Indonesia Restaurant - San Francisco, California
After the walk, or should I say hike, from the hotel to Lombard Street, I was famished. Since my friend agreed to accompany me on my trek, I decided that a free meal was in order. We headed towards Naan-N-Curry on O'Farrell at the recommendation of Amy. At the corner of Taylor and Post, we came across Borobudur an Indonesian restaurant. Peeking inside, I didn't see anyone dining there. As I turned around and headed back towards the corner, I saw the sign for Indonesia Restaurant across the street. Since we only have one Indonesian restaurant here in Hawaii, I decided that I would forgo my craving for Indian food and have Indonesian food instead.
Upon entering Indonesia Restaurant, I saw that it was a small shop that was not elaborately decorated -- a hole-in-the-wall. There were quite a few tables occupied, so I was hopeful that I made a good decision in coming here.
After looking over the menu, there were so many things that I wanted to try, but since I had to settle on just a few, I decided on a salad and a main dish. To start, I decided to have the gado gado (US$5.95).
This Indonesian mixed salad had green beans, potatoes, bean sprouts, tofu, hard boiled eggs, cabbage and krupuk (prawn crackers). It was all topped with a lot of peanut sauce. The only thing this was missing was the fried tempe (soybean cake). The ingredients were fresh and the peanut sauce was as authentic as any I had every tasted. It was slightly sweet with just a hint of shrimp paste and just the slightest amount of spiciness to it. Excellent!
My friend had the nasi padang (US$7.95).
This one was served with some spicy coconut beef (similar to rendang daging), a hard boiled egg in sambal sauce, some cabbage, some peanuts and sambal ikan billis (anchovies), coconut rice which was topped with fried shallots and more krupuk. I was told that this was very good.
I ordered the nasi lemak (US$8.25).
A huge mountain of nasi lemak (coconut rice) was topped with fried shallots and garnished with slices of tomato and cucumber. It was served with one piece of ayam panggang (barbecued chicken), one stick of satay ayam (chicken satay), two pieces perkedel, some peanuts and sambal ikan billis and some krupuk.
I thoroughly enjoyed both the satay and the ayam panggang. The satay was nicely barbecued and had the right amount of seasoning. The ayam panggang was tender, with the meat just falling off the bone. The sauce was just a little sweeter than I would have licked, but it was still delicious. The perkedel, which is a fried potato "cake" that has some minced meat in it was good as well. I was pleasantly surprised to see quite a bit of meat in there especially since most often times the amount of meat used to make these "cakes" is minimal at best.
After all that food, we had dessert. I really wanted the es kacang with durian, but was told that they weren't serving es kacang that day. So instead, we both decided to have the es cendol.
This looked like homemade cendol to me. The cendol (green worm-like stuff) is made from green bean flour. The dessert is finished off with some condensed milk and lots of gula melaka (palm sugar). This was delicious and wonderfully refreshing.
I'm glad I decided to stop here. The service was excellent and the food arrived quickly at our table. The tasty, delicious food was quite authentic and in my opinion, reasonably priced. I will definitely come back here on my next trip to San Francisco, and I will definitely recommend this place to all my friends who travel here.
Indonesia Restaurant
678-680 Post Street
San Francisco, California
Telephone: 415.474.4026
Indonesia Restaurant Menu.pdf
(Requires Adobe Acrobat)
Reid - This looks great, I'll make sure I head here on my next trip to SF! So thoe things that look like fried garlic are fried shallots?
Posted by: Kirk | June 07, 2005 at 07:02 PM
Hi, I really enjoy reading your weblogs, especially about all the foods. However this one entry reminds me of home. Next time, try the es teler. You will like it. I do!. ^-^
Posted by: minote | June 07, 2005 at 07:33 PM
mmmmmmm indonesian food......
Damm now I have major cravings... luckily I am going to my fav tomorrow night, YAY! (Hopefully I will remember the camera!)
I thought that nasi lemak was malaysian and nasi uduk was indonesian?
On the look, if they are fancy you dont want to go there! The should be clean and respectable but look kinda cheap ;)
Pity about Sydney, :(
Posted by: clare eats | June 07, 2005 at 08:22 PM
:o) es for ice .... as in ice kacang and ice cendol .... cute.
Posted by: FatMan Seoul | June 07, 2005 at 08:35 PM
now this certainly looked lovely! oooo i missed tauhu telor and ayam panggang bumbu rojak! hmmmm must go for my nasi padang fix soon.
usually when i travel, i got with my instinct and will usually choose a more crowded place rather than an empty one hehehe well just to be on the safe side :p
Posted by: babe_kl | June 07, 2005 at 08:43 PM
Just wanted to tell you that I really enjoy reading your restaurant reviews and seeing all the great food pictures... I always leave your site drooling and jealous.
Posted by: hada wray | June 08, 2005 at 02:31 AM
Oh how I miss cendol, I ate so much of them during my trips to Malaysia. My sister who lives in Malaysia gave me an ice shaver machine for my birthday knowing how much I loved cendol and ice/es kacang. Now it's up to me to make my own cendol and ice kacang at home. Reid, now after reading this post I am definitely more motivated!
Posted by: OsloFoodie | June 08, 2005 at 03:23 AM
u gave me cravings so bad, I made indo for dinner! mmmmm :)
Posted by: clare eats | June 08, 2005 at 05:02 AM
I have added your blog to my favotites folder. Your style of writing and pictures
puts the me right there.
Posted by: chef 'em out | June 08, 2005 at 05:48 AM
Hi Reid,
Luckily you went by your instincts and made the right decision to eat at Indonesia Restaurant (not very creative name, though). I like how the food is neatly presented. The nasi lemak sounds wonderful. This should more than make up for the disappointing one you had at Baba Neo. :)
Posted by: Julia | June 08, 2005 at 07:03 AM
Hi Kirk,
Yes, those are fried shallots. You can get them at a 99 Ranch Market if you don't want to make them at home yourself.
Please visit this Indonesian restaurant. The food here is quite good.
Hi minote,
Welcome to my blog!
I'm glad you enjoy the site, and I will definitely try the es teler next time. I think I did have it before. Does it have jackfruit and coconut milk in it?
Hi Clare,
I believe you are correct, however, this restaurant served both nasi uduk and nasi lemak, so this may be an Indonesian interpretation of the dish. I didn't ask. =(
Hope you enjoy your Indonesian food. I can't wait for the photos.
Hi Fats,
=) I think you mentioned that to me once before right?
Hi babe_kl,
This was as good as it looked...well, it looked better in person! =P
I usually try to trust my instincts too, but it doesn't always work. Besides, a crowd doesn't always mean good food right? *wink* (remembers Baba Neo).
Hi hada wray,
Thank you for stopping by and leaving me a comment. I'm glad you like my site, but it's a shame that you have to leave hungry. Perhaps you can eat before you visit! =)
Hope to hear from you again!
Hi Oslo Foodie,
I like ice/es kacang and cendol too. I brought back some rose syrup so that I could make ice kacang, I just need to get some cendol so that I can make it at home. I have a lot of gula melaka here as well.
Hi Clare,
Hope your Indonesian food turned out well. Did you post your pictures so I can see? =)
Hi chef 'em out,
Thank you for the compliment and welcome to my site. I'm glad you enjoy it. I hope to hear from you again!
Hi Julia,
Yes, this meal more than made up for the fiasco at Baba Neo. I only wish the food here in the US was as cheap as the food in Singapore! *sigh*
Posted by: Reid | June 08, 2005 at 11:20 PM
Hi Reid,
Hey I've eaten there! My Indonesian friend Maya took me there after the end of Ramadan one year. It was excellent. Good choice!
Posted by: elise | June 09, 2005 at 08:56 AM
I did I did :)
The photos of what I made at home worked really well!
But the restaurant is closed on thursday nights... *sob* so you and I will have to wait til next time...
Posted by: clare eats | June 09, 2005 at 01:58 PM
Hi Elise,
How are you? I was very happy that I decided to eat here. I was actually on my way to have Indian food, but I'm really glad that I stopped here. Too bad we couldn't meet up. I think I'll be back in SF around the same time next year. Hopefully we can meet up then. =)
Hi Clare,
Oooh. I'm going to go have a peek! =P
Posted by: Reid | June 10, 2005 at 12:29 AM
You know I completely forgot about that place! I ate there maybe a year ago and had a great meal. Some places are just off the beaten path I guess. Glad to hear you enoyed it.
Posted by: Amy | June 10, 2005 at 01:33 PM
Hi Amy,
I'm glad I found the place as I have been wanting to eat some Indonesian food for quite sometime.
Thank you so much for your recommendations. Maybe next time huh?
Posted by: Reid | June 10, 2005 at 10:47 PM
I pop once in awhile to read your review. Great photos! Yum!
If you're ever in SF again, try reviewing these two restaurants: PPQ on 25th and Clement -- garlic roasted crab set menu and San Tung Chinese Restaurant on Irving St at 12th -- great dumplings, with Mandarin/Korean flair. Keep up the great reviews!
Posted by: Nancy | September 14, 2005 at 08:35 AM
Hi Nancy,
Thank you so much for visiting my blog and thanks for the compliment on the site.
I'll be sure to note those recommendations down. I'm always looking for new places to eat at.
Thanks again!
Posted by: Reid | September 16, 2005 at 01:15 AM
I just wanna give comment about "Es Cendol".
Actually the "cendol" itself isn't made of green bean flour, instead; it's made of grounded rice-flour (sometimes you can add a little starch to make the "gelatinous" texture). Some people prefer to make it pure from grounded rice flour and some would like to add starch flour.
Whatever way you do that you then would want to add extract of "pandan leaves" to add green color and to add very nice smell to it.
I hope this information will help and anyone wants to have the recipe on how to make "es cendol" or exchange Indonesian recipe, please feel free to e-mail me.
regards,
Posted by: Sinar Indah | March 08, 2006 at 10:37 AM
I like Restaurant Indonesia, too. FYI, they will move to Berkeley (between Shattuck and Milivia?) in August 2006 with new name, Jayakarta Restaurant. The owner told me when i visited Restaurant Indonesia for lunch.
Other indonesian cuisine that you can also try is Bamboo Village on Geary.
If you happen to visit San Francisco again and if you love ramen and udon, the best ramen noodle restaurant in San Francisco is Iroha in Japantown. They are located across the mall and it's on the second floor. It's the best ramen and noodle, you will ever try.
For Hakka cuisine, please try Dragon River on Geary. They have very good hakka cuisine at a decent price. And if you crave Singaporean/Malaysian food, you can also try Singaporean Malaysian Restaurant on Clement Street.
I also like Scala's Bistro for the italian/American food. The food is very good with downtown view. It's next to Francis Drake Hotel.
Posted by: sophie | June 24, 2006 at 07:29 PM
Hi all,
Thank you so much for trying my mother's cooking. We've been trying to promote Indonesia through its foods :). Unfortunately, we won't be basing the restaurant in SF anymore, just what Sophie had mentioned. We're going to move to Berkeley (2026 University Ave, Between Shattuck and Milvia). Please come and visit us if you ever around the Bay area.
Posted by: Debi | July 28, 2006 at 08:32 AM
yes........check this out:
jayakartarestaurant.bravehost.com
great taste move to berkeley
Posted by: jaya | August 09, 2006 at 10:36 PM
i saw the list of menu at indonesian day. it's written "indonesian and singaporean cuisine" although what are in the menu definetely are indonesian foods. i thought it would be better if you just mention "indonesian cuisine" :-) looking forward to have the first indonesian restaurant in berkeley..!
Posted by: lily | August 23, 2006 at 09:23 PM