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For 74 years, serving one wonderful dish
Haute cuisine: People dining at Warung Mak Beng in Sanur
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Haute cuisine: People dining at Warung Mak Beng in Sanur.
There is no beach view, no exotic luxury, no wide screen sports TV or free Wi-Fi at this no-frills warung in Sanur ' yet the place is jumping.
Diners squash as many as can fit onto long wooden benches to be served the fish of the day. These are the lucky ones. At the warung's street entry, families and office workers line up, hoping to be seated before the food runs out.
As they wait, their mouths are not watering over a great variety of choices, for the servings are limited to a combination dish of fish-head soup, fried fish, rice and vegetable soup.
This is the menu that for almost 74 years has sustained Warung Mak Beng over three generations.
Founded in 1941 as an early morning coffee house for local fishermen by Ni Ketut Tjuki (known as Mak Beng) and her husband, I Putu Gede Wirya, the warung eventually added rice, fish and vegetables to the menu.
By the late 1970s these simple offerings had developed into the one dish served today.
Putu Selastri, the daughter of Mak Beng who was born the same year that the warung opened, said that she barely remembered its earliest years. She does recall her parents cooking and the bustle of early mornings as fishermen sipped coffee and collected their nasi campur.
'I was still small and the warung didn't have a name. Fishermen just called out they'd meet at Mak Beng's,' Beng said. ''Beng' was the name for girls, boys were called kacung in the old era.'
She continues. 'I remember they served nasi campur wrapped in banana leaves, which is more fresh than the paper of today, but paper is more practical,' Beng says, seated at a tiny kiosk and surrounded by boxes of water, Balinese snacks and a fridge filled with iced tea next door to the warung.
'I have the kiosk so I am not bored at home, so I have some small duties and can meet friends on the street. My grandson runs the warung now,' says the 74-year-old.
Her grandson, 40-year-old Dodit, says he feels the weight of responsibility living up to Mak Beng's legacy of the simplest of dishes perfectly prepared.
'When my grandmother was already very old she taught me to cook her recipe, so the warung is as it was in 1941. I had to learn to cook to match her standards, and that was difficult,' says Dodit, seated cross-legged on the floor of his veranda in Sanur.
The quality of food in his grandmother's day was often richer. Sourcing ingredients that can meet Mak Beng's standards takes much of Dodit's time.
'In the past, even chillies were different, but I must match my grandmother's quality. She got her fish fresh daily from local fishermen, but now I cannot do that. I have a supplier and check the freshness of the fish every day, I check the quality of our ingredients constantly,' says Dodit.
The warung does not have a freezer. Fish and vegetables come fresh from markets daily, he says. 'I still do not carry food stocks. Every day the ingredients are bought for that day's portions. I estimate how many kilos of fish we will need and once that is sold, we close.'
The warung is open until 5 p.m. daily. However, if there is a run of diners at midday with the day's allotted portions sold ' as often happens ' the shutters can close as early as 2 p.m.
While Mak Beng was smart and hard working, it was his grandfather who was the idea man, says Dodit.
'My grandmother was vey respected in the community. She was very social and cared about people, but it was my grandfather who was the creator of dishes. He was clever with food, like the sambal that is our signature. So together they were great,' says Dodit.
Mak Beng's is a well-kept secret; despite its position just 40 meters or so from Sanur beach, foreigners rarely cross its threshold. The fish head soup, fried fish and boiled rice served bare and basic on plastic plates are not designed to whet the appetite through visual appeal.
Rather, Mak Beng's one wonderful offering depends purely on its taste. The fish head soup is a wild maze of flavours. Ginger, garlic, chilli, turmeric, onion and fresh fish hit the palate with an almighty blow that stuns with its complexity, each ingredient rolling across taste buds in balance and harmony.
The fried fish, plopped on a flat plate with a side of sambal is not pretty. It doesn't need to be: This fish is as fresh as the morning and, like the soup, is perfectly cooked.
Warung Mak Beng carries this fresh, flavorful approach to ingredients right through to its orange juice, made from freshly squeezed Kintamani oranges, the sweet citrus perfume still alive in the icy glass.
For Mak Beng's daughter and grandson, there is no need to expand on the heritage gifted to them. Their only duty is to keep on doing just what Mak Beng and Putu Gede Wirya began humbly in 1941.
' Photos by JB Djwan
