Indonesian Delight at Indo 1968

Indo 1968

5/F, The L Place 

137-141 Queen's Road Central, Central, Hong Kong

Rating: 8.1/10 

Price: Around 200 HKD per person 

After growing up in Indonesia for 7 years, even though I can't remember the names of the dishes or even the food itself, I always find myself missing the distinct taste and smell of Indo food. Especially since my short trip to Bali and Jakarta last year, I've been having periodic cravings for Indo Food, and have made couple of trips down to Causeway Bay during the weekends to eat next to the over-flowing crowds of Indonesian Maids and helpers out to enjoy their weekends.

However, I had never been to an 'classier' Indo-food place in a while, and when felix who had never tried Indo food suggested it from his newly-acquired (from me!) michelin guide book I was eager to try it out! 

Apparently they had moved from Causeway Bay to Central not so long ago, and although I don't know how the interiror decoration had been prior to moving but I loved their interior decorations and the overall atmoosphere! .

Plus they had such cute and well designed menu and catchy logo that it was great to look through the menu! 

Although you can't see it in the photo they had a lovely open-bar and open-kitchen where you could see the cooking being done as well. Plus the seats were so comfortable with soft cushions everywhere! 

After going through the menu over and over again not knowing for sure what we should order or not we finally just trusted our instincts (plus the 'special menu' section and decided on the following choices :) )

Fresh Young Coconut (Kelapa Muda): 58 HKD

Although I was pretty tempted to order Bintang,  I love love Fresh Coconuts and I thought it would be a great way to start (drink the juice) and end (eat the white flesh) our dinner!

The coconut was lovely, and it was very fresh and cold which went well with the very strong flavors of our food.

Satay Babi (Pork Satay): 48 HKD

    Although some may argue that satay are just skewers  I have yet to find skewers as good as how the Indonesians do them! Although the thai skewers are good, and the vietnamese chicken skewers at Nha Trang were amazing too, the best ones have always been the chicken satay (Satay ayam) with peanut butter sauce. 

    However I had never tried Pork Satay before, and I'm really glad that I did so! It was amazing! :) The pork was so succulent and crispy and went well with the slightly sweet sauce! 

Bakmi Gajahmada (Indonesian Chicken Noodle): 108 HKD

     Although it was a hard decision between letting felix try Nasi Goreng (fried rice) which is one of my favorites, or something entirely new for both of us... we opted for a more adventurous choice, and went for this Indonesian Noodle! 

I hadn't tried one where it's not fried before, and this dish involved a soy-sauce based paste with chickens and lots of vegetables that we had to mix together! The sauce was not too salty, or too overpowering and went well the the firm egg-noodles and chicken! It had a very clean and simple taste that we both loved :)

Beef Rendang: 98 HKD
Along with the clean simple taste of our noodle, we also had the rich, heavy flavoured Beef Rendang. Although it was less spicy than those I had tried before it still had that lovely mixture of unknown spices, chili, garlic and coconut milk...

No wonder it got voted as one of the best dishes around the world by CNN, it's so much more interesting and richly flavored than normal curries as the flavours (by the the long hours of cooking) is so well incorporated into the soft yet still juicy beef!

Overall, we both loved the place! Even though it was expensive compared to the usual indonesian food, for the quality of the food and the overall dining experience it was worth every penny! :)