Pondok Indonesia Restaurant

Pondok Indonesia @ 950 West Broadway

www.pondokindonesia.com

I love nothing more than sampling authentic fare from around the world. Vancouver is great for that. There are so many authentic restaurants of different persuasions that you just don't find in most other cities. Seriously people, we're spoiled here. Despite that, Indonesian food is just one type of food I never expected to find here. It just seemed too minor. Imagine my delight to find this place a year or so ago.

I checked out a few of the reviews floating around out there, and I was shocked at the intensity of some of the negative reviews. I wasn't expecting that at all. I've been here about four times now over the years, and I've enjoyed every visit, for the most part, though there have been ups and downs. Some reviewers seem intent on writing as many negative things as possible. I find such reviews totally unhelpful. I'd rather read an objective review that points out the good and the bad, not someone slamming a place for the fun of it because they've hit a groove.

I say don't believe the negative reviews. Judge for yourself. Give the place a visit. They're one of the few Indonesian places in Vancouver, so it's worth supporting them. And seriously, it is nowhere near as bad as some of these people say.

They sure seem like they need the support. Every time I go there the place is empty. It's weird because they have this massive space that could easily seat a hundred people. This was the view when I went for lunch the other day (though admittedly I had a late lunch

around 2):

I think part of the problem might be their unusual location. Rather than being at street level, they are on the second floor of a curious commercial space. You can't just wander into this place when you're out looking for lunch. You have to specifically have it as your destination.

The layout of this restaurant is rather strange, with this large stage for a band or karaoke singer placed right in the middle of the space. I was seated next to the karaoke stage:

I don't quite understand what they were aiming for with this place. It seems they were striving to combine a casual party venue with a restaurant. I wonder how successful they've been at getting the place booked for such events. On one of my visits, a woman was crooning into the microphone along with some Thai pop, which made for some authentic ambiance. This time I was the only person in the entire room apart from the waitress.

Anyway, as for the food...

Prior to going for lunch the other day, I had only been to Pondok for dinner. And every time I had gotten the same thing: Rice Table 2. Rice Table 2 consists of four items:

- 4 pieces of Tahu Sayur Isi (deep fried tofu stuffed with vegetables served with a light peanut sauce)

- Ikan Akar Kuning (red snapper fillets lightly pan fried and simmered in ginger turmeric sauce)

- Rendang Sapi (spicy beef stew simmered in Indonesian herbs & coconut milk)

- Orak Arik (a traditional dish of shredded cabbage and carrots stir fried with eggs & herbs)

This was the first thing I had at Pondok, and I absolutely loved it. The stuffed tofu in particular was a revelation, and the fish was fresh and deliciously spiced. It really was great food.

One downside was that the prices were too high. I couldn't convince myself to order anything else on the menu than this rice place because it didn't feel like I would have been getting my money's worth to pay so much for a single item. Many of the other items of the menu didn't interest me because they were either too seafood-y or purely vegetarian.

This time I went for lunch. The lunch menu can be seen online here.

Rather than the lunch special being a pre-determined 'set', the menu is broken down into starters, soups & noodles, entrees, vegetarian entrees, and rice tables, just like a regular menu.

The entrees are a fairly reasonable price for lunch, ranging from $7 to $8. One entree is entirely sufficient to fill you up, so you don't really need to order an appy.

Which is good, because the starters I found to be overpriced. $4.50 for two fried lumpia rolls is really too much. And $8 for four chicken skewers is WAY too much. That's the same price as an entree. And their so-called rice tables, which are really sampler platters, are way over-priced. Nobody is going to order a "lunch special" that costs $14.50. That's no longer a lunch special!

The waitress was friendly and attentive. She refilled my water frequently. She gladly answered my question about the spices used in one of my dishes.

Despite the price being too high, I decided to order the lumpia because I wanted to taste how they made it to compare it with the lumpia I've had at Philippine restaurants around Vancouver.

Lumpia Istimewa ($4.50, Indonesian style spring rolls stuffed with minced chicken, shrimp & bamboo shoot served with a light peanut sauce)

FYI, apparently "istimewa" means "special". I wonder what makes these special.

I must say these were quite good. The peanut sauce is indeed quite light and delicate, just the way I like it. I don't like it when it just tastes like peanut butter.

The interior of the lumpia:

This tasted like no other spring roll I've ever had. No rice noodles, no tofu, no lettuce, mostly just minced chicken. Very simple. The minced chicken inside was very good.

If anyone reading this is from the region, is there much difference between Philippine and Indonesian lumpia?

For my main I got the following:

Rendang Sapi, Orak Arik & Rice ($8, spicy beef prepared with Indonesian herbs and coconut milk; stir fried cabbage, carrots and eggs with garlic and herbs)

I hadn't been to Pondok in a while, so I didn't realize it at the time, but these are two of the items provided in Rice Table 2.

I felt this was a great lunch special. Just the right portion, the taste is very good, the price is right.

I like the presentation of the dish. It's elegant and simple without feeling cheap. The rice is very pretty in the cone shape in the middle.

It's a good combination - a bit of vegetables, some meat, and some rice.

The beef sauce was very good, and they put crunchy fried onion the beef. The only problem I had with the beef was that it was slightly dry despite the presence of the sauce.

The vegetable stir fry presented a mysterious flavor that I couldn't put my finger on. It was a deep, throaty flavor that was quite intriguing. I devoured the whole thing, where usually vegetable stir fries of things so prosaic as cabbage and carrot would leave me completely unimpressed.

I was curious about the spice, so I asked the waitress. I was expecting it to be some strange, exotic thing I'd never heard of, but no. The waitress kindly informed me that the spices are actually quite simple: garlic, ginger, and white pepper. White pepper! So that's what I was tasting. Despite being quite common and ordinary a spice, it doesn't seem to be used very much in restaurants. I think they used it most effectively here.

I was really quite satisfied with my lunch. If I hadn't bought the lumpia, it would only have been around $10 in total, which is average for lunch.

I plan to come here again try try some of their other lunch entrees.

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Ethnic cuisine enthusiasts curious to try Indonesian food should head over to Pondok and give it a shot. I personally recommend Rice Table 2, although perhaps there are items on the menu that I haven't tried that are better than this. Unfortunately it seems that the prices have gone up in the last few years. Rice Table 2 now costs $29. Yes, the dish is large enough to share between two people, but even so, it's still a little on the expensive side for ethnic food.

I recommend having a look at the online menu, because they have photos there, which are helpful in deciding. I wasn't too tempted by anything on the menu before because I had no idea what to expect, but looking at the photos they have online makes me curious to try a lot of those items.

On the subject of Indonesian cuisine, I just noticed there is another Indonesian restaurant not far from Pondok called Sate Modern Indonesian Cuisine. It's right near the Park Theatre on Cambie. I will have to check it out in the coming days to build up my experience with Indonesian food.