Cantinas

There are many places that sell home-cooked meal recently (not restaurants or street vendors). Some owners open parts of their house for people to come and eat. The food is always homemade and the menu is different every day.

I chose two places for comparison, one was Pondok Makan Citra Sari and the other was Rumah Makan Prima Sari.

First, let me talk about Citra Sari. Located at Jl. Brumbungan no 5, this one is a house.
The place was small, but clean. The seating area was located right outside their front door patio.
The food was a la carte, so I chose whatever looked good. :)
My choices fell to a regular steamed rice with tumis tempe, ikan panggang, empal opor, and kuah telor balado. Then, es kopyor was my choice of drink.

Well, let me tell you about the tumis tempe (stir-fried tempeh). I always liked tempeh better than tofu, its closest cousin. So everytime I see a tempeh dish somewhere, I always wanted to try it. This one was delicious. The spiciness was OK, but the taste was good.

The grilled fish (ikan panggang), however, was too overcooked. I did not know what kind of fish it was. The fish was very tough and I could tell that it was not fresh. Yuck!

I particularly liked the empal opor, beef cooked in coconut milk. The meat was tender and the seasoning was very good. I wished they added more things into it, such as tofu or potatoes.
The kuah telor balado was a good addition, not a necessary for me, but I just wanted to try the taste of it.

The most wonderful thing I put in my mouth that day was the es kopyor. Double wow! Kopyor is a term to say about an abnormality in coconut. It was served cold and usually with sweet cocopandan syrup. It was very refreshing and the balance between the coldness from the ice and the sweetness from the syrup was perfect. Nothing beats hot weather unless it's es kopyor. Yum!

-----------------

The second place I wanted to talk about was Rumah Makan Prima Sari, located at Jl. Wotgantul Barat no 3.
The owner, a relative of my husband, rented a place close to the old Chinatown in Semarang. The place was not big, but it was clean and breezy. They open very early to serve the early risers and close whenever the food is gone or by 6 pm. It was very quiet when I came there, no one else was there. The owner told me that most of their customers ordered the food for to-go.

Anyway, since I always love traditional Indonesian food, I opted for things I knew such as ayam panggang pedas, tumis tempe, tumis buncis, and a little bit of sambal goreng ati sauce (which was OK).

The ayam panggang pedas (grilled spicy chicken) was their specialty. I liked their grilled chicken, but I wished they kept it warmer. Most of the food there was at room temperature, so I was a little bit disappointed at that.
The chicken was tender and the seasoning was right. It was very good.

The tumis tempe was much better than the one at Citra Sari. I could taste the spiciness and the aroma of pepper in it. This was how tumis tempe should be done. I really liked it!
The only turnoff about the dishes I chose was tumis buncis (stir fry green beans). I had absolutely no idea how this supposed to taste. It was tender, but they should have put more seasoning on it.

Another thing I should have told them was how sweet their ice sweet tea was. No, it should be how unbelievably too sweet their ice sweet tea. It was so sweet that even my daughter did not want to go for another sip. I had to pour water to it to tune down the sweetness, but I knew that I would need a lot more than just a bottle. So I gave up and just drank the water bottle.