Chicken Satay and Garang Asam (Food in Surabaya)

Wow splendid amazing holiday in Surabaya my hometown, refreshing my mind from heavy mind in Singapore. So far I'm enjoying the food and for sure the companion of my big family.

This is it the famous Ponorogo chicken satay, Ponorogo is a small town located in East Java, Indonesia. The chicken satay from Ponorogo famously known for the chicken meat without fat and skin and that's why I like it. The peanut sauce is thicker and tasted better than the usual ordinary Indonesian chicken satay and not oily nor sweet like the one in Singapore. The meat overall tasted good because the meat was fresh and only seasoned with salt before it's grill with traditional charcoal grill. I also ate it with lontong, the lontong which made from rice was freshly made daily which I forgot to take a picture. The price for 10 pcs satay is IDR 10.000 (US$1 or SGD$1.6), very cheap and nice satay.
Note: The traditional charcoal grill cannot blow the wind using fan because it can cause cancer so the meat will grill slowly but cooked and save.

The second dish was Garang Asam (chicken wrapped with banana leaf and slowly steam with special seasoning). I didn't try it but my parents did and they didn't very enjoy it somehow today, they said that it's not fresh and delicious today. Garang Asam (sour garang) is an old food since a long time ago but not everyone can make it as delicious as before. The price if I'm not mistaken is about IDR20.000 (USD$2 or SGD$3).



Surely the price is affordable and the place is well known to many satay lover in town. The drinks are simple red tea whether it's hot or cold, soda, juices are available with good price about IDR3000-5000 (USD$0.5 or SGD$0.8).

The address is at JL. Pucang Anom, along the street can be seen the restaurant since it's furnished very simple and looked cheap but yet the satay is good.

Christmas Cake

I know it's a bit late to talk about christmas cake but why not, so this December can't be miss without buying any tempting christmas cake and the choice was sure of to "Komugi" a Japanese cake store in Surabaya, one of Papaya (Japanese supermarket) cake store. So this is it a short cake special of the month. The fruits are peach, kiwi, and pear that soaked in sugar water then cooled it of in a fridge. The price came handy for about IDR80.000 (USD$8 or SGD$12).

This cake honestly good. Like other Komugi's cake this cake is not sweet and the cream tastes fresh, the cake is good to eat and not heavy at all, and the roasted almond is perfect combination for this short cake. After all even though the size is indeed small for that kind of prize in Surabaya but it's worth it.

Cake 6 (another Vanilla Sponge Cake)

My sister couldn't forget the first vanilla sponge cake taste that I bought for my birthday so here she bought again the same vanilla sponge cake with different toping fruit, the price is same however its IDR 131.000 (US$13 or SGD$ 19). The taste was quite different without blueberry jam inside it, and yes I forgot to take a pic of the slice of the cake. The toping are from strawberries and peach at first I thought that it's mango not peach. The strawberries were not fresh anymore and rather spoiled, me and my sister are quite upset after tasting the cake this cake is still as sweet as before but the no blueberry jam and most of the strawberries almost rotten and the price is same like the 1st cake I bought. Not a nice cake after all, is shangrilla hotel bakery standard is decrease somehow after 3 weeks only, definitely it is.

Cake 5 (Strawberry Chocolate Shot)

This cake was bought in a rush by me for my sister's birthday, why in a rush because I didn't want her to know that I bought her a birthday cake so in turn I just bought it in last minute when the "Komugi" (a Japanese famous bakery in my hometown) almost close, and this cake was the only left. The price is about IDR 160.000 or US$16 or SGD$ 23.
















After tried a slice of the cake it turned out to be a really good chocolate mousse cake, the chocolate mousse is indeed sweet however the layer of chocolate cake is not sweet at all. On top of that could taste a bit taste of wine but not too strong alcohol like rum or sherry from this cake, the first layer of the cake top with chocolate mousse with strawberry fruit then put in the second layer of the cake. A really nice chocolate strawberry cake.

Cake 4 (Vanilla Sponge Cake)

This is my birthday cake, I bought it by myself from Shangrila hotel. The price after discount 40% (after 8p) is IDR 131.000 (US $ 13.1 or SGD $ 19), quite cheap cake for international standard hotel bakery. The cake called "Vanilla Sponge Cake" but I wondered because I hardly tasted vanilla from the cake, the cake is made from 2 layers of cake, first layer top with apple crust then put some blueberry jam at the middle of the cake then they put the second layer of the cake. The taste is ok but the cake is too sweet which not into my liking so that's why the chef put the apple and blueberry jam which have sour taste to balance the sweetness of the cake. The 1st birthday that I celebrated in my hometown after 5 years in Singapore, not bad cake after all.

Cake 3 (another chocolate indulgence)

I know the chocolate cake looks really simple, but to tell you the truth it's not just a common chocolate cake it's a liquor chocolate cake. The power of the liquor was just too strong until I couldn't feel the taste of the chocolate just could taste the sweetness only. However when I tried to warmed it up in the microwave the chocolate turned out to be liquid. That's unusual chocolate cake for me. Not to enjoy it when it's warm but really enjoy it when eating it cool.

Cake 2 (birthday cake)

9th of November is my beloved nephew birthday, and look my brother ordered a winnie the pooh cake. The cake was very big, we celebrated the birthday party at his school and everybody liked the cake. This cake was a 3-layer cake, traditional Indonesian favorite cake that everybody really enjoy.