Bayang: Fancy Indonesian Food in Singapore, Food on Sticks

Bayang
3A River Valley Road,
#01-05 Clarke Quay, Singapore

Indonesian food: a cuisine that's just about impossible to find in most of the USA, and for reasons I find unfathomable - peanut sauce, fried rice, fresh ingredients and less aggressive spicing than Thai food, what's not to love? Thankfully, I live in Southeast Asia now, and we decided that we'd pay a visit to Bayang in Clarke Quay for our final dinner in Singapore.

Clarke Quay is a bit of a zoo at night, full of US marines on the hunt and young Singaporeans dressed to kill and backpackers really feeling their vow of partial-poverty, but it's kind of a fun vibe - the same as any Where Young People Go pre-fab destination in any major, wealthy city. As a resident of Phnom Penh, it felt rather exotic.

Bayang is also a bit of a pre-fab restaurant, with a chic and subdued interior, an English menu that explains things, and friendly waitstaff. The food is more than serviceable and attractive (though I'd like to go to some sort of po-dunk authentic Indonesian joint in Singapore, someday), and the location is convenient for a post-or-pre meal wander along the river on a busy weekend. I dock them some points for a curiously beat up menu - time to print out some new ones, tiger - but there's a nice selection of Indonesian classics with a special emphasis on grilled stuff.



We very much enjoyed the satay sampler with beef, chicken, and shrimp. All three meats were very tender and nicely marinated, and the lemongrass skewers were an attractive touch. Something about satay is bizarrely charismatic. I chalk it up to a nigh-universal human love of Food on Sticks and peanut sauce. Well, except for those of you with food allergies. Guess it sucks to be you.



Whole grilled marinated fish was also done nicely, with tender meat that didn't require rocket-scientist levels of precision to fillet. A delicately seasoned marinade with lemongrass, ginger, and chili gave the white flesh a nice additional kick - the three house-made dipping sauces on the side were another nice touch.



Nasi goreng, Indonesia's ubiquitous fried rice with Stuff on the Side was on offer, complete with a shrimp cracker, sambal chili paste, and an additional stick of chicken satay. It had an appropriately smokey, coconut infused flavor and was quite tasty - there's a reason one of the planet's biggest countries is absolutely nuts over the stuff. I still haven't tried the epic Dutch-influenced Rijstaffel spread, which all my expat relatives grow a bit misty about when discussing the dish, but someday, someday, someday.



And then there's gado gado, Indonesia's classic mostly-boiled warm salad smothered in delicious peanut sauce. Another dish I'm astounded hasn't hit big in the US - are we THAT scared of peanuts? It's made differently just about everywhere, but the regular players are hard-boiled eggs, cashews, green beans, cabbage, shrimp crackers, bean sprouts, cucumber, tofu, and whatever else happens to be lying around the kitchen that would taste good with spicy peanut sauce on it. I love the stuff and could probably eat it from mixing bowls.

I can suggest Bayang for upscale and reasonably priced Indonesian food in a pretty setting in a great location - good for a meal and a stroll. Probably worth looking elsewhere for true authenticity when it comes to Indonesian cuisine in Singapore, but hell, do you need that all the time?

Warung Bali: Cheap Indonesian Eats

Warung Bali
#25, Street 178, across from the National Museum
Phnom Penh, Cambodia



I love Indonesian food, but it's extremely difficult to find in the USA, even in the multi-cultural hodgepodge that is Northern California. I'm certain someone can tell me why the Indonesian diaspora doesn't tend to open restaurants in the USA, but, whatever: there's excellent Indonesian food right here in Phnom Penh.

Warung Bali is an Indonesian food specialist with extremely cheap prices - it's hard to top $10 - and a pretty extensive menu, with a particular focus on interesting soups and tempeh dishes. There's also lots of fruit drinks, including a great tamarind shake with brown sugar.



Everyone loves meat on a stick, those without horrifying peanut allergies love peanut butter (those WITH horrifying peanut allergies should stay five feet away from Indonesian restaurants), and the combination is pure magic.

This is definitely the best satay in Phnom Penh, and, at the princely sum of $2.50, a real deal. The peanut sauce is also absolutely superb: perfect, flavor, texture, crunch everything. Hoard the plate and toss it on your rice when your main course comes.



I hadn't really known that glass noodles were an Indonesian thing, but these stir-fried glass noodles with chicken and vegetables are a big favorite with my boyfriend and are indeed excellent, a slightly more delicate riff on the thicker, denser noodles that keep a healthy majority of Asia on its feet.



Beef rendang, stewed meat in coconut milk and spices served with coconut rice, is one of Indonesia's most iconic dishes and is something I occasionally really, really crave. Good thing is that this stuff is delicious - even the rice is good enough to warrant eating on its own.

I should add that it is impossible to attractively photograph beef rendang, but I tried.

I've also had the beef and coconut milk soup, and the beef, sweet soy sauce, and vegetable soup, both of which were excellent.

It's a great budget option and quite popular with both Indonesian and Western expats, and conveniently located near the tourist mecca of Riverside.

Warung Bali is a family restaurant in the most classically Asian sense of the word, which means various relatives amble through the restaurant and everyone lives upstairs, or at least I think they do. You walk through the rather close kitchen to reach the bathroom. Someone's kid might come over and stare at you. This is all part of the charm for some.

soto ayam: indonesian chicken noodle soup like mama did not make (unless you're indonesian)

Newspaper Noshes: Soto Ayam (Indonesian Noodle Soup.)



Wednesday's omnipresent NY Times food section featured curried noodle soups: those omnipresent and oh-so-good Southeast Asian specialities. Similar to pho but generally less delicate and more in your face, I've enjoyed slurping big bowls of this stuff for a while. I decided to give the NY Times recipe for Soto Ayam a try - perhaps because I really enjoy stripping all the meat off chickens.

First things first: Boil An Old Dead Hen. I did not have an old hen but I did have a dead one, which I hacked up into bits, tossed in a pot with a bit of lemongrass, salt, and water, and cooked for 45 minutes. The chicken cooked through nicely with a faint (and i mean faint) aromatic scent of lemongrass. I shredded it, threw away the nasty/delicious bits, and set it aside.

Item two: make spice paste, comprised of shallots, cumin seeds, coriander, garlic, ginger, and turmeric. I did this in my dinky little blender and it came out sharp and tasty: I sauteed it for a bit. I have no idea what exactly the recipe means by "saute until the oil begins to separate from paste" because this did not actually occur and things just got rather lumpy. Be forewarned.

Item two: dump the spice paste and the cooked chicken into the stock pot and cook for about 10 minutes to really blend those favors. Final touch involves stirring in two tablespoons of lime juice and pouring over rice noodles - bam, you're done.

The soup came out rich and chickeny but extremely delicate in flavor. Might be great for the less Asian-flavors inclined among us but I'm down with the funky stuff, and this didn't have enough flavor for my liking. We ended up dumping in a bag of arugula and spinach to the mix, which added a nice green peppery flavor to matters. I also added a gigantic quantity of Tiger sauce, but let's be honest, I do that to everything.

Final verdict? Tasty recipe that needs more oomph. I'll make it again, but I think I'll add the spice paste earlier -that's what they do in this recipe and it seems like a wise and flavor-enhancing idea.

Overall, if you're looking for a nice olfactory cleansing Asian riff on Ye Olde Chicken Noodle Soup, you can't go wrong here. Thanks again, Indonesia.