Sunda food in Bandung

Sundanese (the people living in West Java are called Sundanese) has tempting refreshments. Sundanese food tends to be bland yet tasty unless you add sambal dadak (chili and other ingredients grinded together) to your food. If you're looking for more spicy taste, just add this sambal dadak. Sundanese people eat vegetables a lot. Sometimes they even eat raw vegetables (called lalap or lalapan) like cucumbers, tomatoes, coriander leaves, eggplants, cabbages, lettuces, and so on. Lalapan is usually accompanied by sambal dadak. Be very careful of the sambal though. They have different types of sambals with varying levels of pedas. I can bet you if you are not careful your stomach will be churning after a few rounds of these sambals :)

There are a few nice restaurants but I favour Sambara at Jalan Trunojoyo and the food chain Ampera (its like a chain of Mc D's). Guest can choose what they want to have from a buffet table (and you pay per pieces you take afterwards). There are two choices of rice: plain white rice or red rice. Most of their foods are fried—fried fish, fried chicken, fried beef, fried tahu (bean curd), etc. All cooked in Sundanese style, of course.

The most interesting part is their ‘sambal’ section—Indonesian style chili sauce. Not all Ampera chain has four types of sambal. These four sambals are made with different composition, each has a uniqueness of their own, but all hot and spicy! To eat this sambal like a Sundanese, dip a chunk of vegetable in the chili sauce. The vegetable is served on the sambal table, all free.

Photos: left from top; the spread at Sambara, food on Display at Ampera (next to Sukajadi Hotel), my meal at Rumah Mode

right from top: the spread at the restaurant at Rumah Mode, our meal at Sambara, lastly Sate Meranggi (Satay Maranggi) Commonly found in Purwakarta and Bandung, two towns in Java, is made from beef marinated in a special paste. The two most important elements of the paste are kecombrang (Nicolaia speciosa) flower buds and ketanjuadah). (sweet rice) flour. Nicola buds bring a unique aroma and a liquorice-like taste. It is served with ketan cake (