A Nostalgic Walk through Bandung\'s Legendary Tastes

· 6 minutes read

Culinary offerings from Bandung are rarely only about taste. A mixture of nostalgia and the city\'s acculturation history also await millennials coming to the heaven for "taste hunters" since colonial time.

Golden-hued sun rays fell on Purnama Coffee Shop on Jl. Alkateri in Bandung on Friday (26/7/2019). From behind the bamboo curtain and stained glass, the sun penetrated the coffee shop and warmly hugged visitors sitting on the old-timey wooden chairs at the marble tables. The scene will not have felt too out of place 89 yeara ago, when Bandung was famous as the "flower city" of the Dutch Indies.

Ezra Natanael, 19, fell in love with the atmosphere. Having only been in the city for several months, he has visited the coffee shop several times. Iced coffee milk and kaya toast are his favorite.

Bread with butter and sugar is a favorite of Dutch ladies. To eat it, first you have to dip it in coffee.

"This was my father\'s favorite meal when he went to college in Bandung. He said the meal was still delicious. He was right," Ezra said.

Ezra\'s friend Christo, 19, was impressed with Purnama\'s architecture. Due to the high creme-coloured walls, the building does not need an air conditioner to keep the air cool. "This is different from Jakarta. If you want to drink coffee downtown like this, you need air conditioners," he said.

Purnama coffee shop manager Aldi Rinaldi Yonas, 30, said mainstay meals had stayed the same since the coffee shop was established by his great grandfather Jong A Thon. A mixture of Arabica and Robusta coffee is sourced from Medan. The breads are thick and the jam is tasty.

Lotek of love

A taste of eternity can also be found on a plate of lotek (boiled vegetables in peanut sauce) on Kalipah Apo 42 restaurant. The thick peanut sauce over the various vegetables still tastes the same as when the restaurant first opened in 1953. "We have not added or subtracted anything. The recipe is special, created by my grandmother," Lotek Kalipah Apo 42 restaurant manager Jo Lydia, 51, said.

Lydia said that there was long history behind the love. Lotek was how the family earned money after Lydia\'s grandfather died. "At first, lotek was a favorite of my extended family. There was always lotek whenever we met," she said.

The choice of selling lotek bore fruit. Located near Pasar Baru, a popular place for gatherings since the Dutch Indies era, the restaurant on Jl. Kalipah Apo has always had plenty of customers. It was a crowded residential area and business hub. Lotek was a popular choice for lunch.

Today, however, Lotek Kalipah Apo is more than just about lunch. It is difficult to get a plate as customers need to withstand the long queue, especially on the weekend. People of all ages join the queue, which can snake even outside the Indo-European-style shop.

It is also love that makes Mrs. Sianny, 61, keep coming back despite residing in Australia nowadays. "In the 1970s, when I went to college in Bandung, this was where I went with my boyfriend. Time has passed by and lotek is still in my heart," she said.

Favorite ice cream

Mrs. Windi, 45, had her taste nostalgia upon stepping into an old building on Jl. Tamblong in Bandung. She ordered coconut royale ice cream. "The taste has not changed. This place is where I keep my memories of eating with my college mates," she said.

The place of memories is Rasa Bakery & Cafe. Established in 1932 as a chocolate shop, ice cream has been the shop\'s mainstay since 1975. Coconut royale is a combination of strawberry, chocolate and vanilla ice cream on a coconut shell. It is priced Rp 45,000 (US$3.21). "The price is worth it for the satisfaction. More importantly, memories in this place are irreplacable," she said.

Rasa Bakery & Cafe supervisor Prapti said the the shop had never changed its mainstay recipes. The ice cream is homemade, lending it its unique taste. The wooden folding door and iron chairs are still well-preserved today. Metal chocolate mold are displayed on the front window display. These were proofs of Bandung\'s culinary golden days.

Prapti said that the strategy successfullu attracted 200 visitors a day, most of whom are teenagers. "We also have visitors from the Netherlands. They hear stories about this place from their parents who used to live here," she said. During the colonial era, the shop\'s products are famous not only in Bandung but also among Dutch officials in Batavia.

Acculturation dishes

Indonesian culinary history observer Fadly Rahman said that Bandung\'s legendary dishes proved the city residents\' creativity. However, due to changing times, these legendary eateries may disappear if they cannot cope with change. "A legendary coffee in Bogor cannot face millennial coffee shops," Fadly said.

Rasa Bakery & Cafe faces the future with optimism as it periodically launches new items on its menu, from toasts, fried rice with stinky beans and nasi rawon (rice with black-coloured beef soup), are effective in attracting customers. A mixture of Western and Eastern dishes will spoil your taste buds.

Lydia at Kalipah Apo also enthusiastically promotes Peranakan dishes. Culinary acculturation is a major reason, such as by providing nasi begana on the weekend. "For Peranakan customers, nasi began brings back childhood happy memories," she said.

It is similar at Purnama Coffee Shop. Its menu has a mixture of richly-flavored Indonesian, Chinese and Dutch dishes, including fried spring rolls and bitterballen. Aldi said that the mixture of culinary wealth was rare and should be preserved.

Kaya jam, a favorite of Ezra and other millennials, is seen as the future. The restaurant plans to sell the jam, currently only exclusively for toasts, in jars.

There seems to be no end in sight in the journeys of Bandung\'s legendary eateries. In the City of Flowers, these legacies will continue to exist and tempt your taste buds. Bandung is truly a contemporary city strongly imbued with a sense of nostalgia. (SEM/TAM/RTG)

Editor:

kompascetak the city's acculturation history