JP/7/BAND1

JP/7/BAND1

Please don't delete bolding, thx.

Bandung, a haven for snack-lovers and shoppers

Yuli Tri Suwarni
The Jakarta Post/Bandung

Bandung, the capital of West Java province, is about 180
kilometers distant from the national capital, Jakarta.

The city is well-known as a haven for snack-lovers and
shoppers, as thousands of food vendors, upmarket restaurants and
factory outlets selling garments, bags, footwear and other such
things at low prices can be found everywhere around the city.

According to www.ayojajan.com, which provides information to
food lovers, there are at least 567 places where you can buy
snacks and delicious food in Bandung, a city now populated by
over 2.5 million people.

They offer a wide array of food, ranging from traditional
Bandung fare to Chinese and European cuisine. Most of these
places are usually crowded with visitors on weekends,
particularly long week-ends.

Bandung has a host of unique dishes, including peuyeum, baso
tahu, baso tahu goreng (better known as batagor) and mie kocok.

It can also boast unique beverages like bajigur and bandrek,
both good for warm you up. Bajigur is made from a mixture of
coconut milk, brown sugar and kolang-kaling (fruit of the sugar
palm), while bandrek is made of a mixture of ginger essence,
brown sugar and cinnamon.

The following is a guide for you to find the locations of
snack and food centers as well as shopping places in Bandung, a
city also dubbed the Paris of Java.

Traditional cuisine

In the southern part of Bandung, or to be exact in Jl.
Sukarno-Hatta, about 500 m to the east of Leuwipanjang bus
station, you can find a line of restaurants serving uniquely
Sundanese dishes, like nasi timbel (rice cooked in banana leaves)
plus associated side dishes like salted fish, various fried
vegetables, fried fish or chicken or steamed fish or chicken in
banana leaves.

A complete "nasi timbel must always be accompanied by terasi
(a mixture made of chili, shallot, garlic, salt, condiment and
brown sugar.)

If you go past two traffic lights from Leuwipanjang to the
east, you can find two famous Sundanese traditional restaurants,
Ampera and Laksana.

Although the two are opposite each other, they have not tried
to grab each other's customers. Aside from selling Sundanese
dishes, they also sell unique Sundanese snacks like peuyeum
(fermented cassava) and various uniquely West Javanese items for
souvenirs like keyhangers in the shape of an angklung (a uniquely
Sundanese musical instrument made of suspended bamboo tubes that
sound when shaken) or a shadow puppet character.

Another famous Sundanese restaurant, Sari Sunda, about 2
kilometers to the east of Ampera and Laksana, entertains its
visitors with Sundanese music while they enjoy Sundanese dishes
sitting crosslegged on the floor with panoramic views around
them.

Similar Sundanese cuisine is also available at a number of
restaurants on Jl. Dago and around Gasibu, in front of the West
Java governor's office, which is known as Gedung Sate.

If you would like to enjoy Sundanese dishes and at the same
time savor the beauty of Bandung's panoramic scene (particularly
the city lights at night), pay a visit to Dago Tea House. Apart
from serving Sundanese dishes, it also offers teh poci (hot tea
from a clay teapot), bandrek and bajigur. If you are lucky, you
can eat your food while enjoying a Sundanese music and dance
performance.

Bandrek and bajigur, can also be obtained at foodstalls in
Taman Cilaki, behind Gedung Sate. One such bajigur stall is
Bajigur Supratman, which has been there for 45 years. Also in
Taman Cilaki you can find other foodstalls selling seafood and
steak at low prices.

Another drink associated with Bandung is fresh milk. You can
easily get it at Lembang, north Bandung. Or just go to
Bandoengsche Melk Centrale (MC) on Jl. Aceh, about 5 km to the
west of Bandung City Hall.

This building, now renovated, used to be a center for the
production and distribution of milk to all parts of Bandung in
the 19th century.

Accommodating about 100 visitors, it offers a menu consisting
milk and other foods made from milk like yogurt, kefir and
milkshake, all sold at prices ranging from Rp 1,000 to Rp 4,500
per glass.

If you like peuyeum you can try it at the intercity bus
station at Leuwipanjang, Jl. Soekarno-Hatta. If you like it, you
should also try colenak (roast "peuyeum plus a solution of brown
sugar and grated coconut).

One famous outlet is Murdi Putra, Jl. Ahmad Yani 777, off
Pasar Cicadas, about 5 km to the east of downtown Bandung. The
counter uses up about 70 kg per day because it also supplies its
colenak to upmarket hotels and restaurants in Bandung. It is also
available around Pasar Simpang Dago in the northern part of
Bandung.

Batagor is one of the most favorite dishes in Bandung. It is
made of a mixture of sago and fish put into tofu. It is also
served with chili mixed with peanut sauce.

The oldest vendor of batagor is Batagor Isan on Jl.
Astanaanyar. It began its business back in 1969.

Other venues where you can find batagor include Batagor
Kingsley, Jl. Veteran and Batagor Riri on Jl. Burangrang. Close
to Batagor Riri you can find a family restaurant, Saboga, which
sells a combination of baso tahu and siomay (steamed ravioli).

In front of these you can find a food court that sells
Martabak San Francisco (pancakes with a savory filling), a place
always crowded with buyers.

If you wish to sample Western dishes, go to Bukit Dago, where
you can find restaurants and cafes such as The View, The Peak,
Callista and Sierra. Here you can also enjoy nighttime views of
the city.

Handicrafts and clothing

If you need uniquely Sundanese or West Javanese souvenirs,
just go to Jl. Braga, on the left side of Gedung Merdeka. Here
you can find shops selling a variety of handicraft items. The
nearest is Sarinah Department Store, about 100 meters behind
Gedung Merdeka. If you would like to buy genuine wooden puppets,
go to Jl. Pangarang, behind Hotel Savoy Homann, to find the
makers.

If you like shopping, don't forget to go to Cihampelas, west
Bandung, as this is where you can find a lot of shops selling
low-priced jeans. If you would like to buy low-priced footwear,
go to Cibaduyut in south Bandung.

If you wish to buy more than souvenirs, go to the north part
of Bandung where you can find a lot of factory outlets selling
branded items ranging from trousers, shirts, footwear and bags to
many other items, all at low prices.

Scores of "factory outlets" can be found along Jl. Dago, Jl.
Riau and Jl. Setiabudi. There are at least five major factory
outlets on Jl. Riau alone: Heritage, The Summit, Metropolis,
Renarriti and China Town.

Of course, there is a price war between these factory outlets.
The Summit, for example, has started a special counter, "Forever
Sale", which sells many types of garment at just Rp 10,000.

Along Jl. Dago, you can also find a lot of factory outlets.
Dago, which is at its most crowded at weekends, is also an area
where you can find a lot of vendors of colenak, roast corn and
roast sticky rice, plus many other snacks like roast banana with
cheese and toast.

A week is not long enough to visit all the venues where you
can buy snacks and foods and do your shopping. A haven for
shoppers, Bandung attracts a least 50,000 tourists -- 70 percent
from Jakarta -- on weekends, a reason why the city's main roads,
particularly in the north, are always congested on Saturdays and
Sundays.