Q. about Indonesian food.
 

Can someone help me with a discription of what is the Indonesian food like.
I'm going to Amsterdan and I keep hearing
how popular it is, so I want to try it.
Thank you.

If you enjoy Thai cuisine you will love Indonesian food. It is somewhat similar to certain Indian cuisine. I've had it only once--in Amsterdam--and loved it. There was some chicken--perhaps served on kebobs--cannot remember. Alarge bowl of rice, Basmati, was served with many sauces to put on the rice and chicken--some hot, some cool, and most were spicy but not overwhelmingly so. I think there may have been some type of warming stove brought to the table. the waiter was very good at explaining the menu and made suggestions. Sorry I cannot remember the name of it but it was near Keizergracht on a fairly main street--a street that had several bakery/pastry shops with wonderful items in the windows. This was in early April just before Easter 2 yrs ago and the pastry windows were full of exquisite chocolate rabbits, ducks, etc. Have a wonderful time in Amsterdam!

The fun thing about Indonesian food in Amsterdam is the Rice Table (I'm not going to try to spell the other name for it). It's like the ultimate taster menu. You get something like 17 little bowls of food; most not more than a couple of bites.

I do love Thai food. So, i'll be okay.
Thanks.

Hi Mile -

My mother is Indonesian so I grew up eating wonderful Indonesian dishes. I think Indonesian dishes have influences of chinese and malays spices, so they have eclectic options to choose for. Just like Thai food, you can request for the non-spicy version of the dishes. The rice table is probably the best bet to get an exposure of different type of meat and vegetarian met just like recommended in the prevous poster. I forgot what they called it in English/Dutch, because I ordered my meals in Indonesian when I was in Amsterdam last year.

Fried noodle (Bakmi Goreng) or Fried Rice (Nasi Goren) with Sate Ayam (Chicken Satays) are wonderful options to start with. "Ayam" is chicken; "Babi" is pork; "Daging Sapi" is "Beef". "Sambal" is hot sauce, and "Pedas" is HOT.

Make sure you save room for dessert, because there are so many yummy choices. You can either have the iced drinks option or the small snacks like fried banana (Pisang Goreng). The iced drink for example is Es Kelapa Muda which is sliced of tender young coconut milk blended with ice and palm sugar.

Have a wonderful time! :)

Thanks to everyone.
h2babe, we used to drink the eskelapa muda at the beach all the time in Venezuela ; my mom who is traveling with me is going to love it. I think we
are only going to be eating Indonesian food while in Ansterdam. It sounds de-
licious. Thanks.

mile--hope you enjoy Amsterdam. Just saw a Rudy Maxa travel program and he was in Amsterdam eating the Ristofle meal at a place called Puri Mas and it looked very good--it may have been the one we tried. At any rate Rudy always eats at the best places. They have a website purimas.nl (I think).

Mile, I have a fave Indonesian restaurant in Hell Kitchen (NY), which I think is called Bali Nusa Indah, and it's wonderful. Are you only going to Amsterdam? I'm going to Prague in the summer and saw that they have an Indonesian restaurant by the Prague Castle, so I'll check it out and let you know:) You'll love Amsterdam! Have a great time.

We like Purimas - been twice so far. It's one or two streets off Leidseplein.

thank you!
h2babe, hi. I've been in Prague 3 times you are going to love it. It'
awesome! If any question that I can help e-mail me @ [email protected]
thanks.
take a day tour to kutna hora, also
Karlovy vary the spa town and do not miss Chesky krumlov, great comp.
for day tours ; athos.cz
their website.www.athos.cz you can book everything online.
on wed. around noon , they open the lady of tyn church, main sq. for mass but if you stay till the end you can see the inside of the church and even take pictures, do not miss.

be careful, indonesian can be very very spicy!

The most important thing about Indonesian food is this: if you go into anaphylactic shock after eating peanuts, then you best avoid it.

Mile,

If you have time to browse around, there is this awesome website that has all sort of Indonesian dishes' recipes and pictures of the meals as well ...
http://www.melroseflowers.com/mkic/

I'm a foodie ... I love all sorts of food from different ethnicities. Have a wonderful time in Amsterdam.