Indonesian Food

[worldlyman]

Indonesian Food is the bomb. I love spicy and exotic.

Once upon a time, Mata Hari used to be in the Carillon Square...it was so dark, exotic and exuded a TON of ambience. It also had another half with a, um, bar. We might guess what that was for. It seemed insular for a purpose, y'know?

From what I understand, they needed another bar that was larger so they moved right off of Dairy Ashford, on the right if you are going south from Memorial Drive. It was eventually renamed Yanti's Indonesian.

If you like a really hearty beefsteak, though not like a prime or anything, get the "rendang." It's cooked in coconut milk. Spicy. Delicious.

I've always favored the Indonesian fried rice called "nasi goreng" as it is shrimp-oriented and more meticulously prepared than the usual house fried rice of many Chinese or Vietnamese restaurants you might frequent.

There is the sampler of Indonesian dishes called the "rijstaffel" where they serve a decent amount of everything like ayam, rendang and etc.

And once a year, during late spring or so, there's the Indonesian Festival held at the Indonesian Consulate...the food is there, as well as the culture like the "wayang kulit" silouhette puppet shows...and plenty of girls to look at. The consulate is somewhere there on Richmond Ave, probably west of Wilcrest.

And the consulate offers food from its cafeteria during business hours from what they told me once. And if Mr. Willis still works there...his wife makes large orders for a decent (OK, with the price of gas these days maybe not so decent) price.

Indonesian food is a great alternative to Thai, which I love as well. And it is pretty much the same as Malaysian food which is more Chinese-influenced.

There used to be more Indonesian eateries in Houston but it's just Yanti's and the Indonesian Consulate now.

[TheNiche]

There used to be more Indonesian eateries in Houston but it's just Yanti's and the Indonesian Consulate now.

Damn. I've been to Yanti's several times, have always had very good food, and wanted to know if there was a larger Indonesian community in Houston that I could explore. Aside from the consulate, I guess not.