Solo Indonesian Restaurant - Sheung Wan, Hong Kong

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.


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 :)


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


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).


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