Sate Matang Rex Peunayong @ Banda Aceh, Indonesia

Tonight is the last night we were spending here this trip. After my work was settled, I went back to the hotel to have a quick shower and then along with my friend and dad, head out to a place called Rex in Peunayong, Banda Aceh. This is a famous esplanade among the locals and has rows and rows of stalls which operate from morning till the wee hours of the night. I was informed by my friend that the specialty here is the Aceh style Sate Matang.

Rex at Peunayong, Banda Aceh

This place is right in the middle of the city and is buzzing with activity when we arrived. We parked the car just across the road and walked over to this esplanade heading to the Sate Matang outlet.

Sate Matang Stall

Extremely Busy Times

The stall was simple in layout. They were surrounded with knee length plastic tables and chairs which I found to be weird. The tables spread out right till the road and was filled with customers waiting for their orders. The stall itself was manned minimally and they can't spend more than 30 seconds listening to your orders, so you must be quick and yet they were very efficient.

Sate Being Grilled

The offer a variety of sate here. Choices range from chicken, mutton and beef. However, the favourite here is the Mutton Sate.

Customers come in large groups

Us waiting for our food

The waiting time can be pretty long here and this time, we had to wait for almost 30 minutes before the food arrived. However, you do not feel the waiting time as there is lots to see, at least for me, from the crowd around us. As previously mentioned, you can see that the tables and chairs are weirdly knee length and can be difficult for the elderly and over weight.

A Single Meal Set

Meal Time

Finally, we got our meals. The full set comes with 10 skewers of Sate, a plate of Peanut Sauce simmered in chillies and a plate of white rice. This again is in direct contradiction with the practice in Malaysia as here, Satay is Satay and rice is rice. We do not mix them both. However, it seems for the Acehnese at least, they must have every meal with white rice. Now, let me tell you that the Sate was lovely. It was tender, juicy and excellent. The accompanying Peanut Sauce was extremely spicy way beyond my capability and the White Rice surely comes as a surprise. On the whole, for just the taste, I would rate this Sate at 9/10 .

The cost, per person was merely an equivalent of RM 3.00 which I feel was very cheap. For this price, we were getting excellent authentic food at great price. I truly felt that this was worth it and at this Rex Esplanade, there is more food to explore than just this Sate. If you are a food lover and happen to be here, do try out the good dishes including this Sate!!!!

Address: Rex Esplanade, Peunayong,
                Banda Aceh, Aceh, Indonesia.

Opening Hours: 1030 - 0200 or later Daily.......

Gulai Kambing Warung Ridha Ilahi @ Banda Aceh, Indonesia

This is another interesting place to try the famous Acehnese Mutton Curry. Being located on Jalan Tgk Chik Ditiro opposite Gedung Sosial, this restaurant is nothing but a shop in a wooden structure and zinc roof. It is attached together with another 3 restaurants selling similar food but this one sells the best. This restaurant has been here for the past 30 years. Right in front on the porch, the mutton is cooked in a mega big wok. I was told that in a single day, they slaughter up to five goats and all is sold out in a mere four hours.

Cooked Mutton Curry

Simple Layout

The specialty here is that the curry is added with various spices and cooked with grated coconut instead of coconut milk and then diluted perfectly with water. The mutton curry is also cooked with all the spare parts of the goat. You cannot choose your preferred meat cuts here as it is bundled together in a package.

Lunch is Served

My friend placed the orders while we waited. We were here early and that is why the place is quite vacant. Crowd starts coming in by 11.30 am and by 3 pm, all is sold out. Service here is pretty fast. The only setback is that it is quite hot inside.

Pickled Mutton

This was like a side dish and it was really good. Though it looks dry, it was extremely spicy.

Acehnese Mutton Curry

When this dish first arrived, it did looked weird to me but the taste was extremely good. The curry was awesome and the mutton was soft and tender. Loved it!

Cucumber Juice

This is a famous drink here.I was told that it is customary to have this drink here as it is believed that it washes away the cholesterol. I don't really know how true this is but it definitely was refreshing and nice.

Remaining Spare Parts

Well as you can see from the above photo, I cleared the curry off the plate, literally but there were these few parts that I just could not eat, however I tried to force myself.Generally, this place is a must try when you are in Banda Aceh. The total meal for three of us only cost us RM 4 in equivalent Malaysian Ringgit. Definitely worth it!!!

Address: Jalan Tgk Chik Ditiro (Opposite Gedung Sosial),
                Banda Aceh, Aceh, Indonesia.

Opening Hours: 1100 - 1500 (Daily)

Solong Coffee Ulee Kareng @ Banda Aceh, Indonesia

Sumatra is famous for its coffee and the best coffee comes from Aceh province. There are two types of coffee that are the pride of this province, Kopi Luak and Ulee Kareng. Kopi Luak is the famous Civet Dung Coffee and Ulee Kareng comes from the Ulee Kareng highlands. Today I had the opportunity to try the Ulee Kareng Coffee at a special Indonesian Style Coffee House in Banda Aceh.

Solong Coffee House, Banda Aceh

Inside The Coffee House

This Coffee House is located around 3 kilometers away from the city centre. It is in a locality that is famous for garment shopping. I was told that this coffee house opens till the wee hours of the morning and the Aceh people spend their nights here with their friends or even watching EPL games. Coffee drinking is strangely a famous Aceh past time.

Late night cakes

My friend who brought us here

Besides the coffee, it is common for the waiters to place various plates of local Acehnese cakes for you to try and these cakes were surely good. In fact, it is here that I tasted the best ever Kuih Bengkang which is made from tapioca.

Ulee Kareng Coffee

This coffee was excellent. It must be drank black to get the real taste and aroma. Light yet savoury. Being a coffee lover, I surely loved it. This is definitely a must visit place when you are in Banda Aceh and it cost us an equivalent of RM 5 which includes the coffee and cakes for three persons.

Address: Jalan Teuku Iskandar (SP Tujuh Ulee Kareng),
                Banda Aceh, 23117 Aceh, Indonesia.

Opening Hours: 0900 - 0300 Daily

Rumah Bu & Cafe Trienggadeng @ Banda Aceh, Indonesia

This was indeed a surprise trip that came about out of nowhere. Never did I think that I would visit Banda Aceh again. Once the trip was confirmed, I immediately contacted my friend in Banda Aceh to assist me with the accommodation and logistics. As always, I dragged my father along with my travels. Being a tour operator, he did it all in a breeze. This is a brief entry on one of the places that we stopped for a quick and excellent lunch. This restaurant is a pretty huge one and is located right in the middle of the Banda Aceh city.

A lovely restaurant in Banda Aceh

It seems that this place is quite famous with both the locals and foreigners. Once I was inside, I was surprised to see a number of westerners in this humble restaurant. The restaurant has multiple dining rooms which are open air and one air conditioned room. We settled for the air conditioned room but they have a premium on the food for dining at this room. Being in Indonesia, with the exchange rate, everything is pretty cheap for us Malaysians.

Once you are seated at the table, they come bringing a huge number of dishes and serve them like the Padang style but all the dishes here are cooked to Acehnese style of cooking which is typically quite similar to the Indian style of cooking.

A splurge of dishes to choose from

Don't know where to start

The dishes were really great and the food was excellent here. I am not able to write individual commentaries as time is a little short. However, I would rate the food here at 9/10 and the price was really cheap. The total cost of meal for three here today was an equivalent of RM 10.00 .

This is a restaurant that I would strongly recommend!!!

Address:  Jalan G.K. Daud Beuleueh, 
                 No. 30 Kuta Alam, Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

Opening Hours: 1030 - 2200

Telephone: 00852 9609 6555
                 

Mie Razali Crab Noodles @ Banda Aceh, Indonesia

This is an entry from my visit in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. I was informed by the driver that this is a must try restaurant and it is very famous here especially for the Crab Noodles. This restaurant was established in 1967 and has been going very strong all these years. In fact, it is also a recommended restaurant on Lonely Planet guide books. Well, when we arrived here this restaurant was extremely crowded and there were no seats available on the ground floor. The driver proposed that we head upstairs and to my surprise, the first floor which had the VIP room was empty. Only then I realized that the VIP room was air conditioned and smoking is prohibited here. No wonder there weren't any locals willing to sit here as smoking is a national culture in Indonesia. 

Mie Razali @ Banda Aceh

VIP Room on the first floor

Well Lit Signs

This restaurant is famous for its crab noodles. There are two versions of it being sold here, the wet type and the dry type. Crab in Indonesian is called Kepiting and hence its name Mee Kepiting and Mee Goreng Kepiting.
It did not take long for the dishes to arrive due to the high demand and mass production happening downstairs in the kitchen. When the dishes arrived, I was surprised to see a full crab in each dish and it was sold for lest than USD 2 per plate, which is extremely cheap looking at the price that crabs are being sold here. 

The Dishes Arrived

Fried Crab Noodles

Crab Noodles Wet Style

The taste....simply superb. A little spicy, not much and just about the right taste. What we did was in order to try both dishes, we ended up sharing both dishes, eating half portion in each plate. I enjoyed both versions of this noodles and truly wish that this dish is available soon in Malaysia.
Address: No 83-85, Jalan T.P. Polem, 
            Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

Tel: 0651 7400174

Opening Hours: 1100 - 2330