Pin It
It’s not often I venture out to this part of town. I’ve never really had reason to. What brought me to Kingsford was the sale Amber was having on tiling and the closest one to me happens to be here, despite the fact I came away uninspired and empty-handed and a little hungry. Anyhoo, the search continues.
One thing I did discover, however, is that this area is a bit of an Indonesian foodie haven. On this small strip of Anzac Parade there are about nine Indonesian eateries to choose from, one of which had a queue out the door. I wasn’t up for waiting in line and decided to give that one a go another day.
Now that my mind and appetite was set on Indonesian it didn’t take long to find another place that required no waiting. Erica Restaurant. What caught my attention was the front courtyard with tables, benches and brolllies sat next to a colourful bilboard. Something about it all brought back memories of visiting Indonesia more than ten years ago and when I stepped inside to see laminated tables, fans, mirrored walls, tiled floor, picture menu’s and a television blaring Indonesian programs, it actually felt like I was back there.
The tables are bare of eating utensils as they can be found at the communal ‘cutlery’ post near the door. Only the essentials sit on each table: a box of tissues and squeeze-bottle of good-old kecap manis, one of my favourite flavours. The menu is brought out by a friendly young girl as well as your own order slip and pencil. With prices this low you write your own order!
Seeing they were cheap enough and small enough, my lunch spread consisted of several things. Mind you, I could have ordered more as much of the menu sounds quite good.
I’d heard of the petai bean, also known as the stink bean, several times yet never tasted it. If you eat too many it gives you bad breath and even has a distinct aroma after it has passed through your body. Curiosity got the better of me. The flavour is quite heady, slightly pungent and bitter and vaguely similar to rancid garlic. This is one for the aquired palate.
The ati ayam (fried chicken liver) was a little disappointing as it was very dry and overcooked and unseasoned. Had it been cooked properly it would have gone down a treat.
The nasi kuning (coconut rice) and ayam goreng mentega (fried chicken in butter sauce) was quite nice. The dry chicken breast relied on the ketchap manis-based butter sauce and was good with the aromatic rice, topped with fried shallots. The sauce from the chicken came in handy to moisten the liver a bit.
Now I’m not that much of a fan of drinks containing debris such as beans and pearls, but the es cendol (crushed ice, green jelly with coconut milk and palm sugar) I ordered was more of a dessert and very refreshing after the rich flavours I just had. The straw is of no use as the little green jelly worms clogged it constantly so a spoon did the trick. Very delicious!
Erica Restaurant
275 Anzac Parade
Kingsford 2032
9663 4430
BYO
Friday-Wednesday 11am-9pm
Tagged as:
Indonesian,
Kingsford,
Southeast Sydney
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Hehe good on you for trying them. I would have done the same just out of curiosity! Hmm so rancid garlic huh? And did the odour linger?
Lol. There’s nothing worse than smelling like what you’ve just eaten so I was well-aware of not eating too much. Although, if I really enjoyed the flavour I would have eaten them all!
The petai sounds intriguing and oh I love cendol!
the petal looks rather raw, hence the stench will be much stronger, especially when you go to toilet hahaha usually a good sambal stir fry with petai will be my favorite. Wow, i didnt even know you can get petai in Sydney… must hunt them down!
January 20, 2010 9:30 PM
Thanks for your review and for posting up the menu at Urban Spoon. My friends and I are going to check it out soon. Our aim is to eat at every restaurant along Anzac Parade, Kingsford.