Sedap Malam restaurant opened nearby

One of my favorite seafood restaurants in Jakarta is Sedap Malam, which means "delicious night." That sounds a bit kinky, but then again, seafood is supposed to be sumptuous and tempting. The original restaurant is located on Batu Tulis Raya street, the area behind the Presidential palace.

I used to go there with my parents and we would order the sweet black pepper sauce crab.

Now a chain has opened near where I live, which means I don't have to go too far to have some delicious seafood. = 

Garlic shrimp

That's kangkung (Chinese spinach / morning glory) on top

Coconut and orange punch

The famous crab with sweet black pepper sauce

Bean sprouts

Ny. Suharti's fried chicken

One of my favorite Indonesian fried chicken chains is Ayam Goreng Ny. Suharti. Ayam goreng means fried chicken. Ny = Mrs. Suharti is a name. So it's Mrs. Suharti's fried chicken.

Ny. Suharti's fried chicken has been a favorite of my family since as long as I can remember. This fried chicken establishment was owned by a husband-and-wife named Sachlan (the husband) and Suharti (the wife), but unfortunately, after around 30 years of harmonious business together, another woman got in the way, dissolving not only the marriage, but also the business.

Now there are two versions of the Ny. Suharti brand. One is owned by the former husband, the logo is in the picture below. The logo is two chickens with an S in the middle. 

The husband's restaurant

The one owned by Mrs. Suharti also uses the two chickens, but it is reinforced by the addition of her photo in the logo so that people can differentiate which restaurants belong to the former husband and which to the former wife.

The taste of both restaurants' chickens are the same, though. They both use ayam kampung (free-range chicken), and the chicken is topped with the most delicious kremes (crunchy fried topping).

That lady is calling my name "Miss Lyanna, your chicken is ready!"

I have never actually tried Ny. Suharti's other dishes. That's how much I love their fried chicken, but I heard the fried fish is also good.

And let me give you an advice. The best way to eat this is the Indonesian way: by using YOUR HANDS. NO FORKS, NO SPOONS, NO KNIVES. Just use your right hand to grab the rice, shape it into a small pyramid, put a small piece of chicken, mix in a little chili paste, and shove the thing with your thumb inside your mouth.

It might look complicated and dirty at first, but the taste of food in your hands coming into your mouth feels so much more satisfying than tasting silver hitting your tongue.

crunchy deliciousness

the sweet chili paste (sambal)

Have it with rice and a little bit of veggie

I had Turkish ice cream at Gandaria City Mall

I don't know why, but I've seen a lot of Turkish ice cream lately wherever I go. Okay, not wherever I go, but in a lot of the places I visit, I would see Turkish ice cream vendors somewhere in the corner of my eye. I remember one stand of Turkish ice cream in Bangkok while I was walking around the Asiatique Riverfront's night market.

Anyway, the chance came up to try it at Gandaria City Mall, Jakarta, and I decided to get the strawberry flavor.

I didn't really enjoy the taste of the ice cream itself. Thought it was pretty bland, to be honest. It is stickier and more malleable than other ice creams. You kinda have to put it in your mouth and chew it a bit, which was difficult to do as I was walking around the mall.

Ah well, not everything is gonna be to everyone's taste. I probably won't try another Turkish ice cream until I get to Turkey to taste the real thing. Maybe it would be 100% better over there.

In New York, I tasted dog food

This isn't really a review about food. But it is just an anecdote from the recent past when I used to live in New York City. 

I went to the local Petco and looked at the different arrays of dog cookies displayed in the center of the store. Then one of the employees of the store, named Iris, came up to me and said "can I help you with anything?"

"I'm just looking for some cookies for my dog."

So she picked up one of the cookies and proceeded to shove it in her mouth and eat the entire thing. In my astonishment, I stupidly told her that she was eating dog cookies. She said "I would never give my dog anything that I wouldn't want to eat. So I taste everything that my dog eats."

And then she told me to try one. Amazingly, I did, and you know what, it tasted like a regular vanilla cookie.

A few weeks later, I went to a friend's house and she said "hey, I just bought new organic dog food for Rocco. Here, take a look."

She brought out a ziplock bag with kibbles in them, and in an automatic reflex, I took one and put it in my mouth.

I thought I was doing the normal thing, until I saw my friend's horrified face.

And her cookies tasted like bad chicken. Yuck.