Wednesday, 29 December 2010

• Pondok Indonesia - West Broadway

  950 W Broadway
  Vancouver, BC

  I have never actually had Indonesian food aside from the one time I had lunch at my Indonesian friend's house (her mom makes the BEST dessert, I don't remember the name but it was something like coconut sweet sticky rice). I was excited when I heard about Pondok from a friend and decided to take J there for his birthday dinner. We ordered a rice table to get a chance to taste a variety of dishes at the same go - economics!

  Pondok comes off as a higher end restaurant [note the above average pricing as well], and unfortunately there was no free parking. I had to pay $8 for two hours... ouch my wallet. However, the ghetto bathroom betrayed this restaurant's facade - Pondok can definitely use a tune up. The servers were not well trained in setting the tables. Instead of asking one of us to pass the candle to the other end of the table, the server simply reached for the candle from behind me, which made my personal space feel violated. We also had to wait awhile before being brought a glass of water. 

  Rice Table 2 ($29) 2 - serving for two with rice
  1. Tahu Sayur Isi (deep friend tofu stuffed with vegetables, served with peanut sauce): crispy on the outside and crunchy on the inside - delicious. The peanut sauce really made this dish pop, it was a little tangy and creamy. 
  2. Rendeng Sapi (beef with herbs and coconut milk): I didn't try this because I don't eat land animals, but J said this was good so I'll take his word for it!
  3. Ikan Acar Kuning (red snapper in ginger tumeric sauce): a little spicy, tangy, salty and absolutely delicious! The snapper was nicely pan fried and evenly coated - wish we had more!
  4. Orak Arik (stir fried cabbage, egg, herbs): just vegetables and nothing special, but it was still quite nice
   

  To be honest, the food was delicious but the serving is rather small for the price we paid. We could've shared another appetizer and still finished the rice table. I would probably come back another time though - but perhaps take the convenient b-line instead of paying $8 for parking lol. 

  

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