasted suckling pig. Unlike Cantonese roasted suckling pig that is most desirable for the crispy skin, what tastes best in the Indonesia's traditional version is the soft meat that was aromatically tasty and juicy. The accompanying yellow paste can make the pork even more savory.

Apart from the suckling pig, the pepes ikan (steamed marinated fish in banana leaf), the kare ayam (curry chicken with carrot and potato), the grilled lamb steak and the fried rice are all must-tries and delicious in their own ways.

The buffet costs 238 yuan ($37) a head plus 15 percent service charge, and on Sunday morning there will be Indonesian cooking lessons for anyone interested.