Bumbu Desa Jakarta

"Sema Wilu Jeung Sumping!!!"

That's the shouting that you'll hear from the waiters when you enter this Sundanese restaurant named Bumbu Desa. It means "Welcome" in Sundanse - West Java dialect.

As soon as you have ordered your drink and what kind of rice you like (white rice, brown rice or liwet rice (nasi liwet which is rice cooked with coconut milk and wrapped in banana leave), you can start to choose your own dishes on a buffet style counter.

There are so many choices that make you sometimes confused but good thing is that each dish is tagged with the name of the dish. Keep in mind that this is not buffet, you have to pay according to the dishes that you are taking.

Appetizer:

Sayur Asem
(Sour soup with corn, chayote, peanut, long green bean and melinjo cooked with red chili, and tamarind, etc.)

Main dishes:



Side dishes:

Fried food

After selecting the dishes that you want to eat, you can sit back to your chair and the waiters will bring the dishes to your table.

Then there's a little stall in the middle of the restaurant where you can take fresh vegetables as salad with chili sauce and sweet soy sauce- free of charge. We called it as "lalapan".

My ex-colleagues and me went for lunch to the latest Bumbu Desa's branch in Tanah Abang area.

Everyone is eating with their fingers :)

We ate the food with brown rice.

Dessert drink:
Es Campur
(young coconut, avocado, black cincau, kolang kaling with syrup and condense milk)

Prices range from Rp. 3.500 (side dishes) to Rp. 47.000 (main dishes) plus 10% tax.

So, if you are looking for authentic Sundanese cuisine, Bumbu Desa might be the right place to go ;)

Bumbu Desa Tanah Abang
Jl. Tanah Abang II No. 97
Jakarta Pusat
Tel: 380 8270

Disclaimer:
The review and opinion expressed here are purely according to my personal taste. There's a possibility that the taste of the food might change later on, which could affect the review and opinion here. I also affirm that no monetary or non-monetary compensation has been received from this restaurant for writing this review.

Tukang Lumpia Basah (Wet Spring Rolls)

When I was in Bandung, I can see there're so many street vendors selling "Lumpia Basah" (trans: Lumpia means spring rolls, Basah means wet). I think the reason why it's named "wet spring roll" because this spring roll is not deep fried :)


The main ingredients: thin crepes, egg, beansprouts, chicken, dried shrimp, jicama, garlic, soy sauce.

The process of cooking for the filing of Lumpia Basah:
* heat oil in a pan
* fry garlic
* add an egg (make like scrambled egg)

* add bean sprouts
* add the jicama which is already cooked with dried shrimp, chicken, sweet and salty soy sauce
* toss some salt and fresh chili sauce (the vendor added MSG)
* stir altogether

* prepare the thin crepes made from flour and water;
sauce made from tapioca/corn flour, tamarind water and brown sugar

* put the thin crepes on a banana leaf
*dab the thin crepes with the sauce
* put the "scrambled egg" on the thin crepes
The wrapping

It's ready to be eaten :)
Tasted quite savory!

1 Lumpia Basah costs Rp. 5.000 (about 50 cents US)

Telur Asin Brebes (Salted Duck Egg from Brebes)

During my trip to Bandung, I saw a street vendor selling boiled salted duck eggs from Brebes.

Brebes is a small city in Central Java with population less than 2 millions people is very well known for producing salted duck eggs in Indonesia. The salted duck eggs from Brebes are the best. The way of making the salted duck egg is by packing each duck egg in damp salted charcoal and leave it for 7 to 10 days. Some vendors are selling their salted duck eggs unboiled with the salted charcoal paste still wrapping the eggs and some other vendors are selling the boiled and clean with a stamp on each egg.

The most wonderful part of the salted duck egg is the dark orange fatty yolk! Yes, I love it so much! Oh.. and I don't bother at all with the white egg part which is too salty and sharp for my tastebuds ;)

1 telur asin Brebes costs Rp. 3.000 (about 30 cents US)

Kue Serabi Bandung

If you are visiting Bandung, give a try of the Kue Serabi Bandung which is one of the famous Indonesian traditional pancakes, made from rice starch/flour mixed with coconut milk with different kind of toppings.

If you are looking for an authentic taste, I will recommend the Oncom topping. Oncom is sediment of soy bean or peanut fermented by specific mold - an authentic food from West Java.

The traditional way of making Kue Serabi Bandung.

No electric stove but instead using wood.

Kue Serabi Bandung with Oncom topping
You can also have kue serabi with grated cheese.
It's tasty and rich of flavor.

Interested to read other Indonesian traditional pancakes? You can read:
Kue Serabi Solo
Martabak Mini
Kue Ape

Telur Dadar (scrambled egg on a skewer)

I was walking in one of the streets in Bandung, looking something for a little snack, then suddenly this street vendor really caught my attention.

It's so interesting to see how he makes the scrambled eggs on the wooden skewers.

Just watch this video below and you can see how to make a scrambled egg on a skewer within 10 seconds!!! :)

The vendor provides tomato ketchup and chili sauce.
It costs only 10 cents US$ /skewer

Mie Kocok Bandung

Mie Kocok Bandung is one of the famous dishes from Bandung. Well, I'm not so sure why this noodle dish is named Mie Kocok Bandung, since it means "shake noodle from Bandung", is it because the noodle is being shake in the hot water before it's put into the bowl? Argh... I totally forgot to ask the vendor about it...


You can see the beef meatballs (bakso) on the top row then there are bean sprout in the black plastic, noodle and vermicelli.

Kikil (it's a part of the cow's foot that tasted rubbery)

The preparation to make Mie Kocok Bandung:
1. shake the noodle in the hot water.
2. put it into the bowl.
3. add chopped chinese celery, fried shallot, salt, white pepper, (usually the vendor will add also the MSG).
4. drizzle some sweet soy sauce.
5. add some kikil.
6. add a few of beef meatballs and also tofu with meatball.
7. pour the beef broth.

Es Duren (Durian Ice Cream)

After my Kupat Tahu lunch, I had a plastic glass of Durian ice cream (es duren) for my dessert :)

Durian is considered as the King of fruits in Southeast Asia. It's a fruit that "either you love it or hate it" because of the strong unique odor (For people who love it, it's very wonderful fragrant but for people who hate it, it's so awfully stink and offensive aroma - they even want to puke when they smell it).

This is how the vendor prepare a glass of Durian ice cream :)

A scoop of durian ice cream.

A spoon of black glutinous rice.
A dollop of durian flesh and one more scoop of durian ice cream.

Drizzled with chocolate condense milk

For those who can't stand the smell of this fragrant creamy durian ice cream, please close your nose! ;)

Kupat Tahu Bandung (rice cake with yellow tofu)

Instead of having lunch at a Sundanese (West Java cuisine) restaurant together with my ex-colleagues, the food street vendors in front of the restaurant attracted me more thus I decided to eat "Kupat Tahu" for my lunch.


Kupat is another word for Ketupat which is rice cake - usually it's boiled in young coconut leaves for 4 to 5 hours.

Tahu Bandung or yellow tofu is tofu being soaked in salty turmeric water.

The preparation to make a plate of Kupat Tahu Bandung:

Slices of kupat (rice cake).

Slices of fried tahu Bandung (yellow tofu).
Blanched beansprout.

According to the vendor, the ingredients of the peanut sauce are ground roasted peanut, coconut milk, brown sugar, tamarind juice, kaempferia galanga, shallot, garlic, and salt.
Drizzled some sweet soy sauce.

Shrimp crackers on the side.