Day 19 — Indonesian Restaurants in Tokyo
Hello everyone, my name is Bagus. I am a software engineer from Indonesia.
I wrote my first HENNGE Advent Calendar article in 2015. Through the article, I tried to introduce the food of my people to the world.
During the last 4 years, I have eaten at Indonesian restaurants in Tokyo several times. I would like to share with you what I think about some of them.
Ayung Teras
Nearest station: Shibuya
Ayung Teras is the closest Indonesian restaurant from HENNGE Shibuya HQ. Me and other members of HENNGE who come from Indonesia have eaten here many, many times over the years. Some members also like to bring our GIP interns here for lunches.
To be honest, the taste of Ayung Teras’ foods is fine. There was a time when I thought that its location was a stronger reason to return there to eat, rather than the taste of its food. I changed my mind after having dinner there for the first time. I ate soto (Indonesian soup), nasi goreng (fried rice), and a couple other Indonesian foods that night. Honestly, they were all delicious!
Having said that, I do think that Ayung Teras’ foods do not taste as strong as authentic Indonesian foods. For people who are interested in eating Indonesian food but never have had the chance to, I recommend you to start the process at Ayung Teras. This will ease you into enjoying flavorful Indonesian foods :)
Cabe
Nearest station: Meguro
Fun fact: Cabe means chili pepper in Indonesian :)
Cabe is arguably my favorite Indonesian restaurant in Tokyo. There are so many foods on the menu, most — if not all of them — tastes authentic and delicious. Consider having nasi campur (mixed rice) for lunch if you visit during the day. Cabe’s take on this dish consists of white rice, fried noodles, Indonesian pickles, Indonesian curry, fritters, and fried chicken. You’ll get to eat many kinds of food for a reasonable price! Of course, you can’t go wrong with foods such as rendang (spicy meat dish) or sate (skewered meat) either.
Not only does Cabe has good appetizers and main courses, but it also has a selection of traditional Indonesian desserts on the menu. They offer bubur ketan hitam (black gelatinous rice porridge), kolak (sweet potato in coconut milk base), and pisang goreng (fried banana), among other things. I am not too fond of these desserts in general, but I tried Cabe’s deserts and can certainly vouch for their authenticity.
If you’re looking for food with stronger tastes, or if you are ready to ‘graduate’ from Ayung Teras, I do recommend you to visit Cabe. They are unfortunately closed on Sundays however, so your best bet would be to come here on Saturdays.
Dapoer Koneng
Nearest station: Tammachi
Fun fact: Dapoer Koneng means Yellow Kitchen in Sundanese :)
Dapoer Koneng makes for a strong case of my favorite Indonesian restaurant in Tokyo. It is quite similar to Cabe in terms of taste. Naturally then, one of the distinguishing factors between the two is the menu. Dapoer Koneng offers some food that Cabe doesn’t and vice versa. For example, I ate pempek (fishcake) and rawon (beef black soup) in Dapoer Koneng, and I have yet to see those dishes in Cabe if I remember correctly.
The same applies to their dessert offerings. Personally, Dapoer Koneng wins in this department, because it has my favorite Indonesian desert: es campur (mixed shaved ice with fruits, condensed milk, and syrup).
Dapoer Koneng has something that perhaps no other Indonesian restaurants have: Indonesian karaoke machine. Yes, there is a karaoke machine in this restaurant, and you can sing Indonesian songs with it. On my second visit to Dapoer Koneng, I saw some people who were singing their hearts out :)
So there you go, those were my thoughts about 3 Indonesian restaurants in Tokyo. I have been to other Indonesian restaurants before, but I visited these 3 restaurants the most. There are also some Indonesian restaurants to which I have never gone so far, such as Cinta Jawa in Akihabara and Monggo Moro in Shinjuku. I have been hearing good things about these places, so I can’t wait to visit them. Perhaps I’ll write what I think about them in HENNGE Advent Calendar 2020!
Thank you for reading. I hope this article piqued your interest in enjoying Indonesian cuisine.
This article is part of the HENNGE Advent Calendar 2019. An Advent calendar is a special calendar used for counting down the days till Christmas. HENNGE Advent Calendar 2019 presents one article by one HENNGE member per day for 25 days until Christmas, 2019
