Touchdown for more foodie adventures at Sultan Syarif Kasim II International Airport, Pekanbaru folks!
As soon as we arrived at the airport, we were whisked away by our hotel's complimentary airport shuttle. After settling in, we set out in search of lunch as our tummies were already showing signs of protest.
A 15-minute walk led us to the Pasar Bawah area, an area famous for shopping local products, souvenirs and the like. Opposite the Pasar Bwah, we stumbled upon a restaurant named Nasi Kapau Uni Ros. According to the owner, Nasi Kapau originates from the Bukit Tinggi region of Indonesia and the food 'nasi kapau' means rice served with young jackfruit gravy.
This is the restaurant renown for its young jackfruit gravy with rice.
The concept of eating here is almost similar to eating 'nasi padang' another Indonesia specialty. All the dishes that they have are spread out on the table like a king's feast. Then, you get to take your pick of the dishes that you'd like and the ones unpicked are then taken away by the waiters. As my family doesn't consume beef or sweetmeats, we opted out for those dishes but took the rest on offer.
Rice was served with the ubiquitious young jackfruit gravy along with sambal chicken, roasted chicken with sour and spicy sambal tomat (tomato sambal), pecal lele (deep fried crispy catfish with a spicy green chili sambal), tempeh and prawn sambal, terung berlado (deep fried aubergines in spicy chili paste), pucuk ubi (blanched yam shoots), sambal tomat petai (sour and spicy tomato sambal with stink beans) and drinks. Isn't this a feast for the senses already! Just reading this would have made mouths water and my mouth did salivate with all the varied tastes and textures.
The young jackfruit gravy is creamy and unctuous in the mouth and slightly spicy as befits any Indonesian meal. The jackfruit in the curry just gave way without much chewing and tasted very much like chicken. You'd be fooled into thinking it was a lean piece of chicken! Lip smackingly good, I mopped up the gravy even after all the rice was cleared.
Roasted chicken with sour and spicy sambal tomat is something that poultry lovers can rejoice with. Looking decidedly like any other piece of fried chicken, you'd be wondering what can be so special. The spice rub on the chicken has nuances of smokiness that when paired with the sambal tomat creates a dimension of flavors like an Indonesian version of buffalo wings. Crispy yet tender at the same time, I just forgot the chicken allergy I had!
My favorite dish was the pecal lele as I'm a seafood lover by heart and fish prepared in any way just works out for me. The catfish was marinated in turmeric and salt before frying which lent a yellowish hue to the fried fish. When dipped into the green chili sambal, the flavors just popped on my tongue. The spiciness complemented the strong taste of the catfish.
I have to say though that the tempeh and prawn sambal wasn't something to shout about. It was a little bland to my liking and the prawns were too small to make out among the chunkier pieces of tempeh. It's good for someone who is probably just getting acquainted to Indonesian food.
A meal isn't complete without servings of veggies. Aubergines are my favorite vegetables and a go-to when I want something that's meaty and satisfying. The terung berlado was absolutely mind boggling. The fried aubergine soaked up the spicy chili paste rendering a spicy kick with the flesh. Blanched yam shoots are eaten as an 'ulam' (sort of like your salad in an Asian sense of the word). Slightly bitter, it cleared the palate which made all the dishes taste better each time I took a bite. Sambal tomat petai was an obvious crowd pleaser (OK, count my dad out, he isn't a fan of stink beans..haha). Sour, spicy and savory, it works well with the rice.
For drinks to cool down from the spiciness, we had Indonesia's go-to drink, the highly fragrant bottled 'Teh Botol' (iced Indonesian tea which tastes somewhat like a sweet jasmine tea). It mellowed the spiciness to a bearable level which allowed us to eat more of the food than we actually could. My mum opted for a cola though as she wasn't a fan of iced tea.
The wide smile plastered on my face indicates that the feast in front of me was more than appetizing.
After the meal, out tummies stretched well over our pants! The delicious, fulfilling meal cost us IDR193.000 (around RM65). To me, it was quite reasonable as we had a unique spread that had out tongue yearning for more.
If you ever make a trip down to Pekanbaru, you should try this quaint place out. With attentive service and plenty of Asian hospitality, you will feel right at home with mouthwatering food that will send you into a food-gasm.
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