I tried Indonesian food for the first time earlier this year at an Indonesian bazaar in San Francisco. The layers of flavor, the colors, and the way it can be spicy, mild, savory, a little sweet or all of those at once, caught my attention; I wanted to try more.
While searching around and trying different vendors in the San Francisco Bay Area, I spoke with a few to get more insight.
“Indonesian food has rich flavors; most often described as savory, hot and spicy, and also a combination of basic tastes such as sweet, salty, sour and bitter,” Henny Minderman told me over Instagram.
Ms. Minderman owns and runs the Indonesian food vendor Dapoer Ngebul with her husband, Amin Budiawan, in the San Francisco area.
“We want people to get to know Indonesian cuisine, traditional cuisine, better,” Mr. Budiawan told me at one of their pop-ups.
He said they strictly follow family recipes, some going back four generations, to keep their food as authentic as possible. They mainly do pop-ups, catering, and delivery while promoting on social media.
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“Indonesian food is an exotic cuisine and made from a lot of spices and herbs in a traditional way,” Mimy Wong, the owner of Madelicious, told me at an Indonesian bazaar in San Francisco.
Her company specializes in Indonesian sauces and garnishes.
“[Indonesian food is] similar to Thai, Malaysian, and Burmese food but has a more bold, stronger taste and a more complicated cooking method with more spices and different kinds of herbs,” Ms. Wong said.
I have a pretty high spice tolerance but had to ease into their Shrimp Paste Sambal Terasi with baby steps. It was hot.
Ms. Wong used to run brick-and-mortar restaurants but now mostly sells from Instagram to have a more flexible schedule.
Let’s not forget dessert. The vendor Nusa specializes in classic Indonesian sweets. At an Indonesian bazaar in San Francisco, owner Jennifer Huang introduced me to a sweet rice ball called klepon.
“It has a filling inside, which is an Indonesian palm sugar. It’s a little bit more fragrant, it’s brown, and it’s healthy,” she told me while rolling up small doughy green balls on a tray. “This is traditional, like a street food. People just make it and sell it. It’s very popular; it’s originally from the Java Island.”
Nusa mostly sells at farmer’s markets and pop-ups in San Francisco.
If you’re a fan of food with layers of flavor, sauces, spices, and herbs, Indonesian food might be a hit with you as well. In my area, I didn’t find too many Indonesian-focused brick-and-mortar shops, but when I ventured out of my usual Google Maps search I was able to find some really great options.
However, Google Maps is still a good place to start. On that note, below are some tips to find Indonesian food near you, based on my experience and advice from some of the vendors.
1. Search on Google, Google Maps, and Yelp
These are where most people would start, and you might find what you’re looking for right off the bat.
2. Search Shef.com
This is a food delivery service featuring home-based chefs in your area. They have a variety of cuisines, and I found some good Indonesian dishes here. On the site, search “Indonesian” or look in the “Southeast Asian” section to see if there are options in your area.
3. Search Instagram and Facebook
All the businesses above primarily promoted and communicated with their customers on social media, mainly Instagram. You could try searching simply with “Indonesian food (city/area)” and go from there.
4. Contact a nearby Indonesian consulate
If there is one near you, this is possibly one of the quickest ways to find authentic Indonesian food in your area. They should know any nearby vendors and be happy to point you in the right direction.
5. Search for Indonesian-related events, groups, clubs, etc.
For instance, you can look for an Indonesian dance troupe, church group, or event. You might stumble upon an Indonesian bazaar like I did or perhaps find a dance troupe. It’s more than likely organizers of any of these would be happy to tell you where to go.
