Hey guys!
Surprise, surprise! Yes, you might wonder why or since when I review local food on this blog? Haha.. Probably starting from today! Actually, I’ve been wanting to write and review local foods in Surabaya since a long time ago, but the struggle of juggling between working and blogging had been keeping it away. Luckily, today I had the chance to review this humble depot that sells some of Surabaya’s most popular authentic foods. I guess this is the right way to start my local food journey on the blog eh? 🙂
Lontong Mie &
Penyetan Bu Sindar
First of all, what is Lontong Mie & Penyetan?
Lontong Mie & Penyetan are two of Surabaya’s authentic local foods (and FYI, Bu Sindar is the name of the owner). Now let me try breaking it down for you guys one by one. Lontong Mie is actually two different things, Lontong is a rice cake, and Mie is a noodle.
While if put together, Lontong Mie becomes a chopped rice cake, with noodles, bean sprouts, and ebi shrimp, poured with a special homemade soup and served with fried tofu, fried onions, lento, and a sauce called petis. On the other hand, Penyetan is basically a bunch of fried things (could be chicken, meatballs, fish, etc) on top of a special Indonesian hot sauce called sambal.
Of course, Bu Sindar is not only selling those two, but she also sells other foods, but I’m guessing Lontong Mie & Penyetan are her specialties since it’s entitled in the brand, haha.. I honestly couldn’t really recall when was the last time I had Lontong Mie, or did I ever had one in my entire life? LOL. This is going to be an interesting one for sure.
Before we get to the food testing, I want to tell you a little detail about this place first. Okay, for the location, Lontong Mie Bu Sindar is placed on the east side of Surabaya City, exactly in Dharmawangsa Street. It’s a bit too far from home, but I’m so eager to try because the owner said it would be the best Lontong Mie I’ve ever had! That simple sentence was actually worth the miles, and I just had to try it or I would die of curiosity!
The place is really simple, a typical Depot in Surabaya, nothing fancy, but comfortable enough to dine in at any time of the day. They have an air-con installed so that you won’t get heated up by the hotness of Surabaya, and since it’s an indoor room with an AC, of course, smoking won’t be allowed inside. I saw some power outlets too if you want to charge your electronic devices. In total, they have enough seats for 10 to 15 people inside.
I went there at around 11 AM, and I was actually already prepared my tummy to have a feast in here. I looked at their menu, and they have around 20-ish choices of foods and also 20-ish choices of drinks, but all of them are familiar to me and some of them were actually my favorite Indonesian foods & drinks! On top of that, their average price is around 17k-25k! Super affordable! So I was pretty excited ordering my lunch, hoping that they would be amazing!
Nasi Rawon (22.5k) 9/10
If this is the first time for you to see Rawon, calm down, and don’t panic. This dish might look unpleasant with its black broth, but I can assure you, it tastes DELICIOUS! And in here, is definitely one of my favorite dish of the day. The flavor is on the savory side and it’s rich with spices.
The beef is tender and chopped with a size of a dice so that it’s easier for you to chew. The fried red onion on top will complete the taste and PLEASE! Try eating this Rawon with a bit of a salted egg and scoop it out with white crackers. Trust me, you won’t regret it. 🙂
Lontong Mie Bu Sindar (17.5k) 8.5/10
The specialty dish! But I’m afraid I can’t do its justice because the soup was (sadly) made out of garlic (a lot of it), and as you probably know, I’m an anti garlic person. But since it’s the specialty dish, I tried my best to taste it thoroughly and be as objective as possible.
After I tasted it, all I could say is, I love everything about it (the ebi shrimp, the noodle, the fresh sprouts, the rice cake, the fried tofu and mostly, the lento) except the soup. The soup itself tasted sweet and garlicky, it’s also has a taste of petis in it, which made the taste pretty exotic if that made sense.
I tried it after an hour of taking pictures of the dish, indeed it was cold, but surprisingly, I could still say that it was actually enjoyable. What I was also concerned about was the sprout, I was afraid that it would be smelly, but no, it was clean and fresh! So, kudos! I would say I like it. 🙂 Hopefully next time I could request it served without garlic, hahaha..
Nasi Udang Kremes (17.5k) 9/10
This one is also one of my favorites! A very simple dish, as the name is actually pretty self-explanatory: Nasi (Rice), Udang (Shrimp), Kremes (The thing that sprinkled on top of the Shrimp, basically a mixture of an egg, flour, and spices, deep-fried, and crushed). It came with a teri sambal on a sliced cucumber as the side dish and served with a generous amount of fried onion on the rice.
This is one savory dish that I think everyone would love to eat at any time, such a comfort food. Enjoy it as you like, or do what I did : Take a bite of the crispy fried shrimp, dab it on the teri sambal to add spiciness, and end it with a good scoop of rice, the crunchy kremesan, and fried onions! Ggah, I’m salivating…
Penyetan Bandeng Presto (20k) 9/10
Another favorite of mine. What makes me in love with this was their sambal! But it’s different from the teri sambal that’s in Nasi Udang Kremes, this one tasted better. It’s in the combination of sweet, spicy, and a hint of sour, just the way I love it. Presented with lalapan (the veggies on the side, usually contains : cabbage, cucumber, long beans & basil) to freshen up the overall taste of penyetan.
The Bandeng fish was also a joy in my mouth, it’s soft and easy to rip, thanks to presto (a cooking technique which can make any meat becomes tender, so tender that in some cases, you can even eat the bone). I’m really recommending this, so yummeh! 🙂
Bubur Ketan Item (12.5k) 8.5/10 | Bubur Sagu (12.5k) 8.5/10
Bubur Ketan ItemBoth of these desserts tasted pretty much alike, almost the same ingredients, just the main part of it that has a difference. On the left side, we got black sticky rice porridge, on the right side, we got sago porridge, both poured with coconut milk and topped with a chopped jackfruit.
I’ve always loved any kind of Indonesian traditional dessert that’s poured with coconut milk, including these two! Because there’s a balance between sweet and salty taste in these desserts that made me really want to dig more. And it’s light on the palate as well, not overpowering at all. You just had to save some space for these desserts, try it and let me know which one is your favorite. Personally, I love sago better, just because I’m never a fan of black sticky rice.
Bubur SaguOverall, I would give Lontong Mie & Penyetan Bu Sindar (8.5/10)
This place is quite easy to find since they put this huge banner in front of their depot, but typing their address alone on Google Maps will also do you good, I have no problem at all finding this depot. Parking could be a little bit of a problem, but for such a simple space, they don’t need that much of a parking lot after all.
The dining area is pretty clean though it’s looking very old, great things that they have air-con and also some electrical stations, they play songs from early 2000 that brought back some of my good ol’ memories too! Foods were surprisingly amazing, with such a friendly price. They actually don’t lie when they entitled Lontong Mie & Penyetan on the brand, it is really good! But it doesn’t stop there, because their other menus are also delicious! I would definitely come back if I happen to wander around the east area again.
I hope you enjoy reading my first attempt at making a blog post about local foods in Surabaya as much as I enjoy writing it. Really recommend you guys to try visit Lontong Mie & Penyetan Bu Sindar and tell me how you guys think about it. I also made one YouTube Video about Depot Lontong Mie Bu Sindar that you can check out :
Summary
- Lontong Mie & Penyetan Bu Sindar
- Jl Dharmawangsa 107 Surabaya
- 031-5018530 | 085101703949
- 082233595962 | 081234141962
- Opening Hours : 08.00 AM – 08.00 PM
- Safe Budget : 50.000
- Smoking : Non Smoking
- AC : Yes
- Power Outlet : Available
- Payment : Cash Only
- Delivery : Via Go-Jek
- Dresscode : Casual (literally)
- Waiting Time : 10-15 minutes
