“Could I book a table for two tonight?” I ask the voice at the other end of the phone.

“I think you don’t book, you just come in and if I have a table then I’ll give it to you, otherwise no. It’s very busy here!” the frantic male voice answers and hangs up.

“Oh dear” I say to Mr NQN. “Shall we chance it?” and he agrees. After all on Anzac Parade there are plenty of choices available and if they can’t take us, we can always try another place. We walk in and ask for a table for two and the man (we guess the one that answers the phone) points us to a table. There is a huge birthday party in progress that takes up most of the restaurant and I recall this being the former site of the one time ubiquitous ”Black Stump” restaurant chain.

Ice Campur $5

Service is friendly and prompt and they take our order quickly. The kitchen is slower and we a long time for our entrees perhaps slowed down by the large party. We start with drinks that are kind of dessert. In the Ice Campur there is palm seeds, nata de coco jelly, jackfruit and shaved ice as well as sweet, thick dark brown palm sugar syrup.

Ice Telur $5

The Ice Telur is similar but less sweet missing the palm sugar syrup and with avocado and I prefer the Ice Campur.

Martabak Telor $7.50

Our Martabak Telor is the first dish to arrive. This looks slightly different to the other Martabaks that I have tried which are sweet ones that seem almost like crumpets with filling. This is a thin, very crunchy pastry filled with beef, egg and spring onion and vegetables and tastes similar to a spring roll but in a different form. It comes with satay sauce and a fruity cucumber pickle and we both enjoy this.

Satay $12 for 6 sticks

Click here to read the full story

Ayam Goreng is one of those places that was recommended to me by many of my readers and friends. Mostly, it’s raves for the tender, perfectly cooked chicken. So one blisteringly cold Spring day we head off for lunch at Ayam Goreng, in a busy restaurant laden stretch of Anzac Parade.

We walk in and it’s fairly busy. We sit down at a table for two on the side and take a look at the laminated double sided menu. Two choices are obvious, the chicken ayam and the margarine chicken (I promise the second choice is not just based on the name!). Most things are ridiculously cheap, Beef Rendang is $3.50 so we order a bit more than we normally would figuring we could take some away to eat at a later stage.

Writing your own order

There is a section of a lined pad and a pen where you write down your order and hand it to the waiter and you then help yourself to water and glasses and wait for your food.

While we wait for our food, we take in our surrounding, including plant with the longest branches you could imagine that stretch as long as the wall (ok there wasn’t much to look at).

Deep fried marinated chicken Javanese style (thigh piece) $5.50

Click here to read the full story

What on earth is a Pempek I hear you ask? I can only anticipate your question as that’s the exact thing that I said upon hearing it. Pempek is an Indonesian fish cake which is a mix of ground fish and flour, deep fried and comes in variety of shapes and is much loved food. This may sounds rather boring but it is nothing like the fish balls or cakes that your local asian food grocer stocks in the fridge. Incongruously, there is a Pempek Clovelly, not in the suburb Clovelly but in Kensington on Anzac Parade. It’s not a fancy looking place, somewhat dowdy in fact like most of the eateries on Anzac Parade but it is supposed to serve some fabulous Pempek so a Pempek-ing We Go!

There are already several tables of people seated as we walk in and the waiter is hurriedly bringing out dishes for them. We sit down and stare at the menu for a while. It’s in Indonesian with an english translation and some pictures of the food. We’re not quite sure how the Pempek is served, it seems you can get a bowl of it but it is priced per piece from $2.50 to $17.50 for the large sampler plate. Our waiter comes back with a smile on his face, apologises and takes our order. We choose to go individually as this is our first time trying it and order a Pempek Lenjer (Fish stick), Pempek Kulit (fish cake skin) and Pempek Bulet (fish cake ball), all $2.50 each, usually 3 per serve . We order some Bakso Abang Abang Indo style noodle soup ($8), a piece of Ayam Goreng ($5) and a noodle dish with Lontang (rice cakes), vegetables and tofu with peanut sauce ($9). There’s a note that all of the meat supplied is Halal and a request on the wall that no alcohol is consumed on the premises. There’s also a helpful reminder that Anzac Parade is a tow away zone before 7pm should any patrons enjoy their food, only to find later that their car has been towed away.

Pempek Lenjer (Fish stick), Pempek Kulit (fish cake skin) and Pempek Bulet (fish cake ball), all $2.50 each

It’s a short while before our Pempek arrives, the three crispy pieces in a bowl of cuko (a sweet thin sauce made of brown sugar, garlic and vinegar) served with a side pot of chili. Ahhh ok so this is the soup we were seeing pictured. The first Pempek we try is the round fish ball, split into quarters and open like a flower. Each segment is delicious especially when dunked into the sauce although the taste isn’t very fishy at all. It could be any sort of filling, even deep fried tofu although it is tastier than tofu. The accompanying chili sambal is very hot and strong, unlike most of the chili sauce one gets so we treat it with caution.

We try the second Pempek, the Pempek Lenjer (Fish stick). The texture to this is slightly different although if you asked me to describe how different, I’d have difficulty. The crispy baton was more moist then the others and tasted like it had some sort of vegetable in it.

Click here to read the full story