Indonesian food on the menu in Germany<\/p>\n
By Sri Pudyastuti Baumeister<\/p>\n
BRUNSWICK, Germany (JP): It's a busy evening at Tuk Tuk
\nrestaurant in Berlin, but Suwido's friendly greeting to newly
\narrived guests -- \"Hello, how are you? Wait for a moment while I
\nset your table -- makes sure they feel at ease as they wait to
\ntake their seats.<\/p>\n
With Gending Sundanese music playing in the background and the
\ncongenial staff, it's like the people have found a corner of
\nexotic Indonesia in Germany.<\/p>\n
The interior decor, with walls made of plaited bamboo, roof of
\nplaited palm leaves and batik tablecloths, accentuates the
\nIndonesian ambience. Carved tissue boxes from Bali sit on the
\ntables and the dimly lit room exudes a romantic atmosphere.<\/p>\n
\"Night lighting in Indonesia is not very bright, is it?\" said
\nthe restaurant's owner, better known to guests and staff as Wido.<\/p>\n
\"Every time we go back home to Indonesia, we bring back with
\nus things like Bali paintings, statues from Yogya or bamboo
\npartitions.\"<\/p>\n
It's taken him about 10 years to put the collection together.<\/p>\n
But it's the food that brings the diners in and keeps them
\ncoming back for more. Wido learned that Germans like their food
\nspicy but a bit sweet. \"So we should know the limits,\" Wido
\ncommented, laughing.<\/p>\n
What spice combinations work best for local palates is
\nsomething all Indonesian restaurateurs need to learn if they want
\ntheir business to be a success.<\/p>\n
\"It's impossible for us to make Indonesian cuisine with a
\nprecisely authentic taste because Germans are very sensitive to
\ngarlic and ginger,\" said Budiman Hendrian, owner of Teratai House
\nRestaurant in Brunswick, a city of more than 250,000, west of
\nBerlin.<\/p>\n
That explains why they do not have the ultra-spicy rendang
\nPadang (braised beef in spicy coconut milk sauce) in Germany.<\/p>\n
\"What they have is a German-styled Indonesian rendang, tasting
\na little hot and sweet,\" Wido said.<\/p>\n
He added that German epicureans have come to like Indonesian
\ncuisine, such as the tart but tasty sayur asem (vegetable soup)
\nand opor (chicken cooked in coconut milk), and no longer clump it
\nin one category with Chinese food.<\/p>\n
Spices and ingredients, such as tofu, tempeh, coconut,
\nturmeric, sweet soy sauce, candlenuts and even the banana leaves
\nfor making pepes (spiced meats or vegetables packed in the leaves
\nand grilled or steamed) are obtained from the Netherlands.<\/p>\n
The three Indonesian restaurants in the Brunswick-Berlin area
\nalso include Java, whose owner, Thay Fang Gwie, from Malang, East
\nJava, has decorated it in distinctly Indonesian style.<\/p>\n
He also gives distinctive Indonesian names to the dishes, such
\nas bebek Bengawan Solo, after the Central Java river, and ayam
\nBetawi (chicken Betawi).<\/p>\n
Teratai has three cooks from Jakarta, Java has two, one from
\nBali and the other is Gwie himself. \"I have to stay in the
\nkitchen to keep an eye on the quality,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Gwie acknowledged a problem with the stay permits of his
\ncooks; each has to return home after three years according to
\nGermany's new immigration rules.<\/p>\n
Tuk-Tuk is more fortunate. The cooks came to Germany some
\nseven years ago when there was no regulation governing the limit
\nof foreigners from working in Germany.<\/p>\n
Although they were not trained cooks, they obtained permanent
\nresidence. \"They are only friends of my family in Salatiga, who
\nwere then trained by my wife, Laksmi,\" Wido explained.<\/p>\n
Today, after years in the business, each cook now has his or
\nher own skill in food preparation.<\/p>\n
Early days<\/p>\n
Both Wido, 55, and Budiman did not plan to become
\nrestaurateurs when they made their move to Germany.<\/p>\n
A son of a local government official in Salatiga, Central
\nJava, Wido studied for seven years at the School of Medicine at
\nthe University of Berlin, but failed his final exams.<\/p>\n
After several years driving a taxi, he decided to open a
\nrestaurant serving up the food of his homeland.<\/p>\n
\"We only had a few competitors then, and the Germans were not
\nreally interested in running this line of business\" he said.<\/p>\n
In 1984 Wido bought Tuk-Tuk, an Indonesian restaurant
\noriginally owned by a German who had lived in Indonesia for
\nseveral years. The German named the restaurant after a tourist
\nresort on Samosir Island, North Sumatra, but owing to the
\nmushrooming of Indonesian and Asian restaurants in the 1980s in
\nBerlin, Tuk-Tuk went bankrupt.<\/p>\n
Under the new management consisting of Suwido, Laksmi and his
\nbrother in-law Lehnard, Tuk-Tuk flourished.<\/p>\n
With bank loans, the trio was able to refurbish the restaurant
\nand it is now a favorite place for local foodies and is listed in
\nseveral good food guides. Open from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. daily and
\nwith seating for 75, the restaurant goes by the motto \"serving
\nhot food made from fresh ingredients\".<\/p>\n
But Widi is not interested in expanding his business. \"It is
\nmuch better to have one well-managed restaurant than several
\npoorly managed ones,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Budiman, known by his friends as Komi, was a technical student
\nof Fachhochschule Hanover when he started his business in 1974.
\nHe ran a few restaurants in Hamburg, but they closed due to
\nproblems with the business partners. He opened Teratai House,
\nserving Indonesian and Chinese cuisine, in 1989.<\/p>\n
To attract more diners, he provides special attractions during
\nthe week. There is karaoke and music with a Filipino DJ, angklung
\n(bamboo orchestra) with a buffet of several Indonesian dishes
\nwith desserts such as putu (cake made of rice flour stuffed with
\npalm sugar) or dadar gulung (rolled cake stuffed with grated
\ncoconut).<\/p>\n
Java, once a prestigious restaurant in Brunswick, has suffered
\na loss of popularity in recent years.<\/p>\n
\"Going to the restaurant was something to be proud of,\" said
\nMarsin Sanjaya, 53, a former waiter at the restaurant.<\/p>\n
He believed one of the reasons Java was not as popular as
\nbefore was because it stopped hiring Indonesian students as
\nwaiters.<\/p>\n
\"Many Indonesian students used to work here, it was a plus for
\nthe restaurant as they gave information to diners who wanted to
\nvisit Indonesia.\"<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/indonesian-food-on-the-menu-in-germany-1447893297",
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