Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine February 2015 | Page 81
Explore | Flavours
Janet DeNeefe travels
to Aceh to sip copious amounts
of Gayo coffee, sample its
unique brand of Indonesian
cuisine and connect with
its resilient people.
The plane descended over a lush landscape
of 50 shades of green; a vista of endless rice
fields, meandering waterways and quaint
wooden houses. Not a trace of urban sprawl
or cement high-rise: just a tropical, tranquil
countryside. First impressions always count,
and I was already smitten. Welcome to
Banda Aceh.
I admit I was a bit nervous about visiting
a place that has experienced great tragedy,
because the stories are often too heartbreaking and the shadow of disaster can
linger, like a thick veil, for decades. I had also
heard mixed reports about the state of Aceh
since the tsunami, and the more recently
imposed sharia law.
“You can’t go out after 6pm,” I was told by
some. But I was prepared for anything and,
more than anything, I was prepared to eat
and fill up on their coffee. Together with my
daughters, we checked in to the Hermes
Palace Hotel (www.hermespalacehotel.com)
and dressed accordingly for our adventure.
Aceh is considered the land of a thousand
coffee houses, so our first stop was the
Dhapu Kupi coffee house at Simpang
Surabaya. It was afternoon and time to sip
on some famous local brew, and this place is
open around the clock. We waded through
the sea of motorbikes parked outside and
grabbed a seat amidst the action. Coffee
theatre was in full swing with the young
coffee maestro of the house making kopi
tarik, a kind of manual caffé latte where the
coffee is mixed with sweetened condensed
milk and poured from an almighty height
into a coffee pot on the counter. Extreme
hand-eye co-ordination is needed, and these
muscle-toned coffee makers make regular
baristas look like babies. We ordered our
drinks and watched, mesmerised, as a young
Acehnese Sylvester Stallone-meets-Elvis
Presley made coffee magic. I was also told
that men from Aceh are easy on the eyes:
coffee with a dash of cuci mata (eye candy)!
Cakes were served with our beverages and for
something more substantial martabak telor
(Indonesian-style savoury egg pancake), roti
canai (flaky golden bread served with curry
or other sides) and other local favourites
were available. Coffee houses in Aceh are like
covered street food community halls with
coffee as the leading lady or rather man,
in this case, offering everything you need,
including free internet. Coffee is synonymous
with conversation, and one thing everyone
in Aceh is doing, all day long, is sipping on
coffee and conversing.
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Win
At Warung D’Wan we tucked into a plate
of sate matang, tender goat satay with goat
soto, a light broth with a hint of galangal
and white pepper, all served with a delicate
peanut sauce, freshly ground. I detected
a hint of tomato. The gracious owner,
Pak Darmawan, told me he sells up to
4,000 sticks of satay a day and is open
from 5pm until 12pm.
We headed for Mie Razali to nosh on
the renowned mie Aceh, Aceh’s fat yellow
noodles that are glazed with an Indian-style
sauce mixed with curry leaves, prawns
or crab. I opted for the prawns, but most
customers were slurping and sipping
on noodles with crab. It was after 6pm and
we were still out and about. No sign of a
curfew here. The staff were so friendly I was
feeling like family! “We cook at least 15kg of
crab a day and around 80kg of noodles,”
beamed the waiter. All is well in Aceh.
We stumbled on Daus, Nasi Goreng Khas
Aceh, next door and I was bowled over,
almost literally, by the amount of business.
It’s standing room only and nasi goreng
(Indonesian fried rice) adorned w ith
different trimmings was the order of the
Foodie Favourites
What’s your favourite Indonesian dish?
Post a Twitpic of it to @IndonesiaGaruda,
tell us where it comes from in the archipelago
and you could win vouchers worth US$250 to
dine at Bali’s ever-hip seaside restaurant and
lounge-bar, Potato Head Beach Club.
Send the link to your Twitpic to flavours@
wingaruda.com for your chance to win!
Apakah makanan asal Indonesia favorit
Anda? Unggah foto makanan tersebut pada
Twitter @IndonesiaGaruda, lengkap dengan
nama daerah tempat asal makanan tersebut.
Anda bisa mendapatkan kesempatan
memenangkan voucher senilai 250 USD
untuk bersantap di Potato Head Beach Club,
dengan melampirkan tautan Twitpic Anda.
ke [email protected]!