Indonesian cuisine is hard to find, even in a diverse culinary city like Los Angeles, but there is at least one restaurant in Los Angeles serving up this elusive cuisine. Simpang Asia is hidden in a little plaza in Culver City, with an Indonesian grocery story joined to it. I do my exotic grocery shopping after I eat so I can make Indonesian dishes at home. Indonesian cooking isn’t easy, so sometimes it’s nice to have a place where you can just sit and order away.
The restaurant is small, but clean and sleek looking, and they offer to-go options. Indonesian cuisine can best be described as a fusion of the neighboring cultures, depending on the parts of Indonesia you’re in. It has Chinese, Middle Eastern, Dutch, and Indian influences, and has in turn influenced Malaysian and Singapore cuisines.
Nasi Rames dish at Simpang Asia restaurant in Los Angeles.
For my main entree, I ordered the Nasi Rames, their basic indonesian rice plate. Combination of chicken curry braised tempeh, beef curry rendang, and garlic green bean. Great choice for the first timer. If you’re intimidated by spice, have no fear. You can order it mild and the dish still has a lot of flavor. For those who like it spicy, you can ask for sambal terasi (an indonesian chili sauce) to spice it up. I personally like a little spice (Okay, my non-spicy friendly friends say I like a LOT of spice), so I add the sambal terasi, and cool my tastebuds with some es cendol.
Es Cendol at Simpang Asia Restaurant
You could totally tell kids they’re worms
Es Cendol (Pronounced Ice Chen-Doll) is a sweet drink that helps you beat the heat from spicy dishes. It’s the indonesian equivalent of lassi, or boba bubble tea. This coconut milk drink is sweetened with a palm sugar syrup at the bottom, and served on ice. The green noodles on the top are made of tapioca and pandan jelly, and add an interesting texture to the drink, much like boba. When I was young, my Opa, which means Grandpa in Dutch, used to tell me the green noodles were worms. That made this drink very popular with me around Halloween when I could scare my friends. Indonesian drinks are well known to love cold, sweet drinks to beat the tropical heat, and require a sweet tooth to enjoy. Es Cendol is a rich and delicious treat, and definitely soothes your tastebuds after some spicy curry.
Roti Bakar from Simpang Asia
I was celebrating today, so I sprung for dessert and decided to have a very light dinner. Roti Bakar literally translates as “Grilled Bread”, and it’s a dessert toast, covered with chocolate sprinkles, condensed milk, and get this: CHEESE. In Indonesia, it’s treated as a dessert or a breakfast item. I’m sure the idea of combining chocolate and cheese sounds disgusting to you, but I was so curious I had to try it. And it was actually an amazing combination! And it’s easy enough to make at home, so I’m sure I’ll post a recipe on how to make these eventually.
Simpang Asia’s dishes were delicious comfort food for me, and I certainly plan to eat there again to try more dishes. I highly recommend this restaurant to any curry or asian cuisine lovers.