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Homemade taste of Malaka culinary
Mama Malaka: Mama Malakaâs front areaThe crowded food scene in the capital fails to deter new players from adding flavors to Jakartaâs culinary map
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Mama Malaka: Mama Malaka's front area
The crowded food scene in the capital fails to deter new players from adding flavors to Jakarta's culinary map.
New restaurant, Mama Malaka, wants diners to experience its rich Malay taste, generous portions and reasonable prices.
In the Grand Indonesia shopping mall, the restaurant has a simple and soothing rustic-garden atmosphere, dominated by white, green and brown, with a view over the city.
'Mama Malaka offers home-style dishes, which will be very familiar to many people. Customers can enjoy a comfortable ambience ' a great place to chill and relax after work, with family members, or for a quick lunch,' said owner Stevan Lie.
With dishes from Rp 8,000 (82 US cents) to Rp 125,000, the restaurant is certainly worth a visit.
The appetizers of Mama Malaka features roti canai with a chicken and potato curry. The curry has a sweet taste, an excellent foil for the canai.
The restaurant also offers the less familiar roti tisu, a crispy thin flatbread in large size, with a sweet-savory flavor. The dish is made with butter, sugar and milk is a perfect standalone, but also gets along well with the chicken and potato curry.
If you feel like a fried snack, pai tee ' a mix of shredded vegetables and chicken in crispy patty cases ' serve you well. It tastes great and comes with a fantastic sauce.
Other appetizers include acar nyonya (pickled vegetables), cheese canai, egg canai, roti pisang madu (bread with banana and honey) and murtabak, the indian style crispy pancakes.
For main course, Mama Malaka divides the menu into seafood, chicken and meat, with rice and noodles.
In the seafood selection, the offerings range from ikan asam pedas (spicy-sour fish), fish head curry, sambal prawns, udang goreng mentega (buttered fried shrimp) through otak-otak malaka (fish cakes).
Fish head curry ' snapper fish head cooked with egg plant, tomato, spring onion and okra in spicy gravy ' has become a favorite dish for sharing.
Ayam goreng terasi (fried chicken with shrimp paste); chicken kapitan; ayam goreng sereh (fried chicken with lemongrass), Peranakan chicken satay; beef rendang (beef cooked in coconut milk) and ayam goreng pandan (fried chicken wrapped in pandanus leaves) are also popular.
Ayam goreng terasi is best served hot with its savory crispy coating and spicy dip.
'Who doesn't like fried chicken? I know it's quite a standard, but we can assure you that our fried chicken dishes have a distinctive taste, with great portion size and prices compared to other restaurants,' said Stevan, who is secretary-general of the Indonesian Café and Restaurant Entrepreneurs Association.
In the rice and noodles selection, Mama's mee goreng fried noodles is a reliable choice for many diners.
Nasi lemak (fragrant rice cooked in coconut milk) and nasi rames malaka (rice and accompaniments), are great for a quick lunch. Each individual portion comes with several side dishes.
As special vegetables, Mama's golden tau hoo tofu and its spicy version are the favorites.
For desert, Mama Malaka offers plenty of choices, from ice kacang (dessert drink with red beans, sweet corn, jelly and vanilla ice cream), sweet martabak pancakes to pink juliette (fresh strawberry juice).
' Photos by Niken Prathivi
Mama Malaka
Grand Indonesia, 3rd A Floor,
Jl. M.H. Thamrin No. 1, Central Jakarta
Price: Rp 8,000 ' Rp 125,000
