248 Clarendon street South Melbourne
03 9077 2947
My country of birth is Thailand, and I'm sure many people out there knows that Thailand is located in South East Asia. South East Asia, consists of 10 countries, and Indonesian is one of them. Despite being so close to Indonesian, I have never been to Indonesian or trying out Indonesian food until now.
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| Ayam Penyet famous Smashed chicken |
Ayam Penyet Ria (or simply Ria) is located in South Melbourne, so I had to catch the tramp to get there. This place was recommended by my Indonesian friends who are also foodie, so I had no doubt.
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| The Ayam Penyet, or the smashed chicken |
I happen to arrived at Ria before my Indonesian friends. They felt bad that I arrived before me, so they simply sent me a massage telling me to order the Ayam Penyet aka the smashed chicken. As you can see in the picture, majority of food in the plate is golden brown. The dish cost $9, and it does not comes with rice, so best to ordered extra rice. The dish came out quickly as I guess it's mostly pre-made. Despite being pre-made food, the flavor is extremely explosive in my mouth. The chicken was cook just right that it is crunchy on the outside, yet moist in the inside. Along with the chicken, there are deep fried tofu, soy bean cake and cabbage with chili on them. I shared this dish with my other friend, and luckily everything comes in two. By the time my Indonesian friends arrived, one of them ordered the same as me, but with added rice. However, the other friend she ordered Iga Peyet, which is Indonesian smashed ribs. I had a try of her ribs and has to say pretty damn good for ribs!
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| Indonesian fish cake |
Of course, one sharing dish between me and my friend was no way to be enough for Friday cheat meal. My Indonesian friend went up with me to help me ordered, and the girl at the counter said that this week, we made Indonesian fish cake. Well, after my smashed chicken I already know that I am so coming back for more, so I was tempted to try out something off the menu. And yes, I end up ordered the fish cake. When it arrived, it was served in a soup blow, and from what I see it is nothing like the kind of fish cake I had in mind. In the picture, the dark soup is a sweet soy broth. The fish cake's texture basically identical to Korean fish cake. However, what made it interesting was there was cooked boil egg inside this fish cake. My Indonesian told me that the way to eat this properly is to flooded the fish cake in the broth. The egg is there as the broth absorber. I did exactly as they told me to. When they ask me, what did I think about it I had to confess I put on my poker face and nicely lied just to made them felt good.
Overall, beside the fish cake I am still really keen to come back to Ria to try out their other dish such as Gado-Gado (Indonesian salad), Soto Ayam (yellow chicken soup) and Rawom (black beef soup). I can now officially tick off Indonesian food out of my bucket list of cuisine. Have to say Ria has done an incredible job, giving me a fanciful introductory to Indonesian food. If any of your out there wanting to tick off Indonesian food off your bucket list, give Ria a try, and it will give you a gracious experience.
Ayam Penyet Ria
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