Tag: bandung

Bandung, Indonesia: Food – Roadside Wonders

Two of the most common things on the roadside of Bandung are brownies and strawberries.

Brownies

Brownies are very famous in Bandung. In almost every corner, you’ll find brownies sold in shops or sold in van or stalls parked by the roadside. I guess the most well know brownie is the Amanda Brownie. Our driver Hari recommended that we buy the brownies from a shop rather than by the roadside as it tends to be fresher and moist.

We bought one from a shop by the name Kabita (nothing to do with Nobita) located at Jln Terusan Pasteur. It came in a big box wrapped with a plastic cover. We cut it half and kept it for ourselves. The other half we gave it to our driver.

The other recommended place to buy brownies would be Kartikasari, a very well known bakery in Bandung. Other than brownies, one should also try their other pastries. It has a few branches in Bandung. Just ask the staff for their recommendation.

Strawberries

Since Bandung is located 768 metres above the sea level, it is very suitable to grow strawberries. So suitable that you have them flooded on the streets. At certain junctions, you’ll find people knocking on your window asking to you buy strawberries.

Ice blended Strawberries are available in almost all restaurants in Bandung.


It’s also available by the roadside!

Note: Please avoid Florida Milk at all cost. Nothing to do with strawberry but it sucked. Tasted like Milk + Mandarin Oranges.

On another note, I found a place with sell freshly blended strawberries. It’s called Berry Passion, located @ Floor LG1 (near the Skating Rink area), Sunway Pyramid. I must say, it’s really good. At RM7.90 per cup, you’ll be craving for moar!

Bandung, Indonesia: Food

Food in Bandung was interesting. At a reasonable price, we could dine at high end restaurant. I would highly recommend The Valley and Kampung Daun for a great gastronomical adventure.

The Valley


The Valley Bistro Café is a restaurant located on top of a hill with a view overlooking Bandung. In the Valley, you may dine alfresco.

We came here at night for dinner. Although the food is reasonably priced, their food is just so-so. However, I would highly recommend this place for couples as this place has great ambiance – very romantic. In fact, it was branded as one of the most romantic places in Bandung.

We sat on the terrace with a candle lit in the middle. It was a little bit chilly. We didn’t bring out jackets along but we decided to brave the cold. We ordered their house speciality, the Zoupa Zoupa soup – a bowl of cream soup topped with a baked pastry crust. It was excellent. While waiting for the rest of our meal to come, we were accompanied by songs sang by a live band inside the restaurant.

Since I was still in an adventurous mode, I ordered a glass of Banana Coffee. It tasted pretty bad. Please avoid at all cost.

After finishing our meal, we took pictures of the place and the panoramic view of Bandung. Photographers may consider bringing their own spot light as this place is quite lightly dimmed.

This place has a special place in my heart as this was the place I first celebrate my birthday this year 😀

The Valley, Bistro Cafe & Resort Hotel
Jl. Lembah Pakar Timur 28 Dago – Bandung
Tel: (022) 2531052(hotel), (022)251450(cafe)

Kampung Daun

Kampung Daun is another romantic and yet affordable restaurant in Bandung. It exploits the nature and its surroundings for its ambiance. It has a small waterfall and running stream flowing through the restaurant. Small wooden huts are placed along a path which leads to the top of a hill.

Someone recommended that we dine at this restaurant at night time. However, I wanted to dine there in the afternoon cause I would be able to see the place clearly. Hence, we came here for lunch. We chose one of the huts located next to a stream.

We had to knock on a wooden block named “Kentongan” for service.

This place serves mainly Sundanese food. My meal came with a side dish which looks like a brain. It was quite surprised that it tasted crispy and nice! I was expecting it to be soggy.

First they have sup buntot, now they have Mie Tek Tek.

My meal was accompanied with a glass of refreshing ice blended strawberry.

After my meal, I lazed around for the afternoon to end.


New found friend.

Kampung Daun is less than an hour’s drive from the city. The drive there has couple of interesting sights.

Kampung Daun Culture Gallery & Cafe
Sersan Bajuri Km. 4,7 No. 88, Cihideung
Bandung
Jawa Barat – Indonesia
PH 1: (022) 278-7915
PH 2: (022) 278-4572
Homepage: http://www.kampungdaun.net/

Bandung, Indonesia: Shopping – Part I

Bandung is perhaps a women’s paradise. One can actually spend the whole trip shopping. Fortunately, most of our time wasn’t spent on shopping. We manage to see Bandung other than four walls and a rack of cloth.

Nevertheless, shopping in Bandung is quite an eye opener.


First Eye Opener – Channel and Gucci tudongs

Our first destination was Pasar Baru, a 7 storey textile and garment market. The place was so huge and complex that I couldn’t find the exit. Every corner you will find a shop selling textiles and garments. In fact, it was very difficult to find shops that sell other than textiles and garments.

Here you can find a lot of people running around offering to sell you drink and food. Some will be dragging a bucket full of drinks and some will be carrying a tray of donuts. It was quite weird as it was fasting month and more than half of the population was fasting.


Reloading donuts!


zzzz


They have Air Mata Kuching from Malaysia!

Pasar Baru may be a little dodgy to some but this is all worth it if you make a trip up to the roof top to see Bandung.

Most of our shopping was done at Bandung’s designer warehouses. These warehouses are very common in Bandung but the notable ones are Heritage, ForMen (just opposite Heritage), the Secret and Rumah Mode. Unfortunately, these warehouses didn’t appeal to me as most of these warehouses have identical or similar stuff and I didn’t have to patient to sift out unique stuff. Further, I find that some of the branded products quite doubtful – not sure whether it’s really rejected goods.

Fortunately, I managed to roam into 18th Park, a shopping outlet that sells locally designed products a.k.a a Distro. It looked dodgy from outside especially when they have a bunch of kids gathering outside the shop.

They looked like they were about to rob me. But I managed to gather courage to walk into the shop alone and found a treasure trove!

It has many shops selling all sorts of local brands. I got myself some cute tshirts.

To be continued..

Bandung, Indonesia: The Trip

My trip to Bandung, Indonesia took off with a rough start. On the eve of my trip, I didn’t have a single rupiah. I was planning to head to the money changer after dinner but I had a little mishap while sipping a hot cup of Chinese tea. I slipped off my hand and the hot tea splashed onto my thighs and.. umm.. It was hot.

Immediately after dinner, I rushed to the nearest money changer and found that it was closed. It was almost 830pm and most money changers would close by 9pm. I rushed to another money changer nearby and lined up about 10 minutes…
All I got from the money changer was “Sorry, No more rupiah”

I panicked. The nearest money changer would be Mid Valley which is around 10 minutes away. I drove like a mad man to my destination and found that the entrances to the car park blocked…

I was at the verge of dumping my car by the side of the road but fortunately the car park entrance at the Gardens (another annexure of Mid Valley) open.
Within no time, I found myself in Mid Valley changing my money to Rupiah. I’m all set for my new adventure!