Indonesian Bakso & So Much More from Warung Malang, Causeway Bay

I never thought I could find authentic Indonesian bakso (beef balls) in Hong Kong, so you can imagine how happy I was when I saw a friend posted that such bakso exists in Hong Kong! Yay~ yay~ yay~! I've been craving bakso forever! We'll discuss the bakso later...but this is where the place is...Warung Malang.

It's a humble lil' place on the 2nd floor of Dragon Rise, Causeway Bay. No wonder it's not exactly popular with the locals but I'm sure almost all Indonesians living in Hong Kong knows this place.

Not Indonesian? No worries! The friendly gentleman who looks after the place speaks fluent Cantonese (Wayyy more fluent than me. Oppps)

You can check out the food behind the counter and order them with rice...or grab some snacks and exotic fruits from the counter...


Once we were seated, a plate of condiments was placed in front of us.

We Indonesians love our sambals (chilli condiments). There are sambal terasi, sambal bakso and sambal kecap. I wish I could bring these bowls of sambal home :D

Surely, a bowl of bakso alone won't be enough for me...so I ordered their famous complete mixed rice (Nasi Campur).

It's absolutely delicious! It has telor balado (fried hard boiled egg topped with chilli), sayur lodeh with rambak (vegetable cooked in coconut milk and spices), curry chicken, sambal goreng tempe (soy bean cake cooked in chilli and spices), and beef rendang. Everything on the place's delicious and taste really authentic, bold, strong flavors. It definitely transported me back to Indonesia. I've also added an additional perkedel (fried potato cake), and it's delicious and authentic.


I saw some fried snacks at the counter, and surely I had to have some. I took the perkedel jagung (corn fritter) and tempe goreng (fried soy bean cake). At first I thought that the perkedel jagung didn't look freshly fried...but when I tasted it, it's yummy. Crunchy on the outside; fluffy, tasty and corny (in a good way) inside. Consume with a bit of sambal terasi for perfection.


The tempe goreng wasn't freshly fried, but that's pretty much how it's served in most Indonesian eateries back home. I devoured it with a generous serving of sambal kecap...and yum!

Now...back to the bakso...

Indonesian bakso (beef ball) is very different from the Chinese ones. It probably has less of beef flavor, but what I love is how chewy it is. It's not bouncy kinda chewy, it's a bit more...elastic. I guess you gotta try it to understand it ^_* I find the fried dumpling (pangsit goreng), stuffed tofu, rice and egg noodles a bit unnecessary, next time I'll go for just the good ol' bakso and broth.
The art of handling the broth of the bakso...it's served plain, garnished with celery and fried shallot, add your own condiments to create your own "flavor", kecap manis (sweet soy sauce), chilli sauce, vinegar, and salt...until you achieve your own perfect version of broth.
Slurp~!

I saw sate on the menu, so I gotta try their sate as well.

This time I went for sate kambing (lamb skewers), the meat was super tender and flavorful (from the spices, it doesn't have a strong lamb flavor), and the peanut sauce served with chopped shallot tasted authentic too. Love it!


I tried their es cendol, which is rice flour bits served with coconut milk, palm sugar and ripe jack fruit pieces...it was pretty authentic. Not bad at all :)

The owner told me that she tried to keep everything as authentic as possible...and I think she was pretty successful at that. She warned me not to visit on Sundays as the place would be fully packed with Indonesian domestic helpers on their day off. Duly noted, and I'll definitely go back with more friends and let them try authentic Indonesian food.

Dinner for two + drinks cost us HK$177

Warung Malang
2/F, Dragon Rise, 9-11 Pennington Street
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
銅鑼灣邊寧頓街9-11號登龍閣2樓
Tel: +852 2915 7859