Indo Rasa, Kingsford

Grilled whole snapper at Indo Rasa Indonesian Restaurant

One of the things I love about Sydney dining is the sheer number of  “eat streets” around the city. As foodies, we are really spoilt for choice with the array of different cuisines on offer.

Tonight, we are invited by Eva and Fi to sample one of their favourite Indonesian restaurants along the strip of Anzac Parade that spans the suburbs of Kensington, Kingsford and Maroubra. This eat street is littered with restaurants that serve up Korean, Indonesian, Chinese, Malaysian, Taiwanese, Italian and pub fare just to name a few. Best of all, food prices at these restaurants are very reasonable to cater for students from the University of New South Wales located in the heart of this precinct.

Deep fried anchovies, tempeh and peanuts

Deep fried anchovies, tempeh and peanuts

Unpretentious restaurants that let their food do the talking impress me more than those with fancy decor.

At Indo Rasa tonight, this nonchalant attitude takes the form of complimentary caramelized deep fried ikan bilis, tempeh with peanuts served in a take-away box as appetizer.  There are no serving plates and diners use their fingers to pick at the crunchy sweet savoury bits of anchovies and peanuts. I like the soft chewy texture of the tempeh or compressed deep fried soybean.

2009 Gentleman's Agreement viognier

2009 Gentleman's Agreement viognier

We are sipping a 2009 Gentlemen’s Agreement viognier and its zesty and fruity flavours offer great flexibility for our spicy dinner.

Ayam sereh or lemongrass chicken

Ayam sereh or lemongrass chicken

Ayam sereh or lemongrass chicken arrives in a wooden plate, laden with a sweet spicy chilli tomato paste and sprinkled with shallots and deep fried onions. I am expecting this dish to be spicier and a plate of chilli sambal lends a delicious kick to the chicken.

Cap chai or stir fry mixed vegetables

Chap chai or stir fry mixed vegetables

A chap chai or stir fry mixed vegetables consist of choi sum, cauliflower, broccoli and shredded chicken. It has a good wok char flavour and the shao xing wine in the sauce is beckoning for some steamed rice.

Vegetable curry or lontong sayur

Vegetable curry or lontong sayur

I enjoy the vegetable curry or lontong sayur because the spicy coconut soup has the right balance of spice and is sufficiently bold in its curry flavours. For some reason, this supposed vegetarian dish comes with a piece of chicken drumstick and boiled egg. Deep fried crackers add some textural contrast to this flavoursome lontong interpretation.

Terung belado or eggplant sambal

Terung belado or eggplant sambal

A terung belado or eggplant is soaked up by a spicy sweet chilli onion sambal. This is one of my favourite Indonesian dishes because eggplant has such a soft and succulent texture that melts in the mouth when cooked to perfection.

Grilled whole snapper or ikan bakar

Grilled whole snapper or ikan bakar

A grilled whole snapper or ikan bakar is laid on butter lettuce leaves, its skin is crispy and charred from the grill. Topped with deep fried onions, the fish is accompanied with slices of tomato and cucumber.

This is one of the best grilled fish that I have tasted because the all-important smoky grilled aromas are the result of a good sweet black sauce marinade. The skin is crispy while the while flesh is tender. I repeatedly dip delicious morsels into more heady sambal.

This is truly our favourite dish of the night.

Fu yong hai or deep fried onion egg batter

Fu yong hai or deep fried onion egg batter

A fu yong hai arrives in a tangled web of sliced onions and prawns in a deep fried egg batter. It is garnished with slivers of pickled vegetables and drizzled with a sweet savoury thickened sauce.

We break up the fu yong hai into pieces and soak the crispy egg batter into the sauce. This is the Indonesian version of onion rings and I like it because the crispy egg batter is fragrant while the soft texture of the onions is sweet.

Jus alpukat and ais chendol

Jus alpukat and ais chendol

We share three desserts, a jus alpukat, ais chendol and ais campur.

 

The jus alpukat is a thick and gluggy avocado juice with a drizzle of gula melaka or palm sugar.

Ais campur

Ais campur

The finely shaved ice in the ais campur is sweetened with condensed milk and rose syrup and we find slivers of black jelly, jack fruit and peanuts buried under. These are refreshing end to yet another beautiful dinner, thanks to our dear friends!

Indo Rasa Indonesian Restaurant, Kingsford

Indo Rasa Indonesian Restaurant, Kingsford

So dear readers, do you have a favourite Indonesian dish or restaurant?

Indo Rasa Indonesian Restaurant
Shop 1, 309 Anzac Parade
Kingsford 2032
Tel: +61 2 9697 2003

IndoRasa on Urbanspoon

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19 Responses to Indo Rasa, Kingsford

  1. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this place! Their coconut rice, Gado gado and Ayam Bakar are my fave dishes.

    • Chopinand says:

      Hi Lauren,

      If the ikan bakar is anything to go by, I think the ayam bakar would be quite fantastic too!

  2. Ooh this is my nearest Eat Street! There are so many good places to dine here! 😀

  3. Joanne says:

    That was one amazing meal. I would love every aspect of it even your choice of wine pairing, the Voigner. Love it and so descriptive.

  4. Stunning photos and that grilled fish just looks delicious. Great name for the wine as well.

  5. Ann says:

    Everything looks stunning….I LOVE the name of the wine!

  6. Carolyn Jung says:

    That is one magnificent looking fish!

  7. Sissi says:

    I think I have never seen so many unknown and at the same time appealing dishes in one post! I am rather ignorant in what comes to Indonesian cuisine, but I absolutely love Rendang Beef and even cook it on my own from time to time! I have also once had an excellent dish in an Indonesian restaurant (but they also serve other ethnic cuisines): very thin chicken strips deep fried and coated in a mixture of almonds and flour…

    There was also an incredible salad with peanuts and a spicy sauce…

    The only good Indonesian restaurant I know in my city cannot be compared to this one. I wish I lived closer.

    Viognier is not a very often cultivated grape variety in France, but I have just read it’s extremely popular in Australia! (I have drunk it maybe a couple of times in my whole life only…).

    I have really enjoyed this post. You have made me dream…

    • Chopinand says:

      Hi Sissi

      Beef rendang is also one of my favourites to cook at home. This was our first visit to this restaurant but there are also quite a few other Indonesians along this whole strip of restaurants.

      The salad with peanuts and spicy sauce that you are referring to could be Gado Gado or Pasembur as it might be otherwise called. I think there are quite a few variations to this salad and the names are also similar depending whether you are in Indonesia or Malaysia.

      Viognier is nice but I think it’s still not as popular as say sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, riesling or even semillon here in Australia.

      Glad you enjoyed this post.

  8. Ratu Sari, Kingsford and Java in Randwick are my two favourite Indonesian restaurants. So many wonderful dishes to try!

  9. The terung belado looks so tasty!!

  10. Oh no it was bad bad idea to check your post before going to bed! All the foods look SUPER DELICIOUS!!!! My roommate back in college was Chinese Indonesian and she taught me some dishes but none of them were in this post. I guess there are a lot more to discover in Indonesian cuisine!

  11. so close to uni!
    that’s a lot of anchovies to chow down~ the grilled snapper looks like a winner!

  12. Lilly says:

    This restaurant brings Indonesian food to a whole new level. Although there are plenty of Indonesian restaurants here, I’ve never seen any of the dishes you had. And to be honest…yours look 100 times better!

    • Chopinand says:

      Hi Lilly,

      I would be really suprised if you can’t fine a good Indonesian restaurant in the whole of Netherlands! :)

  13. OMG!! Are you kidding me?!? There’s not one Malaysian or Indonesian restaurant here in Orlando, FL. I want to weep :(

  14. rockahenry says:

    when this place first opened there were massive queues out the front. Now that its been awhile I still see that its packed when I walk past it. I never lined up wondering how good it could be compared to the others, but judging from your post, i’ll definitely be giving it a go this weekend!

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