Indonesia - East Javanese Treats at Inggil

[klyeoh]

Very interesting Javanese restaurant-cum-museum: Inggil, which was strategically located next to Malang’s Town Hall. Inggil’s cavernous main dining hall was decorated with Javanese handicraft & colonial Dutch antiques.
Inggil’s kitchen efficiently turned out delicious East Javanese cuisine. We tried:
- Grilled spicy Padang-style whole spring chicken. “Whole” was taken literally here as our chicken came with its head & feet/claws attached;
- Crisp-fried Gurame, which was a freshwater fish which yielded tasty, white flaky flesh. Parts of the fish bones & fins were crispy enough to crunch on;
- Fried Tempe (fermented soybean cakes) – the ones here were some of the best I’d ever had;
- Sayur Lodeh, a spicy young jackfruit & vegetables stew – the version here was very different from the ones I had in Singapore & Malaysia, with a deeper, more intense flavour;
- Stir-fried pete (stink-beans), can be an acquired taste for some people;

Steamed white rice mixed with yellow corn was a nice accompaniment to the strongly-flavored dishes.

Dessert was Wedang ronde, a Javanese take on Chinese tung yuen (汤圆) - glutinous rice balls with peanut filling in sweet ginger broth with toasted groundnuts.

Address details
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Inggil
Jl Gajahmada 4
Malang
Tel: [phone]

[klyeoh]

This place certainly deserved a return visit - I just didn't quite count on doing that again this soon. A different Indon business colleague brought us there, and I didn't quite want to tell him that I'd just been to the place.

Anyhow, besides the wonderful grilled gurame fish, ayam goreng, tempe, pete, sayur lodeh (yep, second helpings of all those), I also got to try one of the house specialties: Pecel Terong - an aubergine/tempe/hard-boiled egg dish covered with thick peanut sauce. It was delicious, but served cold. IMO, I thought it'd have tasted hot.

Inggil's chicken sate (Malay: satay) was delicious: small skewers of grilled chicken (marinated in turmeric, spices & palm sugar) and served atop a mix of peanut sauce & sweet dark soy sauce.

Didn't quite take to their gado-gado though - it was too different from the rich, peanutty dish in Singapore & Malaysia which was called by the same name, but tasted hardly the same.

[penang_rojak]

This is my favourite restaurant when I visited Malang a few years ago. I liked the cool air which reminds me of Malaysia's Cameron Highlands. But you didn't try many famous warungs there like H Ridwan for nasi rawon which is more than 80 years old. Then, there's Depot Han Tjwan Sing in Lawang, about 30 minutes drive away to buy foodstuff to bring home. Sells very good onde-onde, pastel and also kuah rawon. It's nearly 90 years old according to my good friend who's from Surabaya.

Tahu telur lontong from Lonceng is also very good, if your stomach can take it. It's another old palce which is more than 70 years old.

And best sate kambing and gule from Pak Misdy which opened before the Second World War. Best in town.

[klyeoh]

Thanks, p_r. Will take note of those for future visit :-)