Hi Everyone
I am back with TACO TUESDAYS post again. I know it's been awhile since my last Taco Tuesdays post, I have been very busy recently with works and work life was changing and shifting a lot in the last two weeks.
Anyway I have got a negative feedback recently about my foodie post, well I am not sure whether It's a negative or not but I get the main point although it was not addressed directly.
I am a very stingy person, sometime economical or frugal sounds too positive for me. The feedback is about why I do give some picture that life here is too hard and too "impoverished". I live in Jakarta, capital which is soon to be ex capital city of Indonesia. The gap between low class, middle class and upper class is excessively vast here.
I have started to make foodie posts here 2 years ago after I read several foodie posts. One of the authors on HIVE whose her posts I often read is @devyleona. I know she works close to my working area. Her posts are simple and easy to digest.
If you compare two of our post, I pick these two:
Her recent sushi post: https://peakd.com/hive-120586/@devyleona/its-sushi-time
My shumay post: https://peakd.com/hive-140084/@dewabrata/taco-tuesdays-somay-bandung
Definitely her food had costed more than mine, I dare to guess that her sushi costed her atleast 7x than my shumay dish. The funny thing is that those two place were close to each other, no more than half a mile distance of walking. Both are in elite office area in Jakarta. So we could come to both place by walking in less than 10 minutes.
About the big difference in price, this is not because she is rich and I am poor. I believe both of us are middle class people. There are street food around here that are sold half of the price of my shumay dish, and I know a sushi restaurant here that will cost you atleast 100 dollar just for a reservation with a basic appetizer package. all are within radius of less than half a mile.
Back to the feedback or critics, I try to accept that feedback and maybe once a while I will share food that can cost me above $5. Here in my city, middle class lunch varies from $1 to $15 per pax and lower class they sometime have to eat lunch with less than a dollar. So yeah even both of us middle class in Jakarta, even for a fellow Indonesian who does not live in big cities, they will still get confused too about the gap of eating cost here.
So today I will share my Taco Tuesdays that cost me around $11 for two person. It's not about trying to look richer here, It's more like reaching out other people preference by getting on their decent level.
My Chinese Porridge
Ok today post is about Chinese Porridge or some people call it Chinese Congee. Do you know the difference between Chinese Porridge, Asian Porridge and common porridge here? Well they are the same, we call it Chinese Porridge because the Porridge is sold at Chinese food restaurant or outlet.
So my journey of looking for a "not so cheap" Chinese porridge ends at this restaurant. It's a well known one here in Jakarta for having hundreds of branches and they sell affordable Chinese food on Shopping Mall areas. Their "affordable" price is still not cheap for me and other stingy cult here, but well for the sake of decency, I will pick this one.
I have a bizarre first impression here. I don't know why they put powerbank rental on their gate, as if it is something that important and in hype. Dude... none cares about powerbank anymore....
Well they have a good furniture, although all are not in their good condition anymore. Look at the corner of the table, you can guess they are a bit lumpy. However overall they are very clean and I see no cockroach and they don't let my good friend Beelzebub to enter too. (you need to read my last Taco Tuesdays to get know who the hell is my dear friend beelzebub LoL)
Oh they have that promotion, 99 thousand rupiah for a set menu. It's about 6 USD. It's not economical of thrifty for me, however if you decide to eat in Shopping malls here, it's a good budget-conscious option compared to others.
Here comes my order, the Chinese Porridge. It has fried dumpling skin, boiled chicken and boiled prawn there. This is how a Chinese Porridge should be served, they came in one big bowl and then you can divide them per portion with smaller bowl which looks like a cup there.
Here is my portion, so small isn't it? I have to refill it 4 times to make my stomach full.
The drink is the same, we call it Chinese Tea. The same as the porridge, it is served in a tea pot, and you pour it into your own cup or other people cup. It's actually the same tea if you ask for an ice tea.
The difference is that Chinese Tea is always served as a hot tea and you are free to ask for a refill. You are charged per tea pot, and one tea pot mostly only allowed to be served to 4 people. So if you are alone, you are at a loss there if you order a Chinese tea. If you come in 5 people, like it or not they will charge you two pot price LoL.
And here is my main dish, the roasted duck. Any roasted duck in all Chinese food restaurant can not be cheap, I mean they will charge you ridiculous price for it because it's not easy to serve them. Of course the taste follows the price, it's one of the best dish in any Chinese Restaurant.
I came to that restaurant with my old man, and he came specifically to have this duck. Well to be honest initially I was confused whether to put the title of today Taco Tuesdays post as Chinese Porridge or Chinese Roast Duck. Later on I decided to set the theme to the porridge because this restaurant was famous with their porridge in the past.
In the past? yes, in the past. The porridge was good, but in the past which I meant before Covid 19 came, the taste of their porridge was a lot better. I think they try to keep the porridge affordable by compensating the taste by using cheaper condiments. At least their $7 roast duck still has great taste, else I might file in a formal complain.
Ok, That's all for my Taco Tuesdays post today, Thank you for coming here and feel free to leave any comments below as you please
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