TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
More than just satay: Indonesian food and its common misconceptions
Walking through the many boroughs of London, there are lively Asian diaspora communities that have cemented their place in the city as a home away from home. From the floating red lanterns strewn across Chinatown near Leicester Square to the Asian food halls, it isn’t difficult to adapt to life in the big city.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
Toba Restaurant interior. (The Jakarta Post/Anggi Pande)
I
t is not hard to find a place to eat in London. It is a melting pot of cultures and cuisines, filled with exotic ingredients and aromatic spices.
Walking through the many boroughs of London, there are lively Asian diaspora communities that have cemented their place in the city as a home away from home. From the floating red lanterns strewn across Chinatown near Leicester Square to the Asian food halls, it is not difficult to adapt to life in the big city.
Continue your journey through central London to the business district, where glass skyscrapers glitter in the sky and people run about in monochrome office attire.
There are restaurants selling inexpensive Asian food right by the nearest Pret café, serving takeaway dishes of Asian food remodeled to be “healthier” (as if it wasn’t to begin with). A word to describe these pan-Asian food chains is inauthentic. You’ll find Korean fried chicken in a Japanese fast-food chain, or satay skewers on a Thai restaurant menu.
For many who have been on the hunt for good Indonesian food in London for years, authentic Indonesian food (let alone authentic Balinese food) is hard to come by.
Considering Indonesia’s archipelago, made up of over 17,000 islands, it is no surprise that Indonesian food cannot be represented with a single dish. And even if it could, there would be over a hundred different ways to make it.
Take satay, a token dish recognized around the world. According to Rahel Stephanie, founder of supper club Spoons, there are up to 252 ways to cook satay. Unfortunately, this has led to inauthentic satay dishes around the city.
