Sunday, August 29, 2010

Solo Indonesian Restaurant - Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

Solo Indonesia Restaurant
Born and raised in Indonesia, I am always on the lookout for a good Indonesian food in Hong Kong. There are many Indonesian restaurants in Hong Kong, I've tried the good, the bad, the ugly, and I know which dishes I like from which place. However, there are so many of them...it could not have possibly tried all of them.

When I heard about this place on twitter, I just had to visit (literally the next day ^_^) and give it a try.

I've ordered a few dishes I've been missing and normally won't cook at home. The best dish of the night was the
sate ayam (chicken sate). Tender, juicy, flavorful, beautifully charred, reasonably authentic. The sate kambing (lamb sate) were unfortunately a little chewy. The peanut sauce on the side wasn't exactly authentic, I could live without it.

Overall, the sate dish and the peanut sauce could use a bit more spices, kecap manis, acid (from kalamansi or lime or lemon), and serving them with slices of raw shallot, chopped fresh chilli would totally help.

Solo Indonesia Restaurant
The
lodeh (mixed vegetables cooked in coconut milk) was decent. It was creamy, the flavors were pretty authentic, and the vegetables have absorbed all of the flavors there were. Despite its pale colors (lodeh is supposed to be pale), it was tasty. Absolutely perfect with rice :)

Solo Indonesia Restaurant
The
tahu telor (tofu fried with eggs, served with mixed vegetable salad, peanut sauce, and prawn crackers) was decent.

Solo Indonesia Restaurant
The tofu and egg part was crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside; the beansprouts, lettuce and cucumber gave the dish freshness and crunch. The peanut sauce could be a little sweeter (Is it my Javanese tongue? I wanted kecap manis on everything!) and the prawn crackers they used were a bit too garlicky instead of prawny (I am sure this is not even a word, but you get what I mean).

Solo Indonesia Restaurant
For dessert, I've ordered
Es Shanghai (cendol, red bean, fruits, kolang kaling, herbal jelly with crushed ice and syrup). Although it wasn't exactly authentic, it's closer to es marem than es shanghai, with the presence of cendol...it was pretty refreshing nonetheless.

The decor of the place has bits and pieces of Indonesia, which I love (too bad I didn't photograph it). Every dish was served in a Hong Kong style speedy manner, the aunties can still speak Bahasa Indonesia, which I love...and they happily gave me iced tea and cranked up the air conditioning when I mentioned that I was feeling a bit hot. Lovely service!

The meal costs us HK$261 (for two, and we were stuffed to our eyeballs ^_^).

Note. Indonesian food in Hong Kong. It's not supposed to be "cheap". Indonesian dishes, although they may look humble and not too fine-dining-esque, they generally are rather complicated to prepare, involving lots of exotic ingredients, spices, and manpower, most of which may have to be imported all the way from Indonesia :)

Solo Indonesian Restaurant
1/F, San Toi Building, 137-139 Connaught Road Central, Sheung Wan
Hong Kong
上環干諾道中137-139 號三台商業大廈1樓
Tel: +852
2541 0995

11 comments:

Cooking Gallery said...

I love sate kambing! At least you still can find some Indo restaurants there, in here there's 0.1% chance only...:(!

Juliett said...

time now is: 12.48. hkg time.
i am a pregnant woman at 2.5 months old.
ever since i been to indonesia for few years as i have worked there and now back to hkg again,
i been crazily thinking and dreaming of my best favorite INDONESIAN foods for weeks. as so hard to find original authentic indonesian food and very far from my home area in tuenmun, so i called up some friends in jakarta to help me out if they can find any online shop selling indo food and deliver it to hkg. i dont like eating at any indo resto in hkg as i know its SUCKS the taste..especially for a pregnant woman like me, food kinda sensitive.
but suddenly my brain moves on and gave me an idea to search myself in website for indonesian food i can order or find the best one in hkg (maybe!!) (impossible to ask my husband to fly over to indonesia, rite?)
then....
i finally found your site with all your great information DEFINITELY useful! Altho the place u mentioned in sheungwan is kinda far, but i guess is alrite to me. i have direct bus 961 wil stop at sheungwan macao ferry.
i wonder the indonesian resto u mentioned sells AYAM BAKAR, AYAM PEN-YET, SOTO, RENDHANG, AMPAL, RAWON, ROJAK, GOOD SAMBAL, CROKETT N RESOLES SNACKS?? I saw the tahu campor and petis and also satay which are my favorite toO..
can u tell me the address pls?? u can send email to me at: yukie@live.co.uk i appreciate soo much your help, sister... cant wait for your reply!!! ciao~
ps: i love cooking, but temporary, i cant do much cooks since im pregnant!

Juliett said...

(hkg time: 1.17am)
hi my name is olssen yukie. im living here in hkg home sweet home with family and husband. i am a 2 months old pregnant woman.
i used to work and live in jakarta at indokemika (indo group) for few years.
my best favorite food no.1 is indonesiand and second is indiand curry food.
ever since i got pregnant (before i realized i got pregnant, i mean), i been crazily thinking and even brought to my dream those indonesian dishes like soto sulong, satay, ayam bakhar, ayam pen-yet, rawon, karedok, taho campor, tahu petis, sambal tarasi, empal gorayng, rendhang, padang food, damn..and of course suddenly missing my favorite snacks CROKETT n RESOLES made in Indonesia (surabaya is the bst) + LEMPAR & PASTEL.
because of this reason, i couldn't rest in PEACE and keep asking my friends in messenger and FB if anyways they could HELP ME OUT to FULFILLED my wishes at least not to torturing this pregnant woman tho.. :(
some indo friends who live in japan, even willing to send me some instant package indonesian bumbu of nasi gorayng.
well, anyhow,
suddenly, my brain works very smart, why dont i check at the internet for any online stores in hkg who sells indo foods/snacks.
then i suddenly so lucky FOUND YOUR BLOGS with ALL FULL DETAILS and INFORMATION i need about the best resto where i can find (at least) the best taste of Indonesian food..
I got the address too and those pics, gurl.. soo damn attempting!
i wanna say YOU DO VERY WELL GREAT JOB, never seen a young lady like you could have well written english and full information as well as great pics you've taken. BRAVO! YOU HAVE RESCUED ME (THE PREGNANT WOMAN WHO IS LAGY I-DAM) hohohooo.. good luck to you and all the best.
thanks again for sharing thought with us here..

Joanne said...

I wish I could try real Indonesian food! I'm going to search for a good place in NYC.

Anonymous said...

Rita, yummy. I love kicap manis too and Indo food. My fav is gado gado. Luv chunky peanut sauce.

Juliett said...

hi Rita, happy weekend to you :)
i got your email, really appreciated much for your quick response through email. i went to the site openrice.com and click english version, it turned to indonesian language which i'm not really good in reading indo language :P (how come yea?)
anyway, i will need to register first before i can continue search more info inside the site you gave, very well design and creative looking site with full of information there.
thanks in million and you are my FOOD HEROER hohoho....ps: will take my husband (he's turkish) and my mom and gege to visit the best indo resto, since my brother is maniac indonesian cuisines)
regards n tks.
olssenyukie

Razlan said...

LOL, I actually loveeeeeed the peanut sauce. Just the right taste for me. Though I wish the spicy dishes (like curry) are a little more fiery. That would be nice! The satay was alright, something I could live without so long they give me the peanut sauce. Haha.

So will you return again? The lodeh looks good!

Jackie said...

Well I think it looks yummy! I've never been to Indonesia but I lived in Malaysia for a while and I was totally addicted to the street food. Love this too much. I want to go there when I'm in HK!

Jax x

Little Corner of Mine said...

Looks great, we have similar food in Malaysia.

Tom said...

You are going to have to give me your tip on the best Indonesian place. I have only been to two - Malaymama and Prawn Latong something or other (both on Mercer St) and prefer the Prawn one.

This looks a cut above both though...

Tom

Razlan said...

@ Tom - The Malaymama serves Malaysian food (they are alright), and the one opposite is Katong Laksa, a Singaporean fest (trying too hard, IMO). So this Solo place is the place in our area!