Jajanan Bandung

Yesterday on Thursday 19^th, my friends and I embarked (embark might be a little too pretentious for this outing) on a little outing across Alun-alun Bandung and it’s surroundings.

We went to Pasar Baru, the train station and the angkot terminal. We also had to stop to taste Bandung’s culinary on the road. We were given 4 locations, and my group thought that we were supposed to try food at every location, but it was supposed to be at only one location. Oh well, more the food the better.

We got bola-bola obi at Jl. ABC, we bought two of them. One is sold for a quite cheap Rp1.000. We eventually bought two, but Raka decided not to eat it (he was supposed to share with jordy) so Jordy got a whole. But Ara and I protested because it was not fair so eventually Raka had a half. It was sheer pleasure, because on the outside it’s really crisp and it slowly breaks as you bite it, and when you think the inside is hollow, nu’uh, there’s this gooey mixture of ubi & tepung aci which is sweet, gooey and has that cassava-ish taste, but the texture is soft and mixed really well so your mind tells you that “No! It’s just gooey sugar!” but no. So this food deceives your brain, but the divine taste of the textures just doesn’t lie. I rate this snack as a 10/10 for taste, and 9/10 for price (If those bala-bala’s can be selled at Rp500, why can’t this be Rp500 as well?)

We then continued to Pasar Baru. From the front you can see various stores selling basically the same snacks, but different suppliers. I think it’s a big industry. They usually sell spicy chips, dried bananas, dodols, and those kind of stuff that usually last really long in your cupboard even if you have ate it partially. We went to this store called Jati Rasa and we were offered some freebies. I was like “Ok, I’m taking them all” but my friends seemed kind of reluctant so I held back. Then Raka said go ahead so naturally Ara and I had the sale pisang tester. Which was also really good because for all I remember I have loved the taste of sale. The crispiness on the outside (I have that special part in my tongue for crispy things, I guess) and the sweetened thin banana fits perfectly. So you have this slight saltiness similar to the taste of a thin cracker but also the sweetness of the jam (sale pisang are often flavoured with jams) and banana. The texture, also is like those fruity tapes that are rolled (I think this isn’t available in Indonesian groceries) but with a deep fried coating. It has a tanginess to it, but it works when combined with the sweetness and slight saltiness. I give this snack a 9.5/10 because it’s highly addicting. Because we didn’t buy it, I cannot give a price rating. #nomoneyforfood

  We continued to Belakang Pasar where we found a similar store, but this one sold more sweet delights, like jellies, cookies and also savoury delights, nuts, chips, and the infamous telur gabus which is sweet and salty. Unfortunately, they didn’t have testers, and the snacks were sold by ¼ kg, and for that much, it was around Rp15.000. It was cheap, if we brought more money. I mean, for that much, it is quite cheap, but not if you only have Rp28.000 to buy one more snack and go back to school. So we only asked questions about the supplier and stuff and then went to the last destination!

The last place was Jl. Suniaraja. We had es cendol putih here, and it was good, but we stirred it too thouroughly, so it was a bit too sweet. Because it was too sweet, Ara decided not to finish her bit and Jordy finished her bit. It was basically the same taste as regular cendol, only not green. I personally don’t like cendol very much, but as I was thirsty, running out of water and it was scorching hot, I gave in for the cendol. It was pretty decent, sweet and the cendol was semi gooey so it kind of masked the sweetness and very milky from the coconut milk. Because I don’t like cendol that much, I would rate it a 7/10, and if it wasn’t that sweet maybe an 8. The price was quite cheap, Rp5.000 for one tall glass, so I give it a 10/10, especially if you’re running out of cash on a 37 degree day.

That is all I need to say on the food I tasted, I hope you are all rushing for bola obi, sale pisang and cendol now. I know, I’m also mouthwatered by now.