Soto Padang Bunda

As I mentioned on my last week "Soto H. St. Mangkuto" post, I went to another famous place for  Soto Padang named Bunda. It is located in Bendungan Hilir or more known as Benhil area. 

Cindy, Jenz and I had to wait until 1 pm before we could have our lunch because it was on a Friday. On Fridays, this restaurant only opens after 1 pm because of Sholat Jumat (Friday Prayers).

As soon as I entered into this restaurant, I could smell the aroma of cloves. Hmmm.... Nice! 

Soto Padang Daging - Rp. 23.000

Compared to Soto Padang Mangunkuto, this soto wasn't so oily and tasted rather bland for me.

The ingredients of the beef broth is the same. It got small pieces of fried beef, vermicelli, and also fried potato dumpling.

I asked for a bowl of the beef broth only. Interestingly, it tasted different than the complete Soto Padang bowl. From this broth, I could taste the herbs like the cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg. It was really tasty! 

Rice  with pink rice crackers - Rp. 5.000

Teh Telor/ Teh Talua - Rp. 12.000

Sweet and a bit creamy, made from egg yolk, sugar, hot tea and lime. 

Current currency:

1 USD = Rp. 9.805

Location:
Soto Padang Bunda 
Jl Bendungan Hilir Raya no 19A
Jakarta Pusat
Telp: 5704513

Opening hours: 8 am - 9 pm (except for Friday)

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.

Soto Padang H. St. Mangkuto

Last week, after I tweeted about Soto Padang from the Artisanal Minangkabau Culinary Experience Press Conference, Natalia (Daniel's girlfriend) replied to my tweet. She told me about Soto Padang Mangkuto which according to her mom is one of the best Soto Padang in Jakarta. I got quite curious :) Thus, today, I went together with Natalia to have  Soto Padang Mangkuto for lunch.

Inside the restaurant.

 Rice  (1/2 portion) - Rp. 4.000 

The pink rice crackers on rice

Soto Padang - Rp. 26.000

Beef broth with small pieces of fried beef, vermicelli, and Frikadeller (fried potato dumpling). 

Red chili paste to add the flavor and spiciness.

Paru - Rp. 12.000 (3 small pieces)

We also had Paru (beef lung) to accompany our Soto Padang.

Current currency rate:

1 USD = Rp. 9.775

All prices are subjected to 10% tax.

Tell you the truth, this was my second time eating Soto Padang. It tasted different than my first Soto Padang at the Artisanal Minangkabau Culinary Experience. The aroma of cloves and cinnamon was pretty strong compared to Soto Padang Mangkuto which got a very mild aroma. I like both of them. Well, next week, there's a plan to try another famous Soto Padang in Central of Jakarta. I definitely will post about it, so stay tune ;)

Location:
Soto Padang H. St Mangkuto
Jl. Pintu Air Raya No. 26 Pasar Baru
Jakarta Pusat
Telp: 3857357

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.

Soto Mie (noodles in beef stew)

So glad that the hot weather has been cooling off by the rain these days! But yeah, the government already gave a warning to be prepared for the flood that might happen soon in Jakarta. It's predicted at the end of January or beginning of February before the Chinese New Year.

Need something nice and warm... and I think a bowl of hot Soto Mie (noodle in beef stew) is just a perfect comforting meal on a rainy day :)

The preparation of making a bowl of Soto Mie:

Left: chopped asian celery, salt, pepper, MSG.

Right: the beef stew (beef broth, nutmeg, ginger, coriander, shallot, garlic, black pepper, salt, MSG), sweet soy sauce.

Left: Rissoles (small croquettes filled with vermicelli noodles), tomato
Right: Beef (plus the legs part)

Left: Kaffir lime
Right: Yellow noodles, Vermicelli, slices white cabbage.

Put in a bow:l noodles, white cabbage, vermicelli, slices of rissoles.
Add pepper, salt, MSG, then chopped asian celery, slices of tomato and beef.

Pour the beef stew in the bowl.

Garnish with Emping (malinjo nuts chip) and fried shallot.

Tukang Soto Ayam Madura (Chicken Stew from Madura)

Soto Ayam Madura (chicken stew) is a well known dish from Madura - an island located northeastern coast near East Java. The topping on this chicken stew named "koya" powder is the signature. Koya powder is made from prawn crackers, fried garlic and dried shrimp.

The preparation to make Soto Ayam Madura:

A bowl of rice

Vermicelli and pieces of torn chicken on the top of rice.

Torn chicken.

Then add bean sprouts and fine chopped chinese celery.

Slices of white cabbage and boiled egg.

Slices of a tomato and salt.

Pour the chicken broth (chicken cooked with turmeric, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, bay leaves, ginger, pepper seeds, shallot, garlic, nutmeg).

It looks so colorful and delicious, isn't it? ;)

Sprinkle with koya powder and also a squeeze of lime juice .

Add chili sauce if you like hot and spicy :)

A bowl of Soto Ayam Madura costs Rp. 7.000 (USD 70 cents)

Soto Kudus (Chicken/ Buffalo stew from Kudus)

Kudus is a small city in Central Java. One of the most popular dish from that city is the Soto Kudus (stew). There are 2 choices of meat - chicken or buffalo. Probably you might question why buffalo, not beef? Well, the information that I heard is that most people in Kudus don't eat beef because they don't believe in killing cows.

This Soto Kudus restaurant is serving only the chicken stew. You probably will find that the chicken meat is not tender, a bit harder to bite because it's free range chicken which we called it as ayam kampung (trans: ayam = chicken; kampung = village).

I like eating Soto Kudus because it's consider light stew, savory and also flavorful because of the spices.

Soto Kudus Recipe
Source: Fatmah B.

Ingredients:
1 kg free range chicken
2 litters water
2 tsp salt
3 Indonesian bay leaves/laurel
200 gr bean sprout (only pour with hot water and then drain)
2 tbsp leek/ green onion (chopped)
2 tbsp fried shallots
1 tbsp fried garlic

Ground ingredients:
10 pcs shallots
5 pcs garlic
5 pcs nutmeg
2 cm tumeric
2 cm ginger
1 tbsp white pepper
½ tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
1 tsp MSG (optional, I prefer not to use it)

Chili sauce ingredients:
10 pcs small red chili
50 ml sweet soy bean sauce
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp fried garlic

Directions:
- Boil water, put the chicken and salt. Let it boil again, then simmer it until becomes broth.
- Take out the chicken, fry in hot oil until golden. Then use hands to tear the chicken into small pieces.
- Fry the ground ingredients with vegetable oil until fragrance, add the Indonesian bay leaves then pour into the chicken broth.

How to prepare the Soto Kudus:

Put the bean sprout on the little bowl first.
Follow with the pieces of torn chicken.

And then, put fried garlic and then fried shallots

On top, put the chopped green onion,
and then pour the chicken broth in the bowl.

Soto Kudus

Usually, when you eat at a Soto Kudus restaurant, they will also provide a plate of quail eggs on skewers, chicken gizzards on skewers, scrambled eggs and croquette as a side dish.


I always love to add the fresh lime juice by squeezing the lime directly to the Soto Kudus.

The perfect companion of Soto Kudus is a plate of warm white rice :)

Soto Roxy H. Darwasa

My colleagues made a plan for lunch and asked me to join. They were craving for Soto Betawi in Roxy area. I was excited because I've heard about this place but never gotten a chance to go there.

I wasn't aware when we already arrived at the place. The place doesn't look like a restaurant at all which I had in my mind. It's a very old house and only got a banner in front of it. Looking at the banner, I believe this Soto Roxy is owned by Haji Darwasa and located at Jl. Tidore no. 2, Jakarta Pusat. Hey..., so many nice cars were parked there and it's even hard for us to find a space to park.


Oh my... who will expect that this place is so crowded inside? People have to wait and stand to get a sit. Luckily, my colleagues and I got seats as soon as we entered but in a few minutes later, people started to queue and stand beside us; waiting us to finish our meal faster. Hmmm... next time, must make sure to come earlier because it's really crowded after 12 pm.

Yes, the soto absolutely is delicious but you can not really enjoy your time eating there because everything is in a hurry and it's not nice and so uncomfortable being stare by those hungry people who stand beside you; ready to grab your seat as soon as you finished your meal. Believe it or not, starting with the ordering, food coming onto the table, eating the Soto and paying the bill, all took my colleagues and me in less than 20 minutes!!!


Let's see what happened after we made our order:
First the chili sauce came to the table. There's no taste at all in the chili padi/bird's eye chilies sauce... only hot hot hot! But it's so perfect when you mix it into the Soto :)
Then followed by the rice with fried shallots on the top and kaffir lime (jeruk limo/limau) on the side of rice.
Finally the Soto served on the table and we could start to enjoy our Soto :)

I looked what's all inside the Soto, uhmmm.... if this is Soto Betawi then how come there's no tomatoes in it?

The jeruk limau/limo (kaffir lime) is a must to put in the Soto because it really enriched the flavour.
They provide sweet soysauce (kecap manis), white vinegar (cuka) and white pepper (lada).

Soto (Betawi) Roxy H. Darwasa:
The main ingredients of this Soto are the beef broth and tick coconut milk (coconut cream) with a lot of seasonings such as clove, bay leaves, nutmeg, cinnamon, spring onions, garlic, shallot, ginger, galangale, coriander, peppercorns, black cumin and candlenuts.
The meat is beef but commonly there are other parts like innard (lung, heart, tripe, liver, intestine), ears, or legs.

And the toppings are Emping (malinjo nut chips), fried shallots, and chopped spring onions.