Mamaku Kitchen

Did you know that I love Indonesian food? It's like my top 5 cuisines to eat out, like Thai, Indonesian, Malaysian, all the Middle Eastern cuisines and Japanese. Notice that Vietnamese isn't there because I can cook that at home. Also American comfort food, cause I love burgers and fried chicken but not every other aspect of that cuisine.

There's a very small amount of parking at this place, its along Sandgate road and in the same section as the Night Owl!

This place!

I didn't take any photos of the interior cause nearly every table as taken up . . . all ten of them! It's tiny, tiny little spot. Here is a copy of their menu!

I went with Manda and rather than let her pick, I just committed and picked a few dishes for us to share. The first thing we got was this home made pork crackling! Manda sang this dishes' praises as it reminded her of the old fashioned pork crackling you could get in bags. It was perfectly puffy, well seasoned and had a great crunch. She was talking to me and I was trying my best to look interested as I continued to stuff them in my mouth. We both agreed that to satisfy our fattiness, we really needed about $20 worth of pork crackling.

Mmmmm crackling

We were both iffy about the addition of the kale salad to this chicken satay dish but in the end it ended up being our second favourite dish of the night! The chicken was bland, tender but bland in the way that plain chicken can be. We both agreed that we both enjoyed it when you got a ton of peanut sauce to dunk it in, not that we found anything particularly tasty with the peanut sauce. 

The real winner was, and I can't believe I'm saying this, THE KALE SALAD. Or rather it's dressing, it was a rich, creamy, peanutty, slightly sour dressing that coated all the leaves of the kale salad and contrasted beautifully against the richness of the other dishes. I like the kale salad and dressing so much, I'd have happily shelled out top dollar for a giant bowl of the stuff.

FEED ME KALE SALAD

We got the lamb curry with potato pieces. The potato pieces were quite large and slightly starchy, they were very filling. The lamb pieces were fall apart tender but we found the flavour of the sauce to be quite bland? Like it needed a good whack of salt or some more spices to entice the taste buds. Both Manda and I both agreed that despite being well cooked, the flavour wasn't to either of our liking.

Pass

We got the vegetarian mi goreng to be healthy, it came out looking like a great jumble of carrot, kai lan, scrambled egg, thick egg noodles, spring onions and a scattering of fried onion pieces. We both love noodles and could have ignored this dish, the noodles were great but the dish needed more salt! At least we were healthy with our low sodium and ton of veggies noodle dish?

I've had better!

We did not finish our food ):

Stuffed!

Mamaku Kitchen
Atmosphere: 7, tiny, tiny little cafe, I think its really cute though with its ingredients in jars and family photos.
Service: 4, a bit slapdash, considering the space is so small, I felt like it was hard to get the server's attention. I remember our waiter zoned out and we couldn't get his attention so we could order. Also we got given the wrong food, even though our order was taken correctly :/
Food: 5, pretty average. Not good enough that we would go back again, its a shame cause the menu looked fantastic. 

Jakarta Indonesian Restaurant

True fact, VGirl and I love Malaysian/Indonesian food, its often halal, has a huge emphasis on vegetarian cuisine, massive portions of food, cheap prices, its a wonderful combination of Asian cuisines that we love and also mi goreng is gods gift to noodle lovers. So its a bit of a mystery why we haven't been to Jakarta in New Farm on an earlier occasion.

This place!

We got there so early that they were still opening up the restaurant when we arrived. It got pretty busy as we were leaving, lots of ex-pats and their Indonesian wives from the sound of it! It's pretty easy to spot from Brunswick Street, its pretty close to the Night Owl so its relatively easy to find!

This spot!

It has a really traditional Balinese kinda feel? It reminds me of the Indonesian lote class I had in primary school or at least the way that my teacher decorated the room!

I like it!

Lots and lots of tables

Here is their menu!

I got the ayam goreng tepung as my snack, because an entire dish of fried chicken is a snack of course. This was a described as marinated and deep fried chicken pieces. They look lightly battered to me and were quite salty, I found the proportion to be a bit stingy/lacking for the price of a main dish. I think this would be perfect for a group to sharing but as a complimentary dish, that's all you get!

Hmmmm~

VGirl got vegetarian bakmi goreng, she remarked that this was quite a healthy rendition with lots and lots of vegetables, onions, kai lan, tomato and carrot. We both found that this dish wasn't as flavoursome as the one that we at Sambal Oelek but it had a much greater charry flavour. She also wanted more visible bits of egg and so stole my fried egg from my plate with my blessing.

Not bad though!

I got the nasi goreng istimewa, Indonesian style fried rice topped with a fried egg, two chicken satay skewers and prawn crackers. It was a moderately sized meal but it gave me a good sample of two of the staples you find in any Indonesian restaurant, nasi goreng and chicken satay! I found the fried rice to be pretty good but the chicken satay was much better. It had a lovely sauce that I wish I had a lot more of!

Jakarta:
Atmosphere: 8, a cute little slice of Indonesia! I really liked the layout and warm setting of the restaurant.
Service: 8, super friendly and insightful service, The young waitress was probably about the same age of us but was very professional.
Food: 7, solid food for a cheap price. This would be great for a get together with friends, where you sit around, share food and chat for ages, not to mention its BYO so a cheap way to get wasted.

Sambal Oelek

So my updates haven't been as frequent as I liked, it's seriously straying into the 5-7 day mark rather than the 4-5 that I like. Lots of things have been happening in my life. As you probably guessed, I broke up with my Boyfriend, I also started going to the gym pretty intensely and dating guys again on Tinder recently. I've been going out lots, as seem on my Instagram account @ThatSeriousGirl, and not doing much writing. Or bothering to post many pictures on my Instagram either come to think of it.

Anyway, I'm trying to do half as much writing as I do gym work, considering I've been going 1-2 hours a day, I better get cracking! I just wish I was able to write my blog and do stuff at the gym at the same time. I suppose I could type and cycle at the same time but there's not good enough internet at my gym!

So here I was at Sambal Oelek, the new Indonesian restaurant in Brisbane, handily located in Underwood right off the highway besides my favourite butchers Big Gun!

The menu!

Another menu!

The interior is all bright red plastic furniture, nothing too fancy!

Noice

That being said, they did have these lovely lanterns. I like the interlaced pattern.

Pretty!

I got this tea both times I was here, teh kotak, or a strong, sweetened jasmine tea with a mildly bitter aftertaste. I found it refreshing and super sweet, it was also super cheap for only $2 a box! I highly recommend trying this if you're used to the taste of bubble teas and the like.

50% extra? Bargain!

I got the pangsit goreng ayam the first time I went here, basically deep fried chicken mince fritters! The filling was very reminiscent of a chicken version of the filling you get in prawn wontons, that slightly gingery, moussey and green onion flavoured combination. The wrapper was deep fried perfection, it had that immensely satisfying crunch like a prawn cracker. It was so wonderfully bubbly and the crispy exterior melted on the tongue, I took great delight in eating each fritter. It came with some sweet chili sauce that was a good contrast.

Tasty!

I got the sop buntut or oxtail soup as well! All the main dishes come with a side of rice or coconut rice depending on your preference. This was listed as being the famous, hearty and comforting dish of Indonesia, tender slow cooked oxtail with potato and carrot chunks in a clear soup.

Oxtail soup!

It tasted like home, like those thick, slowly cooked bone in soups that you get when you were younger as a meal, or at least I did. I could taste the greasy film from the soup on my lips and it reminded me of a warm winter's day. It was a very basic but comforting dish that was very well made. I quite enjoyed it! It came with a little dish of sambal that was mildly spicy but nothing spectacular.

It tastes like home even if I'm not Indonesian :P

I came back about a week later to try the rendang sapi, a beef rendang done in the Indonesian style. There was a huge dish of the beef stew with a thick but very oily sauce. It had all the sauce mostly absorbed by the shredded coconut but I suspected it wasn't pan fried off because it was put it because it was quite chewy and didn't have the same aroma. As beef rendang goes, its not as good as the one I make at home, two or three pieces were horrifically chewy although most of them were quite soft and tender. As far as restaurant ones go, its probably the best one I've had. Good level of spice, well balanced spices and mostly tender meat. I got coconut rice as my pick this time as well.

Someone at work saw this and said ITS A BOOB

Yum~!

Sambal Oelek
Atmosphere: 5, basic little Asian eatery. Clean with laminated menus hurray!
Service: 8, very friendly service. The first time I was here, the owner walked me through the menu and highly recommended the oxtail soup, fried chicken and beef rendang and they were good!
Food: 7.5, tasty and cheap food! Plus close to where I love, what else is there in life hahaha

Sendok Garpu at Indooroopilly

A* and I were randomly perusing menus on Urbanspoon one day when we saw the menu listing for Sendok Garpu. It had an absolutely fantastic menu and we were both enthralled, especially when presented with their interesting history on their gorgeously designed website. Basically they started as a little hawker style food stall in Coopers Plains, operating only on the weekends for a few hours a day and got so huge they decided to get a restaurant! We were working the weekend so we decided to go later on our days off and then I ditched A* to go there with Jubi cause I haven't seen her in two months.

I've stopped inviting people personally and just put up open invites on Facebook to get people to come with me to places. There was a time where I found out people were complaining that I wasn't inviting them at work so I just decided that if you're really that interested, comment and come along. It's been having mixed results as people I wouldn't normally invite are coming along but people I normally ask to come along aren't replying. Hmm unsure what to do, I think I'll just go back to the old method as it gets more people to come along, ruffled feathers aside.

This place!

This is their main entrance! 

They have very oddly specific opening hours I think, Wedesday-Sunday from 11.30-9pm. I would definitely recommend a booking because when we rocked up, the waiters and waitresses had a brief moment of panic because EVERY SINGLE INSIDE TABLE HAD A RESERVED SIGN ON IT. The restaurant opened on the 25th of June, and we visited on the 2nd of July, not bad for its first week of trading! The only table they could offer us was a very dark corner under some umbrellas that we lamented was the result of us being banished from the warm interior. It was super cold there, and we were right up against the glass, so we felt like orphans staring in at all the other warm and privileged other patrons. 

Hmmmm~

The interior is lovely that being said, lots of things to cast your eye on as your peruse the menu or wait for people to arrive.

I wish I was sitting inside.

Here is their extensive menu. I don't know how long Jubi and I sat there for twenty minutes or more trying to desperately decide what we wanted to eat. My issue was, of course, massive indecision because I really love Indonesian food and am a sinful glutton while Jubi doesn't eat a whole lot of South-East Asian food and didn't know what would be good to order. 

Jubi nearly got the es kopi but backed out once she found out it had sweetened condensed milk added to it, that would've been the main draw for me, she got a Coke Zero. I was more adventurous and got the es cincau hitam, black grass jelly in a pandan sugar syrup. Jubi was weirded out by the taste but she ended up drinking a bit more of it when she ran out of Coke Zero to quench the chilli burn. I'm more used to the grass jelly and herbal tea combination to be honest and was surprised by the strong flavour of pandan in the sugar syrup. I found it to be much too sweet for my liking even with the ice very, very slowly melting in the freezing cold we were sitting in. I would advise against ordering it or at least diluting it with water to lessen the sweetness.

Too much pandan

We got the mini murtabak telur, crispy and super flaky pastry encasing beef mince, boiled egg, scallion and green onion filling. The filling was pleasant, flavoursome and super hot. The pastry on the outside was a little oily though, it left a little film of oil on your fingers and Jubi was turned off the pastries as a result. Of course, that only made me want to eat them even more. The pickles were delicious, super crunchy, sour and sweet, there were a jumble of cucumber and carrot pieces but predominately cucumber. I also got two bright green chillis that I ignored. 

Dem pickles

We both agreed that we needed a side of vegetables of some sort, to balance out the meatiness of our mains so I made the executive decision of ordering a side of kangkung stir fried in belacan paste and chilli, I don't know why its spelled in the menu as blacan twice. I have no idea if the spelling is just different in Indonesian and Google has no idea with me. I'll wait for Yannikins to never get back to me about it. I really love the salty funkiness of belacan, the heat of the chilli and the refreshing super crunchiness of the kangkung was great as always. I love kangkung at home just lightly steamed, boiled dipped in meat sauces or covered in lemon juice.

So tasty

Jubi ordered the mild ayam mie goreng, chicken fried noodles, after I bullied her into it instead of the nasi goreng, fried rice, that she wanted as I absolutely love noodles. She admitted afterwards that the first time she had egg noodles they had a really bad smell, but after having this she will give other egg noodle dishes a chance now. It was a very intensely flavoured dish that I need to say was spot on seasoning for fake Indomie Mi Goreng, so I'm not sure which I'm more impressed by, the fake or the real one's spot on flavouring. It was absolutely delicious, the noodles were charry and coated in whatever they used to impart that amazing mie goreng flavour. The chicken was tender and there was a lot of it everywhere and the egg clung to all the noodles.

As a side note, I called dibs on the pickles and Jubi protested that they were her pickles. When I suggested that we should get a plate of pickles as a side for $5 she declined, but ate all the pickles barring the last two. They were really good pickles.

Do want.

I picked the ayam goreng with sambal Ijo, fried chicken half with a green tomato and chilli sauce. The sauce was super spicy and extremely salty, I had about a third of it but couldn't finish it all. I warned Jubi off trying it because she finds even mildly spicy food too spicy for her most times. She did eat some of the chicken including the skin and remarked that it was very well cooked while remaining quite tender. I had to agree with her, the chicken was tasty despite having no other additional flavour but I suppose that's what the sambal is there for. 

Model side

Sambal side

I got a serve of plain steamed rice as well for $2. When it arrived, I was quite happy as it was a good 2-3 serves of rice and quite good for $2. 

Sendok Garpu:
Atmosphere: 7, really busy little restaurant, where a lot of Indonesian and Malaysian families were having meals and meeting up with friends. There were also a lot of adventurous large groups eating here as well. The placed was pretty packed for such a cold winter night.
Service: 8, super friendly service. The waiters and waitresses were constantly circling the menu, removing plates quite quickly and very pleasant to chat to. Even thought we were were out of the way, they would stop by our table to ask how our meal was going and if we needed anything. 
Food: 8, pretty damn good. I really enjoy the menu here and I would definitely go here again with a large group of people to try some more things. The mains were a touch smaller than I like, but the perfect size and price for you to get a few more plates and generously share between friends. 



I got contacted about promoting the James Street Food and Wine Trail, currently in its 3rd year and running from the 31st of July to the 3rd of August. Read the media release below and if you're keen I'll see you there! I'll keep updating this and posting it to the bottom of my posts until the day of the event :)

Manakan Indonesian

I love a good cheapo Asian takeaway shop. You know the kind I'm talking about, the neighbourhood favourite everyone goes to when they want a cheap dinner. Where the walls are plastered with tacky decorations. You have to help yourself to all the cutlery. There's dodgy live bands or karaoke. There are condiments littered all over the tables surface. Its always noisy, crowded and full of university students. The menu is sticky, laminated and has pictures because you can't pronounce the words and the one person serving, barely understands English.

Its okay thought, cause the meal is always super cheap, comes out in a matter of minutes no matter what and how much you order, there are the countries natives there, its delicious even if you feeling lingering guilt over how bad it must be for you and you come back again and again. That's my kind of Asian takeaway shop.

I found it with Makanan Indonesian. Located on Hardgrave Road in West End, it must be good to stay in business for so long along that cut throat strip of super cheap Asian food. I'm always a sucker for Indonesian food so I beelined for it, too snobby in my Vietnamese tastes for anything but my mother's cooking to be tempted by the likes of Trang, Dakbla, Quan Thanh or Kim Thanh. I liked the menu and the prices so that's where we had lunch that day.

This place had a constant stream of mixed race couples and business men, although it only looks like there are a few people in there during the photo. Check out the decor, I'm not sure what they're called but I remember that the figures on the walls, are actually shadow puppets. The masks were a bit creepy though.

Nice little place haha

I did take home a copy of their menu but I don't know where it went! Watch this space for when I find it or go back for another copy of their menu. Its a huge menu too! Spanning a folded A3 double sided sheet, with dishes from lots of different regions of Indonesia.

It feels like home already!

We were given water soon after we ordered and sat down inside. I like that the cups are so childish, large, chunky plastic tumblers, ideal for kids to throw around without breaking! The bottle was cute too, I like the colour of it. Also tacky plastic flower/s? Check!

The cups are weird but cute!

We got teh tarik and a Sprite of course. One of my friends had been looking through my phone earlier and saw this photo and asked if I had taken it because the tea had a smiley face. Until then I didn't even notice it, can you see the smiley face? It was alright, the tea was a bit on the weak side for me and not overly sweet although you can taste the condensed milk being used as opposed to sugar. I wish it had a frothier head of bubbles though, what's the point of teh tarik without bubbles!

Its happy to see you!

Our plate of ayam goreng. Five pieces of golden brown, deep fried chicken, two drumsticks and three wings. They came out HOT from the deep fryer, my Boyfriend picked up the first pieces as I was busy checking my photo of it, he had taken a bite just as I put mine in my mouth and warned me that it was really hot. Luckily I had that warning, otherwise I'd have gotten burned like he did. I had just bitten in with my teeth and even through them I felt the scalding heat, I just dropped them back on the plate and tried again a few seconds later.

Golden brown much?

Oh and check out the feathers still left on! My camera refused to refocus on it, but you can still see the blurry feathers that have been deep fried along with the chicken hahaha, authentic! It reminds me of what my family buys live poultry, kill and pluck them.

Feathers!

Crazy mouth burns asides it was delicious! Simple, deep fried to the point that the skin shattered goodness, the chicken was simply brined and fried, I don't remember any other spices being involved. I nibbled the flesh right down to the bone, I don't mind being a savage when eating fried chicken, that's why it comes in perfect portions for your hands!

Western fried chicken is always so different I find, the flavour is all in the skin, thick, crunchy and heavily battered like KFC, and not in the actual flesh itself, so after the skin is gone you just have plain chicken pieces. Whilst Asian fried chicken like karaage, ayam goreng or Korean/Thai etc fried chicken, the flavour is forced right down to the bone with marinades, brining or spice pastes. Love it.

My Boyfriend's Jakarta Laksa came out next. The bowl is freaking huge, I don't think the pictures did it justice. It's diameter was about the size of a tissue box and just as deep! It looks so tasty with its diced coriander, green onion and fried onion topping, just like what my mum puts on top of our soups. It was unbelievably fragrant. There were bits of tofu, chicken, bean sprouts, slippery egg and rice noodles throughout the dish, although it did say vermicilli but I think these noodles were too thick to be considered that.

Jakarta laksa!

It was thisssssssssss big!

The coconut based broth was heavenly, with a mild back burn. I normally hate drinking soups in Asian places, I find they don't cook it for long enough so that the flavour leeches out of the bones. This soup is as good as anything my mum or I would cook at home. My Boyfriend thought it was quite spicy despite my protests and he even had the nose sweats to back up his opinion ahahaha. He refused to drink my tea when I offered it to him, stubbornly saying that the water would suffice. Silly boy! All the foodies know that water just spreads it around, while the casein in dairy destroys or removes the capsaicin from the nerve receptors in the mouth!

I picked the gado gado and chicken satay skewers. The chicken skewers were really small, they were sweet with the taste of sweet kecap manis. My Boyfriend declined to try any as he had a taste of the peanut satay sauce and didn't like it. They were tender, bouncy and well charred if a bit on the small side.

Gado gado and chicken satay

Even before I started eating, I knew this would be too much and I'd be defeated. I have no idea why I picked it, I think I was always intrigued by the idea of gado gado since I love peanut infested/infused/covered anything. I conveniently forgot I hate tofu and oddly sweet things like sweet meat and I just generally hate salad. Gado gado combines all these things in one salad. I ignored all the tofu, and ate all the cucumber, egg, most of the green beans and ate most of the sauce with the mildly coconut-y rice. It was too much and my Boyfriend was too full from his meal to be forced to eat mine.

The brain says finish it. The stomach whispers no.

All in all, I quite liked the place. My Boyfriend picked the dish of the day asides from the ayam goreng which we smashed through, I would happily go here again and try something else, maybe some mie goreng or something. The price wasn't bad either, with both of us having drinks, entree and main for less than $40 together.

Atmosphere: 8, I love cheapo Asian dives. For the reasons entailed above.
Service: 5, nothing special. I did notice the guy manning the counter being very friendly towards some business men who must've been regulars I think. We were left alone as a couple. Took a while for tables around us to be cleared.
Food: 6, solid but nothing spectacular. Since going, I haven't had wistful daydreams about how good this place is or anything.