Ethnic Eats
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Friday, June 18th, 2010
As soon as I discovered that there was an Indonesian restaurant near me, my fingers were crossed for chicken satay smothered in peanut sauce followed by an avocado and chocolate smoothie. (Trust me: avocados and chocolate are a good good thing.)
Thus I made my way to Satay Sarinah in Alexandria. I floated into a space with walls adorned by shadow puppets and a mask of Ravana and where we were greeted with a genuine Selamat sore! (Also a good thing.)
And there it was. Right there on the menu. Chicken satay – smothered in peanut sauce, just like in my dreams. Fortunately I had enough patience for the appetizer – Lemper. It’s shredded chicken with a strong lemon ting, packed into a roll of sticky, slightly sweet rice, THEN wrapped up in a banana leaf like a present. (A good thing too.)
And then I got a bit greedy – the Rames village platter had everything to please my foreign food cravings. Chicken AND beef satay smothered in the nation’s signature peanut sauce (creamy, almost peppery, nutty, and – from what my palate remembers of street food Indonesia – authentic to boot. That is, without the fear of poisoning this time.), juicy chicken in an herbal coconut sauce, green beans sprinkled with substantial flakes of hot seasoning, and a spicy egg.
A word of comparison on the spicy egg: once upon a time in Bali, I ate a memorable egg. It was hard-boiled and had a suspiciously gray color. I wish that I had been fluent in Indonesian enough to ask what magic they had performed – my best guess is that it was aged because it tasted so wise and smoky, like a prophet in a cave. But I do know that as long as I live I will never forget that egg. This egg however, was different. The flavor came from a spicy crust that encased it instead of the egg itself. Not a bad thing – perhaps just a Javanese style.
And then dessert. Avocado and chocolate smoothie? N/a, but on the bright side I can probably make that at home anyway. I would recommend the whole young coconut (it’s all the rave in Bali) or es campur – a shaved ice dish with rambutan (lychee’s funkified cousin), jack fruit and other tropical delights. (Am I getting too predictable to say it? – These are all GREAT things.)
Though there is a plethora of international restaurants in the DC metro area, this seems to be the only one to provide dishes from one of my favorite culinary cultures. My swollen belly and happy plates are proof that it stands up to the challenge. However, my born-and-raised in the land dining companion tells me he’s heard rumors of an Indonesian restaurant in Fairfax… Looks like I have a little more sleuthing and eating to do.
- Jamel Daugherty
Tags: chicken satay, es campur, Indonesia, lemper, peanut sauce, Satay Sarinah