SoonSpoon & Kitchensurfing Indonesian Pop Up Dinner - A Little Bit About a Lot of Things A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

June 16, 2014 SoonSpoon & Kitchensurfing Indonesian Pop Up Dinner

SoonSpoon and Kitchensurfing teamed up to host an Indonesian Pop Up dinner on Saturday night. Dishes were prepared by chef Retno Pratiwi and beer pairings were provided by Gabe Bellegard Bastos, beer writer for Eater. Chef Retno’s company is Kaki Lima. She describes where the name came from in the Kitchensurfing website:

Kaki Lima literally means “Five Legs,” a reference to the two feet and three wheels that make up the traditional, and moveable, street food stalls popular in Java. Kaki Lima roam the streets, the vendors calling out their singular specialties for all to hear. If they find a customer, they stop and start cooking. In my opinion, it’s the most fun way to eat. So like the Kaki Lima of my hometown Jakarta, I will come and cook for you!

The weather looked as though it might be a little iffy…but it held out, and we were able to have welcome drinks and light bites out on the roof deck.

Chef had prepared some delicious lemongrass iced tea.

We served shrimp with spicy pineapple as we greeted guests.

The menu called for 5 beers, but SoonSpoon added an additional welcome beer at the last minute. We started off with the Oude Gueuze Tilquin à L’Ancienne.

Kitchensurfing generously gave all the diners a $50 off coupon.

Here are the beers in order for the evening.

Chef Retno Pratiwi and her husband/sous chef Peter Gelling. Retno and Peter met overseas when Peter was writing for a major newspaper, she helped translate for him and helped with logistics. He joked that now that they are back in the states, the roles are reversed. Peter and Retno couldn’t have been nicer! It was a real pleasure having them cook for us!

The first course was Bubur Ayam: savory rice porrige with chicken, crispy soybeans and sweet soy sauce. Retno said that this is a dish you would typically eat for breakfast.

This was a great starter dish – sweet and salty, smooth and crunchy…yum! This was paired with the De la Senne Crushable Saison.

Second course was the Combro: grated cassave filled with spicy sambal tempe and deep fried. These were delicious, and not too spicy at all!

This course was paired with the Andechser Weissbier Hell.

Next course was the Urap: spicy vegetable salad topped with coconut – Retno’s mom’s recipe. This was served with the Anderson Valley Gose.

The next dishes were served together. Above is the Nasi Campur Kuning: aromatic yellow rice.

Sate Lilit Ayam: skewers of minced chicken with lemongrass and coconut.

Kering Tempe: crispy, sweet and spicy tempe. So delicious, and again, not too spicy – the spice was very well balanced.

A cucumber and onion salad.

Telur Balado: fried hard boiled eggs with a fiery hot sambal. All these dishes were paired with the Firestone Walker Double Jack.

For dessert we had Krim Mangga Ketan Item: mango coconut cream with sweet black rice. I think this was my favorite part of the meal. I wasn’t sure if I would like the mango, but it was smooth and sweet, simple and elegant. This was paired with the De Dolle Oerbier.