A review: Sambal Bakar Indonesia, Cikeas

 Hello all! I am sorry for the long wait as it's been several busy month for me thus the cause of the our post delay! Anyway, I decided to write a review about a place I've recently visit. If you're Indonesian or have been living in Indonesia for some time now, I'm pretty sure you've heard of Sambal Bakar Indonesia. Information about this new food chain has been spreading in every social media platforms. And is it really worth the hype? Hop in if you're curious!

1. Branch 

If you don't know about Sambal Bakar Indonesia, I'll explain to you shortly what it is. Sambal Bakar is two different words in Indonesia which literally means 'burned sauce'. It does sound weird in English, but it's actually not. Basically they'll fry these sauces or sambal (traditional Indonesian sauce, not ketchup or any other condiments) in a stone-based plate. If you decided to come, you'll definitely see this process. Here, I have a picture that'll hopefully represents it! 

Okay, there are a lot of branch in Indonesia, especially in the Java region. I've seen several in Depok, Jakarta, Bandung, etc. Although they're all based off the same menu, taste can be subtly or even totally different. Therefore, it's important to inform that the ones I've recently visited is the Cikeas Branch. For the address, you can scroll to the very end of the post to see it! If you live near or around this area, then don't skip any parts as you might want to visit this place!

2. Open Hour & Place

Based on the information I obtained, they are open every day and this is their schedule:

Monday-Sunday: 10:00 am-12:00 am.

It's actually not that hard to get here if you've copied the address I've put at the end of the post & your direction is from Jalan Transyogi, you just need to turn left to Jalan Gunung Putri. After that, you can see Sambal Bakar Indonesia anytime as they put a really big display in front of the store. The parking lane is vast and they have space for both motorcyle and cars. A guide will help you park the car so it doesn't blocked the other car. 

They have both indoor and outdoor seatings. The indoor room consists of restrooms, mini playground for children, and a lot of seatings. Inside, you can pick whether you want to enjoy your meal in a regular seat or 'lesehan' which means you'll seat on a matress covered-floor.

Lesehan isn't available for outdoor seatings & smoking is allowed there. An additional information about the place, they have free WI-FI, restrooms are pretty clean and it is differenciated between male and female, sink is also provided. 

3. Food

For starters, instead from a printed menu, you'll pick dishes from a tab. They offer ala carte and Paket which I'll explain shortly if you don't understand. Ala carte means you'll pick an individual dishes just like what you do regularly in a restaurant! Well, Paket means set-menu which is comprised of multiple dishes. They offer multiple set-menus that you can adjust based on how many people you're eating with!

The menu mostly consisted of dishes like chicken, fish, ribs, veggies, etc on top of a fried sambal. Rice is ordered individually except if you ordered a set-menu. Other than their famous sambal, they also offer fresh drinks like Es Timun Selasih, Es Teh Manis, Es Lidah Buaya, and also warm drinks. For desserts, they have vast option between Es Pisang Ijo and other traditional delicacy. 

I ordered Paket 1 (set-menu) which is comprised of rice, chicken with sambal, and an ice tea. Other than this, I've ordered several items including squid, cow lungs, bakwan, pete (bitter bean), and genjer.

Chicked with Sambal Bawang

For the sambal they have three options:

• Sambal Bakka (Sambal tomat): The least spicy and is made from tomato mixed with red chili.
• Sambal Bara (Sambal Bawang): Spicier than Bakka and is made from regular garlic & red chili.
• Sambal Gajja (Sambal Ijo): The spiciest and is made from Cabe Ijo or green chili

I tried the Bakka and Bara variant, not the Gajja though. If any of you have tried the 'Gajja' variant, just comment your review down below! For the drink I ordered Es Timun Serut which is comprised of shredded cucumber and basil seed in a cup of sweet water. 

Es Timun Serut

4. Review

First thing first, the place and ambience. If my depiction isn't clear enough about the place, the indoor room might be one of the most comfortable place to be. The air conditioner is working properly, vast selection of seats, the lesehan looks comfortable, and restroom is clean. Another bonus point is that if you bring your kid, there's a mini playground to keep them entertained. 

And now to the main topic of our discussion, the 'Food'. Personally, the best way to describe their sambal is that it tasted almost regular but good. In my opinion, people who have tried various sambal in Indonesia will realize that their sambal tasted like any other sambal out there. But what truly differenciated the taste is the hint of smokiness in every of their sambal. The smoky hint is esentially the function of burning them.

Cow Lungs

The side dishes that I've tried are cow lungs, squid, tofu, and chicken . For myself, I really like the cow lungs because they're really easy to chew and their strong traditional flavor. The chicken and squid were delicious plus they go well with the fried cabbage and sambal that comes along inside the plate. 

Moving on to the veggie, I've tried their pete (bitter beans) and genjer. The pete were sweets and they were roasted well enough so you can taste the smokiness. My tips is to dunk them in the sambal, it'll be a game changer! Genjer was warm and tasty. 

Bakwan/ Corn Fritter

And last but not least, the appitizer and drink. I ordered bakwan or corn fritters for the appetizers and personally they tasted okay. It was good, but I think they should've added more spice and flavoring so it wouldn't taste so bland. My biggest regret was not ordering drinks other than regular ice tea because you can literally get them everywhere! But at least I ordered their refreshing Timun Selasih and it was nice. The portion was perfect and they added a lot of cucumber so you wouldn't finish it all in one gulp!

So, does this place worth all of its hype? Yea, totally! If you're craving a good smoky sambal or traditional Indonesia veggies, go here! Also if you need a refreshing dessert, they have it here. Don't forget to stop here if you're around. That'll be the end of my post see you on my next post, bye!